Hey Ohio State starts their season this Saturday at noon. At least one professional team in Ohio will have a winning record this season (insert rim shot here...). They have a patty cake opponent though - Navy. Do hope that the Buckeyes do better against USC this season than they did last year.

And I guess that professional can also loosely be applied to the Bengals. The Bengals have had a great track record with first round draft choices. With Smith breaking a bone in his foot during a drill, memories of blown draft pics gone by start to echo. Heard this quote on a sports talk show and it bears repeating. "At least Kijuana Carter made it into a game." Too early to throw in the towel on Smith of course, but his rookie season is starting to look like a bust. Late to camp, out for several weeks with a broken foot. When he does come back, it is going to take some additional time to get into game shape. So he will see the field what - maybe in October sometime. And now no scrimmages to make mistakes. When (if?) he does get to play, he gets to make his mistakes in a game.

I like the Bengals D, but worry about the offensive line and a fragile Palmer. If the linemen are playing Ole' - Palmer isn't mobile enough to dodge rampaging 300 pound linemen. When he gets pounded into the turf 5-6 times a game, look for another shortened season for Palmer.

CCC didn't do quite as well as I predicted on opening day. But 4 wins are better than the one that we had a year ago. Two of the losses were close and so could have slid the conference over to the plus side if they had gone the other way. The poll predicts Ansonia to take the CCC crown. And I have to lean towards them as well. I still can't wrap my brain around the Tigers passing for 5 TD's against Fort Recovery. History has them playing smashmouth football and you could generally count the number of passes they threw in a game on one hand. It might be worth the trip up there just to watch the air show.

Injuries are a factor for South. I was really looking forward to watching this years team. Lots of talent in the junior and senior classes. But in small school football, when you lose a starter - they generally are playing both ways. And so it may take two people to replace them, one on offense and one on defense. And there just isn't the depth once you get past the starters. So I still think that they will be formidable, but you hope that the kids heal fast and get back into the lineup. Being a D5 team, you just can't afford many losses with all the D6 schools in the conference. Two losses will make it extremely difficult to make the playoffs.
An interesting aside, I am wondering if the South coaches saw how well the Fort moved the ball with their spread against the Tigers and will change their game plan accordingly???

Bradford won big over Yellow Springs. Yeah the Bulldogs aren't known for their football, but on the other hand 64 points shows a dominant team. Are the Railroaders for real and can they make the race for the CCC crown interesting? Program has been down for awhile, they are due for some success.

Covington - high expectations and a disappointing loss to start the season. A winnable game for the Buccs. But look for them to be worked into a froth this week. Should be hitting on all cylinders come Friday.