Excel

I like Penn State's chances but I'm not so confident about Wisconsin with it being a home game for Miami. I'm going to predict 6-2 for the Big Ten.

 

22 minutes ago, Hooked on Huskers said:

 

It ain't over till the fat lady sings 

 

I'm comfortable saying this one is over.

 

5-0

1 minute ago, Hooked on Huskers said:

I don't trust Barrett.  Yes, top notch but ho-hum and don't care attitude.

 

Can we call it now?

 

I'm going to tentatively call it.

 

5-0

8 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

This is the key

 

How would you describe Fitzgerald then? I feel like I've discussed this with someone else on HB, it might have been you. I'm not sure what Husker fans have against the man, I've only heard this kind of talk from you guys.

I know I'm jinxing this by writing it at the beginning of the 2Q but....5-0 looks pretty close right now. Buckeyes running away with it.

In game he's average to below average with incredible moments of retardation. In every other aspect, by NW standards, he's an amazing coach.

I really like that they're playing the Rose Bowl early this year.

4-0

So my prediction was horribly wrong but I'm cool with it. MSU is strangling WSU. I'm calling it now

 

3-0

That's going to be a really interesting game. It's either going to be a strangle of a game with MSU winning close, or MSU is going to get blown out.

Both were very good games.

2-0!!!!

Dang, lost track watching the Texas game.

They're looking good. 

Game one down.

 

 

1-0.

He could still choose to commit there right? They're just not allowed to talk to him anymore?

 

95% of the time I don't mind Herbstreit but he does occasionally show a bias, as they all do at times.

Wider question for the group: Does Fleck make it work at Minnesota? How do you see his tenure? 

29 minutes ago, MLB 51 said:

You should watch the movie "Nightcrawler." 

 

lol, you're the second person to tell me that. Watched it last night. It was really good!

Watching Shot in the Dark. It's about independent journalists competing to cover events at night in LA. They sit in their cars with police scanners and wait for accidents, shootings, crazy stuff, and then race across town to record it all and try to beat one another in selling the footage to local TV stations. It's kind of cool, I'm enjoying it.

23 hours ago, jaws said:

Excel, Keep your head up. Don't let the everyone beat you up too bad by what they are saying. I think Wisconsin is a lot better team than what they are getting credit for.

 

If we don't see you next year in the CCG, we will see you in Columbus in 2019. I have much respect for your program and your coach. 

 

Thanks jaws, it's always nice talking with you. Hope you've been doing well.

 

 

Interesting stuff about the "image" of different conferences...here is the record of each conference against P5 OOC opponents this year so far:

 

PAC 12: 6-2

Big Ten: 7-5

ACC: 8-9

SEC: 7-9

Big XII: 3-6

 

...and we're favored in 6 of 8 bowls. We're not as bad as the media acts like we are.

I also hope Frost does well, most Big Ten fans do, or at least they should. 

 

Quote

Nebraska left a conference because Texas was a bully.  They just traded it for Ohio state who is the master of the conference

 

The Buckeyes have had Nebraska's number the last few meetings but it won't last forever. Ohio State has a tremendous football history and is an elite program right now, you can pick at particulars but they've been in the top 1-10 teams at the end of the season for years now, that's very difficult to do....but Ohio State is not Texas and the Big 10 is not the Big 12, it's far deeper. In football we have other blue chip programs; Michigan, Penn State, and you guys. Right at their heels we have Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Iowa who are perennially good and can compete for titles every 3ish years. Even Minnesota and Illinois have robust Football traditions with 12, albeit old, National Titles between them. We are far deeper both currently and historically speaking than the Big XII was in Football.

 

Looking at it more broadly there was a lot more than Longhorn Football that drove NU, TAMU, CU, and MU to bail on the Big XII, I'm sure the Nebraska fans understand that better than I could ever explain it but Ohio State is not the Texas of the Big Ten in those areas...revenue, conference decision making, other sports etc. Ohio State is a powerful voice but not the only voice and the Big Ten is much more egalitarian than the Big XII ever was and we don't have any of the revenue sharing arguments.

 

As to image, If we look at College sports and say that there are four very popular ones; Football, Basketball, Baseball, and Hockey probably in that order,  the Big Ten has to be one of the most if not the most competitive and successful conference in the country if you accept Hockey as a substitute for Baseball. I'm talking team sports that are spectator friendly, the Pac 12 claims the most NCs overall but many are in obscure sports.

 

- Football: Most National Championships at 38 fairly evenly spread between 9 teams...the SEC is 2nd at 29 between 9 teams but Alabama has 3x the next closest

- Men's  Hockey: Most National Championships at 23 spread between 4 teams

- Men's Soccer: Second Most NCs at 14 behind ACC at 16

- Men's Basketball: Fourth Most NCs at 10 but again, much more evenly spread across the conference than others like UCLA with the PAC 12 and Kentucky with the SEC

- Baseball: Fourth most NCs at 6 in a sport we barely try at

 

...and then in to the less popular sports

- Women's Hockey: Most NC's at 10

- Women's Lacrosse: Most NCs at 22

 - Men's Wrestling: Second behind Big XII but have dominated the last 10 years

- Women's Volleyball: Second behind Pac 12 15 to 11

 

Quote

The big 10 is going to start losing credibility on schedules. Wisconsin going undefeated and getting no love. Big ten had a very soft image this season.

 

That stared happening almost 15 years ago. It isn't starting, I think we hit rock bottom and are working our way up. Ohio State won an NC. Wisconsin beat LSU, there are bright spots. What hurts us is these SEC teams that generally refuse to travel outside the SE (UF is a perfect example) and the ridiculousness of the bowl games. Wisconsin is playing a bowl game...against Miami...in Miami's home stadium. Imagine how different our bowl records would be if Ohio State played USC at Soldier Field or Wisconsin played Miami at Lambeau, this is a complaint every year but it's a valid one.

 

As far as football goes we now sort of live in this bi-polar CFB world. As Big Ten fans we talk about it all the time (traveling, media attention, so on) and you're starting to hear louder and louder voices from the PAC 12 talk about it like Petersen and Shaw. It's really a region of the South and everyone else.

 

 

Football has become (or always has been) this very regional sport and even if our image was great it's not like Southern eyeballs would be turning off SEC games to watch ours. There are many reasons for that...demographics and population shifts, pro-sports, weather, sports emphasized in HS and so on...I"m not sure that the other 3/4s of the country will ever over take that one corner. I personally don't care that much. This past year is up there with 2006 as far as the most interesting and entertaining Big Ten seasons I've watched...I enjoyed it WAY more than the SEC season and I say that as a grad of an SEC school...I really only watched my team's games and UGA-Auburn-Alabama. The rest of that conference is terrible and I grow more and more sick of it every year.

 

I'm very happy with where the Big Ten is as a conference...and that's not even touching on the academic side of the house where the CIC is without peer against the other big conferences. I think it's the best conference when looking at all aspects of athletics, traditions, attendance, academics and so on.

 

There are regrets, I would have liked to have added ND and Mizzou instead of RU and MD. I wish we could find a way to balance our divisions a little better. But overall we've done quite well. 

 

The Big Ten is favored in 6 of 8 bowls. Big Ten went 3-7 last year.

 

 

 

Iowa vs. Boston College

NEW ERA PINSTRIPE BOWL on ESPN

Wednesday, December 27th, 5:15 PM ET

Yankee Stadium, New York, NY

ESPN: Iowa by 56.5%

Vegas: Iowa -3

 

Previous Meetings: Never Played

Iowa in this bowl: Never Played

Boston College in this bowl: 0-1

 

Purdue vs. Arizona

FOSTER FARMS BOWL on Fox

Wednesday, December 27th, 8:30 PM ET

Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA

ESPN: Arizona by 59.1%

Vegas: Arizona -3.5

 

Previous Meetings: Purdue leads series 2-0, last met 2005, Purdue won 31-24

Purdue in this bowl: Never Played

Arizona in this bowl: Never Played

 

Michigan State vs. Washington State

SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION HOLIDAY BOWL on FS1

Thursday, December 28th, 9:00 PM ET

SDCCU Stadium, San Diego, CA

ESPN: Washington State by 57.1%

Vegas: Washington State -3.5

 

Previous Meetings: Michigan State leads series 5-2, last met 1977, WSU won 23-21

Michigan State in this bowl: Never Played

Washington State in this bowl: 1-2

 

Northwestern vs. Kentucky

FRANKLIN AMERICAN MORTGAGE MUSIC CITY BOWL on ESPN

Friday, December 29th, 4:30 PM ET

Nissan Stadium, Nashville, TN

ESPN: Northwestern by 69.9%

Vegas: Northwestern -8.5

 

Previous Meetings: Northwestern leads series 1-0, last met 1928, NW won 7-0

Northwestern in this bowl: Never Played

Kentucky in this bowl: 2-2

 

Ohio State vs. Southern California

GOODYEAR COTTON BOWL CLASSIC on ESPN

Friday, December 29th, 8:30 PM ET

AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX

ESPN: Ohio State by 76.3%

Vegas: Ohio State -6.5

 

Previous Meetings: USC leads series 9-13, last met 2009, USC won 18-15

Ohio State in this bowl: 1-0

USC in this bowl: 1-0

 

Penn State vs. Washington

PLAYSTATION FIESTA BOWL on ESPN

Saturday, December 30th, 4:00 PM ET

University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ

ESPN: Penn State by 53.3%

Vegas: Penn State -2.5

 

Previous Meetings: Penn State leads series 2-0, last met 1983, PSU won 13-10

Penn State in this bowl: 6-0

Washington in this bowl: Never played

 

Wisconsin vs. Miami

CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL on ESPN

Saturday, December 30th, 8:00 PM ET

Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, FL

ESPN: Wisconsin by 62%

Vegas: Wisconsin -6.5

 

Previous Meetings: Series tied at 2-2, last met 2009, Wisconsin won 20-14

Wisconsin in this bowl: Never Played

Miami in this bowl: 6-3

 

Michigan vs. South Carolina

OUTBACK BOWL on ESPN2

Monday, January 1st, 12:00 PM ET

Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL

ESPN: Michigan by 60.3%

Vegas: Michigan -8.5

 

Previous Meetings: South Carolina leads 2-1, last met 2013, South Carolina won 33-28

Michigan in this bowl: 3-2

South Carolina in this bowl: 3-1

 

 

I almost feel like I would have rather lost mid-way through the season than gone undefeated and then lost Saturday night. I still feel ill. No matter what happens against Miami (I sort of expect to lose because it's a home game for Miami and their defense will feed on Hornibrook) it was still a great season, even if it was against a weak slate. I'm looking forward to what Chryst and Co. can do in the future, I think we'll keep rolling and hopefully Fleck and Frost can get UM and NU solid for some West battles in the future. Good game jaws and Woody and good luck to you against USC. 

3 hours ago, Mavric said:

 

 

Brent needs to hold out for K-State. He's made for that job and would be a perfect successor to Snyder.