Bad Weekend For Ohio Sports

This was a terrible weekend to be an Ohio sports fan.

The weekend started with a major showdown between Ohio State and SoCal that ended with OSU proving some sort of inability to finish games. The Buckeyes closed out last season blowing a late lead to Texas in the Fiesta Bowl with less than a minute remaining. Since then, fans have been hoping for a rebound by the '09 team. Instead, the Bucks started the season nearly blowing a lead to Navy. Intercepting the 2-point conversion probably saved the Bucks in that game. That match alone was most likely a blow to the confidence of the fans at least. But Saturday's game only cemented the problem finishing games in the minds of many. OSU once again lost a game in the final minutes after seemingly dominating for 98% of the game.

Already, fans are starting to sour on Jim Tressel and his conservative "Tressel-ball" strategies. These are fans that have been loyal to JT since his victory in the '02 national championship. So now the question lies: how long with OSU put up with losing big games and not putting away opponents? Even small games aren't won by large margins anymore. Schools like Oklahoma, USC, Florida all win games by crazy margins several times a year. OSU doesn't even put away Indiana or Northwestern by such scores. Could the dagger be dangling above Tressel's head, or will OSU remain more loyal to him than their fanbase is at the moment?

On a local note, my alma mater, the Kent State Golden Flashes, lost their top offensive threat today. Running back Eugene Jarvis is out for the season with a lacerated kidney. In my opinion, Jarvis was cut from the same mold as San Diego Chargers RB Darren Sproles. Neither are the biggest dog in the fight, but they are both flat out amazing football players and can hold their own in any battle. It's a major blow to the Flashes. All the best to Jarvis as he recovers and I hope he can get a tryout in the NFL and maybe follow in Sproles' footsteps. The Flashes have been very successful lately in sending players to the NFL, and I hope he can be the next in line.

On Sunday, both the Browns and Bengals made the Monday morning highlight reels. Unfortunately, it was by giving up major plays. "All Day" Adrian Peterson broke off a huge second half run that torched the entire Browns defense in spectacular fashion. On top of that, the Bengals may have taken OSU's act and gone Pro with it. Leading in the final moments, Bengals fans had their hopes up that an opening day win was imminent. Kyle Orton's pass was nearly intercepted by Jonathon Joseph, but he landed out of bounds by inches. Orton's next pass hit Leon Hall's hands, bounced in the air and landed...in the hands of nearby Brandon Stokely. Stokely then took the pass 80+ yards to paydirt, winning the game with 10 seconds remaining.

After a lowly summer where the Reds once again sunk in the NL Central and the Indians drastically underperformed yet again, fans were asking "When does football start again?" After the Bengals and Browns' performances, we may be back to looking forward to baseball season sooner than we imagined.