Here’s a quick glance at this weekend’s college football games with some surprises and some of the early season blowouts we’ve come to expect. THE bounced back from last week’s debacle at Texas to manhandle Kent State 59-3 and pad both individual and team statistics; Ole Miss took revenge on former coach Lane Kiffin as the Rebels remained unbeaten by downing LSU 32-24; Indiana and Notre Dame stayed undefeated; Kentucky upset Texas A&M in College Station; and Louisville (behind former THE quarterback Lincoln Kienholz) knocked off SMU.
Locally, Cincinnati overcame a 21-point halftime deficit to claim the Battle of the Bell in beating Miami’s RedHawks 35-31. The longest-running non-conference rivalry in FBS play now sees UC holding a 62-60-7 advantage after 129 contests; unfortunately, this might have been the last in the series for a while as future scheduling remains uncertain due to the changing landscape of league affiliations. As usual, good MAC teams can hang with most Power Four teams for a half or so before wearing down in the late going due to lack of quality depth on the offensive and defensive lines.
How about the end of the Vanderbilt-North Carolina State contest in Nashville? NC State had a 31-28 lead with six seconds remaining and the ball at their own 2-yard line and had to only kneel down in the end zone to take a safety or throw a pass out of bounds to secure the win. And of course, what happened? The Wolfpack QB ran around in the end zone, was tackled, and fumbled the ball away, where the Commodores recovered the ball for a touchdown as time expired and claimed the unbelievable win. To add insult to bettors in a game where NC State was given three points, an extra point was kicked with the game over, giving Vanderbilt a 35-31 victory, causing untold dollars to change hands!!
Elsewhere, the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys fell to 2-1 by losing to Ouachita Baptist; the Hardrockers of the South Dakota School of Mines are now 3-1 following a solid win over Ada; and Washburn’s Ichabods are also 3-1 after beating Central Oklahoma on a dark and stormy night.
In high school action Friday night, the WOAC football championship was basically decided in New Madison as the Tri-Village Patriots held off a game Ansonia Tigers squad 29-22. T-V should handle the rest of their schedule with only Arcanum and possibly Preble Shawnee offering any challenge realistically—however you have to play the game so who knows what could happen!
Greenville’s Wave lost another heartbreaker in MVL action, falling to Stebbins 21-12. The Wave, who have been extremely competitive in four of five games thus far, now face a gauntlet of Butler, Tipp, Xenia, and Troy to end the season with Sidney also in the mix.
Arcanum’s boys and girls golf teams claimed WOAC tournament titles at Turtle Creek Golf Course Thursday. Luke Stephen’s 70 paced a Trojans championship while junior Brooklynne Eley fired a 96 and sophomore Sadie Waldo a 97 to pace the victorious Lady Trojans to the league title. Lyla Brewer took medalist honors with an 87 for Tri-Village as the Lady Patriots placed second.
Golf action resumes Tuesday for high school squads as boys D-III sectional play tees off at Turtle Creek; D-II girls start Wednesday at Stillwater Ridge; Greenville’s boys begin D-I play Thursday at National Golf Links in Springfield; and Arcanum and Versailles boys compete in D-II Wednesday at National Links.
Greenville’s girls golf team placed fifth in D-I sectional play at Echo Hills, falling one spot short of advancing to district action. However, freshman Piper Jenkinson, on the strength of a second-place score of 78, moves on in individual play at Heatherwoode Golf Course in Springboro on Tuesday, October 6th.
Eight of the ten MLB teams with the largest payrolls will most likely move on in the playoffs this fall. Further down the list, the Brewers at 19th and the Rays at 27th of the 30 franchises will make the postseason. The Reds, you ask? Twentieth overall with yet another losing campaign.
Here’s an oddity—Cleveland or the Chicago White Sox will most likely win the mediocre AL Central and, due to an even worse AL West, qualify as the number two seed in the playoffs, earning a first-round bye over the Yankees and Red Sox!
An error of omission in my column earlier this week—I mentioned that the beautiful little town of Decorah, Iowa, was the home of Luther College, the alma mater of retired Greenville physician Dr. Bill Osterbur. I forgot to add that his wife Kris and daughter Anna are also proud graduates of Luther, my apologies!
Finally, on our recent trip to South Dakota, we came across more than a few Sinclair gas stations. I thought Sinclair had gone out of business many years ago, as I hadn’t seen the familiar sign in ages. If I remember correctly, at one time there was a Sinclair station across from the main entrance to the Great Darke County Fairgrounds, where there is now a parking lot for the La Carreta restaurant. Or am I mistaken? Help me out here! Anyhow, it was good to see the Dinosaur emblem again! Have a great week!
