Comparing OSU-Michigan, Dallas-Cleveland
A REPEAT OF 1994 IN DALLAS?
By STEVE KING
Comparing OSU-Michigan, Dallas-Cleveland:
Most Browns fans are also Ohio State football fans.
Even those Browns fans who don’t follow the Buckeyes are well aware of the long history between the Browns and Ohio State. It started with Paul Brown, the former Ohio State head coach who was the first head coach of the Browns, stocking the team with a good number of his former Ohio State players such as Bill Willis, Lou Groza, Dante Lavelli, Lin Houston and Tommy James.
As such, then, there will be a lot of interest from Browns fans when Ohio State and Michigan square off at noon Saturday at Ohio Stadium with the East Division title and a trip to the Big Ten Championship Game on the line.
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There has been a lot of chatter coming out of Michigan this week, especially, but also for the last several weeks from both the players and the media. It’s not if the Wolverines will win, but by how much. They’re already looking forward to beating Northwestern in the conference title game and cementing their spot as one of the four teams in the College Football Playoff.
Forget that the Buckeyes have won 13 of the last 14 meetings between the schools, and haven’t lost to Michigan in Columbus since 2000. That doesn’t mean anything at all.
Meanwhile, there has been nothing coming out of Columbus but praise for the Wolverines and the challenge it will be to try to beat them.
This has all the makings of a perfect set-up, with the Buckeyes collecting all the quotes and chatter and using them to their advantage by fueling their own emotions while lulling the Wolverines into a false sense of security.
This same thing happened nearly 24 years ago, on Dec. 10, 1994, when the Browns played the Cowboys at Texas Stadium in a nationally-televised Saturday afternoon game. The Browns had a great team, but they weren’t getting credit for it, especially leading up to this game since the Cowboys were the two-time defending Super Bowl champions.
The Browns – both the players and head coach Bill Belichick and his assistants – used the media interviews during the week leading up to the game as a tool to fatten up the Cowboys. To hear the Browns tell it, Dallas was the greatest team in pro football history.
The Browns won 19-14 when safety Eric Turner tackled Dallas tight end Jay Novacek inches short of the goal line on the goal line on the game’s final play.
Will something like that happen on Saturday in Columbus?
We’ll see.
Most Browns fans are crossing their fingers that it will.
And I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it did.
Before Comparing OSU-Michigan, Dallas-Cleveland
https://brownsdailydose.comholiday-tragedy-three-former-browns-quarterbacks/
