The Big 10 is the 6th rated conference per the computers, and it is a distant sixth. Colin Cowherd sums up this suckass conference.[PodCast]
The Big 10’s BEST non-conference win is: a) Northwestern’s 5 point win over Nevada that turned on a questionable personal foul call or b) Michigan State’s 4 point win at home over Pitt. I couldn’t come up with a “c” to choose from.
An Iowa team that was good enough to go .500 in the Big 10 lost at home to a Western Michigan team that was not good enough to go .500 in the MAC.
Some other non conference gems: Northwestern (3-5 in B10 play) lost at home to Duke, Appalachian State over Michigan, Iowa State over Iowa (4-4 in B10 play).
The Big 10 is cat-shit awful. I can maybe, just maybe rationalize an 11-1 Ohio State being Top 10-15 (kind of like Hawaii is ranked around 15), but no other team in this conference deserves a Top 25 ranking.
ESPN PIMPS BIG 10 FOOTBALL, CRAMMING IT DOWN YOUR THROAT SATURDAY’S in the early AM. Truth is, it is often World War II bunker approach football with slow footed guys plodding along.
Seriously.
Let’s look at every team in that “league”:
INDIANA: Don’t care if they are going bowling this yea. That is a Basketball school pure & simple. When Lee Corso stays a decade there, you know that is not a serious program
PENN ST: Joe Pa joined that league 10 years too late. Their history is tied indelibly to his. He has won 2 BCS Bowl games since joining. Solid, but no longer elite program.
MICH ST: These guys are the annual underacheivers. How many years do they start out 4-0, only to implode. They might as well forfeit against Michigan. The Duffy Daugherty program, they aren’t.
MINN: They are the Ole Miss of the Big 10. Used to be a power, when JFK was President. Now they are an afterthought. Glen Mason stayed there forever, but respectable, and being a contender are two different things.
IOWA: Notice how Ferenz is now falling apart? Pink Lockerrooms. Their football history isn’t that hot when you consider they think Hayden Fry was great. Everytime you saw him in Pasadena…HE GOT LIT UP LIKE A XMAS TREE. Even against a mediocre UCLA team..
ILLINOIS: Zook, an SEC reject, is a strong recruiter, and is making them respectable because there is no depth in the league. The Illini’s last 2 major Bowl appearances were utter disasters. We will see if he can get them to another level. Southern Cal is going to hang 60 on the Zookers
NORTHWESTERN: They were a laughingstock for decades. Now at least they are competitive. Compare them though to the Pac 10’s old laughingstock of the 70’s 80’s, Oregon St. Who do you think has done better the last 10 years? Not even close.
MICH. Yep, they are perennially strong in the league. They also have a poor major bowl record, and are pushing out the only coach to win a National Title for them in 60 years. They are the kings of a 9-3/10-2 season, punctuated by a resounding New Years Day bowl loss. The Tom Kite of college teams. You know always up near the leaderboard in golf, hardly ever holding the Trophy.
Failboats: Yeah, they have been “strong” under Tressell. Give them props as a marquee program. Thing is, last years title game exposed the lack of speed that team had and still seems to lack. Anyone see the Michigan game? Jesus that was just bad football. You put them in against a fast team in a bowl game again this year, they will get beat…again.
WISCY: Wiscy was a nothing program until Alvarez arrived. Bielma is doing pretty well. We will see how long it lasts.
Sorry, just don’t see how they are supposedly any better than the PAC 10. It also shows in when the best of the Pac meets the best of the Big 10. The Pac takes them out more often than not. Yet the SEC types never look into that. Heck they play up Woody vs. Bo in the late 60’s & 70’s. They won’t tell you that Woody & Bo after 68, annually got beat by Stanford, USC & UCLA teams in the Grandaddy of them all.
Believe the ESPN former Big 10 honks on BoBo. Sorry, it is infernally inferior league.
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