Today in 2003 - Cincinnati Bengals vs Pittsburgh Steelers

Today in 2003, the Cincinnati Bengals went to Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in a Week 13 matchup.

The Bengals got things started in the first quarter on a big play.  Jon Kitna threw a 51 yard touchdown pass to Kelley Washington and led at the end of the quarter 7-0.

The Steelers scored in the second quarter on a 23 yard Jeff Reed field goal.  Cincy answered when Kitna threw a 4 yard touchdown pass to Chad Ochocinco (then Johnson).  At halftime, the Bengals led 14-3.

Pittsburgh provided the only scoring in the third quarter, when Jerome Bettis ran for a 1 yard touchdown.  The Bengals led 14-10.

In the fourth quarter, Reed closed the gap with a 39 yard field goal.  Shayne Graham responded for the Bengals with a 44 yard field goal and the score was 17-13.  Pittsburgh took its first lead with a 16 yard pass from Tommy Maddox to Hines Ward. 

But Cincinnati would not be denied.  The Bengals took the lead for good on an 18 yard pass from Kitna to Matt Schobel.  The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 24-20.

For the Steelers, Tommy Maddox passed 28-42 for 313 yards, with a touchdown and an interception.  Hines Ward had 13 receptions for 149 yards and a touchdown.  Plaxico Burress had 8 receptions for 112 yards.  Jerome Bettis had 20 rushes for 62 yards and a touchdown.  He also had a catch for 5 yards.  Troy Polamalu recorded a sack.

For the Bengals, Jon Kitna passed 18-32 for 271 yards and 3 touchdowns.  He also had 3 runs for 18 yards.  Chad Ochocinco had 6 receptions for 117 yards and a touchdown.  Peter Warrick had 5 receptions for 54 yards.  Duane Clemons and John Thornton each had 2 sacks.  Oliver Gibson, Kevin Hardy, Brian Simmons, and Justin Smith each had half a sack.  Artrell Hawkins had an interception.

The Steelers fell to 4-8 with the loss.  They finished the season at 6-10, third in the AFC North.  The Bengals went to 7-5.  They finished the season at 8-8, second in the AFC North.

Trivia

• This was Bill Cowher’s 12^th season coaching the Steelers.  He coached the team from 1992-2006.
  
• This was Marvin Lewis’ first season as head coach of the Bengals.  He is in his 9^th season as head coach today.
  
• Cincy’s defensive coordinator is now Minnesota Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier.
  
• Frazier was a defensive back for the Chicago Bears from 1981-85.
  
• Cowher played linebacker for the Cleveland Browns in 1980 and 1982, and the Philadelphia Eagles from 1983-84.
  
• Steelers’ offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey was the head coach of the Buffalo Bills from 2004-05.
  
• Mularkey played tight end for the Minnesota Vikings from 1983-88 and Pittsburgh from 1989-91.
  
• The Steelers tight ends coach is current Arizona Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt.
  
• Whisenhunt played tight end for the Atlanta Falcons from 1985-88, Washington Redskins in 1990, and New York Jets from 1991-92.

Here are some historical scores on this day for teams facing each other this week, on November 23,

1952 – Los Angeles Rams 34 – San Francisco 21

1969 – Green Bay 20 – New York Giants 10

1997 – New England 20 – Indianapolis 17

1997 – Miami 34 – Oakland 16

2003 – New England 38 – Indianapolis 34

2003 – Houston 17 – Atlanta 13

Game stats can be found on Pro-Football-Reference.com at Cincinnati Bengals vs Pittsburgh  Steelers - November 30, 2003.

Last Place Update

November 29, 2011 – Welcome to this week’s Last Place Update, where the 0-11 Indianapolis Colts maintained a stranglehold on their title as this week’s Kings of the Cellar.  Reggie Wayne had a great game, but the Colts just couldn’t get it done against Carolina.  Indy has a two game lead over the 2-9 Minnesota Vikings and St. Louis Rams.  The last time the Colts lost 11 games was in 1998, when they went 3-13. The last time Indy finished a season with 11 losses was in 1985, when they were 5-11 and had another number 18 at quarterback, Mike Pagel.

This week’s honorable mention goes to the St. Louis Rams for not learning from past mistakes.  They made the mistake of punting to Arizona’s Patrick Peterson in both games and he made the Rams pay with losses.

This week’s second honorable mention goes to the 4-7 San Diego Chargers, who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and could have avoided overtime with that missed field goal attempt at the end of regulation.  The Chargers have now lost six straight, second longest only to the Colts.  San Diego faces the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday night.  The Jags just fired Jack Del Rio and are struggling anyway.  The Chargers should break their losing streak, but Jacksonville is primed to deliver an upset. 

Next Loss

The Colts fired defensive coordinator Larry Coyer and changed quarterbacks.  Indy already has the daunting task of playing the New England Patriots in Foxboro.  The question isn’t who will win.  The question is will the Patriots give the Colts their second 62-7 drubbing of the season?  Maybe not.  Replacing Curtis Painter with Dan Orlovsky won’t help, but new defensive coordinator Mike Murphy might.

Minnesota hosts Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos.  Tebow has defied all the negative expectations and delivered wins.  This game will be no different.  Tebow will win ugly and go to 6-1 as a starter.  Oh yeah…this is about Minnesota.  Well this is Minnesota’s best chance for a win for a few weeks.  After Denver, the Vikings face the Lions in Detroit and then host the high powered New Orleans Saints.  In fact, the Saints host the Lions on Sunday night.  The Minnesota’s near future doesn’t look so good.

The Rams go to sunny California to take on division rival San Francisco 49ers.  Both teams are stinging from painful losses, but the Niners will bounce back and give the Rams their tenth loss of the season.

Here are a couple of historical scores on this day for teams facing each other this week: November 29,

1970 – Los Angeles Rams 30 – San Francisco 13

1992 – Pittsburgh 21 – Cincinnati 9

Some College Football Series Trivia

November 28, 2011 – Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend.  This is one of my favorite weeks in college football: championships and arch-rivalries.  Although we won’t focus solely on the BCS Top 10, some of those teams are playing this week.

The #1 LSU Tigers face the #14 Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship at the Georgia Dome.  LSU leads the series 15-12-1.  They are 1-1 in SEC Championship games against each other.  The series is also tied 6-6 since 1986, but the Bulldogs have won three out of the last four games against the Tigers.  Georgia should make a game of it for a while, but LSU has too much team speed and should win.  The last time LSU shut out Georgia was 7-0 in 1951.  The last time Georgia shut out LSU was 7-0 in 1949.  Their only tie game was 13-13 in 1950.

The #3 Oklahoma State Cowboys host the #10 Oklahoma Sooners in Boone Pickens Stadium for the Oklahoma Bedlam Football Game.  Oklahoma owns the series 82-16-7 and the Sooners have won the past eight straight against the Cowboys.  Oklahoma State has never won more than two games in a row against Oklahoma, but should win this one.  The last time Oklahoma shut out Oklahoma State was 27-0 in 2009.  The last time Oklahoma State shut out Oklahoma was 12-0 in 1995.  Their last tie game was 15-15 in 1992.

The #5 Virginia Tech Hokies face the #20 Clemson Tigers in the ACC Championship game in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Clemson leads the series 18-12-1 and the Tigers beat the Hokies 23-3 earlier this season.  However, Virginia Tech is 5-1 against Clemson since 1998.  The tendency is if two college teams meet twice in the same season, the team who lost the first game tends to win the second.  Unless one of the teams falls apart, this should be a close game.  The last time Virginia Tech shut out Clemson was 37-0 in 1998.  The last time Clemson shut out Virginia Tech was 21-0 in 1979.  Their only tie was 0-0 in 1906.

The #6 Houston Cougars take on the #24 Southern Miss Golden Eagles for the Conference USA Championship.  Southern Miss leads the series 8-5, but Houston is 3-2 against the Golden Eagles since 2005.  This could be an upset, since this is the first time each team is facing a BCS Top 25 opponent this season.  The only shutout in the series is a 33-0 Southern Miss win in 1997.

The #7 Boise State Broncos host the New Mexico Lobos on the blue field of Bronco Stadium.  This is their third ever meeting.  The Broncos won the first two decisively, in 1999 and 2000, and there’s nothing other than a total collapse to stop the Broncos from decisively beating the Lobos again.

The South Division Champion UCLA Bruins go to Eugene on Friday to take on the North Division Champion #9 Oregon Ducks for the Pac-12 Championship.  UCLA leads the series 39-25, but Oregon is 8-2 since 2000.  This is their first meeting this season and should be an Oregon win.  UCLA only beat one ranked opponent this year, Arizona State.  The last time UCLA shut out Oregon was 16-0 in 2007.  The last time Oregon shut out UCLA was 21-0 in 1957. 

The Legends Division Champions #13 Michigan State Spartans face the Leaders Division Champions #15 Wisconsin Badgers for the Big 10 Championship at Lucas Stadium, home of the winless Indianapolis Colts.  Michigan State leads the series 30-20 and already won their earlier meeting this season.  This could be another upset and again, the loser in an earlier game tends to win the later game.  Michigan State is 15-8 against Wisconsin since 1985.  The last time Michigan State shut out Wisconsin was 36-0 in 1988.  The last time Wisconsin shut out Michigan State was 32-0 in 1983.

The #17 Baylor Bears host the #22 Texas Longhorns in Floyd Casey Stadium.  Texas owns the series 72-23-5, but Baylor broke the Longhorns’ 12 game winning streak against the Bears back in October.  Although Texas could pull off the upset, Baylor may be too much for the Longhorns and the Bears are at home this time.  The last time Texas shut out Baylor was 62-0 in 2005.  The last time Baylor shut out Texas was 16-0 in 1980.  Their last tie game was 7-7 in 1957.

Here are some historical scores for this week’s matchups played on November 28,

1912 – Colorado State 33 – Wyoming 0

1918 – Oklahoma 27 – Oklahoma State 0

1918 – Wisconsin 7 – Michigan State 6

1935 – Oklahoma 25 – Oklahoma State 0

1953 – Oklahoma 42 – Oklahoma State 7

1959 – Oklahoma 17 – Oklahoma State 7

1964 – Oklahoma 21 – Oklahoma State 16

1970 – Oklahoma 66 – Oklahoma State 6

1970 – Utah State 45 – New Mexico State 21

1981 – Oklahoma 27 – Oklahoma State 3

2009 – Oklahoma 27 – Oklahoma State - 0

Today in 1967 - Denver Broncos vs San Diego Chargers

Today in 1967, the Denver Broncos went to San Diego Stadium to take on the San Diego Chargers in a Week 12 contest.

The Broncos provided the only scoring in the first quarter on a 9 yard touchdown pass from Steve Tensi to Al Denson.  They added to their lead in the second quarter Al Crabtree caught a 5 yard touchdown pass from Tensi.  The San Diego answered on a 7 yard touchdown run by Dickie Post.  Then Bob Humphreys kicked a 13 yard field goal to increase Denver’s lead.  The Broncos led at halftime 17-7.

San Diego scored in the third quarter on a 24 yard field goal by Dick Van Raaphorst.  Humphreys answered for Denver with a 16 yard field goal and Denver led 20-10.

In the fourth quarter, Speedy Duncan ran a blocked Humphreys field goal attempt 72 yards for a touchdown and cut Denver’s lead to 3.  Post put the game away for the Chargers on an 8 yard touchdown run.  The San Diego Chargers beat the Denver Broncos 24-20.

For the Broncos, Steve Tensi passed 18-41 for 253 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  Floyd Little had 22 rushes for 79 yards.  Eric Crabtree had 8 receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown.  Al Denson had 7 receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown.  Jack Lentz had an interception for the defense.

For the Chargers, John Hadl passed 13-26 for 202 yards and in interception.  Dickie Post had 21 rushes for 77 yards and 2 touchdowns.  He also had 3 catches for 26 yards.  Gary Garrison had 4 receptions for 119 yards.  Chuck Allen picked off 2 Tensi passes.

The Broncos fell to 2-10 with the loss.  They finished the season at 3-11, fourth in the AFL West.  The Chargers went to 8-1-1.  They finished the season at 8-5-1, third in the AFL West.

Trivia

• There were 5 Hall of Famers present: Floyd Little for the Broncos, and Lance Alworth, Larry Little, Ron Mix, and head coach Sid Gillman for the Chargers.
  
• This was Sid Gillman’s eighth season coaching the Chargers.  He coached the team from 1960-71 and led the team to an AFL Championship in 1963.
  
• This was Lou Saban’s first season coaching the Broncos.  He coached the team from 1967-71.  He also was the head coach of the Buffalo Bills from 1962-65 and 1972-76.  He led the Bills to two AFL Championships in 1964 and 1965.
  
• Saban played for the Cleveland Browns from 1946-49.
  
• Denver had eleven rookies in their starting lineup, six on defense and five on offense, including Hall of Famer Floyd Little.
  
• San Diego backup quarterback Kay Stephenson coached the Buffalo Bills from 1983-85.

Here are some historical scores on this day for teams facing each other this week, on November 23,

1941 – Chicago Cardinals 7 – Cleveland Rams 0

1961 – Green Bay 17 – Detroit 9

1961 – New York Titans (Jets) 21 – Buffalo 14

1969 – Detroit 16 – Green Bay 10

1969 – San Diego 45 – Denver 24

1975 – Cleveland 35 – Cincinnati 23

1980 – Cleveland 31 – Cincinnati 7

1981 – Atlanta 31 – Minnesota 30

2003 – St. Louis 30 – Arizona 27 OT

2008 – Washington 20 – Seattle 17

Game stats can be found on Pro-Football-Reference.com at Denver Broncos vs San Diego Chargers - November 23, 1967.