Anger Rankings - 9/10

Welcome to the weekly “Anger Rankings”, a new weekly column that will highlight what Cincinnati Bearcats fans are angry about each week.

Honorable mentions

Luke Fickell - no one can ever get seriously angry at the coach, who took full responsibility for the loss on Saturday saying he did not do a good job of having them prepared for the moment. It’s frustrating to hear Fickell say that, when he of all people should understand what it takes to beat Ohio State.

Talent gap - someone on twitter noted he was angry about the talent gap. I think most Bearcats fans expected Saturday to be much closer than 42-0, but ultimately, what we learned is the talent gap between a top 5 team and a top 5 Group of Five team is much wider than hoped for.

5. Big East

I am mad at Pittsburgh, Louisville, and West Virginia for the role they played in disbanding the Big East. Especially those first two. Cincinnati had rivalry trophy games with Pitt and Louisville, which are no longer played annually. The rivalry with Pitt only lasted 8 years (2005-2013) and the game was played for the River City Trophy. But the Louisville rivalry dates all the way back to 1929, with the winner claiming the Keg of Nails. Louisville won the last meeting in 2013 and therefore has permanent possession of the Keg, which is a reason on its own to be angry.

But now, without those teams, Cincinnati’s only rivalry game is this Saturday’s Battle for the Victory Bell game against Miami Ohio. It’s a rivalry that goes back 124 years and it’s one that Cincinnati does not have the all-time edge in, but recently it doesn’t help Cincinnati as far as strength of schedule and national relevance.

4. Ohio State fans

Most were good on Saturday. The ones I interacted with were funny and kind. I heard a few horror stories from friends and from folks on social media. But I think the majority of the OSU anger towards fans does in fact, come from social media. It’s the ones with the twitter fingers who just fire off any old random nonsense.

3. Graeters Ice Cream

With respect to Xavier, is this now the Bearcats’ biggest rivalry? Kidding...

Cincinnati fans got to witness the true definition of cyber bullying late last week after local ice cream shop Graeters announced their decision to unveil Buckeye Blitz ice cream. They could have done this at any time over the past, I don’t know, years or months? But they chose to make this announcement just days before Cincinnati played Ohio State. Fans were PISSED! And following continued harassment of the Graeters’ social media handle, they made a decision

That only made things worse. Because that is trolling. Knowing Cincinnati would not beat Ohio State, Graeters just riled up fans even more.

Finally, on Friday at around 3:00, Bearcats fans had won...

2. Barstool Sports

There are plenty of reasons to be angry at Barstool Sports, but for this specific purpose, the reason why Cincinnati fans are riled up and angry is because of this article published late last week before the Ohio State game. Barstool tried to spin an angle where this was the most important game ever noting Cincinnati actually had a countdown clock to game time. Worth noting, that Cincinnati has had that countdown clock for pretty much a decade now, before every game. Whether the opponent is Ohio State, UCLA, or Alabama A&M, the countdown is running each week as a way to signify to the players that time is running out and it’s time to get focused and prepared for the game.

1. Narrative that Ohio State OWNS Ohio

Yes, Ohio State is the best college football team in Ohio. Ever. That has never been questioned, it will never be changed. But the idea, this narrative that everything in Ohio runs through Ohio State, is absurd. With all due respect, not everyone grows up wanting to be a Buckeye. Not every single student, not every football player. There are people, from the Cincinnati area specifically, that prefer to stay in the Cincinnati area and attend UC. I know people that are from the Toledo area that decided to attend school at Toledo.

Ohio State is awesome. In many, many ways. But just because they are THE Ohio State, does not mean everyone wants to go there.

This is a stupid story and a stupid narrative.

Follow Down the Drive on Twitter and Instagram and share your thoughts on what makes you angry in future weeks.

Revisit last week’s debut Anger Rankings