Bigtime Sports

By Dan Lutman

Buffalo Beat:
It was a pretty good week for both of the Buffalo sports teams, but this time it was the Bills that stood out for a change.

The Buffalo Bills went down to Houston and pulled out a dramatic 24-21 victory over the Houston Texans to improve their record to 4-6. It was a record setting day for Bills receiver Lee Evans who ended the day with 11 catches for a team record 265 yards and two touchdowns. Both of Evans’ touchdowns were 83 yards from J.P. Losman in the first quarter to give the Bills an early 14-0 lead. The Texans battled back to take a 21-17 lead late in the fourth quarter until Losman hit Peerless Price with a spectacular pass and catch with nine seconds left to give the Bills the victory. The Bills return back home on Sunday to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in a must win game for the Bills if they hope to have any shot at making the playoffs.

The Sabres took two of three more games this week to improve their record to 17-3-1 on the year. Friday night they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 in a game which the Sabres never trailed. Saturday was the return of Ryan Miller after being sidelined for six games with a lower body muscle strain. The return was not a triumphant one as the Sabres dropped a game for the second time in four days, losing to the Ottawa Senators 4-1. The Sabres did still avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time all year by defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday. The Sabres exploded for seven second period goals, with two each coming from Paul Gaustad and Thomas Vanek, as the Sabres routed the Lightning 7-2 before a sold out crowd at HSBC Arena. It was also the first win for goalie Ryan Miller since returning from a lower body muscle strain. The Sabres conclude their three game home stand by taking on the rival Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday and the Montreal Canadiens on Friday before heading on the road to take on the New York Rangers on Sunday.

Top Story:
It was a sad week in the sports world this past week as college football lost one of its all-time great coaches. Bo Schembechler died this past Friday at the age of 77. Schembechler was best known for coaching the University of Michigan from 1969-1989.
He’s infamous for his historic battles with coach Woody Hayes and the rival Ohio State Buckeyes. Schembechler played for Woody Hayes at Miami of Ohio and was also an assistant under Hayes at Ohio State before their storied rivalry began. Schembechler held the overall head to head record over Hayes at 5-4-1 and 11-9-1 overall against Ohio State. Schembechler won 13 Big Ten titles at the University of Michigan, had 194 career wins their as head coach, and one National Coach of the Year to his name. He ended his career, including six years coaching at Miami of Ohio with a 234-65-8 record. Schembechler also served as president of the Detroit Tigers from 1990-1992.
Anytime the University of Michigan is mentioned, the first name that comes to most people is Bo Schembechler. Schembechler will be missed by all in college football, especially those in the Michigan family, whom he has left an everlasting mark on.

Dan's Three Cents
Each week, I will throw in my three opinions on anything going on in the sports world that I haven’t discussed or significant stories outside of sports.

1. The Boston Red Sox have paid $51.1 million just to be able to talk to and negotiate with highly touted pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. Matsuzaka was the MVP of the World Baseball Classic for Japan, who went on to win the tournament. That’s pretty amazing! But think of it this way, what if you had to pay an obscene amount of money each time just to be able to talk to your spouse. Wouldn’t we be more careful with what we had to say to one another? The divorce rate in this country would probably be a lot lower. The Red Sox may be on to something here.

2. O.J. Simpson has come out with a book in which he supposedly writes about how he would have killed his ex-wife, Nicole Brown-Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, had he done so. This truly shows that Simpson has no remorse at all, trying to make a buck over these killings. Maybe Simpson can NOT kill a few more women so he can write a couple more books.

3. The game of the week to watch will be the Notre Dame/USC game at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday night at 8:00 on ABC. Last year, the Trojans pulled out a victory over Notre Dame in South Bend on a last second touchdown by Matt Leinhart. This Saturday’s game will have huge implications on the National Championship. USC should get in the title game with a win on Saturday and the following week over UCLA. Notre Dame will have an outside shot at the title game, but will at least secure a berth in a major BCS game with a win. Though I am a Notre Dame fan, I will go ahead and predict a 38-27 victory for USC.