Ouch

Well, my Hajj to The U didn't go as planned. First of all I was unable to officially pay homage to The 7th Floor Crew as The U plays at Landshark Stadium, no longer The OB, which is actually in Ft. Lauderdale and no where near Mahoney Hall on The U's campus. I would also like to add that Miami as a city is pretty much a dump and I certainly wouldn't want to live there. Just when we thought we were in the mix at old Pro Player Stadium the beehive we had stirred up struck with a ferocity never quite seen before. By clicking on "seen before" be sure to take note that Miami had an all out block on. There were six dudes on the returner then he got all Devin Hester on us, a few shifty moves, a few bone crushing hits, and about 60 yards later put six up on the board. Not good people, not good. That plane ride back was painful. I'm trying to hold out hope that we're going to snatch up three wins in a row to close out the season and become bowl eligible but each week that passes it's harder for me to do. This week Boston College comes into town. They really have the football gods on their side as Mark Herzlich is a cancer survivor and a man's man not only on the field but off.

In other news, there is some chatter around Charlottesville today that Jon Gruden was in yesterday as a possible candidate for the football job as it will more than likely open up after the season. I cannot confirm this. I have no evidence to say he was here nor do I have information that he wasn't here. All I can say is that it is a rumor and that these types of rumors will certainly continue to swirl until a coach is hired in the future. Personally, I don't know why Chucky would go to collegiate level. There is too much work involved in recruiting and then on top of that he would have to develop players. I don't think he has the patience to do all of that especially with some coaching jobs sure to open up in the NFL. But, stranger things have happened. Chucky is from Sandusky, Ohio. He grew up in South Bend so Notre Dame could go after him, but he chose not to attend Notre Dame. He spent a year at Muskingum College in south east Ohio and then, wait for it, wait, wait waittttttttttttttt, transferred to _ayton where he was a back up QB. So, if he was hired I would have to quickly explain to him how I feel about his alma mater and lay out how much Xavier owns that program. Other than that, his resume speaks for itself. He's won a super bowl and essentially put together the Raider team that lost to his Buccaneer squad. I will say that if he is at the collegiate level he will surely land recruits because they know his work and that he would surely be able to develop them into true players. He loves QB's but right now UVA doesn't necessarily have a true stud QB, but maybe Gruden would be the guy to develop the dudes we got. He is a heck of a play caller. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens. Stay tuned as the carousel music is cuing up. Hop on the ride.

The Buckeyes went into Happy Valley and quickly made it unhappy Valley. Vest and company did a terrific job on Saturday winning 24-7, arguably their best game played this season as far as results are concerned. Perhaps this was the win Ohio State needed to start taking that monkey off the back. Pryor looked good as he was rolling out of the pocket, making some good reads both in the air and on the ground. The defense again showed why they are one of the most dominating forces in college football this year giving Clark all that he could handle. Cameron Heyward is an absolute beast on the line. He could easily go top 10 if he leaves, but of course the Bucks will just reload and that defense could be something special next year.

Xavier won both of their exhibition games last week in a dominating nature. Both games had multiple double digit scoring from players. Jordan Crawford was clearly the highlight as he played tremendous is both outings and really looks like he is going to be "the guy" for Xavier this year. He not only scored from inside and out but also dished out assists proving that he is an all around player ready to step up and dominate the A-10. Watch out Chris Wright, you may have a contender for player of the year.

EAch week that passes it becomes easier and easier to see how soft and awful _ayton is. I just read the power rankings on ESPN.com as the season opens tonight. I took note that _ayton was in fact #23 in the first week of the rankings. What I also took note of was the fact that zero of _ayton's opponents this year were in those rankings but five of Xavier's opponents were in the top 37 of the rankings. Good job _ayton. Let's see how that pre-season talk holds up in March.

College basketball officially starts tonight. North Carolina, Syracuse, and Ohio State all play tonight. I will certainly be tuned into ESPNU to scope out the early season action. I really would like to see Denver win tonight in Monday Night Football so that the Bengal nation doesn't start popping off about being first in the AFC North. I will give the Bengals their credit, they looked impressive in a grind it out win against the Ravens. Cedric Benson seems to have really turned his game around as he is having a nice season and even ole' boy Ocho-Cinco is doing his thing. That being said, Mangini is one step closer to being fired. The Browns fired his boy Kokinis as GM and have stated that the job is Mark Homgren's if he chooses to accept. That would mean that the Browns plan to run their organization like the Dolphins. Holmgren would essentially be like The Tuna and be in charge of all football operations. I hope the first step taken by whoever takes that job is to fire Mangini. He sucks and absolutely ran this team the furthest possible into the ground.

It's only a matter of a few weeks before I can start listening to Christmas music and pop in Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. There are so many things I love about the holiday season. I cannot wait for Thanksgiving so I can get into full Holiday mode.

-'Killa