Written by Brian McPeek

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The Buckeyes rolled, but not without a scare, as Beanie Wells went down with a foot injury.  Michigan wasn't as lucky, as The DickRod Era started with a home loss to the Utah Utes.  And the Tribe, they had a ten game winning streak going into the weekend and proceeded to get swept by the worst team in the American League.  Peeks talks about all of these events in The Weekend Wrap, and also starts the countdown to Browns/Cowboys.

Just Like That 

Sometimes fate doesn't cooperate on the road to the national championship game. 

That's sure how it looked Saturday afternoon in the 3^rd quarter of Ohio State's scrimmage against the JV team from Youngstown. There lay Beanie Wells, Ohio State's Heisman-caliber running back and virtual offensive motor, writhing on the YSU 5-yard line after taking one step out of the formation and crumpling to the ground. 

Just that quickly a national championship run may have ended for the Buckeyes.  

The x-rays on Wells' right foot were negative. That eliminates fractures from the list. But it doesn't eliminate the fact that he was in a walking boot when he came out of the locker room in the 4^th quarter and it doesn't eliminate the possibility that he could miss significant time recovering from whatever injury he suffered. 

Ask other athletes how sprains and strains of the foot are to deal with. Courtney Brown might have a few thoughts. Hell, Ross Homan, Wells' teammate and a Buckeye linebacker, missed all of last season after a ‘turf toe sprain' in the 3^rd game against Washington. 

Yes, even turf toe, as innocuous as it sounds, hurts like hell and can end a season. 

So the Buckeyes rolled over YSU yesterday but may have lost their big meal ticket. 43-0 doesn't feel as good as it should. Not even when Terrelle Pryor scored the first of what should be many Buckeye TDs on a run where he looked like the best player on the field despite his young age. 

Ohio State has talent oozing from every position. But they don't have another player who can replace Wells. Wells is both fast and powerful. OSU can find a player on the roster with similar speed or power, but not in one back. Because Wells is both of those guys, you can disguise your offense and not give a team a glimpse at what you might be doing when he's in the backfield. It's also clear the Beanie worked on his receiving skills this off season and was going to play a larger role in the passing game. Wells was on the receiving end of three passes in the first half Saturday. Last season he caught 5 passes all year. 

The Buckeyes need a healthy Beanie back as soon as possible. It's all about R-I-C-E. Not the university. It's got to be rest, ice, compression and elevation until the plane takes off for Los Angeles in two weeks. 

Good Start 

After watching Beanie go down I needed a huge laugh to feel better about the day. Thank you coach Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines for filling that order. 

Congratulations to UM for losing their second consecutive home opener. Goodness, at least last season the Wolverines lost to a decent team. Appalachian State has a proud history of Division 1-AA success and championships (and yes, I know it's not called Division 1-AA anymore, but you can bite me if you think I'm typing out the actual name).   

Utah has..... umm... the Flying Elvis's and a famous choir. They certainly don't have a very good football team. They made numerous mistakes against UM in Ann Arbor yesterday. Utah committed 15 penalties for 140 yards and turned the ball over 3 times yesterday IN ANN ARBOR AGAINST THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. The Utes rushed for a total of 36 yards IN THE GAME. 

Final score:  Utah 25    Michigan 23. 

Not sure I mentioned it, but the game was in Ann Arbor. 

(Non-Sequitur Alert - Just because I can, I'd like too advise all the readers out there that as this article is being written it has been 1,744 days since Michigan last beat Ohio State.  That is all.) 

Glad to see Michigan sold their soul to the devil to hire the reprehensible Rich Rodriguez and was rewarded with such a heroic, solid effort against that bad-ass squad from Utah to kick off the 2008 season.

You almost beat those Utes fellas. Keep busting your tails. At least you know your coach has your backs. Just like he had Pat White's back last year. 

Oh By the Way 

You readers want some free money?  Friday nights at 10:30 PM on www.blogtalkradio.com you can search the ‘The Cleveland Fan' and get to a show hosted by yours truly. "The Pipe-Line" features me and Mike ‘Lead Pipe' Piper in an hour of gambling discussion. The show is capped off with Lead Pipe providing his ‘Lead Pipe Locks' each week. 

Now before you laugh or discount the amateur nature of the show (and it truly gets no more amateur than we are), understand that Lead Pipe is a documented 38-15 ATS over the last two seasons on The Cleveland Fan. That's 72% and that's ridiculous for any tout. 

So give it a listen or check out the pod cast available after the show in the "Gambling Den" section of The Cleveland Fan. But only if you want money for nothing. If you already have enough free cash and disposable income then go ahead and stick with Bill Maher or some other crap. 
 
The Fooling Around is Pretty Much Over 

One week to kickoff of Browns vs. Cowboys and I can't wait to see what master strategist Romeo Crennel was hiding.  

Purposely resting players throughout training camp, purposely going light on hitting in camp (and apparently in all 4 preseason games), purposely going ‘vanilla' in regard to the play calling and expertly hiding the real talent and experience of his linebackers and defensive backs all should start paying dividends in just about one week. And it should all come together against a strong Dallas team in front of 72,000 fans at Cleveland Browns Stadium and it will also unfold before millions more watching on national television. 

Exciting. 

Color me skeptical.  

I know the Super Bowl-caliber Patriots were also 0-4 in the preseason and were outscored 89-56 in the process, but forgive me if I'm not ready to put the Browns in the same class as New England and Romeo in the same boat with Bill Belichick.  

Enough said on that topic until this time next week when things will begin to crystallize in terms of what we can expect from the 2008 Browns. But rest assured we'll cover it from all angles here at TCF. 

Playing Out the String 

A 10-game winning streak and three straight series sweeps by the Indians had the most optimistic of Tribe fans doing the math on what it might take for the Tribe to make a mad dash toward the playoffs in September. 

Getting swept by the Mariners should all but put that talk to bed for good in '08.  

It was fun while it lasted and it's always nice to see the hometown team put up 10 straight wins, but the same holes and deficiencies that were present before the Indians won 10 straight are still there.   

Here's hoping that when rosters are expanded on Monday that the Indians wisely use the final month of the season to evaluate some of the younger players who may or may not be able to help next season. No need to see David Dellucci get too many at bats nor do we need to see Juan Rincon get opportunities to pitch that should go to Rich Rundles or some other young pitchers. Use the time you have left to get something done in terms of identifying the strengths and weaknesses you'll have heading into next year. Then go out and address those weaknesses by adding some major league talent to this roster.  

Winning ballgames, while nice, has just got to be secondary to those evaluations.  

Unless Cliff Lee is on the hill. Then you sell out to get that guy his 20+ wins because he's earned that effort.