Tavien St. Clair, under the watchful eyes of Ryan Day, is poised to be the quality backup at quarterback at Ohio State – what you must have to be a contender for the national title. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
If you travel and ask questions you get questions…and in the West what’s on people’s minds is the difference in the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.
Jackson, WY – Barely two hours from the stadium gate at Boise State University…at Wyoming…and Montana State (FCS)…people in the West are no less excited for football out here as they are for Saturday’s opener between Ohio State and Ball State at Lane and High, in Columbus.
Traveling for a few days this week, it’s fun to follow…and to see….how the other half thinks regarding what everyone, coast to coast, with be consumed with this weekend.
And I couldn’t do it without the house and dog sitters – too numerous to name.
Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA and Ohio State sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Every restaurant and bar in the West have ESPN on the screen above the bar. Paul Finebaum is everywhere. Perish that thought.
Lane Kiffin comes up, and people scoff. Character in college football? It depends on one’s won-lost record. Kiffen wins, so he’s currently the college game’s equivalent of Rhett Butler.
Being this close to Utah, Michigan fans would be dismayed to hear that the jury is hardly out on Kyle Whittingham’s body of work here as a coach. Ann Arbor will find out soon enough.
“He’ll be a good 9-3 coach anywhere there’s competition.” A comment heard on Montana sports show this week.
And when people find out you’re from Ohio they’re not shy to share their opinions on Big Ten football, Ohio State…and of course, the money!
“Carpetbaggers,” someone declared about the Big Ten on a local show covering the Mountain West Conference, Thursday evening. “They took the PAC 12’s ‘haves’ and left the ‘have nots’.
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“I hope Oregan gets their butts kicked,” said a man I met Thursday at a local restaurant. “Sold out. As if they didn’t have enough money.”
That may or may not be true. I didn’t ask. Didn’t care. I was struggling with bad food.
“You can cut the arrogance at Oregon with a knife,” he added. “Everyone hopes they get their a– kicked.” Oregon opens with Boise State on Saturday.
The general consensus in the West would appear to be that Oregon, arrogance or not, is still going to be good – very good. They should be, according to reports. They have the money.
According to national sentiment, Oregon belongs with Ohio State at the top of the national list – because they’ve positioned themselves, monetarily, with those who can compete nationally.
And now Indiana, if you believe the rumors, is on the list. Suddenly, out of the blue. Two seasons under Curt Cignetti. Not Kyle Whittingham. Again, we don’t know. I don’t care.
What I do know is that finally, after all these years, someone out there’s doing what’s necessary to make it more interesting in the Big Ten…more than the final weekend of the season, when Michigan plays Ohio State. And according to the man at the table next to mine Thursday, that may or may not be in the future.
“‘I’m from Michigan,” he said. “But they hired Whittingham. Things could be changing, different.”
Different? He didn’t say. But clean, perhaps. Or cleaner.
Whether Indiana has the money, or enough money to ensure having quality second-stringers, remains to be seen. I’d say yes, regarding the Buckeyes. They’ve always had a Cardale Jones.
And money and its pursuit is no secret. Ohio State volleyball coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg recently called the current NIL atmosphere of college sports “the pursuit of things that don’t last.”
And those who acknowledge are pretty much resigned to them. You have no choice. You either sell your soul to have that backup quarterback, or you resign to finishing 9-3, like Kyle Whittinghams everywhere.
“You know it’s true,” I heard on the local Wyoming football show. “When there’s that much good football across America and the same twenty teams are still the ones good enough to win it all.”
“I know it isn’t coaching,” Finebaum, himself, admits. “If it was coaching North Carolina would have won more than four games with Belichick last year.”
Money, it would appear, is also the root of all winning!
Follow the best in area sports with Darke County’s on-air voice…Scott Ward on 97.5 FM, WTGR.
You will also notice, if you haven’t, the local WTGR ads appearing on Press Pros features through the first three weeks of the fall sports season.
The reason? Respect for the job that Sports Director Scott Ward does in play-by-play profiling of area sports on the Greenville channel, 97.5, FM.
Primarily the voice for Versailles football and basketball in the MAC Conference, Ward has been there long enough to garner the respect and admiration for just how committed, and good, a station of that size can be. Ward, himself, has been there since 2004, and has no plans to move.
We’re happy to have their logo alongside ours at Press Pros, and hope area listeners who don’t know already, know where to find what’s usually the best football game to listen to live on Friday nights. Apt as not, you’re going to hear Scott Ward.
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