Year Three Opens With a Rout and a Freshman Named Cleveland
Cleveland State52
UMass17
- Game
- 2026 Week 1
- Date
- 2026-09-05
- Site
- Home
- Result
- Win
- Record
- 1-0
Friends, the Vikings have signed a five-star offensive lineman from Maryland, and his name, I swear to you on my mother’s rosary, is Jamie Cleveland.
I found out at Big Stan’s. Stan had the recruiting list taped to the cooler and was pointing at it with a salami. “Mick. Mick. His name.” The counter council passed the list around like a holy relic. Chester read it twice and nodded, which for Chester is a standing ovation. Our freshman class came in fifteenth in the country, and the kid with the city’s name on his back is going to be blocking for Amar’e Hocker for years. You can’t write this stuff. Well, I can. I am.
Then our guys opened year three at home and buried UMass, 52-17. Thirty-five points of daylight. Hocker’s a sophomore now, rated 81, and he looked like a man who’s done this before, because he has.
Jersey thirty-three goes in the closet. Donna has installed a second rod. Four pierogi. Put it in the time capsule.
The Vikings beat UMass by thirty-five points, which is a lot more than they beat UMass by last year. Progress, measured against a fixed point. I respect a control group.
I’ll be honest about what changed in the offseason, because it’s the only thing that matters: Terion Stewart, two straight thousand-yard seasons, graduated. So did a big chunk of the offensive line. And six transfers came in, including a cornerback from Syracuse, Jayden Bellamy, who arrives rated 90. I’ve never typed “90” next to a Vikings defender before. My hands were shaking. It was the coffee.
The Lantern Room reopened trivia Tuesday. Nadia welcomed us back by hanging a second plaque under last year’s “Most Consistent Team.” This one says “Defending.” We finished last.
“Lil,” because the Ledger’s new intern asked: a college band. Lil Ken and the Standard Deviations. We played one show. It was a library.
Back and forth
Jamie Cleveland, Kenny. It’s destiny.
It’s a surname. Statistically, somebody had to have it.
Thirty-five-point win to open!
Against UMass. Let’s see September get serious.
A rout to open year three, a five-star freshman with the whole city on his back, and Ken’s band reunion indefinitely postponed.
Split Decision is fiction. Mickey Bridges, Ken Hogmanes and The Lakefront Ledger are invented; the games and scores are not.