Photo Credits: Andrew Weber
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1. Global warming claims all hot air, says speaker at OU2. OU student charged with raping 17-year-old3. Police chief: City can’t stop parties before they start4. For most, the journey to Nine Fest seemed worth it5. Parties spun by OU alums have bootie-shakers raving6. Is another oil and gas land-rush starting in Athens?7. High St. student renters take on big local landlord8. Tanning parlor fights to get back into uptown Athens storefront9. Oak and Mill fests mellow down easy10. Landowners’ group renews leasing pitch11. City Council acts to ban ‘fracking’ in water supply area12. Wal-Mart asks judge to grant store win in shoplifter’s lawsuit13. Electric blue skies, May warmth frame music fest14. OU and city officials urge better fest behavior15. Pills defeated relative when no other drugs could do it16. David Alan Jones17. Local developers hoping to revive struggling hotel18. Festering fests; down, down deep; and the Golden Rule19. Hall of Fame baseball coach calls it a day at OU20. Nine Festers enjoy the sun and music, without the mud
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Friday, December 2,2011
Good turns to bad, and the Cats lose MAC title game
But admit it; this was pretty good TV
If you just watched the first half of Ohio University's MAC championship game against West Division champs Northern Illinois tonight (Friday), you'd be swelling with pride, strutting down Court Street like a king. Your team's on national TV and has the ESPN dudes singing hosannas at the half.
Then, in the second half, things started going south, but not enough to make you worry. Twenty to nothing to start the second half, with your team playing with Green Bay Packer-like efficiency and confidence? It's a lock.
Right?
Well, this is football. When good turns to bad, and efficiency and confidence squirt away like air out of a slashed tire, 20 points has less staying power than a 99-cent bag of fries at a table for three.
The Ohio Bobcats' slick ride hit the skids in the second half in Detroit, and this good but mercurial team (9-4) lost a heart-breaker 23-20 to Northern Illinois (10-3) in the final seconds.
Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the 'Cats in the second half.
Some of the ingredients of this stunning second-half collapse included untimely turnovers, a stupid cheap-shot penalty, a boggled hand-off, a missed field goal by a guy who never misses, an amazing 16-yard punt, an offense that switched from aggressive and determined to flaccid and soft as fast as... well... never mind.
Oh, and it didn't help any that Northern Illinois did the opposite. They played tentatively and pressed in the first half, then carjacked Ohio's mojo in second half. Once they had the momentum, nothing could go right for the 'Cats.
So the Bobcats lost the MAC championship, and are heading for a bowl game, probably against the WAC's Utah State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise on Dec. 17, at least according to a story posted on woub.org sports Thursday. Oh, boy, those green and whites on the blue field!
Northern Illinois, according to the same article, probably will play Sun Belt Conference champs Arkansas State in the Godaddy.com Bowl in Mobile, Ala., on Jan. 8.
These bowl matchups aren't locked in stone, of course, so if things change, we'll let you know.
And really, the game tonight? Great, great football, a joy to watch, even as you knew with dead certainty what would happen as the second half wound down.
How did I know?
Well, son, I've been a state of Ohio sports fan for many years – lamentably a Cleveland fan, too – and I just know how things work out for teams that I root for.
When that starts to change, let me know. But speak loudly. I'll be in my grave.
Also in Sports NEWS:
Hall of Fame baseball coach calls it a day at OUFormer OU receiver becomes a Colt in sixth roundOU star receiver awaits NFL Draft fateFormer Kent, TCU coach aims to continue recent successGroce’s departure, while disappointing, was also predictable’Cats’ basketball run a victory for OU in so many ways’Cats fall a hair short of historic upset in Sweet 16Who's the coolest team in the NCAA tourney? You know!Sweet-16 bound 'Cats catch on everywhereBobcat magic strikes again; Ohio knocks off South Florida
Also from Terry Smith:
Festering fests; down, down deep; and the Golden RulePills defeated relative when no other drugs could do itMore ruminations on the city and OU's festering problemState’s not willing to stop oil & gas over-reachingOU tuition 96th costliest of 663 public 4-year collegesVicious McCarthyism now part of GOP mainstreamEditor Smith is beside himself on Athens fracking banDrunk Homecoming brings out the worst in some folksGeologist: County may still be in oil windowWhile oil & gas boom doubtful here, it could still happen
Hey Terry! This was the third, yes, THIRD Bobcat game I've been able to watch this season from my couch in Liverpool. Sure, it started at midnight, but whatever.
And I am right there with you...it was a fun game to watch, and I had a feeling at the fourth things were not going the Bobcats way. The punt, the penalty, the interception, the boggled snap, it was a familiar brand of Ohio football for me: the Cleve Bryant/Tom Lichtenberg brand.
But still. That they play for a championship is still something that i have not wrapped my brain around. That's pretty cool. Well done Cats!
Whoever called the pass play with just under 9 minutes to go should resign and leave the state. With a 13-point lead, all they had to do was grind it out and eat some clock, get in field goal range to put it out of reach. That was the stupidest play-calling I've ever seen . . . talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Everything you mention is spot on, until you get to the last 2 paragraphs. To say " Well, son, I've been a state of Ohio sports fan for many years..", is to portray the acceptance of an attitude of being a loser. What’s even worse, is to imply the passing down of that pessimistic outlook to younger generations. This loser mentality is exactly what we DO NOT need at Ohio University. Keep it in Cleveland, where it fits in quite nicely.
Ohio football lost a heartbreaker, but let's focus on the positive aspects of this program. During my time as an OU student, I longed for a football team that I could even call mediocre. Now we have the MAC East Champions, NFL talent players, perennial bowl berths, a great nucleolus of talent for the future, a new state of the art facility being built, and an iconic coach in Frank Solich. The football team had arguably it's best regular season in history, the program continues to head in a positive direction. I for one am devastated in how the game unfolded on Friday night, but I am still so very excited for what the future hold for my favorite football team.
There is no place for accepting a lifestyle of being a loser at Ohio University. We are a proud university on all levels, and we must focus on the good, yet continue to ask the football team to work towards improvement. If that concept of positivity is too hard for you to wrap your head around, then perhaps you should ask your editor to reassign you to writing articles about the Browns, Indians, Cavs, and the weather in Cleveland from now on Terry.
Well, I am the editor, and will write whatever I damn well please. (Smiley face)
But seriously, I root for the 'Cats but have no desire to be a homer, or to strain to be positive when I'm not feeling that way. You're free to do so...