2008 Big Ten Football discussion

[MD Buckeye]

ESPN - Lewis to start Indiana's season opener - College Football

Lewis to start Indiana's season opener

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Kellen Lewis is Indiana's starting quarterback again, winning a chance to lead the Hoosiers to a second straight bowl game despite being suspended for spring practice.

Hoosiers coach Bill Lynch said Tuesday that Lewis will start Saturday's opener against Western Kentucky. Lewis won back the starting job after a monthlong battle with sophomore Ben Chappell.

Chappell has thrown only two college passes but inherited the nominal starter's role in March when Lewis was suspended for breaking team rules. Lewis was reinstated last month but returned to a new no-huddle offense.

Contd.....

 

[cincibuck]

The perceived health of the Big 10 will be estalished in the first three weeks:
on week 1, Illinois - Mizzou, Michigan State - Cal and Michigan - Utah.

On week 2 Penn State - Oregon State.

Then the real test on week three headed by OSU - USC, Iowa - Iowa State, Michigan - Notre Dame, Purdue - Oregon.

Big 10 teams should go into MOST of these games as favorites and the rest of the schedule for the first three weeks looks like the kind of thing we at BP bitch about the SEC and Notre Dame, i.e. the conference should be prohibitive favorites against the likes of Eastern Illinois, Duke, YSU, Northern Colorado, Murray State.

If the collective Big 10 record for the first three weeks isn't around .800 I'd say the Buckeyes, even if undefeated, will have a hard time convincing the NC folks to pick them over a one loss SEC team or any other undefeated team.

 

[MD Buckeye]

ESPN - Indiana suspends DE Middleton, three others for opener - College Football

Indiana suspends DE Middleton, three others for opener

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana defensive end Greg Middleton, who led the nation with 16 sacks last season, and three other players have been suspended for one game for undisclosed disciplinary reasons.

Middleton was first-team All-Big Ten and a third-team All-America selection.

The suspensions, announced Tuesday by coach Bill Lynch, will be for the Hoosiers' season-opening game Saturday against Western Kentucky. Ryan Marando, who had six sacks last season, will replace Middleton in the starting lineup.

Contd....

 

[MD Buckeye]

ESPN - Penn State's Clark excited, nervous about starting - College Football

Penn State's Clark excited, nervous about starting

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Daryll Clark called his father after getting the word. Then some text messages started coming in. The next day, he saw the news posted on the Internet.

After two years as a backup, Clark is finally the starting quarterback at Penn State.

"This is what I've been waiting on. ... It's been a long time coming. I've been very patient, very quiet about everything," Clark said Wednesday. He will start Saturday's season opener when the No. 22 Nittany Lions play Coastal Carolina.

Contd....

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

Perception of weakness
League suffers from recent lack of success against elite conferences
Thursday, August 28, 2008 3:33 AM
By Bill Rabinowitz


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Renee Sauer | Dispatch
Ohio State's national title game losses and Michigan's stunning loss to Appalachian State have helped sully the Big Ten's reputation nationwide.

Mandi Wright Detroit Free Press

One by one, they came to the lectern and praised the quality of their beleaguered league. "I really believe the Big Ten Conference is strong as ever," Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said at the preseason football media days in Chicago.
"The Big Ten Conference is very healthy," Purdue's Joe Tiller said.
Other coaches said much the same thing to the rows of media members inside the banquet room. But outside the doors, Kirk Herbstreit used quite different words to describe the national perception of the Big Ten.
"The Big Ten has always been hated by the SEC and the Pac-10, but it's never been a punch line," said Herbstreit, a former Ohio State quarterback who is now an analyst for ESPN's College GameDay. "And right now -- not by me, but from what I hear from other regions -- they mock the Big Ten. They laugh at the Big Ten. They think the Big Ten is the most overrated, overhyped conference in the country every year."
Cont....

 

[rocketman]

Week 1 has come to a close. The Big Ten is 7-3 in OOC play so far.

- 4 of those wins against I-AA teams (YSU, Coastal Carolina, Maine and Western Kentucky - though I think they're a transitional I-A team)
- 3 wins against I-A teams (Akron, Syracuse, NIU), one from a major conference (Syracuse)

- The three losses were to Utah, Cal, and Missouri (with Mizzou ranked #6).

So, the Big-10's quality OOC win for the year so far... Syracuse!!

Give it up for the Wildcats, everybody!

 

[Jaxbuck]

Week 1 has come to a close. The Big Ten is 7-3 in OOC play so far.

- 4 of those wins against I-AA teams (YSU, Coastal Carolina, Maine and Western Kentucky - though I think they're a transitional I-A team)
- 3 wins against I-A teams (Akron, Syracuse, NIU), one from a major conference (Syracuse)

- The three losses were to Utah, Cal, and Missouri (with Mizzou ranked #6).

So, the Big-10's quality OOC win for the year so far... Syracuse!!

Give it up for the Wildcats, everybody!

At this point who really cares? If the B10 won all of them no one in the media is going to start all of a sudden getting off the B10 bashing.

So once again this year it looks like the rest of the B10 sucks. Fine, just take care of business against USC and who gives a fuck what the national perception of the rest of the B10 is?

If we lose to USC then none of it matters anyway.

 

[brodybuck21]

At this point who really cares? If the B10 won all of them no one in the media is going to start all of a sudden getting off the B10 bashing.

So once again this year it looks like the rest of the B10 sucks. Fine, just take care of business against USC and who gives a [censored] what the national perception of the rest of the B10 is?

If we lose to USC then none of it matters anyway.

+1

 

[MrsB]

Losing OOC games gives all the others and the talking heads more ammo to talk the B10 down. We need to root for the B10 teams to win so we can regain our status as the top conference'.
Thats not going to happen unless all the B10 teams start winning these games.

 

[daddyphatsacs]

I'm really not all that concerned about the major losses yesterday. Michigan sucks this year, we all know that. Illinois played a very good Missouri team. Mich. St. had to travel out west to play a good Cal team. None of the losses were very surprising.

 

[Dryden]

On the plus side, at least we can say we're not the ACC or the Big East.

Pitt was ranked and in the discussion for the Big East title. Now it looks like they might go 0-2 in the MAC.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Losing OOC games gives all the others and the talking heads more ammo to talk the B10 down. We need to root for the B10 teams to win so we can regain our status as the top conference'.
Thats not going to happen unless all the B10 teams start winning these games.

Not pointing this at you directly MrsB, just this mindset in general:

This is where a ot of the frustration comes from for B10 fans. When expectations don't jive with reality.

Its time to face facts, we aren't retaining our status as the top conference because we are not the top conference right now. The B10 will start winning these OOC games when they are good enough to do so. Right now they aren't.

This constant craving for media respect will be satisfied when the conference starts winning. Right now, as painful as it may be to deal with, they are by and large correct in their judgement of the B10.

This isn't 2002-2003 anymore. We aren't winning the games that throw it back in the face of the talking heads. Until we start winning some of these games all you can do is either 1) accept the B10 is going to get trashed or 2) not listen to it.

All that said, OSU is the B10 flagship program. If we beat USC you won't hear all that much B10 is weak talk. If we lose, you won't hear that much B10 is weak talk because they won't include us in NC race discussions.

 

[Dryden]

Big Ten went 11-0 today.

:bigten2:

 

[Silent Nature]

I was going to say that as well.

Congratulations to the whole conference of Big Ten today! I was impressed with Minnesota's win over Bowling Green and Northwestern pulling it out against Duke.

Ohio State may not have played great, but they did win the game for themselves and the fans as well. :osu:

 

[OHSportsFan]

Big Ten went 11-0 today.

:bigten2:

I was going to say that as well.

Congratulations to the whole conference of Big Ten today! I was impressed with Minnesota's win over Bowling Green and Northwestern pulling it out against Duke.

Ohio State may not have played great, but they did win the game for themselves and the fans as well. :osu:

While it was nice to see all the BigTen teams handle their business yesterday, there are still some big games next week for the conference.

#18 Oregon @ Purdue
#11 Wisconsin @ #21 Fresno St.
Michigan @ Notre Dame (?...not that big, but whatever)
Iowa State @ Iowa

and of course...

Ohio State @ USC.

The rest of the league's games are easy W's.