2007 Big Ten Football Discussion

[Gatorubet]

So using the Media's SEC logic, since the Big 10 teams were knocking one another out of the NC picture for the last 40 years, that makes the Big 10 the strongest conference this universe has ever known.

After all, losing within the conference only makes the conference stronger as a whole.

Grad, Grad......that's "losing within the SEC only makes the conference stronger as a whole"

You can talk Mark May - Ah, but the strawberries! That's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes, but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, and with geometric logic, that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox did exist!

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

Big Ten has alarming lack of championship results



By Christine Brennan, USA TODAY
If you grow up in Big Ten country, as a good portion of this nation has, you learn a few truths about the autumn pastime and its inevitable extension to New Year's Day.



Big Ten has alarming lack of championship results - USATODAY.com

Don't shoot the freaking messenger...

I understand that there is a messenger who may need to be shot. I'll allow someone elder the honor....

 

[Gatorubet]

I understand that there is a messenger who may need to be shot. I'll allow someone elder the honor....

Again already????

 

[3yardsandacloud]

Grad, Grad......that's "losing within the SEC only makes the conference stronger as a whole"

You can talk Mark May - Ah, but the strawberries! That's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes, but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, and with geometric logic, that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox did exist!

I'll be outside. I'm drunker than you are, so it'll be a fair fight.

Great flick btw.

 

[BB73]

Grad, Grad......that's "losing within the SEC only makes the conference stronger as a whole"

You can talk Mark May - Ah, but the strawberries! That's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes, but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, and with geometric logic, that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox did exist!

I'm wondering which two balls you're twiddling while saying that.

 

[osugrad21]

Blade

For the 65th time, OSU or UM will be Big Ten champ

By MATT MARKEY
BLADE SPORTS WRITER

COLUMBUS - This past weekend's round of games in the Big Ten brought the conference to a familiar place. With two weeks left in the season, it's the Big Two and little else. Ohio State and Michigan are at least two games up on the rest of the conference, and when they meet in Ann Arbor Nov. 17, one champion or two will walk off that field. The bitter rivals can share the title, or either can win it outright, but nobody else has a shot at the major hardware.

Cont...

 

[BB73]

Not every national writer is always dogging tOSU.

cfn.zemek

Just to amplify a point that might have gotten lost in last week's column, but which bears repeating in the wake of Ohio State's 20-game Big Ten winning streak, fashioned on Saturday against Wisconsin: two programs have stood head and shoulders above everyone else in college football over the past six seasons, due to their consistent motivation levels and accordingly levelheaded performances. One is USC. The other is Ohio State. That's why the Buckeyes are headed for yet another BCS title game if they can survive Illinois and then beat You Know Who in Ann Arbor.

Cont'd ...

 

[bukIpower]

Ohio State: Hillary Clinton The Buckeyes don't make waves. They go out of their way not to be controversial, including not scheduling anyone this season who could beat them. They hope to bland their way to the nomination.
LSU: Rudy Giuliani The Tigers are strong on defense, and their fans aggressively promote their qualifications. They gloss over their past missteps, hoping everyone focuses on their willingness to take on anybody.

Recent article comparing teams to politcal figures by Ivan Maisel....

This just pisses me off. I can't believe someone wouldn't look at OSU's past/future OOC schedule before writing something like that? We scheduled Washington when they were a top 20 program, play usc, miami, oklahoma, va tech, and CAL in the upcoming years. To then state that the SEC is willing to take on anyone? Who in that conference has stepped up and played someone besides 1AA opponents? They'll argue that "well the SEC is too tough to get through as it is". Well is it OSU's fault that the rest of the big ten is falling behind big time to the bucks? NO it's not, we control what we do and only what we do!! We play the schedule given to us, and if we win all our games how can you say we're avoiding the big games?

If I remember correctly last year Texas, Iowa, Penn State, and Michigan were suppose to be great teams and suppose to give us troubles. Well after we defeated all those teams it just became "oh well the big ten is down".

I sure hope we can get to the Championship game now and I hope we play LSU. At first I didn't wanna play them because I think they match up well, and its New Orleans. Now I want them because we WILL be the underdog and we will have a chance to shut EVERYONE up for good. Because if we can do that and we can get the media to look at our upcoming schedule they'll see OSU is one of the god damn few who have big enough balls to schedule top 5 schools!!

In a crazy year lke this were Oklahoma is losing to Colorado, LSU is losing to a overrated Kentucky team, the #2 team's have sucked ass, and Kansas is actually in the top 5. I don't care what you're schedule looks like if you win all your games while other teams are getting upset (big time) you should atleast be given credit for not blowing it to lesser teams. If you're a great team you beat the teams you're suppose to, and you play well in big games. So far we've done the first part, and we'll see what we can do in the big games @Michigan and in the NC game.

If we get blown out in our Bowl game don't be surprised to not get invited to a NC game for a while though. Playing well in the BCS/NC game is imparative. We don't have to win the game to get the respect we deserve back though. As long as its a great game and we compete (last year we obviously didn't) it will validate that our school is not some push over. I would've never thought losing a game like that would create such a bad persception like it has.

 

[methomps]

This Rose still needs a lot of trimming - Los Angeles Times

Discussion of Rose Bowl possibilities.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

Reeling UCLA, amazingly, still controls its Rose Bowl fate.

Hopefully not for long.

 

[BB73]

This Rose still needs a lot of trimming - Los Angeles Times

What does Bette Midler's bush have to do with the Big Ten?

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

What does Bette Midler's bush have to do with the Big Ten?

From a distance, it looks like Amazon Jungle, that's what.

 

[osugrad21]

Lima

Big Ten could bowl over its critics

Jim Naveau | [email protected] - 11.09.2007
[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]COLUMBUS ? Bowl eligibility isn?t something Ohio State has to worry about most years.
This will be the eighth consecutive year it has gone to a bowl and the 18th time in the last 19 years.
If OSU wins against Illinois and Michigan the next two weeks, it will go to the BCS national championship game. If it beats Illinois and loses to Michigan, it will probably get an at-large bid to another BCS bowl. Two losses would still mean a trip to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, or something similar.
The only better recent track record in the Big Ten in the postseason belongs to Michigan, which will make its 33rd straight bowl trip, regardless of what happens next Saturday in Ann Arbor.
Penn State has made 39 bowl appearances overall, one more than Ohio State and Michigan. Wisconsin has become a regular on the bowl circuit in the last 15 years.
But for the rest of the Big Ten, becoming bowl eligible is something special.

Cont...

[/FONT]

 

[osugrad21]

ABJ



Michigan State eager for bowl appearance It would be seniors' first. Illinois attracting interest


By George M. Thomas Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Thursday, Nov 15, 2007


Ohio State Buckeyes fans are spoiled. Think not? Here, bowl game appearances are an expectation.
However, consider Michigan State (6-5) which is bowl eligible but scrambling to ensure that it gets into some sort of postseason game with a 7-5 record.

Zook reaping benefits
Illinois coach Ron Zook made his name as a recruiting maven during his coaching career, but now that his Illini (8-3) have a marquee win against the former top-rated Buckeyes, he's learning that prospective recruits are taking note.

Paterno watch on
Penn State coach Joe Paterno has his mind on the upcoming game of the Nittany Lions (8-3) against Michigan State, but Penn beat writers are already asking JoePa, 80, about his future.



Cont..

 

[shetuck]

Fox: Big Ten didn't look as bad as you think

back-handed attempt at taking a conciliatory tone, imo...

Big Ten didn't look as bad as you think

By Pete Fiutak
January 11, 2008, 1:18 PM EST

Great, now I have to look like Mr. Big Ten again.

Has there ever been a backlash like the one against the Big Ten for having the temerity to lose a second straight national championship game? Columnists and radio talk show hosts across the country couldn't shovel dirt on the league and Ohio State fast enough after the bowls, like getting whacked by LSU is like losing to Appalachian State or Duke at home.

Well, the Big Ten did lose to Appalachian State (Michigan) and Duke (Northwestern) at home, but that doesn't mean the conference is somewhere between the MAC and Conference USA on a national perception scale, as a my-dog-just-died looking Kirk Herbstreit said.

Look, if a fully healthy, fully rested LSU wasn't the best team in America, it was a close No. 2, and you'd have been nuts not to think it'd probably beat any of the other 118 D-I/FBS teams on that Monday night in the Superdome. Georgia certainly would've given LSU a fight (and I sort of think Missouri would, too), but a 99 percent healthy USC is probably the one team that truly has a claim to being the best in the country.

Also, the Big Ten shouldn't be killed for getting blown out by a healed and fired-up Trojan team in Pasadena; Illinois just so happened to be the team that got in the way of the speeding bus.

Second, to compare this year's BCS Championship to last year's is simply moronic. The Buckeyes were completely and totally outclassed, outhustled, outcoached and outplayed by Florida in every way shape and form in the Glendale debacle. Against LSU, they had several chances to turn the game around, but in the end, they just lost to a better team after battling hard for a full 60 minutes. This game was nowhere near as bad as the embarrassment against the Gators.

Third, the Michigan win over Florida and the Wisconsin and Michigan State performances have somehow been swept under the rug. The Badgers played Tennessee right down to the wire in a dead-even battle that just so happened to come out on the wrong side for the Big Ten. If nothing else, the game showed how there really isn't a speed and athleticism disparity among the top teams. The Spartans, a lower-division Big Ten team, played ACC No. 2 Boston College to the final moments in a loss. And, of course, Michigan got Chad Henne and Mike Hart healthy, and voile, the offense worked against the Gators.

cont'd...