Puskas: Rout(e) 66 brutal for KSU, little help to OSU

Random thoughts while wondering what Ohio State and Youngstown State got out of their games Saturday:

One-sided affair: A team can only play its schedule, but you can be sure the Ohio State bashers will remember the Buckeyes’ 66-0 romp over Kent State, and for all the wrong reasons.

Ohio State’s non-conference schedule has long been an easy target and Saturday didn’t help.

Of course, the Golden Flashes probably looked a little better when that game was originally scheduled. They certainly did in 2012, when Darrell Hazell was Kent State’s head coach and Jon Heacock was his defensive coordinator.

One-side affair II: The Penguins actually spotted the Bulldogs first-quarter leads of 7-0 and 10-3, but the rest of the game was all YSU.

The Penguins are two-thirds of the way through a stretch that makes the Buckeyes’ non-conference schedule look like a minefield.

The difference is that YSU apparently needs to schedule weak non-conference home games to pay the bills. OSU schedules them because ... well, I’m not sure why.

If there is one thing OSU has, it’s money.

AP style: Times have changed. Thirty or 40 years ago, a father using a “switch” to discipline a child wouldn’t register as a blip on our collective radar.

Of course, in those days, corporal punishment also was common in schools.

But this isn’t 1974 or ’84 anymore, as Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson found out Friday.

The NFL’s best running back is facing a child abuse charge for repeatedly striking his 4-year-old son with a switch.

The charges have opened a national debate on corporal punishment by parents and, to the probable dismay of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, capped perhaps the worst PR week the league has ever had.

Victor victorious: It would be nice if Victor Martinez was hitting all these home runs and collecting all these RBIs while still in an Indians uniform.

Martinez came up through the Indians’ farm system — he even played for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers at one time — but he’s now doing his best to ruin Cleveland’s playoff hopes.

Martinez, who cried during an interview when the Indians traded him to the Boston Red Sox, will be a free agent after the season. Maybe the Dolans will spend some of the money they didn’t allocate originally and bring him back.

Martinez is 35, but shows no signs of slowing down. He’s hitting .335 with 31 homers and 98 RBIs and would look good in the middle of the Indians’ lineup.

Where’s Johnny?: The current NFL controversies sure took the spotlight off Browns rookie QB Johnny Manziel.

Maybe that changes today. I have a feeling Manziel gets on the field and the Browns find a way to win. But I’ve been wrong before.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas atepuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.