OSU 30, U-M 27 (2OT): Will JT ever reach the 15?

Of all the vitriol that swirled back and forth around the windy bowl of Ohio Stadium yesterday, one sentiment was agreed upon by scarlet-and-gray and maize-and-blue fans alike: these sure look like two of the best four teams in college football.

Nothing these two bitter rivals did would change their opinions, not even the bitter end. In a matchup as even as any you'll see in college football version 2016, #2 Ohio State and #3 Michigan slugged it out, balancing solid defense with sporadic bursts of offense.

The Wolverines dominated through the first three quarters but kept the Buckeyes in the game with devastating turnovers: the first a pick six Wilton Speight tossed from his end zone into double coverage in the second quarter; the second, another ill-advised throw that found the hands of linebacker Jerome Baker, whose return, neutral zone infraction on the following play and subsequent unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Michigan's frothing coach Jim Harbaugh gave Ohio State a first and goal at the three; and a mishandled snap by Speight on the Buckeye one-yard line that ended a sure touchdown drive.

Not to be outdone, OSU countered with an interception of their own and the shank of a 19-yard field goal by sure-fire kicker Tyler Durbin with seven minutes left in regulation.

Despite the generosity from both sides, no one pulled away and the fourth quarter ended in a 17-17 stalemate. As dominant as Michigan was early, Ohio was late, and the two teams stood after 60 minutes as dead as even can be. A mere three feet separated the teams in the total yardage battle, with the Bucks up 280 yards to 279. College football's greatest rivalry has seen tie games before, but neither the epic 1973 contest (where #4 Michigan controlled the game for the most part, holding top-ranked OSU without a single passing yard and missing two field goals in the final minutes) or the 1992 draw (a moral victory for the impressive 8-3 Buckeyes against the undefeated-yet-twice-already-tied Big Ten champs) was this close. Two teams at zero-degrees, top-dead center. One had to lose, yet neither should have.

And in the end, while Ohio State's Curtis Samuel scored the winning touchdown in the second overtime session, both teams still claim a form of victory. On the previous play, an all-or-nothing fourth-and-one gamble by gunslinging head coach Urban Meyer, senior quarterback J.T. Barrett rolled left and crashed into Michigan defensive end Chris Wormley just outside the 15-yard line. The side judge (who it was later revealed lives in Ohio) immediately called first down, without a measure. But nobody was sure he actually reached the 15. Replays seemed to indicate that he was short, but not enough for the crew to change the call and risk making it back to their cars.

Instead of saying there wasn't enough video evidence, the head referee (who was forbidden from working a B1G game for a year following several blown calls in a game at Purdue) proclaimed that "upon further review, the play stands as called." Two replays were shown to the crowd inside the Horseshoe; the first seemed to show him stopped short of the stripe, causing Buckeye fans around me to gasp and swear. One fan behind me felt resigned enough in defeat to shake my hand. When the call was upheld I turned to ask him how they could have arrived at that decision, missing Barrett's quick snap and the touchdown run that followed.

Meyer feigned a fainting spell on the sideline and even took a shot at the Michigan coach at his press conference, saying that his wife called and asked him to bring home a gallon of Jimmy's favorite drink, milk. In contrast, Harbaugh spent his presser ripping the referees for several blown calls, including a questionable interference penalty called on corner Delano Hill on a critical third and seven play during the Buckeyes' drive for the game-tying field goal in the final seconds. And, of course, the first down call at the 15 in overtime.

Harbaugh has a history of, well, we'll call it complaining, about officiating after games, as evidenced by his rant after Super Bowl 47 when a goal-line stand by the Baltimore Ravens aided by a questionable non-call of defensive pass interference stopped his San Francisco 49ers as time ran out. Ravens coach John Harbaugh spent his post-game as Super Bowl champion heaping praise on his younger brother, calling him the best football coach in America, while Jim complained about "the hold on Crabtree!" The difference in class was apparent then, and it was apparent on Saturday as well.

But now, it seems that maybe Captain Khaki has a point. First, regarding the fourth down run by Barrett. Michigan stops him and the game ends right there, with the Wolverines victorious. It is now 24 hours since the last gleeful scarlet and gray clad coeds left the field and returned to their off-campus housing, and I have yet to see a replay or even a still photograph that shows Barrett reaching the 15-yard line. The pics that OSU fans have been circulating, the "proof" they claim, consists of images taken from 10-20 yards behind the line of scrimmage, well behind J.T. The photos have been cropped and rotated so it appears to be an overhead photo of Barrett holding the ball over the yard stripe.

But uncropped versions show slanted hashmarks on the field and the forced perspective of a camera angle originating at midfield. Using the same logic, if he held the ball over his head, it would appear that he was in the end zone. If I'm far enough away from the John Hancock Building, I hold my fingers apart and make it appear four inches tall. But that doesn't make it so.

Besides, if Buckeye fans are forced to manipulate photographs to make it appear that Barrett gained the first down, doesn't that speak volumes as to whether he actually did or not?

Shouldn't 60-minute wins matter?

Most college football experts refer to the 1966 Michigan State-Notre Dame contest as the "Game Of The Century". I used to think it was because of the hype of #1 playing #2 more than the outcome, a 10-10 tie. But maybe I've been wrong all along.

Some of the biggest games over the last 100 years have one thing in common: the lack of a winner. Despite newspaper headlines to the contrary, Harvard didn't beat Yale 29-29. Despite not a single yard of passing offense, Ohio State was still seen as the more worthy Rose Bowl representative from the Big Ten after their historic 10-10 tie with previously unbeaten Michigan.

The tie score in the first example helped out the Fighting Irish tremendously--in fact, they ran out the clock the last two minutes to ensure it--as they ended up winning a national championship on the "strength" of their performance in East Lansing that afternoon. And although the tie was technically eliminated in the 1996 football season, playing another team even after four quarters doesn't affect a school's ranking in the polls the way it should.

Take a look at this week's polls on the day before the first College Football Playoff rankings are released. Three teams in the top 10, Clemson, Ohio State and Penn State, have wins on their schedule that were tie games after 60 minutes. In the case of the Clemson Tigers, they needed North Carolina State's kicker to miss a chip-shot 30-yard field goal with :03 left in regulation, holding hands on the sidelines and praying for a miracle that was beyond their control.

The fact that the poor kid pushed it wide and sent them to overtime, much less that they were dead to rites based on their performance that afternoon, should matter to the playoff committee. They've made it clear that lopsided blowout scores won't give a team a positive advantage. So what about the opposite? What about a team that couldn't win a game in 60 minutes?

It matters in other pro sports as well. The NFL has had two tie games already this season. And the NHL values ties to the extent that they occupy a column of a team's record. The New Jersey Devils currently have 13 points, based on five regulation victories (worth 2 points each) and three overtime losses (worth 1 point each). In their sport, an overtime win is the same as a regulation win. But awarding points for making it into the extra session was seen as essential enough component for teams fighting for postseason playoff position, that points are awarded to the losing team.

Look at it this way. In the era of the College Football Playoff, where the "experts" have devised an highly sophisticated system to figure out the four teams who will ultimately qualify, a school should be rewarded for not needing more than four quarters each week to get where they are. Imagine if you will, a world where overtime wins and losses were recorded. This week's CFP rankings could appear as follows:

1. Alabama 9-0
2. Michigan 9-0
3. Clemson 9(1)-0
4. Washington 9(1)-0
5. Ohio State 8(1)-1(1)
6. Louisville 8-1(1)
7. Wisconsin 7(1)-2(1)
8. Texas A&M 7(2)-2
9. Auburn 7-2
10. Penn State 7(2)-2
11. Oklahoma 7-2
12. Colorado 7-2
13. Oklahoma State 7-2
14. Virginia Tech 7-2
15. Utah 7-2
16. West Virginia 7-1
17. North Carolina 7-2
18. Florida State 6-3
19. Nebraska 7-2
20. USC 6-3
21. Western Michigan 9-0
22. Boise State 8-1
23. Washington State 7-2
24. LSU 5-3
25. Arkansas 6(1)-3

There are 12 games the top 25 teams played that required the additional play, 10 in the top 10 alone. It sure gives you a better impression of a team's "resume" doesn't it?

This is the big mystery about tie games in college football. Used to be that "(OT)" or "(2OT)" would appear next to these games, a delineation of just just overtime but the number of rounds of overtime that were needed to decide the contest. No one even identifies them any more. Not ESPN. Not CBS Sportsline. Not even NCAA.com. I compiled the above list by clicking on each team's site, scrolling through their schedules, finding games decided by 3, 6 or 7 points and reading the recaps.

Shouldn't beating a team without needing overtime matter? Particularly to a committee who claims to be about more than just wins and losses? The micromanagement of this sport is ridiculous. If the games a team's opponents play against their opponents matter, why wouldn't something as basic as a regulation tie factor into the equation?

EMU 27, Ohio 20: The Eagles Have Landed

There's something happening here. And what it is ain't exactly clear.

It appears the Eastern Michigan University football team has come down with short- and long-term memory loss. The short-term part is clearer to the passive sports fan's eyes. For example, the fact that since the 2012 season the Eagles have surrendered 50 or more points SIXTEEN TIMES. That's a season and a half of severe scoreboard wear over the last four.

The long-term part is that they seem to have forgotten that they are the one of the very few FBS college football programs without a bowl invite since the Reagan era. Since their mid-1990s Charlie Batch heyday the Eagles have only reached bowl eligibility exactly once–a 6-6 season in 2011 that is seen as the pinnacle of recent EMU football history the way a three-story office building is seen as the pinnacle of Mount Clemens. It took them four seasons to win another six games.

Then came 2016.

Coach Chris Creighton has instilled an attitude of... well he's instilled something. EMU is riding a three-game winning streak–the football program is quite familiar with streaks but none associated with winning–and at 4-2, found themselves on the road to Athens facing MAC-East leading Ohio. Big underdogs. This is the type of game they don't, haven't and won't win. Yet.

On a beautiful fall football Saturday, EMU quarterback Brogan Roback decided to reassert himself with his team. Returning to campus in August as the starter, Roback was suspended for the first two games of the season for an undisclosed violation of team rules. After his replacement Todd Porter went down after a strong hit to the shoulder in EMU's victory at Bowling Green two weeks earlier, Roback regained the position of quarterback. Saturday he regained the vacated position of leader.

Breaking up a tight 3-3 battle at halftime, the redshirt junior from two hours northeast in Maumee threw for three touchdowns and set a career record with 347 yards on a 29-for-39 passing day. The separation point came with just over 11 minutes to play and the Eagles holding a shaky 13-10 lead. Roback dropped and lofted a soft spiral midway along the left edge of the end zone. Split end Sergio Bailey II reached over Bobcat cornerback Jalen Fox, who was fixing to grab the team's tenth interception of the year, and ruined his day with a picturesque snatch-and-grab to push EMU's lead to 10.

The dagger came with Roback's final touchdown throw. Up 20-17 with 3:47 left and facing a third down on Ohio's 11 yard line, the Bobcats called a blitz but Roback didn't flinch. Instead he delivered a bullet to Antoine Porter running an inside slant at the 5. Porter spun, dug, clawed and ultimately towed three Ohio defenders into the end zone. It was a sheer thing of beauty, watching a team of underdogs, laughing stocks in their own conference, travel to Athens, Ohio, a city in which they had only ever won once in program history, and break the will of the hometown favorites.

What could have been the script of so many good efforts over the years–a fourth-down field goal and a six-point lead that set the stage for [insert opponent here]'s last second win, was instead an insurmountable double digit distance. After a quick drive for three points to put them a score away, Chris Creighton's offense evaporated the last three minutes of the game with a spirit-swallowing rushing attack.

The seconds ticked down to zero, and we stepped back from the game itself to notice what happened. The Eagles did the unthinkable. They took down the Bobcats 27-20. It was Eastern's first victory over Ohio this millenium. Their first three-game road winning streak IN. A. HALF. CENTURY.

Most impressive of all was that they are now 5-2–their best start since the Internet was made available to the public–and now stand a game away from their first postseason bowl invite in nearly 30 years. Back when Eagles were known as Hurons. Other than that, you know, not that big a deal.

The Eagles are for reals. It's time we stop, watch that sound. Everybody look what's going 'round.

The Cavs win it all. What are the odds?

The final words of the 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers' NBA World Championship run have been written, the cover embossed with the title "The Greatest Story Ever Told", and as the last handfuls of confetti are swept from the downtown streets after the big parade, Cavs players, Cavs fans, the city of Cleveland and the National Basketball League front office can go to sleep tonight feeling good about what they accomplished.

Forgive me, as I'm not one to let facts get in the way of a good story. But this tall tale of such an "improbable win" deserves some fact checking.

Let's start with the role of Goliath, being played by the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors and their heart and soul, this season's unanimous NBA regular season MVP Steph Curry. While the Warriors did beat Cleveland for the 2015 title, even casual fans know that Cavalier team bore little resemblance to this year's. Two key elements, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, missed most if not all of the series. The bench underwent a necessary facelift. And perhaps most notable of all, there's a new coach calling the shots--or as many shots as Lebron James allows him to call.

For that matter, Golden State didn't play like the team we had seen all season either. It was Curry's backcourt mate Andre Iguadala who shined brighter and garnered Finals MVP honors. Bottom line: while we all know Cleveland wasn't as good as they could have been, we still may have perceived Golden State as a far better team than they may have been.

Now, on to this year's 73-win regular season. No other team in NBA history had ever accomplished such a feat, true. But there's never really been a strong correlation between teams with the strongest regular seasons winning league championships.

Really? Yeah really. With the Warriors' loss to the Cavs, we now have a situation where the team with the most-ever regular-season wins in each of the four major sports failed to win a title. We all remember the 16-0 New England Patriots of 2007, whose perfect season was dashed by the helmet-catching New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. The NHL record of 62 wins was set by Scotty Bowman's 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings, who were beaten (in more ways than one) in the conference finals by eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado. And the teams with the most wins in a major league baseball season? The 1906 Chicago Cubs and 2001 Seattle Mariners each won 116 games, yet neither could bring home a World Series title. The Cubs were taken out in six games by the cross-town rival White Sox, while the Ms fell to the Yankees in five. So much for implied greatness.

That helps put things in perspective regarding the team no one thought could be beaten. Now what about this David? The team from "Believeland", the one we've been led to believe "defied all odds" by coming back from a three-games-to-one deficit to win the NBA championship? Oh, they defied the odds all right. But it has nothing to do with what they did on the court.

I fashion myself as a rational thinker. I examine the available evidence, then I let common sense take over, as I suspect any critically thinking individual would do. With that in mind, let's examine how the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers were built.

It started in 2003 when the Cavs overcame 4-to-1 odds to win the NBA Draft lottery. And with it the chance to select hometown boy Lebron James with the #1 pick. Nothing all too unusual as an isolated incident. After all, this was essentially the same system that enabled the team from the NBA's #1 market, the New York Knicks, to defy 1-in-66 odds two decades ago and win the right to draft the top player of that generation, Patrick Ewing.

As King James grew, so did his team, eventually dethroning the Eastern Conference powerhouse Detroit Pistons and reaching the 2007 NBA Finals. But that would be the limits of Lebron In Ctown 1.0. The Cavs were swept by San Antonio, rather easily even as four-game sweeps go. In the years that followed, #23 couldn't elevate his teammates and, after butting heads with senior management, became convinced that the skill set around him would not be improving.

Faced with a future of inconsequential playoff berths, The King chose to leave town. He jumped to Miami, joining a talented Heat squad already on the brink of an Eastern Conference championship. He proceeded to reach the NBA Finals in each of his four years in South Beach, winning two World Championships.

So what happened to Cleveland, the city who lost this generation's best player without any compensation? After the last #23 jersey was set ablaze in rage-filled protest, the team braced for a bleak future with little hope for success. What they didn't know, however, was how sorry "someone" felt for their predicamant. (I'm putting "someone" in quotes so you can interpret it to mean either a higher authority in heaven or in the NBA league office.)

That "someone" followed the Cavs through the painfully awful 19-63 season that followed. It just wasn't fair, that "someone" thought. So the following June, as if by magic, Cleveland won the NBA Draft lottery with a pick they obtained from the Los Angeles Clippers the previous February--a pick with odds of less than 3%. With the gift of a #1 draft selection, the Cavs chose Duke guard Kyrie Irving.

Despite Irving winning Rookie of the Year honors, Cleveland won just two more games the following year, and three more the year after that. Just not good enough, as far as "someone" was concerned. So, as if by even more magic, the Cavs won the NBA Draft lottery again, with odds of winning at a mere 15%. Then, miracle of all miracles, Cleveland was blessed with a second straight NBA Draft lottery win after the following season, with less than 50-to-1 odds.

All told, in the four years since Lebron ran off to Miami, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Draft lottery an astonishing three times. The chances of this happening are just over in in 1,000. Or to be exact, 14 in 10,000. In other words, infinitesimal. For perspective, the odds of being born with 11 fingers or toes is 1 in 500.

Then, the message from King James that he was now conveniently "coming home". No team has ever won the NBA lottery four times. And now a team had four of their #1 overall picks on the same roster. What Lebron couldn't accomplish for the Cavs in his presence, "someone" accomplished for him in his absence. How absurd was the team's excess? So much so that they could package two of their lottery winners in a deal for Minnesota's Kevin Love, considered by most to be one of the NBA's top 10 players. No trade in league history had ever involved two #1 overall draft picks being dealt by the same team.

Whoever that "someone" was that loaded the Cavs with four years of the best talent luck can buy, had just serendipitously built a juggernaut. Suddenly any feelings of sympathy for The Little City That Could went up in a cloud of center-court talc. Talk of winning a title went from pure pie-eyed speculation to rock-solid certainty. Players everywhere were offering their services as role players on the new Dream Team, giving up double-digit minutes for the chance to sit on the bench and win a ring.

An added benefit was a complete lack of competition. For two straight regular seasons, the Cavs had the privilege of playing in arguably the weakest conference in the history of major pro sports. The 2016 version was even weaker than the year before. All that separated Cleveland from a best-of-seven series for the NBA World Championship were the Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Braves and Toronto Raptors. As toothless as that gauntlet may sound, their game was even weaker. So 12 exhibition walk-throughs later, the tickets were printed for the Cavs' second straight NBA Finals appearance.

Four games in, Believeland wasn't. After four blowouts, Warriors had built a 3-games-to-1 lead and were heading home for what they felt was the close-out game. Draymond Green had stood up to Lebron, rendering his contributions merely human and forcing him to grow his stat line during garbage time, after the outcome had been determined. Green was a force, pushing the boundaries of hard play, and had been investigated for various acts of aggression throughout the playoffs. In Game 4 he took a hard hit from Lebron and was knocked down. The King wasn't finished displaying his anger, as he stepped over Green as the former Michigan State standout tried to get to his feet. Green swung back while still on the floor, making contact with His Majesty's baggy trousers but nothing else. Lebron took issue, not with the swing which he likely didn't feel but with being called the B-word, and the two were ultimately separated by officials.

That was all #23 needed. In the post-game conference James called Green out directly, a move that surprised many former players. He said the league had to decide whether what Greed did warranted suspension from Game 5--a move that on the surface is purely factual (of course it's up to the league). But it's one of those things where bringing it up calls attention to it, forces a decision and lets the world know where he stands on the issue. The NBA responded by tossing Draymond from the critical game. A move that caused Reggie Miller to tweet what many others were thinking: "Would bet my right arm if this series was even at 2-2 Draymond Green wouldn't be suspended for GM5." Questionable timing indeed, with so much to be gained by extending the series.

As expected, the Cavs were able to exploit his absence fully in their victory as James and Irving both hit for 40-plus points. A blowout home win back at Quicken Loans Arena in Game 6 set up the all-or-nothing deciding seventh game, and the victory parade in downtown Cleveland that followed.

A great come-from-behind championship to be sure. The Greatest Story Ever Told? That's going a bit too far. An all-star team loaded with top draft picks winning a title isn't a big surprise. That's where the Cleveland angle comes in. And the last bit of the story needs to be set straight.

Cleveland has had much heartbreak lo these last 52 years. Browns quarterback Brian Sipe throwing a needless interception into the end zone in the final seconds of the 1980 AFC playoff game they were in position to win with a field goal. John Elway's drive in 1986. Ernest Byner's fumble in 1987. The near misses in two World Series in the 1990s. But there's a big difference in being snakebit, and being unfortunate.

Cleveland sports teams were not cursed. They were just bad.

Now, the city is basking in their first championship in over half a century. The odds they overcame in beating Golden State were even money compared to the odds of them landing the right pieces to a championship team.