Rough Starts and New Beginnings
The Key for the week of September 23, 2024
Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day..
Just when you thought the Bengals had broken the prime time jinx, it reared its ugly head again this week as the favored Bengals were beaten by a rookie quarterback and their own inconsistent defense to lose to Washington on Monday night football. The Commanders scored on every possession—in fact, the NFL says it’s the first game since 1940 with no turnovers and no punts. Speaking of stats, since the NFL expanded the playoff field in 1990, only four of the league’s 162 teams made the playoffs after starting 0-3. A soft schedule leading up to a trip to the Super Bowl at Joe Burrow’s old stomping grounds of New Orleans now seems to be a pipe dream. Up next is a road game against Carolina and old friend Andy Dalton, who has a 2-1 record against his old team.
Shutout for Satterfield
Scott Satterfield needs all the wins he can get to show fans he’s the coach for the long term for the UC Bearcats, and a 34-0 blanking of Houston certainly helps. It’s the first shutout at home for the Bearcats since 2018, and the first Power Four shutout for UC since a 16-0 win over Virginia Tech in 1995 under Rick Minter. UC could easily be unbeaten, if not for the one-point loss to Pitt. Things get interesting next weekend, as the Bearcats hit the road to Texas Tech, who also won its conference opener this weekend against Arizona State.
What’s next for the Reds?
As the home club limps out of town for a series of road games at Cleveland and Chicago to close out the season, it’s natural to speculate who will be the team’s next skipper. The David Bell departure seemed like a fait acompli after the team’s horrible nosedive from being in contention early in August. Yes, there have been unfortunate injuries that stymied the growth of the young club, but it’s been a bit shocking to see how the team has, some games, looked like world beaters, then the next game gone through the motions. It may be too strong to say the team had given up on its manager, but Barry Larkin inferred in a recent broadcast that players seem to settle for mediocrity. That won’t get you a World Series or even a division title. Look for Miami’s soon-to-be-released manager Skip Schumacker or former Reds catcher and Cubs manager David Ross to be in the mix.
Ben’s Best Bet
Coming off a tie in Nashville, FC Cincinnati is looking for points any way it can get them in a race to stave off Columbus for #2 in the Conference. Next up for the Orange and Blue is LAFC, fourth in the Western Conference. With four matches left in the regular season, and with FC saying it wants to peak at the right time heading into the playoffs, this would be a good place to start. With results across the league, FC Cincinnati clinched a top-four spot in the Eastern Conference with the tie and earned home-field advantage in the Round One Best-of-3 Series of the MLS Cup Playoffs. Bet MGM has FC as the favorite going into the LAFC match, and Ben says this should be a good start to the end of season push. Go with FC to try to solidify that lead and lock down second place in the conference before the post-season.