The Big 10 is a Mess

[Michiganball]

After watching Iowa-Michigan I am a lot more confident in Nebraskas chances. Michigans passing game is worse than ours. Why is Robinson even in the Heisman discussion?

Because he plays at Michigan. You guys are going to get sick of the attention that they, along with the Bucks, get.

Get tired? That ship has already sailed. I GOT tired back in `97 when the media (mostly ABC/ESPN) kept shoving Charles Woodson at us, when Peyton Manning was clearly the one who deserved the Heisman that year. Based on the highlights that I had to watch each week I would have sworn that Woodson had run back about 20 punts for TDs...come to find out it was only 1. And the way they tried to screw Nebraska out of our national championship and give it to Michigan...in fact it still pisses me off that the media gave them half of it. But at least we got the big trophy and they got the little fish-hack plaque.

 

Woodson was recognized for he's defensive ability not punt returns and is still a hell of a good player in Green Bay and frankly it was good to see a defensive player get the Heisman for once. As far as "the national lets pretend there is a championship in college football" we felt Nebraska was trying to screw us out of it, but will never know as these things get settled by votes and computers and not on the field.

[Excel]

Gameday just gave three picks for the CCG...OSU v. NU, OSU v. Iowa and OSU v. Iowa....can't remember who said what..

How and why? Michigan state won't lose again....

I dunno, I didn't make the picks

[California Husker]

After watching Iowa-Michigan I am a lot more confident in Nebraskas chances. Michigans passing game is worse than ours. Why is Robinson even in the Heisman discussion?

Because he plays at Michigan. You guys are going to get sick of the attention that they, along with the Bucks, get.

Get tired? That ship has already sailed. I GOT tired back in `97 when the media (mostly ABC/ESPN) kept shoving Charles Woodson at us, when Peyton Manning was clearly the one who deserved the Heisman that year. Based on the highlights that I had to watch each week I would have sworn that Woodson had run back about 20 punts for TDs...come to find out it was only 1. And the way they tried to screw Nebraska out of our national championship and give it to Michigan...in fact it still pisses me off that the media gave them half of it. But at least we got the big trophy and they got the little fish-hack plaque.

 

Woodson was recognized for he's defensive ability not punt returns and is still a hell of a good player in Green Bay and frankly it was good to see a defensive player get the Heisman for once. As far as "the national lets pretend there is a championship in college football" we felt Nebraska was trying to screw us out of it, but will never know as these things get settled by votes and computers and not on the field.

Well, Woodson was a good player, but not close to Manning, but ABC/ESPN didn't carry the SEC, so they totally jobbed Manning out of the Heisman he deserved. And as far as the National championship goes....you're just wrong....we won the Bowl Alliance championship. It's not our fault that at the time the Big 10 and Pac 10 were locked into a Rose Bowl tie-in and the Rose Bowl wouldn't join in so that a true National Championship could be crowned....but it didn't matter, on gameday Michigans pathetic performance against an underwhelming Wazzu, and our dominance of a really good Tennessee team proved that we deserved the title.

[Michiganball]

"It's not our fault that at the time the Big 10 and Pac 10 were locked into a Rose Bowl tie-in and the Rose Bowl wouldn't join in so that a true National Championship could be crowned"

 

And hence why the system was a half baked farce then and continues to be to this day. There are no champions until there is actually a playoff like in every major team sport in the world.

You or me can rationalize and bang our fists on how great and invincible our team is, but in the end it's all hot air. Comparing two different games is pointless as many of the variables and match ups are quite different depending on the teams involved. Michigan beats NW, you loose to NW, by this logic you should loose to Michigan, heck you should not even be allowed to play them as clearly you are the inferior team, except that Nebraska imo has a bigger chance of winning that game then MU. As the saying goes....."that's why they play the games", except in college ball.

[California Husker]

Well, you can complain all you want about no playoff, but you should just be glad that the system allowed you to claim the title that the spoiled, insignificant little fish-hacks gave you. Playoff, no playoff, doesn't matter. Nebraska was easily the best team in college football in `97. That's all.

[Michiganball]

Well, you can complain all you want about no playoff, but you should just be glad that the system allowed you to claim the title that the spoiled, insignificant little fish-hacks gave you. Playoff, no playoff, doesn't matter. Nebraska was easily the best team in college football in `97. That's all.

 

No, I'm not "just glad that the system allowed", hell even if I was it wouldn't be in such a sheepish conformist way as you describe, it was meaningless as the system then and now is absurd. You say Nebraska was the best, I say it was not, every other Nebraskan here will say they were, on a MU site they will say our D would have killed you....all meaningless, the game never happened. I'm not sure if you are a fan of football or just Nebraska, as I cant see how anyone can justify voting for who gets to play in the big game, just the fact that we are discussing who was better attests to what a failure it is.

[California Husker]

Well, you can complain all you want about no playoff, but you should just be glad that the system allowed you to claim the title that the spoiled, insignificant little fish-hacks gave you. Playoff, no playoff, doesn't matter. Nebraska was easily the best team in college football in `97. That's all.

 

No, I'm not "just glad that the system allowed", hell even if I was it wouldn't be in such a sheepish conformist way as you describe, it was meaningless as the system then and now is absurd. You say Nebraska was the best, I say it was not, every other Nebraskan here will say they were, on a MU site they will say our D would have killed you....all meaningless, the game never happened. I'm not sure if you are a fan of football or just Nebraska, as I cant see how anyone can justify voting for who gets to play in the big game, just the fact that we are discussing who was better attests to what a failure it is.

Well, you SHOULD be glad that the Big 10-loving sports writers voted you national champions and gave you a little plaque to put in your trophy case. I know they felt sorry for you having not won one in over 50 years.

You may disagree with me, but the thinly veiled insult about my football knowledge does not change the facts. And the fact is, Nebraska won the Bowl Alliance championship, and therefore won the Sears Trophy, which is given annually to the NCAA Division One (FBS) National Champions (It is not called the Sears Trophy any longer but that is due to sponsorship changes. But you know, it’s the great big one with the crystal football on top of it. If you want to see one, go to Nebraska, you can see three of them in our throphy case).

 

I love how fans of teams that seldom win championships always want to talk about how the system is a “half-baked farce” or “the national let’s pretend there is a championship in college football”. However, calling for a playoff system is a simplistic response to what is certainly a very complicated issue. The biggest problem with going to a playoff is that there is no way to do it without ruining the bowl system. I have heard many people say that the bowls could be part of the playoff, but THAT would ruin them. The BCS has already screwed up college football tradition by spreading the important bowls out over the week after New Year’s Day. It would make no sense to further destroy tradition for a system that would still be flawed at best. You see, I AM a college football fan, and I don’t want to throw out over 100 years of tradition because some people just don’t feel right if there is no playoff.

 

As to your other point; you act as though the 1997 Nebraska team was Boise State or something…as though they were all offense and no defense. Don’t forget, Nebraska was #1 in total offense and #5 in total defense. But beyond that, Michigan may have been #1 in total defense, but they were #44 in total offense. And Nebraska played several top 20 defenses and scored on all of them. For example, Kansas State was #4 in total defense and Nebraska scored 56 points on them. Michigan is fortunate that they got to play Washington State and not Nebraska. At least they can still claim part of Nebraska’s championship.

[Michiganball]

Not sure about any thinly veiled insult you are talking about, or some conspiracy to give out some trophy. Now about the there is no way to have a playoff without ruining the bowl system part. Yes exactly get rid of it, the bowls time has passed a long time ago, it's a money grab for those who have rights to it, they could care less about the game, it's simply there to maintain their grip on the purse.You could still give each tier of a playoff game a bowl name for the sake of the tradition, but for me at least considering how long these bowls have kept college football backwards I could care less.

As far as that Nebraska season, like I said it's irrelevant how good they were(and they were good), games are played, not voted on. I could just see this in the NFL, sorry Patriots but you have one more loss then Indy and Green bay so clearly you would never win the superbowl.....what? Lets see what happens if OSU or LSU looses one this season, who is going to get to play for this championship?I guess will find out from a handful of voters and a computer, that's not much of a tradition to me.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I'm sorry, but I agree with Michiganball, I'd rather have a playoff system.

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Gameday just gave three picks for the CCG...OSU v. NU, OSU v. Iowa and OSU v. Iowa....can't remember who said what..

How and why? Michigan state won't lose again....

I dunno, I didn't make the picks

 

Well, to be fair, that one was made by Corso, and Corso has some love-fest with Nebraska. Remember he picked us to make the title game last season.

[Notre Dame Joe]

You've gotta watch out for Northwestern. Definitely a potential trap game; there's a reason they make a run at the conference championship every decade or so. I can tell you from experience as a Buckeye fan they're definitely a team that can bite you if you let them hang around too long.

 

yikes

[California Husker]

Not sure about any thinly veiled insult you are talking about, or some conspiracy to give out some trophy. Now about the there is no way to have a playoff without ruining the bowl system part. Yes exactly get rid of it, the bowls time has passed a long time ago, it's a money grab for those who have rights to it, they could care less about the game, it's simply there to maintain their grip on the purse.You could still give each tier of a playoff game a bowl name for the sake of the tradition, but for me at least considering how long these bowls have kept college football backwards I could care less.

As far as that Nebraska season, like I said it's irrelevant how good they were(and they were good), games are played, not voted on. I could just see this in the NFL, sorry Patriots but you have one more loss then Indy and Green bay so clearly you would never win the superbowl.....what? Lets see what happens if OSU or LSU looses one this season, who is going to get to play for this championship?I guess will find out from a handful of voters and a computer, that's not much of a tradition to me.

...and you questioned whether or not I was a college football fan? Well, I guess I could have expected as much. A playoff system would be flawed, turning 'tiers' of a playoff into bowls would make them nothing more than rounds in the playoff. See, this is the problem; it is out of a selfish desire that some people want to trash the bowl system. "We need a playoff! We need a playoff!" I can see the myriad problems that a playoff would create, but some people just don't care. They want what they want and the hell with anybody else and who cares what traditions fall by the weigh side. And what would it solve? Just a bunch of people who want college football to be like the NFL can be satisfied. When a team goes to the Fiesta Bowl...that is the Super Bowl for the kids on the team. If they lose, that sucks and I am sure it inspires them to try to do better next year (if they are underclassmen). The winning team won the Fiesta Bowl. They get a bowl ring, they get the bowl experience, they get to claim the title "2012 Fiesta Bowl Champions" for the rest of their lives. If the Fiesta Bowl is just one round of a playoff system, and a team wins, but then lose the next round, then all they can say is "We made the playoffs and lost in the second round". Winning the "bowl" would mean nothing. The way it is there are around 50 teams that get to claim bowl victories. That's thousands of kids who get to claim bowl victories and forever be a bowl champion. Rather than one team that gets to win the playoffs and a hundred kids get to claim a playoff championship. And I won't even go into the problems with a playoff system except to say that, although there are certainly divisions in the NFL that are tougher than others, there is perity which makes it a little more realistic to have a playoff. In college football, just selecting the teams to participate would be a nightmare. And if you think I am wrong, and you have come up with the perfect system, then explain why there is controversy every year with deciding who should be in, and how they should be matched up, in the college basketball playoff...and they have 65 teams!

 

I really wish those who are so dead set on a playoff that they don't give a crap about a hundred years of college football tradition, would just stop watching college football and stop trying to make it like pro football, and just go watch pro football. Throwing little tantrums and demanding that tradition be changed says some really unflatering things about your personality....and it doesn't matter which MOD agrees with you....I would expect as much from them too.

[krill]

I really wish those who are so dead set on a playoff that they don't give a crap about a hundred years of college football tradition, would just stop watching college football and stop trying to make it like pro football, and just go watch pro football. Throwing little tantrums and demanding that tradition be changed says some really unflatering things about your personality....and it doesn't matter which MOD agrees with you....I would expect as much from them too.

 

Really, those of us who would like to see a playoff are not only wrong, but bad people too?

 

I get the arguments both ways, but a playoff is not an attempt to replicate the NFL. DI FCS, DII, and DIII football all have playoffs. State high school football has playoffs. It's not a radical concept outside the NFL.

 

Please tell me what the tradition of the bowls is now, when the Rose Bowl has not been Pac vs. B10 5 of the last 10 times, the Sugar Bowl has effectively become the #2 bowl for the SEC, and the Fiesta Bowl is what the Big 12 was thrown into as their AQ BCS bowl. There's some decent middling bowls too; the Capital One, Outback, Cotton, but most of the non-BCS bowls are just kinda bowls for bowls. There's usually some interesting matchups, but a good chunk of them are usually not interesting at all.

[California Husker]

I really wish those who are so dead set on a playoff that they don't give a crap about a hundred years of college football tradition, would just stop watching college football and stop trying to make it like pro football, and just go watch pro football. Throwing little tantrums and demanding that tradition be changed says some really unflatering things about your personality....and it doesn't matter which MOD agrees with you....I would expect as much from them too.

 

Really, those of us who would like to see a playoff are not only wrong, but bad people too?

 

I get the arguments both ways, but a playoff is not an attempt to replicate the NFL. DI FCS, DII, and DIII football all have playoffs. State high school football has playoffs. It's not a radical concept outside the NFL.

 

Please tell me what the tradition of the bowls is now, when the Rose Bowl has not been Pac vs. B10 5 of the last 10 times, the Sugar Bowl has effectively become the #2 bowl for the SEC, and the Fiesta Bowl is what the Big 12 was thrown into as their AQ BCS bowl. There's some decent middling bowls too; the Capital One, Outback, Cotton, but most of the non-BCS bowls are just kinda bowls for bowls. There's usually some interesting matchups, but a good chunk of them are usually not interesting at all.

I apologize if it sounded as though I was calling all pro-playoff people “bad”, that was not my intention. I just grow tired of those who think that a playoff will solve all the arguments and end any controversy. That is simply not the case. And since it is not the case, then why just toss the bowl system. I agree, it is not what it used to be…and that is really annoying. I am old enough to remember how special New Year’s Day used to be. Now, because of people who kept demanding we had some way to determine once-and-for-all who was the national champion, the traditional bowl tie-ins are not the same. Also, New Year’s Day is now just the build-up to the following week; AND, it had done nothing to solve the controversy. I realize that in the lower divisions there are playoffs, but that is their tradition. The Bowl system is one of the things that make D-1 college football (yes I still call it D-1) special. I like that if my team is not in the Championship game, they still have a “big game” at the end of the year. I like that so many fans and players have something to look forward to. I like the build up to bowl week. When you go to the city where the bowl is going to be played it is an event. The players often visit a local charity or children’s hospital, they take team visits to the local tourist attractions, the whole week prior is bid deal. And as I said above, if they win (and half of them do) then they are bowl champions. With a playoff, the bowls would mean nothing…and every team that was in the playoffs would lose except the ultimate winner of the tournament. If, and that is a huge IF, there could really be an undisputed championship, then maybe it would be worth changing…maybe. But, there is no way to remove the controversy. So then, why change things and run the risk of making it worse?

[hangdog]

this conference is garbitch this year.

 

mediocrity all around.

 

Don't worry. Urban will come to save the day

This sound odd to me when last year everybody was saying how superior the big 10 was to the Big 12. The Huskers were moving to a real league, and have a good chance to be the champs.

 

Now you call it garbage?

 

And the Huskers are no where close to being the champs.

 

I think Dr. Tom was a little scared that Bo Peep was going to be schooled by his friend Billy S. at the school just south of us.