Having played at That School Up North, you'd think that Braylon Edwards would have little problem fitting in with the Cleveland Browns.

 But Edwards has been having a rough couple of weeks.  First he charters a helicopter against the advice of coaches and teammates so he could take in the OSU-Michigan game from the sidelines on the 18th and eventually turning up late to team meetings the night before the Steelers game - a game for which he all but guaranteed a win.

Then he blindsides his teammate DB Brian Russell with a comment about a clean hit that Russell made on Bengals WR Chad Johnson during the first game with Cincy this year.  What could be next?  How about a sideline flair up caught by network TV cameras and by every beat writer in the pressbox during the second Cincy game.  Yeah, it's been a rough couple weeks and Edwards has no one to blame but himself.

When Phil Savage selected him in the first round 18 months ago, the pick was a no-brainer.  However, the minute I saw a story on one of the cable networks about how Edwards planned to market himself into millions, I could tell that there were other priorities in his life.  The axiom used to be:  play the game to the best of your abilities and the cash from endorsements and acclaim would follow.

Not so in this ESPN driven world.  Everyone wants to make their endorsement dollars now - not later.  Athletes want the acclaim now, not later, despite what they do on the field.  And if you don't perform on the field and you raise a rancor, you can expect the team to cover for you.  That's the impression I got in Berea this morning as General Manager Phil Savage came out to talk to the media for his State of the Browns address. All we heard (you can listen here) from Savage and later Coach Romeo Crennel (listen here) is that the Edwards situation is being handled internally. Great. 

Edwards would be wise to take a lesson from one of his teammates - Kellen Winslow Jr., who has been downright affable in recent months.  He's let his play on the field do the talking for him.  The result:  if he keeps doing it, all of his past transgressions will be forgiven, and many of them may have been already.

Edwards has five games this season to show why the Browns drafted him.

For a week now I've had to listen on assorted radio talk shows - local and national - read in papers, magazines and whatnot that the Michigan Wolverines deserve a rematch in the BCS National Championship Game Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz.

I've not passed judgment on that possibility, opting to wait for what happened between USC and Notre Dame last night on ABC.  Ummm yeah…Watching USC dissect the Fighting Irish in the second half was a bunch of fun.  Almost as much fun as having to sit through Steubenville's stomping of Aurora in the Ohio Division III playoffs last night.

In short:  the Trojans deserve their shot at the Bucks, and despite being somewhat young, could actually win that game.  If they beat UCLA Saturday, their appearance in the championship game is a foregone conclusion.  Given that it would have been the traditional match-up in the Rose Bowl, prepare - once again - for uber hype, this time courtesy of FOX which mortgaged their future for the rights to most of the BCS games.

You've read that I generally prefer college football to the variety played on Sundays.  It's days like today that remind me why.

I sit here in the pressbox at Cleveland Browns Stadium a mere 40 minutes before kickoff and this place lacks any form of energy.  Zip.  Nada. Nothing.  There's only a smattering of fans throughout the place and the biggest cheers when the teams hit the field for warm-ups were for the Cinicinnati Bengals.

Contrast that to last week: 40 minutes before gametime before OSU vs. Michigan and fans packed and rocked The Horseshoe.  It makes me ask:  have pro football fans become robotic or are the Cleveland Browns just so mediocre that they don't generate the passion they once did?  Could it be a bit of both?

Ummm…yeah there probably should have been more than an few more Roman numerals in these takes, but I kinda got wrapped up in something like the feature story that will run in Sunday's ABJ.  Oopps.

In my mind, Troy Smith just won the Heisman tonight and deservedly so.  The Buckeyes came into the season ranked No. 1 and had to contend with having a bullseye on their backs for every single game.  Despite one mental area, and two fumbles that werne't his fault, he rallied his team to go 29 of 41 with four TDs (settting one Bucks record) and 316 yards.  He was downright freaky at times hitting eight different receivers.  Any future QB at OSU will be hard pressed to match his efforts against Michigan.

But let's talk about that Akron connection that provided a huge spark tonight.  Antonio Pittman showed why he's talking about sticking around next year in pursuit of the Heisman Trophy; he'd be in serious contention. As I mentioned in an earlier post Chris "Beanie" Wells, gives the Bucks hope for the future at the position as long as he's got his fumbleitis cured.

But enough of what could be.  My mind is completely focused on what could happen Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz.

Why is Troy Smith going to win the Heisman?

That drive just showed why.  Pinned inside their own 10-yard line, Smith shows how incredibly elusive he is to buy time and hit Brian Robiskie for a 39-yard gain. Then, a few plays later, on a masterful play fake when we see Akron's Beanie Wells dive into the pile, he hits his best friend, Ted Ginn Jr. for a 39-yard pass TD.

It completed a 94-yard drive.  It's also clear that with Robiskie, Beanie Wells, Hartline and such, the future could be illuminous for the Bucks.

Very savvy play calling …five wideouts at the one yard line…third and goal and they throw the ball.

You had to know that the Wolverines were more concerned with Smith running the ball as opposed to throwing it.

I'll confess to being a bit skeptical had the offense not answered the bell here.  My initial impression is that this is akin to last year's Fiesta Bowl.

Wolverines with an impressive opening drive.  Of course I had to endure a Brent Musberger cliche about Bo Schembechler smiling some place or another.

It's clear that the Wolverines plan to pass to set up the run as Henne goes 4 for 4 for 67 yards.  An initial observation:  Michigan coaches paid attention to that Northwestern game.

Game's on folks.  It ain't gonna be a cakewalk, rarely are OSU v. Michigan games are.

Yeah, I'm here.  In the pressbox at Ohio Stadium in what could be termed a dream assignment.  Pity I have to work

Why is this a dream gig?  I spent two years in my early 20s matriculating at OSU, to be back in this capacity would be any writer and football fan's idea of heaven.

No. 1 v. No. 2.  OSU v. Michigan.  National Championship on the line.  Emotions running high on both sides, but possibly more so for the Wolverines because of the death of football program patriarch and Barberton native Bo Schembechler.

An Oscar winning screenwriter couldn't craft a better drama than this. I'll report with an objective eye, but it won't exactly be easy.

While shivering in the pressbox at Byers Field in Parma covering the Massillon Tigers-Toledo Whitmer Panthers game, I listened in a couple of conversations that a stadium staff member was having with several members of the press. He's basically heard through whatever grapevine he had privvy to that the neutral sites expecting to host high school playoff games Saturday were having a difficult time finding staffers because no one wanted to miss the Bucks play the Wolverines.  And this is surprising how?

You know.  Ohio.  Cradle of football.  Home to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  The state that gave footbal Paul Brown.  There would be little interest in a game that would between the two greatest rivals in college sports that would decide who got a trip to Glendale, Ariz. to the BCS National Championship Game.  Me, heck, I'd rather watch endless reruns of Providence than OSU vs. Michigan. 

No, I'm not nuts and neither is OHSAA because the organization wisely shuffled its playoff schedule to accommodate the fever that's likely to grip this state in the coming days.  For this, they deserve more than a heaping dose of credit.

A co-worker at the paper messaged me with a little tidbit from the world of cyberspace - apparently the entries for Ohio State University and the University of Michigan have been the target of cyber vandals.  As she so aptly put it - "I guess it's the Internet version of TPing.

Vandalism?  As part of OSU-Michigan Weekend.  Nooooooo….that would never happen in this yearly exchange of pleasantries. Not being able to remember the two OSU-Michigan weekends when I ummmm…errrr…ummmm…matriculated (yeah, that's what I will call it) at the Columbus campus, I can safely say that something such as that would never ever happen in this series.

Of course, that's only because I don't remember it happening during my two years there.