Observations: Once again, UD or Wright State?

By HAL McCOY

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave after watching Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer get more TV face time than Shaquille O’Neal and set an ABC-TV record from grimaces and grabbing the top of the head with both hands. His team needs to hold the football with both hands.

—Let the heated discussions continue on the local college basketball front with some tangible evidence about which team is better, the University of Dayton or Wright State.

A couple of weeks ago UD beat North Florida, 78-70. On Saturday night, North Florida returned to the Dayton area from its Jacksonville nest and the Ospreys took a heavy punch to the bill by Wright State, 89-72.

UD wins by eight, Wright State wins by 17. Does that make Wright State nine points better than the Flyers? Discuss. Quietly. Impassionately. No fisticuffs, please.

—QUOTE: From former college basketball coach Abe Lemons: “Finish last in your league and they call you an idiot. Finish last in medical school and they call you a doctor.” (My physician doesn’t think that’s funny.)

—It is time to give the University of Central Florida some love and respect. The Knights, 10-and-0, won their 23rd straight Saturday night, taking apart the University of Cincinnati, 38-13.

The Bearcats entered the game ranked 24th nationally and were 9-and-1 with their loss in overtime at Temple.

Central Florida was ranked 11th behind Ohio State and West Virginia. The rip on UCF is that the Knights, from nearby Disney World, play a Mickey Mouse schedule. Well, last year the Knights played Auburn in a bowl game and won. And who did Auburn beat last year? Alabama.

At the risk of having my house egged, I propose UCF moving up to No. 9, ahead of West Virginia, which lost Saturday, and ahead of Ohio State which did — well, you know what the Buckeyes did and most-of-all what they didn’t do during their 52-51 overtime win over unranked Maryland, a .500 team.

—QUOTE: From former Marquette basketball coach Al McGuire: “My players take shop and advanced shop. Shop is when you make a chair. Advanced shop is when you paint it.” (The only thing I ever accomplished in shop class was to nearly cut off my thumb with a buzz saw.)

—Without quarterback Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State probably loses to Maryland, 45-10. The rip on Haskins was that he was all pass and no run. Well, rip up that theory.

Haskins ran 15 times for 59 yards and three touchdowns. That was when he wasn’t passing for 405 yards and three touchdowns. So Haskins had his autograph on six of Ohio State’s seven touchdowns and 42 of the 52 points.

And running back J.K. Dobbins carried the ball 37 times for 203 yards. Thirty-seven times? If they measure his legs today he probably is two inches shorter.

Despite all that, the Buckeyes won by one point in overtime. How does a team win giving up 51 points, turning the ball over three times, including once at Maryland’s 1-yard-line, and giving up 298 yards rushing to one guy, Anthony McFarland?

Before Anthony, the most famous McFarland was Spanky of the Our Gang comedy flicks. Come to think of it, the game was an Our Gang comedy.

—QUOTE: From former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz: “On our team we are all united in a common goal: to keep my job.”
(It didn’t work.)

—When University of Dayton running back Tucker Yinger rushed for 261 yards last week against Morehead State, he was 27 yards short of the school’s all-time career rushing record with one game to play.

Said Doug Hauschild, UD’s director of sports information, “If he runs next week like he did this week he’ll get those 27 yards on his first carry next week.”

Hauschild was wrong. Barely. It took Yinger two carries against Jacksonville Saturday to get the record. He finished with 203 yards in a 34-7 win, his third straight week over 200. And the school record is now 3,757 yards.

And with the win the Flyers finished 6-and-5, their 40th winning season over the last 42 years.

—QUOTE: From former Michigan State football coach Duffy Daugherty: “Not only is my quarterback ambidextrous, he can throw with both hands.” (I thought that was amphibious.)

—Since 2011, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback has the second most game-winning drives (23) behind Matt Staffford. He had a chance to make it 24 Sunday when the Bengals had the ball late in the game. It didn’t happen and the Bengals lost, 24-21, to Baltimore back-up quarterback Lamar Jackson.

—QUOTE: From former college basketball coach Abe Lemons: “I don’t have tricky plays. I’d rather have tricky players.” (The Bengals had neither on Sunday.)