This is why Brian Kelly is one of the best football coaches in the country. He doesn’t worry a whole lot about what he doesn’t have. He just takes what he has to work with and wins.

A lot of coaches like to say they don’t spend a lot of time worrying about who’s hurt, who’s holding out, who’s ineligible. About 95 percent of them are lying when they say that. You bet coaches break a sweat in the middle of the night when they know they’re going into a game without a key player. I love it when coaches say, we’re not going to talk about who’s not here, we’re going to talk about who IS here. Then, of course, he wanders back to his strategy room and groans about to whatever assistant coach, secretary or owner will listen to him.

I’m sure Kelly moans about the same thing in private. And I’m pretty sure at some point in his dealings with the media, somewhere, he’s uttered the same line about who’s he not worrying about. But I know this: with the system he runs, Kelly can plug just about any quarterback with a modicum of talent and win. That’s why he’s one of the best football coaches in America.

Like yesterday. He know on the flight home from South Florida he wasn’t going to have Tony Pike. On the day Pike had his arm surgery, which was Tuesday of this week I believe, Kelly was floating the ruse that Pike might play against Louisville. If his game was to make Louisville coach, Steve Kragthorpe stop and think about it, only for a minute, maybe it was good strategy. But Kelly knew all along that you had a better shot at quarterbacking his team against Louisville than Tony Pike did. Yet he didn’t just find a way to replace the most important player on his team. He found a way to drop a keg of nails on the Cardinals heads.

Good coaches do that. They always have an end game. When I worked in Tulsa, Oklahoma years ago, we had four major college football teams in my station’s coverage area. In Norman, there was Barry Switzer and the Sooners. Switzer was larger than life, knew it, played it and won by running the ball a lot. If his quarterback threw the ball 20 times a season, it was a bad season. At Oklahoma State, Jimmy Johnson was coaching the Cowboys. He was from Switzer’s coaching tree, had an upstart and talented coaching staff. He could never beat Oklahoma. But Jimmy Jump Up, as Switzer used to call him breathed new life into what was the doormat of the then Big Eight.

At Tulsa, there was John Cooper. This is long before Cooper landed at Ohio State, long before the ‘boys in downtown Columbus’ picked him apart for sport. Cooper pieced together some nice teams. Had a running back by the name of Ricky Watts, who went onto some success in the NFL.

But the smartest of the bunch may have been another coach who ran a big time program within the scope of our television signal. It was Lou Holtz, the head hog in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Holtz had landed there, after flaming out in less than one season coaching the New York Jets. By 1977, he had the Razorbacks roaring again and in the January first, 1978 Orange Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners. Arkansas was a big, big underdog. More than 18 poins, as I recall. And to make matters worse, Holtz had suspended his star running back, Ben Cowins.

Now the 1977 Razorbacks were no slouch. They came into the game number six in the country. But with Cowins, and three other starters for that matter, suspended, Holtz had to find a way to handle the Sooners blistering offense and score some points of his own. He found a way, in giving the football to a running back who wasn’t a household name, even in his own household. His name was Roland Sales. Sales had run up a modest 399 yards all season. His best game was 71 yards. But Holtz knew Sales slashing style would be the perfect way to not only attack Oklahoma’s defense, it would control the clock and keep the Sooners offense off the field. Sales rushed 23-times that night for 205 yards. Arkansas beat Oklahoma, 31-6. I was there. And I saw Holtz find a way to get his team a win.

This is what Brian Kelly does. This is why he’s one of the hottest coach in America. This is why in a month or so, his name will be bandied about like tennis ball when better paying jobs come open at bigger schools. Ben Mauk gets hurt, there’s always Dustin Grutza. Mauk is denied another year of eligibility, there’s Tony Pike. Pike hurts his arm, here comes Zach Collaros who tosses the ball 17 times Saturday against Louisville and completes 15 passes.

Maybe it’s Kelly’s system, maybe its over recruiting at key positions, maybe it’s luck. Maybe it’s all of that. Roland Sales hasn’t been mentioned in any sportscast anywhere in 25 years. But he was all I could think about Saturday watching Collaros do his thing. Kelly looks nothing like Lou Holtz. Kelly coaches nothing like Lou Holtz did. Kelly’s teams throw so many passes, the control tower at CVG diverts jets. Holtz would rather dine on nuclear waste than throw a pass. But they both have a lot in common. Let’s hope that stops before the conversation turns to Notre Dame.

If UC head football coach, Brian Kelly is doing what I think he's doing, we're watching a giant game of 'cat and mouse'. Kelly said Tuesday that quarterback Tony Pike may play this Saturday against Louisville. That was quite a statement, as Pike was just shaking off the wooziness of anesthesia. The senior QB had early morning surgery Tuesday to reattached a plate on his left forearm, initially put there after Pike broke his arm last season. The plate came loose after Pike took a hit in the Bearcats win over South Florida last Thursday night.

Kelly says Pike could be back at practice Thursday. Unless he went to a tent revival after surgery, I don't see how Pike can. But Kelly is floating this, I think, to keep the 'Ville on its toes. When you don't know whom you have to prepare for, it tends to chew up a lot of practice time.

UC is a prohibitive favorite, something like 17 points this week. The Bearcats are playing at home. And their back-up QB, Zach Collaros was terrific in relief of the injured Pike in Tampa last week. It makes no sense to play Pike this week. But for Kelly to say that this early in the week would be making Louisville's job easier. So we get 'cat and mouse' for awhile.

I said on channel 5 the other night that I knew the next loss for Xavier was out there, but I couldn’t see it on the horizon. There’s a comment that had shelf life of about ten minutes. I’m watching this game Saturday night, the sound was down I was at dinner, and I’m saying to myself…self, the Muskies don’t appear to be playing very good defense in this game. Little did I know that you and I could find three guys off the street and play better defense than the Muskies did. 81-percent is the number of shots Duquesne made in the first half of last night’s game. Do you know how bad you have to play to let the other guy make 81-percent of his shots. And almost as worse, the Muskies turned the ball over seven of their first 14 possessions. Don’t play defense, give the ball away and, and make only 53-percent of your free throws, it’s amazing the Muskies had a chance to win the game.

So was last night a bump in the road, or a warning shot? Well since it was only the third conference loss in the last two seasons for ‘X’, I’m going to say it was just a speed bump. And listening to Sean Miller after the game last night, he almost seemed relieved that his team lost a game this far out from the tournament. I know he wasn’t. But the last thing a coach wants is for his team to get complacent. Things to work on, as they say in the land of coach speak.

Here’s where I think UC is today: very much alive for an NCAA tournament. CBS Sports basketball guru, Seth Davis said Thursday on one of the ESPN shows that UC’s win over Notre Dame this week was devastating to the Irish because…quote…Cincinnati isn’t going to the NCAA tournament. Another opinion that had a shelf life of 15 seconds.

By beating Georgetown, a top 25 team for a long time this season, the Bearcats now have 16-wins. They’re 6-5 in the Big East with seven games to go. They’re 16-8 overall. If they go 3-4 in their final seven, they finish at 19-12, more important 9-9 in the conference. Last year, a ‘500’ Big East record was the threshold for making the NCAA tournament. I think they can go 3-4. They’ve got some games that just aren’t do-able, like at Pittsburgh in a week. But a home game with St. John’s is still in play, so too is a game with Seton Hall. They beat Hugs and West Virginia on the road last season. They got Hugs at Fifth-Third in a couple of weeks. Very do-able. Nancy Zimpher is about to load up the U-Haul, UC is winning again. This is the best week in years for UC fans.

TJ Houshmanzadeh is playing the role of Chad Johnson this winter. Last winter, Ocho Cinco was looking for any hot mic in broadcasting to yap about how much he hated being in Cincinnati and how much he wanted to get traded. To the Dolphins, Eagles, Redskins, you pick any of the other 31-teams in the league, that’s where Ocho Cinco wanted to be. ABC baby, anywhere but Cincinnati. We all know how well that turned out. Ocho Cinco was a runor for most of this season.

The only difference between what Chad did last winter and what’s going on with TJ now, is that TJ actually may have a chance to leave. He is a restricted free agent. And as late as last week, Marvin Lewis said he prefers not to slap a franchise tag on TJ. Perhaps he’s saving it just in case Stacy Andrews grows another leg between now and training camp.

What Marvin, and his boss, Silent Mike should be more interested in, rather than what they prefer to do, is figuring out why their best players want out of here. And if this is coming down to a preference, they may want to consult with Carson Palmer to see if he’d prefer to throw the football at Houshmandzeh or at Chris Henry who runs pass routes about as well as Mike Duncan ran the Republican National Committee this past fall. Oops, got Keith Olbermann there on you, didn’t I?

Maybe number 9 would prefer throwing to last year’s draft blank, second round pick Jerome Simpson.

Of course, Houshmandzadeh can always refuse to sign the franchise contract, but who’s turning down 10-million a year in this economic climate. And if he does refuse to sign, the Bengals could then simply dump him in June, when all of the big money has been spent on other players, leaving TJ to play for a pittance.

The best course of action would be to make a reasonable offer to Houshmandzadeh, who has been the most reasonable player around here in some of the most unreasonable circumstances. But we all know the chance of that happening…

Which brings us to the next big story of the week, the Reds bottom feeding as spring training begins. Darryle Ward, Jacque Jones, be still my thumping heart. What, Robin Jennings wasn’t available? This is beginning to smack of the strategy Jim Bowden had in his time around here: bring in a lot of aging veterans throw ‘em up against the wall and see who sticks.

I understand that you have to have a willing partner to do a deal. But wouldn’t the more prudent business move be to wait and see how desperate players like Bobby Abreu and Garrett Anderson become before clogging up your roster with the likes of Jones, Ward and Jonny Gomes?

Let me just says for the record, I see no value in a goal of finishing with just a winning record. 82-80 does nothing for me. And it shouldn’t do anything for you, unless it gets the Reds into the playoffs. That’s it. That’s the only goal you should demand from your team: making the playoffs. That’s winning. The rest is mediocrity, or worse.

Finally, I could care less about Michael Phelps blowing into a bong pipe. I know he’s an Olympic hero. But honestly, he comes off as a bit of a doof. This is the same guy who celebrated his performance in the 2004 Olympics with a DUI. Now, he’s blowing in to a bong pipe and it was caught on camera. I could spend a whole three hours talking about cell phone cameras and the people who think they’re journalists by clicking away at celebrities or even unsuspecting schleps like me and you. What those people do is far worse than what Phelps did.

Phelps apologized, was baneed from competitive swimming and training fees were suspended for three months. There’s a set back, the Olympics are what, three and a half years away? He’s getting seven, eight million in endorsements? This absolutely has to kill Phelps. So, whomever is running the USA swimming program is looking a little moronic today, too.

But it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to Phelps or the Olympic movment. You probably wouldn’t have given him five seconds of thought until 2012. But now, this. You might even say it’s good marketing. Bangin’ on the bong pipe like a big bass drum. It’s a golden moment.

Spending T-Day working, anchoring the NEWS believe it or not. Had some great help this evening at 5p & 6p from my colleague Michelle Hopkins. But YIKES! I'm anchoring solo tonight at 11p.

Just posted the latest Broo View Podcast. I have an indepth interview with Brian Kelly, the football coach at the University of Cincinnati, as well as BCS expert, Jerry Palm. You can find the BVP on my my web site, www.kenbroo.com. But if you're in a hurry to get to all of those "Black Friday" bargains, you can also download it here.

Wednesday, we gave you Mike Florio's take on the best teams through three weeks of the 2008 NFL schedule. Now, here are his candidates for worst...

It's amazing how, in a league where the system is set up to help losing teams win again, so many of the same teams are the dregs of football, year in and year out.

Sounds as though, from reading this article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Browns are once again in the middle of a quarterback controversy.

Some news in the Washington Post about a couple of former Cincinnati Reds. Has it really been five years since Aaron Boone was traded to the Yankees?

When he was a guest on WLWT's Sports Rock a month or so ago, I asked UC head football coach, Brian Kelly why UC and Ohio State couldn't play a football game every couple of years or so. Kelly answered my questioned by saying it was up to UC to prove that it's worthy of such a deal. Both, of course, are the only BCS conference schools in the state of Ohio. It was a good answer.

But how is UC 'proving' it's worthy of Ohio State by scheduling a game at Akron. Akron! Are you kidding me? This is the same UC athletic department that is trying to get out of a yearly home and home series with Miami, Ohio, a perenniel opponent. UC would gladly play Miami every year at Nippert. But it says it's done traveling to Oxford for games. And now, UC is going to Akron? Whose bright idea was that? Can you imagine Ohio State scheduling at game at Akron, or any other MAC school? And UC will compound this dumb scheduling move with a trip to Huntington, West Virginia next week to play CUSA's Marshall. This is how a BCS conference football team schedules? Good luck building a case to play Ohio State doing that!

Brian Kelly deserves better. UC should have bought its way out of this mess and scheduled two more games at Nippert.

It's National Letter Of Intent day all over the country. The University of Cincinnati did just fine, signing 24 recruits, including the running back who broke all of Archie Griffin's rushing records at Columbus Eastmore, Isiah Pead. Kelly is particularly pleased with the speed of this, his second UC recruiting class.

You can find plenty of other information on the best destination for high school sports anywhere, highschoolplaybook.com.

And my man, Frank Solich, had himself a good day of signings at Ohio University. Solich got a terrific option quarterback out of California, as well as some stout linemen. Among his haul this season, Bakari Bussey, the son of former Bengal Barney Bussey. Solich beat out Indiana to get a wide receiver who has solid speed.

Well check this out!


You know what this sounds like to me? Renegotiation. Johnson signed a six year, $35.5 million deal in 2006. 16 million of that has already been paid, meaning Johnson will average just under $4.5 million for the deal that runs through the 2011 season. That's under value for a receiver his his talent in today's market.

Rosenhaus and Johnson can request a trade. But knowing Mike Brown, it won't happen on their terms. Remember, when Corey Dillon began making noise, it took him four years to get out of Cincinnati. I'd be expccting Johnson in a Bengals uniform for the forseeable future.

Here's what I'll be looking for this weekend....in no particular order.

How many of the nine unbeaten Division I (or whatever they're calling it this week) teams win. Can the University of Cincinnati and the University of South Florida stay on a collision course for a November 3rd showdown? That could be the game that decides who wins the Big East title.

Can Kentucky beat LSU? Don't laugh, UK is good, last week's loss to South Carolina not withstandings. And could LSU experience a letdown, after a late rally last week to beat arch rival Florida?

How badly will Southern Cal beat Arizona? If the Trojans are the team I think they are, I think the Wildcats will be the team that pays for the Southern Cal loss to Stanford last week.

Sunday, I'll be looking to see if the Bengals can win a game they're supposed to. Yep, they're banged up. But the Chiefs aren't that good. It will be interesting to see if the KC running game gets healthy against a pourous Bengals defense. But this is a game that could make or break the Bengals season. How will they respond?

I really want to see if the Cowboys are for real. They barely got by the Bills last Monday night to remain unbeaten. The week, they have to play another unbeaten team, New England. The combined record of Dallas' opponents this season is 6-19. This will be their first, real test of the season.

I'll be keeping an eye on the Houston at Jacksonville match up. These are two upstart teams in the AFC South, which is becoming the toughest division in the NFL.

Outside of football, I want to watch the Rockies and Diamondbacks. Both are writing terrific stories on how to put together a major league baseball team and then, how to execute the game on the field. I think the Rockies will ultimately prevail in this series. But the emergence of both is a great sign for the game of baseball.

I also want to see if the Yankees pull the trigger on Joe Torre. Because until and if they do, the rest of the teams with managerial openings, like the Reds, are on hold. If Torre goes, does Tony LaRussa head to New York opening the way for Joe Girardie to take the Reds job. Or do the Reds dream big and make a run at Torre?

These may be some of the topics I hit this Sunday morning from 9am until Noon on 700 WLW in Cincinnati. I'll be in my usual "Sunday Morning Sportstalk" seat, fielding your phone calls, leading up to the Bengals pre-game show.

Then, at 5:30pm, I'll be on 1530 Homer in Cincinnati, fielding your phone calls on the Bengals post game show.

And to top it off, Sunday night, after the Saints and Seahawks game on WLWT channel 5 in Cincinnati, I'll be hosting "Sports Rock"! It's always the last, best word on the Bengals. Join George Vogel, Dave Lapham, Box Miller and me for the liveliest sports show on the planet. How's that for hype!

And, head on over to my web site: www.kenbroo.com. The latest edition of Bengals Report Podcast is posted on the front page. Bengals Report executive editor, Marc Hardin and I preview the Bengals vs Chiefs game.

It's a big weekend in sports. Have fun!

The University of Cincinnati made their call today. It was a good one. They've hired Brian Kelly to be their next head football coach. Kelly is fresh from Central Michigan University, where he just coached his team to the MAC Championship. He runs a high tech offense and has an enthusiasm about him that should be infectuous.

UC football has fallen on hard times, from an attendance standpoint. Not enough fringe fans attend games and there hard core base isn't as big as it used to be. It's a shame. Nippert Stadium is one of the great places to watch a college game. There've been some terrific coaches in the last 20 years and a lot of terrific players. But UC has never been able to capture enough 'buzz' in the city to make going to its football games 'the thing to do. Kelly's wide open approach to offense may change that. Good hire.

The latest Bengals Report is up and running on my web site: www.kenbroo.com. If you're in a hurry, just click here and it'll take you right to our latest podcast.

The latest Broo View podcast will be up and running no later than mid day Tuesday.

More coming later tonight!

Ken

Just posted on my web site www.kenbroo.com is the latest edition of Bengals Report. The executive editor of that fine publication, Marc Hardin, and I discuss tomorrow night's game with the Ravens. You'll hear comments from T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Carson Palmer. There's some other cool audio over there too. But if you're in a hurry, here's a link to the latest Bengals Report podcast.

Also, just posted on my web site is the latest edition of Broo v Broo. The opinions are flying fast and furious on this week's NFL match-ups, as well as the latest in college football. UC and Ohio get plenty of play this week. You can find it at www.kenbroo.com under the "Podcasts & More" category.

Bengals are getting healthier. It appears Brian Simmons will be able to play Thursday night against the Ravens. The game will be televised on WLWT Channel 5 in Cincinnati. At 7pm, I'll host a 'live' special from Paul Brown Stadium to get you ready for the game.

Major blow to the UC football program today. Seven assistant coaches have left to join Mark Dantonio, immediately. Left behind are only interim head coach Pat Narduzzi and one other assistant, believed to be the strength coach. Narduzzi has informed UC Athletic Director, Mike Thomas, he has until December 6th to decide whether or not he wants Narduzzi as the Bearcats new head coach. If Narduzzi doesn't hear by then, he says he'll join Dantonio's staff too.

Here's the amazing part: UC is not holding the current assistants to their contract, which run through January, 2007. Rather, they've let them go and will allow them to come back to UC for one week prior to whatever bowl game UC is sent to. Can you imagine a Division I school allowing its football team to be coached by coaches from another Division I college? Will Thomas allow these guys who skated on him to use their same officies, when they come back for their one week encore? Unbelievable.

On the other hand, the Ohio Bobcats are in Detroit tonight, getting ready for their MAC Championship showdown with Central Michigan. It's a match up of coaches that seem to be on separate paths. CMU's Brian Kelly is a hot ticket, coming close to getting the head coaches' job at Michigan State, as well as Iowa State. Frank Solich has found a home in Athens, and has played the coaching carousel game. I think this will be a coach's game. Sure the players will ultimately determine who wins and who loses. But Solich's deliberate ball control offense and his attention to detail on defense should be the difference. Don't get me wrong, Central is very good. But as active as the Ohio front seven is, I think it will be difficult for CMU to get its vertical passing game going.

This will more or less be a road game for Ohio, with CMU located right down the road from Ford Field. No problem for the Bobcats. They're road warriors. Ask Kent, Illinois, Northern Illinois and Miami.

First Tri-State High School football team to play for a state championship this weekend, the Ryle Raiders in Kentucky AAAA. Good luck to Bryson Warner's team. We'll have the highlights Thursday night at 11p, on WLWT Channel 5 in Cincinnati

Busy, busy day Thursday.

Ken

Final posting from a busy day in college football...no, Michigan and Ohio State should NOT play against each other in the BCS Championship game...OSU will play either USC or Notre Dame. Next week's game will determine that....81 points combined must have made Woody and Bo laugh hard and shake their heads in disbelief....Troy Smith will win the Heisman...Saturday night, the bubble burst for Rutgers.....they ran into a Cincinnati team playing its best football of the season....UC was forced to start its back up quarterback, Nick Davila, when Dustin Grutza was hurt earlier in the week...Rutgers wasn't going to the BCS Championship game, even if it finished the season unbeaten....this loss may have cost the Scarlet Knights a spot in any other BCS game....UC locked up a bowl bid with the win....it could play in a more significant game with a win at Connecticut next Saturday...the crowed was boisterous at Nippert Stadium.....but only 27,000 for a game like this? And with a lot of fans in the house thanks to some two for one ticket give aways...this was not good...it was the biggest win, arguably in UC history....it was the highest ranked team the UC football team has beaten in school history....I'll repeat again what I have said publicly numerous times: UC is lucky to have Mark Dantonio as its head coach....he'll get overtures in the next six weeks and the school better do everything in its power to keep him....Dantonio is the third lowest paid head coach among all BCS teams.

Ken

14 play drive, touchdown Troy Smith to Roy Hall....Smith and Hall converted three times on third down and one of those was third and 16, when Hall and Smith hooked up for 21 yards. Each team has had the ball once, each team has scored....pretty good start.

Traction on the recently replanted OSU turf seems to be dicey...it's only been three weeks since this most recent resurfacing

There's another good BCS match up in Ohio tonight...unbeaten Rutgers plays at Cincinnati. UC's defense was ripped apart pretty good by West Virginia last week...Rutgers like to run...22,000 tickets have reportedly been sold for the 7:45pm start...

On the eve of "The Big Game", there are a couple of other games I want to deal with. First, is the 'other big game' in college football Saturday. Unbeaten Rutgers invades Nippert Stadium for a 7:45pm match up with the University of Cincinnati. This game may have as many playoff implications as the one in Columbus.

The battle between OSU and Michigan will probably eliminate one team from the BCS Championship game. A win by UC Saturday will surely eliminate Rutgers from any championship game consideration. Rutgers is still a long shot, even with a win in Cincinnati.

But in a sense, this is a much bigger game for UC. It has been on national television twice this season, winning once, losing once.. But the bigger story than the games with Pitt and South Florida has been the pathetic attendance. It was so bad at the South Florida game, that the ESPN director was instructing his camera people to 'shoot tight' to avoid showing the enormous amount of empty seats.

UC football has never been the 'thing to do' in Cincinnati. It's campus is tough to get to, tough to find parking on and not exactly surrounded by the safest neighborhood in Cincinnati. For all of those reasons, the discretionary ticket buyer has avoided UC football.

There's another reason why UC struggles to get fans to Nippert: it's brand of football hasn't exactly been the most exciting variety. Under previous coach, Rick Minter, defense was stressed. Under current coach, Mark Dantonio (one of the truly great people and rising stars in the coaching profession), ball control offense has been the hallmark.

Like it or not, what will attract a crowd to a product that historically has struggled (and it doesn't matter if it's football or food products) is excitement, a 'buzz', a 'got to get there, got to have it' kind of thing. UC football is competing for the entertainment dollar. It has to appeal to the fringe fan, who would just as well spend his or her dollar on a movie as they would go to a football game in Clifton. The way to create that excitement, that buzz, is to field a team that has an offense that can score from anywhere, 'light it up'. Most coaches hate that, because it takes a large amount of control out of their hands. Turnovers become more of a factor, your defense will have to spend more time on the field because you either turn it over of score quickly, and your quarterback needs to he 'on' every game. Coaches hate to give up control of anything, most of all their on field product.

But, if UC were to go down that road, I believe it would begin building a stronger following. Remember, this is still a commuter school. Students and faculty leave the campus in droves Friday evenings and don't return until the following Monday. UC is battling that, too. But, everybody loves a good time, everybody loves a party. Create that atmosphere on the field, and that program will have a chance. It's a leap of faith, philosophically, for Dantonio and his staff. But I believe they have the talent to pull it off.

Now, to the other 'big game'. Unless you've lived through it, unless you've attended Ohio University, suffered with their football team and its string of broken promises, bad coaches and awful records, it's tough to fully appreciate what happened in Athens, Ohio, Thursday night. Last night, Ohio University won the MAC East division.....in football. Just stringing those words together would, in most years, be cause for loved ones to have you seek help.

Ohio (they've pretty much dropped the University part and for God sake, don't ever say Ohio U again) dominated Akron, enroute to a 17-7 win. It pushed the Bobcats record this season to 8-3, with a game at rival Miami coming up next Friday. The 'Cats have a spot in the MAC Championship game on November 30 against Central Michigan.

The architect behind all of this is head coach, Frank Solich. Fired by Nebraska in 2004 for having the audacity to only go 9-3 (and a win over Miami next week would give him the same record at OU), Solich has taken a rag tag bunch of left overs from his predecessor, added two of his own recruiting classes and has pulled the Bobcats out of the abyss with an option offense and a defensive strategy straight out of the Big 12. The Bobcats have gone on the road this season and beaten MAC pre-season champion pick Northern Illinois, MAC east division pre-season pick Kent State and pulled off an upset win at Big Ten Illinois. Their only losses were to Bowling Green, at Missouri and at Rutgers. This isn't a Cinderella season in Athens, Ohio. This is Walt Disney opening the entire vault.

The brains behind this operation is Ohio University school President, Dr. Roderick McDavis, who hired Solich and paid him a salary the second highest on campus, only to his. McDavis watched in late 2004 when five MAC football teams marched to bowl games (and minimum $750,000 pay days) and figured hiring a big time coach and finally fixing the football team would accomplish two things. One, if it won, it would bring in money that would help pay for the rest of his athletic program that had often operated in the 'red'. Two, it would get some positive publicity for his school, often confused nationally with Ohio State and worse Miami, Ohio.

Academia, I'm told, scoffed at the idea and bristled when McDavis paid Solich a salary approaching $250,000 a year. Memo to academia: nobody in the chemistry department, or biology lab or in the english department gets in the newspaper or on the nightly TV news unless they find a formula for synthetic gas, develope a cure for the common cold or write modern day Shakespeare. That's a tough one for academia to handle, I know. I love teachers. None of us would be where we are without them. But in colleges, athletics have always been the calling card for a university to sell it's other products. Get 'em in the tent with athletics, then tell them the good news about your academics. McDavis 'got' that.

With Thursday night's win, Ohio (U) will go to a bowl game. Solich will be hailed and probably forgiven for his DUI in Athens last winter. The University can now tell its story to the nation on a higher platform. It's Scripps School of Journalism, its radio-tv department, its business school, it's school of oesteopathic medicine and the rest of what makes Ohio University special will get more of a national spotlight.

It's been a long time coming. It may be only football. But this is why it matters. It is great to be finally out of the hole.

Come on over to my web site: www.kenbroo.com. I'll see you there!

Ken