Browns Loss Sure To Be Overshadowed.

The Cleveland Browns were in trouble at halftime even though they were leading 3-0 over the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Why? Because they pretty much dominated the half and yet had only a three-point lead. Billy Cundiff missed a 37-yard field goal, his third miss inside 40 yards in the last three games.

The Bills had only one sustained drive, and that resulted in Jim Leonhard’s interception in the end zone.

Otherwise, the Browns controlled the game. They had two drives of 15 plays and yet put only three points on the scoreboard.

Once the second half started, once again Cleveland made big plays yet couldn’t do anything.

Bills’ QB Kyle Orton’s second half of the half was intercepted by Joe Haden, giving the brown and orange the ball on the Buffalo 30 yard line.

But the offense could do nothing and a sack of Brian Hoyer resulted in the Browns having to punt, thus getting no points out of the turnover.

And that was really the story of the game. Buffalo got 10 points off of the three Cleveland turnovers, while the Browns didn’t or couldn’t take advantage of the Bills’ two.

Yet, all anyone will be talking about is who will start at quarterback for the Browns next week at home against Indianapolis, because after Hoyer’s second pick, his fifth in the last two games without a touchdown, coach Mike Pettine decided to give first round draft pick Johnny Manziel a shot.

And the rookie took advantage on his first drive, moving the Browns down the field and getting into the end zone himself on a 10-yard run.

He looked poised and in charge, telling players to get in the correct position. He didn’t look like he was unsure at all.

The next time Cleveland got the ball, he looked like a rookie, almost fumbling (the officials ruled his arm going forward) and throwing a 5-yard pass on 4th down and 6, thereby turning the ball over to Buffalo.

Still, we can understand Pettine’s decision.

Hoyer’s chief attribute this season was not making the big mistake and in the last two games he has committed five turnovers, putting undo pressure on the Cleveland defense.

If he’s not going to take care of the football, why not go with the guy with the better arm and more mobility.

That’s not to say that Manziel should be the starter next Sunday. It could be that Pettine and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan was sending a message to Hoyer that carelessness cannot and will not be tolerated.

Or perhaps the coaching staff feels Manziel is ready to play after watching 11 games from the sidelines, and his time is now.

It’s a delicate decision because only Cincinnati won in the AFC North today, meaning the Browns are still tied for second at 7-5 with the Steelers and Ravens, and don’t forget, the Bengals come here in two weeks.

There is no doubt that whatever Pettine decides it will over analyzed and over discussed.

Hoyer needs to have a strong running game to play well, and the Bills put eight and nine men in the box regularly, determined to stop the run.

Isaiah Crowell had just 29 yards in 17 carries, and even though Terrance West had 32 in seven attempts, his fumble gave the Bills a 14-3 lead when it was returned for a touchdown. Cleveland gained just 2.8 yards in 26 attempts.

On defense, Joe Haden made life miserable for rookie WR Sammy Watkins, who caught just three passes for 11 yards. After a slow start to the season, Haden is showing again why he is an elite cornerback.

Now, the season is into the last quarter, and the Browns, despite today’s loss are right in the thick of the playoff race. So, while fans may want to look toward the future with Manziel, Pettine still wants to win games. He now faces the controversial decision of just who gives him the best chance to do that.

If Hoyer’s Not Hurt Last Year, Is Pettine in CLE This Year?

In a weird way, Browns’ coach Mike Pettine owes his current job to Brian Hoyer, and not because of the quarterback’s performance this year in leading the Browns to a 7-4 record thus far.

Let’s go back to last season, when Cleveland got off to a 2-2 start going into a week five matchup with the Buffalo Bills, who coincidentally are the brown and orange’s opponents this Sunday.

We all know what happened in that game, Hoyer tore his ACL and was out for the season, forcing then head coach Rob Chudzinski to have to use Brandon Weeden, who didn’t play well in a week one loss to Miami or a week two loss to Baltimore.

Later, Chudzinski went to Jason Campbell and back to Weeden because the former got hurt.

The effect we took away from the season was the Browns were a decent, competitive team when they received competent quarterbacking play, which is what they received from Hoyer in wins against Minnesota and Cincinnati.

Notice we didn’t say great QB play, just decent play. That’s how close the Browns were to respectability in 2013.

We decided to test our theory, and used the average passer rating from last year, which was the 87.0 mark posted by Andrew Luck. We arrived at this figure because there were 37 QBs who qualified for the rating and Luck ranked 18th, right in the middle.

Weeden achieved a QBR higher than 87.0 just twice last season. He posted a 95.3 rate (13 for 24, 197 yards and a touchdown) in the game he relieved Hoyer in a 37-24 win over the Bills, and a 94.8 rating in a 32-28 loss to the Jaguars (24 of 40, 370 yards, 3 TDs and 2 interceptions).

Campbell had three games in which his rating was above 87.0. He posted a 105.4 in a 23-17 loss to Kansas City, who was unbeaten at the time (22 of 36, 293 yards and 2 touchdowns), a 116.3 in a 24-18 win over the Ravens (23 for 35, 262 yards and 3 scoring throws), and a 116.8 in the heartbreaking 27-26 loss to New England that probably cost Chudzinski his job.

Campbell had three games with ratings of under 70, while Weeden had four such games. As a point of comparison, Hoyer has had three games all year with a rating under 70, two of those coming in the last two weeks.

Hoyer did have a rating of under 70 in the first of his two starts last season, that being in the win over the Vikings in which he threw three interceptions.

This means last year, Browns’ quarterbacks had eight games, half the schedule, in which they received poor quarterbacking play.

Based on Hoyer’s performance this season, you would have to think Cleveland would have won two more games (23-10 loss to Miami, 14-6 loss to Baltimore, 24-13 loss to the Jets?) if their quarterbacks had done even a decent job in those contests.

If that occurred, the Browns would have finished 6-10 and the improvement from the season before perhaps keeps Chudzinski is in the job, and Pettine planning how to stop the Browns as Buffalo’s defensive coordinator.

On the other hand, two of those losses came before Hoyer took over as the starter, so maybe if Chud would have picked the more competent guy in the first place, the season would have started differently.

Nevertheless, Hoyer’s injury against the team Pettine was coaching sent the Browns into a death spiral, as they won just one more game the balance of the year.

If Brian Hoyer doesn’t get hurt, Mike Pettine may not have his current gig, and he’s right now a contender for AFC Coach of the Year.

It’s funny how things have turned out.

In Sports, Consistency is a Talent Worth Having

Last week, we were involved in a debate on Twitter about the merits of Indians’ utility man Zach Walters, as we compared him (as we have many times before) to former Tribesman Russell Branyan.

We were quizzed that it sounded like that comparison was a bad thing, which we meant it to be. Our opinion is that wild, streaky hitters like Branyan and Walters aren’t effective major league players.

Our contention is that consistency is a tool just like hitting with power, speed, and defensive ability.

Walters came to the Tribe at the trade deadline from the Nationals for Asdrubal Cabrera, and did whack some home runs immediately after being called up, hitting six dingers in his first 48 at bats. The downside is he only had four other hits, leading to a .208 batting average and mixing in just three walks.

A true all or nothing hitter.

From August 27th to the last game of the season, when Walters went 2 for 4 with a home run, the switch-hitter went 3 for 36 with 16 punch outs and just two walks. Do you think Terry Francona was anxious to put him in the lineup?

To be fair to Walters, it is a relatively small sample size and he is just 25 years old and could (and really needs to) change his approach at the plate.

Let’s go back to 2013 for a larger sample, using former Indian Mark Reynolds as the example.

Reynolds famously started on fire in April, hitting .301 with 8 HR and 22 RBI helping get the Tribe off to a good start.

However, in May, June, and July combined, Reynolds went 44 for 243, a .181 batting average, with 7 homers and 25 RBI. Francona started easing him out of the lineup and when it was all said and done, the slugger wanted out and the Tribe was happy to oblige.

We understand that no one is perfectly consistent. A .300 hitter doesn’t hit for that average every month, and neither does a .250 hitter. However, from a manager or coaches’ standpoint, those guys are gold because for the most part, you know what you will get.

That’s why guys like Branyan and perhaps Walters get placed into reserve roles. In the NBA, players with up and down performances are bench guys. If they come in and are hot, the coach can ride them. If they aren’t, they can be taken out and not be a part of the game going forward.

In Walters’ case, he is still young and many times it takes players without a lot of experience time to develop a consistent level. When Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome first came to the Indians, they had severe ups and downs too, and Mike Hargrove had to manage that. Heck, Thome was basically a platoon player in 1994 and 1995.

That’s something the front office has to keep an eye on with Jason Kipnis. Kipnis made his season in ’13 with a tremendous June in which he hit close to .400 and he had a solid September as well. The rest of the season? He was below .250. Just something to watch in 2015.

Remember how frustrated fans got with Lonnie Chisenhall last season?

That’s why players like Michael Brantley and Yan Gomes are even more valuable than you think. They were consistent all year-long and have been for a while.

Gomes strikes out a lot, but more often than not, the guys who strike out at a high rate are players more prone to peaks and valleys.

Consistency equals dependability. And that’s part of a player’s profile, one that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Hoyer Overcomes Mistakes With GW Drive

If Brian Hoyer were so inclined to listen to sports talk shows in Cleveland, he had to be thinking there would be overwhelming support for his back up after his last interception, his third of the game, this one to Dezmen Southworth, set up Atlanta with excellent field position to take a 24-23 lead with under a minute remaining.

However, the Falcons kicked the go ahead field goal with :49 remaining and their defense had been a sieve the entire game.

So, much like his first start as a Brown last season, which coincidentally was WR Josh Gordon’s first game back from suspension in 2013, Hoyer ignored the three picks and put Cleveland kicker Billy Cundiff in position to win the game from 37 yards out.

Cundiff converted and the Browns are now 7-4 on the season, and continue to be in the chase for a playoff spot in the AFC.

While the Manzealots will continue to call for Hoyer’s benching, there is no doubt he will continue to start and play until Mike Pettine’s crew is mathematically eliminated from post-season consideration.

Make no mistake, Hoyer’s two interceptions in the fourth quarter in a game that the Browns needed to win were horrible throws and decisions.

The first one in the end zone, a back leg throw picked by Desmond Trufant, came on first and goal from the Atlanta six yard line. The smart play, the obvious play is to throw the ball into the stands. Hoyer couldn’t or didn’t get it there, and a chance to build on a 23-21 advantage went out the window.

The defense held that time, giving Cleveland the ball on their own 16 with 3:46 left. The way Atlanta’s defense had performed all day, it was certainly an amount of time where the Browns could run the ball and run out the clock.

Instead, following an eight yard run by Isaiah Crowell, and a false start on rookie guard Joe Bitonio, making it 2nd and 8, the Browns’ QB threw a deep throw over the middle to TE Gary Barnidge that was almost picked off, and did throw an interception on a sideline throw on the next play to Southworth.

Too many unnecessary risks taken by Hoyer and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.

Particularly when the Browns were gaining 5.6 yards per average running play. Crowell ran for 88 yards on 12 attempts and fellow rookie Terrance West gained 62 more on 14 carries.

Why not continue to run it down the throat of the Falcons, they couldn’t stop it all day?

We believe the hardest thing for pro offensive coordinator is to NOT pass the ball.

Atlanta threw the ball 43 times plus three sacks, so they called 46 passing plays compared to 23 runs when the Browns weakness on defense is running the football.

Granted, the Falcons only gained 63 yards on those 23 attempts, but they really made no attempt to established a ground game either, and with their defense, it would be in their best interest to keep the pigskin in their hands.

The big news coming into the game was Gordon’s return and he did not disappoint, grabbing eight throws for 120 yards and reminding everyone what a beast he is. He picks up a ton of yards after the catch because he is tough to bring down.

His presence made things easier for everyone. The ground game picked up and Andrew Hawkins (5 catches, 93 yards) and Miles Austin (6 catches, 64 yards)

The banged up defense responded somehow with three sacks of Matt Ryan, two by Paul Kruger and an interception by Joe Haden. Unfortunately, the Browns could only turn the two Falcon turnovers (a fumble caused by Kruger’s sack) into two Billy Cundiff field goals.

Cundiff responded from his horrible miss last week with four field goals, included the game-winner. Spencer Lanning punted just once, after the first drive of the game.

So, it’s on to Buffalo (or somewhere) to play the Bills and another week of people saying Manziel should be the starting quarterback.

However, if it were Aaron Rodgers who did what Hoyer did today, it would be reported how he overcame a bad game to lead his team to victory. That will be heard with deaf ears in Cleveland.

Way Too Early To Blast Blatt

It is amazing that with the NBA season just 10 games old, there are fans who are dissatisfied with Cavs’ coach David Blatt.

We know the reason. The wine and gold brought in the best player on the planet and another all-star to play for the team and they are only 5-5 after the first ten contests, so it must be the coach that is the problem.

After all, there were idiots out there projecting that the Cavs would win 70 regular season games in 2014-15, something only one team in history has done. So, really Blatt’s problem is the unrealistic expectations of the fan base.

This is not to say that Blatt has made a seamless transition from the European leagues to the NBA. He hasn’t used his bench much and that’s a big key for an 82 game schedule. This is the time of year where you develop your bench, giving reserves minutes so they can contribute as the season progresses. That has to change, and tonight’s game would be a good place to start.

He’s also using LeBron James too much. James was averaging a little over 39 minutes a game prior to Wednesday’s game against San Antonio, and played 34 minutes vs. the Spurs. That’s more in the realm we’d like to see going forward to keep him fresh for the entire season.

Also, giving James more time off would allow Kevin Love assert himself more offensively. Love admitted he is struggling to find out his place in the offense, and having him on the floor with James resting would make him the primary offensive option.

Blatt is also trying to figure out who he can trust, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. The knee injury to Matthew Dellavedova was a bigger blow than most think because he is one of the few guards on the roster who can defend. His absence has caused more playing time for rookie Joe Harris, which will help in the long run.

But once again, it is still very early in the season, the Cavs have played 12% of the regular season and once again, they have a roster where roughly 2/3’s of the players are new. We know sports fans in northeast Ohio hate the word, but it’s a “process”.

If the same issues are still in place once the calendar turns to 2015, then we can have a meaningful debate about the merits of the coach. Blatt is a smart man, and he’s not a head coach for the first time, just the first time at the NBA level. He has a lot of experience coaching professionals.

He’s not a former player without a background in x’s and o’s either. He knows the game, and he knows from a strategic standpoint how to coach it. But he does have to adjust to the NBA’s 48 minute contests. If you think about it, he rests his starters like they are playing the 40 minute games he is accustomed to.

The critics are forgetting that it’s a new coaching staff and the majority of the players also just joined the team over the summer. It takes time to develop chemistry and cohesion, mostly in terms on knowing where players need the ball to be effective, and also on the defensive end where trust in mandatory.

Guys who played for Blatt in the past have raved about him, and there’s no reason to think his style has changed drastically. The things he has struggled with early in the season should be correctable.

This team will show progress, we are confident in saying that. Blaming the coach is the knee jerk reaction in these parts. Let’s allow David Blatt to coach for a while longer before it is determined that he is the problem.

Cavs’ Defense Needs to Start With Guards

The most recognized weakness experts thought the Cleveland Cavaliers would have going into the season was on the defensive end, and to this point in the campaign, that has been the case.

The wine and gold currently rank 24th in the NBA in points allowed at 104.3, 7th from the bottom, and are third last in the association in defensive field goal percentage, allowing opponents to make 48.4% of their shots.

In regard to the points, the Cavs are scoring 106.7 points per night, meaning they are outscoring their opponents by 2.4 points a game.

In defending three-point shooting, Cleveland is in the middle of the pack, allowing a 35.8 % rate, meaning the bigger problem is inside the three-point arc.

Now, this is no question that the defense is definitely affected by the number of new people on the roster. Playing well on that end of the floor requires knowing where your teammates are and having the trust that if you leave your man to help, someone else will cover for you.

That comes from playing together, and there isn’t a question here that the Cavaliers will be a better defensive team after the All Star Game than they are right now.

However, any improvement to be made on the defensive end has to come with a better effort from the backcourt, particularly Kyrie Irving.

First, let’s remember that a good portion of defense is “want to”. Working hard on that end of the floor is half the battle.

Let’s also remember that Irving has plenty of quickness. He is a superb penetrator on offense with the ability to seemingly get to the rim any time he wants to. So, there shouldn’t be any reason why the likes of Ty Lawson and Rajon Rondo blow past him time and time again during a game.

When this happens, we all know what comes next. Either Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varajao, or Kevin Love have to stop the man going to the basket, allowing a player like Rondo to dish to the vacated teammate. Rondo wound up with 16 assists against the Cavs last Friday night, and Lawson had 12 last night.

What is puzzling is that Rondo is not renown as a good shooter from outside and Lawson was 0 for 6 from behind the arc last night. This begs the question, why not give either player a step defensively and force them to beat you from outside first?

It still comes back to Irving making a commitment to be a solid player on the defensive end. Yes, it’s still early in the season and to be sure, LeBron James has to be in his ear about getting better in that area, but the two-time all-star has to get better on that end of the floor.

David Blatt cannot continue to have to put James or Shawn Marion on the opposition’s point guard when Irving can’t handle the job. They will get worn out sooner than later.

When Matthew Dellavedova gets back, you may see him take that responsibility at the end of games.

The point is this, Kyrie Irving has too much ability to be this poor of the defensive player and any improvement in this area for the Cavaliers rests on him being able to stop the parade on opposing guard going toward Cleveland’s basket.

As Cavs’ announcer Austin Carr likes to tell the story of what Jim Chones would say to him when he didn’t keep his man in front of him. Chones would tell him he was going to let him score, rather than pick up a foul.

This edition of the Cavaliers can score the basketball, but they won’t be an elite team, a championship team until they can stop the other team. Irving is the key to making that happen.

Turnovers and Not Stopping Run = Recipes for Defeat

After the Cleveland Browns’ convincing victory last Thursday night in Cincinnati, many people started convincing themselves that Mike Pettine’s team was one of the better teams in the AFC.

The reality is that yes, the Browns are a good team, an up and coming squad, but they are like most NFL teams in that if they make a bunch of mistakes, they could lose to anybody as well.

That’s what happened against Jacksonville, and it happened today in a 23-7 loss to the Houston Texans at First Energy Stadium.

If there is a recipe for losing in the NFL, what happened today could be considered as the formula.

First, lose the turnover battle. Cleveland has been very stingy in turning the football over today, but the Browns lost this category today, 2 to 1, and the game probably turned on Isaiah Crowell’s fumble on the Texans’ 19-yard line with 3:11 left in the second quarter in a tie game.

Instead of taking a 10-7 or 14-7 lead late in the half with the Browns getting the ball to start the second half, the defense let Houston go 78 yards in ten plays for a TD and a 14-7 halftime advantage.

That was huge.

Second, you have to be able to stop the running game. Houston didn’t feel the effect of not having Arian Foster today, as his back up, rookie Alfred Blue gained 156 yards in 36 carries, and in total, the Texans ran for 213 yards for the game. It is doubtful many teams win in the NFL allowing 200 yards rushing.

This has been a problem all year, and with DL Phil Taylor done for the season with a knee injury, it isn’t going to get any better. GM Ray Farmer, Pettine, and defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil have to fix this and they have to fix this before next Sunday’s game against the Falcons.

And lastly, you have to do well on third down. The Browns converted just 3 out of 15 third downs on the day. They simply couldn’t stay on the field.

These were the most glaring problems.

The Browns’ can’t have Brian Hoyer throwing the football 50 times a game and hope to win, and today’s game bears that out. Hoyer had his accuracy problems again, completing only 20 of those throws for 330 yards.

The special teams were bad too. Billy Cundiff shanked a 38-yard field goal. Christian Yount snapped a ball over Spencer Lanning’s head on a punt, Marlon Moore fumbled a kickoff return, but was ruled down, and there was a holding penalty on another kickoff return by Moore that he took to the house.

Defensively, besides not being able to stop the run, there was little to no pressure on Ryan Mallet, who was making his first NFL start. He wasn’t sacked at all, and there were few plays where he was forced to throw before he wanted to.

The coaching staff isn’t immune today either. One of our pet peeves is coaches trying to show off, and Kyle Shanahan was guilty of that today.

How? In the win against Cincinnati, Terrance West played very well, gaining 94 yards in 26 hard carries. Today, he toted the rock just five times for 12 yards as Crowell was the featured back.

We like Crowell, but we don’t understand the change from West, who has played well for most of the season.

Regardless, the Browns are now 6-4 for the season and still in the thick of the playoff race, although they aren’t the good position they were to start the day.

And they get All Pro wide receiver Josh Gordon back for next week’s game against the Falcons.

Still, the winning formula for this team is to play error free football. They didn’t today and they paid a stiff price.

Does Tribe Still Need Pitching

Yesterday was a good day for the Indians’ organization because the ace of their staff, Corey Kluber, won the American League’s Cy Young Award. He is the fourth Tribe pitcher to win that award, joining Gaylord Perry, C.C. Sabathia, and Cliff Lee.

Kluber deserved the honor, leading the league in wins with 18 and finishing second in the AL in strikeouts and complete games.

We knew this last season, but Terry Francona has a legitimate top of the rotation starter going into next season. The question is, does GM Chris Antonetti still need to add another starter, or should he be satisfied with the performance of the starters over the last two months of the season.

The answer here is you can never have too much pitching, and although the rotation was fantastic in August and September, there really isn’t much of a track record for any of the starters, including Kluber.

Before anyone goes crazy, to us, a proven track record is two to three years at a certain performance level. And while Kluber has been solid in both 2013 and 2014, the fact remains he threw only 147 innings in the prior year because of injury, and this year he pitched 235 frames. How will his arm react to the additional workload?

The only starting pitcher who toiled in the major leagues prior to 2013 is Carlos Carrasco, who was tremendous after returning to the rotation last season, but outside of the first half of the 2011 season, before needing Tommy John surgery, has little track record of success in the big leagues.

This isn’t to denigrate Carrasco, who has tremendous stuff. We are only saying it is a big leap of faith to assume the right-hander will pitch the entire 2015 season the way he finished ’14.

Trevor Bauer has the next most starts in the majors with 34, the same number Kluber had this season. His career ERA in those appearance is 4.18, which is a solid figure, but not earth shattering.

We like Bauer, and for most of last season he was the second most consistent starter for Cleveland. But, he’s thrown less than 200 innings (186) at the big league level. You simply don’t know for certain what he is going to do in 2015.

Danny Salazar? He has 30 major league starts and 162 innings under his belt.

T. J. House made 18 starts and has just a little over 100 innings in the bigs.

Josh Tomlin and Zack McAllister have more of a track record than the three guys we just mentioned. Tomlin is 29-28 lifetime with an ERA approaching 5.00 (4.89) in 477 innings. If he could pitch like he did in 2011 (12-7, 4.12 ERA) that would be nice, but that’s the last time he was effective.

McAllister is 19-25 with a 4.38 ERA lifetime in 65 starts, a total of 363 innings. He was solid in 2013, but had a mediocre season in ’14. He showed promise working in relief at the end of the season, and could be taking the same career path as Carrasco.

We wouldn’t want to bank on those two as backups if one of the youngsters falter.

It may sound like doom and gloom, but these are the things Antonetti needs to think about when constructing the pitching staff. He has to assume things will go wrong.

Think about it, Bauer and House weren’t in the rotation that opened the 2014 season.

That’s why the Tribe still needs to add another starting pitcher, preferably someone who can come in and the management can be reasonably certain they can soak up innings and pitch effectively.

The old adage is still true…you can’t have enough pitching.

The Mess That Is College Football

Really, is there any sport (or branch of it) that is more screwed up than big time college football?

Although they did expand its quest for determining a national champion by including four teams instead of two, the way they are going about it continues to be completely fouled up.

We can already see a scenario where a champion of a major conference doesn’t get the chance to play for the national title because of the inclusion of a team that doesn’t win the conference title.

For a sport that prides itself on every week being part of a defacto elimination tournament, the possibility of a non-conference champ in the pigskin version of “The Final Four” is a huge problem.

The powers that be who run college football put together a committee to determine who the four teams would be. Of course, that committee will get together at the end of the conference title games and decide which four squads will get a chance to be the first champion crowned in this matter.

No, instead there are rankings every week, which in and of itself creates a bias. Currently, the four teams in place are Mississippi State, Oregon, Florida State and TCU. The guess here is that if those teams win out, which they probably won’t, they will face off in the first playoff games.

However, if their were no rankings, and let’s say a team like Baylor dominates its last three foes (Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and #13 Kansas State). If there weren’t weekly slots shown to the public, maybe the committee decides the Bears are deserving of a chance to play for the title.

Because of the weekly standings, it’s likely that won’t happen.

Look at how winning the championship last year has Florida State positioned. Their two quality wins came over 7-2 #19 Clemson and 7-2 #18 Notre Dame. They certainly aren’t dominating teams, with only three wins by 20 points or more.

Playing in a weak conference on a week in week out basis, and with their only true blowout wins being over Wake Forest (2-7) and a football subdivision team in The Citadel (4-6), why are they sitting in the top four.

And of course we have the whole perception of superiority from the Southeastern Conference. Yes, Mississippi State gets big credit for its conference wins over Auburn and Texas A & M at the beginning of the season, but since Auburn has two losses and the Aggies have three, how impressive are those wins?

MSU’s non-conference foes? Southern Mississippi, Alabama-Birmingham, and South Alabama. Not exactly murderers row.

The system favors not playing tough teams out of conference, we get that. But why do SEC teams not get criticized for this while other teams, yes we are talking about Ohio State, are reviled for it.

There is really only one solution to the process and the college football intelligentsia continues to ignore it for now. That would be to limit the choices for any committee by putting in automatic qualifiers.

The champions of the five major conferences (SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big Twelve, and PAC 12) would get automatic bids. The highest ranked team in a determined poll not from one of these leagues would also qualify.

That would leave two teams for a selection committee to choose to fill out an eight team bracket. It just seems too logical and too simple.

Of course, that’s why it hasn’t been done.

If any other sport determined a championship in this manner, people would be livid. For some reason, it’s accepted in big time college football.

Ridiculous.

LeBron is Right, Cavs’ Fans Need to Relax

When LeBron James announced he was coming back to northeast Ohio to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers, we were all giddy. For the first time since James left, a team from Cleveland was considered a favorite to win a championship.

Thoughts of 70 wins danced in our collective heads. After all, how can any team beat the wine and gold, with their “Big Three” of James, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving.

Well, we found that out three times in the first week and a half of the NBA season.

Look at the teams that are off to fast starts this year. Golden State is 5-0, and although they have a new coach in Steve Kerr, their personnel is largely unchanged. Memphis is 6-1 with for the most part, the same cast and characters.

Houston lost Chandler Parsons to free agency, but they still have James Harden and Dwight Howard, and picked up Trevor Ariza to replace Parsons. The best team in the Eastern Conference so far? Toronto is 5-1, and they are largely the same team they ended the year with.

The Cavs have five, repeat five players who were wearing Cleveland uniform last season (Irving, Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varejao, and Matthew Dellavedova). That’s a lot of new players to get to play together.

We remember the year after the “Miracle of Richfield” season of 1975-76 when the NBA and ABA merged and the ABA players on teams not absorbed into the NBA were dispersed around the league. The Cavs were successful enough the year before and therefore went in to the 1976-77 season with the same roster that ended the previous season.

The wine and gold started out 16-4 that season, but as the new players were assimilated into their new teams, the Cavs faded and finished 43-39 for the season.

It takes time for new players to get used to playing together.

We have seen that in the first five games. How many passes have gone out-of-bounds because a teammate broke a different way from what the passer thought?

And certainly the lack of knowing each other takes its toll of the defensive end. Good defense is a product of helping each other. For example, big men cover up if a guard allows his man to get by, trusting that the guard then picks up the man he vacated.

Yes, practice helps, but you really only develop that trust by playing in games together. That will come as the schedule gets played out.

Since the Cavs turned over two-thirds of its roster, things like this are going to take time, even if the old players were replaced for the most part by either all-stars (James, Love) or veterans of many NBA seasons (Mike Miller, Shawn Marion).

It also didn’t help that the schedule maker had Cleveland play four of their first five games away from the friendly confines of The Quicken Loans Arena. Going 2-2 on the first trip of the season isn’t really that bad.

So, James is correct in telling fans and the media to relax. He and his new teammates are still learning to get a comfort level on the floor with each other. The new coach, David Blatt, is still learning what combinations work offensively and defensively.

Fans want the success to be instantaneous, but it rarely is.

If these same problems are still occurring when the calendar turns to 2015, then people can begin to worry.

We understand people in Cleveland aren’t patient, but they need to be just that.