It’s Crucial Time for the Big Ten
You may have heard. The Big Ten has a bit of a perception problem heading into this season. Despite actually performing well in bowls as of late and sending its share of talent to the NFL over the past five years, the conference has been relegated to ACC/Big East territory when viewed with its peer conferences.
The bowl record doesn’t matter, because the face-plant by the Buckeyes the last two years and the Appalachian State debacle at That School Up North (and to some large degree the Oregon follow-up) are what fans and writers are going to remember. The experts agree: the Big Ten is down.
The only remedy, of course, is to play well out of conference. The bowls are a few months off, but here are nine out of conference games the Big Ten can use to improve its standing in the college football world.
Juice Lightning
#22 Illinois at #6 Missouri, 8/30 - 8:30PM ET, ESPN
The Tigers nipped the Illini 40-34 last year in St. Louis, but despite losing Juice Williams to injury in the 2nd quarter, the Zook Express rallied back from a 37-13 deficit before a late interception ended any doubt. Sure, Illinois lost Mendenhall and Leman, but the recruiting hauls are due to start paying dividends. It will pain me greatly to cheer on Juice and crew, but I will do it.
#25 Utah at Michigan, 8/30 - 3:30PM ET, ABC
This game was so hot of an upset pick that Blogpoll voters actually moved Utah into the top 25 while Michigan was relegated to the ORV short bus. The Utes are loaded across the board (including outstanding special teams) and will figure to be BYU’s main competition in the Mountain West, but you have to like the Wolverines’ chances at home under the new regime.
Michigan State at Cal, 8/30 - 8:00PM ET, ABC
Two good, but not quite good-enough-to-be-ranked teams kickoff the first of several high profile Big Ten/Pac-10 matchups. Buckeye fans have a chubby for Dantonio and should have no problem rooting Sparty on against Cal. If I were a gambling man, I’d jump on Michigan State and the five points they’re getting, though they’ll win this one outright.
Oregon State at #21 Penn State, 9/6 - 3:30PM ET, ABC
Penn State and the new Spread HD offense will get a tune-up with Coastal Carolina before welcoming the Beavers to town in week two. This is a game the Nittany Lions can and should win at home, and assuming Sparty took care of business at Cal, the Big Ten would own a 2-0 record over the Pac-10. The conference swagger injection will help the following week.
Northwestern at Duke, 9/6 - 7:00PM ET, CB RADIO
From 2005 through last season, Duke managed to register just 2 victories against 33 defeats. One of those victories was against VMI in 2005 and the other came at the hands of the Wildcats in Evanston last year. Revenge here won’t necessarily register on a national scale, but make no mistake, revenge must be served. Get it done, Sutton.
#18 Oregon at Purdue, 9/13 - 3:30PM, ABC
The third of four Big Ten/Pac-10 matchups is lining up favorably for the Boilers. Yes, Painter hates to play well against elite competition, and the Taylor injury will hurt, but the Ducks will be breaking in a new quarterback. Is a signature final season victory too much to ask of Wilford? Let’s hope not.
#2 OSU at #3 USC, 9/13 - 8:00PM, ABC
THE. GAME. Even if the Big Ten lays an egg in the other games mentioned here, a nice Buckeye win will go a long way towards helping the conference shed its current image. The Trojans are the most dominant team of this decade (sorry LSU) and a seven to 10-point win in their place with some Ohio speed on display will vault the Buckeyes to the top of nearly everyone’s poll. From there, the next move is Madison.
#13 Wisconsin at Fresno State, 9/13 - 10:30PM ET, ESPN2
The Badgers are breaking in a new quarterback of their own, but they return plenty of talent, including the prototypical bruiser at running back and perhaps the nation’s finest tight end. Fresno State is another hot upset pick and the late start could throw a minor wrinkle into Wisconsin’s prep, but if you have to trust anyone with time management, Bielema is a good choice.
Iowa at Pitt, 9/20, TBA
The Wannstache’s boys are ranked 25th and nobody in their right mind is convinced he’s a clutch major college coach, but the Hawkeyes have coaching questions marks of their own and no proven running back. Still, a win by Iowa on the road would be a major coup for the conference and it’s probably more likely to happen than most think. Remember, never underestimate the Wannstache’s ability to lose when he shouldn’t.
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Rooting for some of these teams may seem unnatural and may even sting a little, but the college football landscape has shifted. We must back our own.
19 Responses
I agree that it will definetly be difficult to root for some of these teams (i’m looking at you m*ch*g*n) but I agreee that we need to kind of band together as a conference (but not as much as the SEC ppl) and pull for our own.
Even if the big ten teams were to win just over half of these games it would go a long way for the conference’s image as well as our Buckeye’s image around the college football fan nation.
nice work
Dave K - 08/27/08 @ 7:23 pm - #
Don’t forget the three games against a supposedly much improved Notre Dame. Michigan, MSU and Purdue could make ND 1-3 at the end of september and make the extra wide seat very hot for Coach Weis.
MSP - 08/27/08 @ 7:45 pm - #
I think that for sake of the Big 10’s reputation, the USC-OSU game is a must win. Even if the other Big 10 teams own their non-conference competition, the naysayers will simply point to an OSU loss against the men of Troy, and argue that since OSU owns the Big 10 and OSU still can’t beat a top tier team, by implication the rest of the Big 10 is garbage. Other Big 10 teams have done well or even extremely well (Michigan) against SEC teams, but the haters point only to Ohio State. It’ll take a good showing by the other Big 10 teams, plus an absolutely necessary OSU win over USC to begin to roll back the hater campaign.
Matt - 08/27/08 @ 7:53 pm - #
I’m not going to lie, I actually enjoyed the beat down Michigan gave Florida last year during the bowl game. I’d even go so far as to say that Florida is hands down my most reviled team. Because even I can respect Michigan while hating - but there’s no respect towards those Gators and (mostly) young and bitchy little fans.
This is the time we do need to root for the B10. Now and during the bowl season. Because we can only get so much respect ourselves, but if our conference does well, that can only boost the perception of OSU’s elite status.
Ck121 - 08/27/08 @ 7:54 pm - #
The seat can get to a boiling point, but there’s not a damn thing Notre Dame’s athletic department can do about it… not with that albatross contract they awarded Weis in his first year.
But this whole conference chest-thumping is annoying. All of it is. I’ll be watching a few of those matchups with a keen interest, though (specifically Sparty-Cal, Wisky-Fresno State and Northwestern-Duke).
vico - 08/27/08 @ 7:55 pm - #
The best case scenario is that we actually go undefeated in these games. Each of these Big Ten teams is fully capable of taking care of business against its OOC foe. However, reality dictates we’ll probably be middling or mediocre, 4-6 to 6-4.
I think OSU, Michigan, Nortwestern, Wisky, and PSU all get it done. The rest… eh. I’ll cross my fingers.
poguemahone - 08/27/08 @ 8:01 pm - #
I also don’t like outwardly rooting for other Big Ten schools, but they better start getting things done as a whole. There’s no reason they should have a losing record after all the above games are played. Purdue is probably a loss and the Illinois game is a coin toss. But Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern and Wisconisn should roll, and as a homer, I think the Buckeyes are going to take the Trojans down.
Go Bucks. Big Ten can and will step it up this year.
Steve - 08/27/08 @ 9:48 pm - #
Pitt is going to rape Iowa and then the Hawkeyes are going to ask the Iowa administration to not tell anybody about it.
Jeff at The BBC - 08/27/08 @ 10:37 pm - #
I know it’s tough to do, but the SEC is presenting a unified front, so we need to follow suit. Hell, you have Mississippi State fans cracking on Ohio State just because they happen to play in the same conference as LSU and Florida.
Interesting point about rooting for Michigan against Florida because I was doing the same. It was such a crazy feeling to be angry when Mike Hart would fumble. F-d me up for three days.
MSP, I had the Irish on the fence, but I’m not really sure beating Notre Dame really earns you that much street cred these days. I think they’ll be better than last year, but that boat is in trouble.
Jason - 08/27/08 @ 10:42 pm - #
It’s pretty sad that the chest-thumping SEC fans have reduced us to rooting for our rival.
BrotherBuck - 08/28/08 @ 8:25 am - #
Jason - In no way was I criticizing your list. Nor do I think the Irish will be very good again this year. But, like it or not, those will be high profile games and if ND ends up with 4 or 5 wins this year and a couple of them are against the Big 10, that won’t make the old conference look very good either.
MSP - 08/28/08 @ 9:31 am - #
Why not send those stickers to MI addy’s? That’s where we need them the most. It’s hard to fight the good fight up here in the dirty mitten. My house gets egged every November, but damn sure that tOSU flag still flys well into December every year. I live in Ann Arbor and go to MSU, but I am still a Buckeye through and through. I make sure everybody up here knows it.
TerryGlenn'sShoeString - 08/28/08 @ 10:33 am - #
Big picture, The Big 11 Ten needs to take care of OOC games, to start the bouce back into power house conference. It will be hard, even if we take care of the OOC games, as ESPN has a soft spot for USC and the new deal with the SEC…! How good is the Pac-10, really? USC carries that conference year in and year out, although we never hear about that because their in a major marketing area? Even if we (BIG 11 TEN) take care of business, ESPN is going to start force feeding the nation on the SEC from here on out! It’s only going to get worse, untill we defeat the SEC for the title, it will never end.
BennyBlanco - 08/28/08 @ 3:51 pm - #
Whether it’s good for the conference or not, I won’t be cheering on m*ch*g*n against Utah. I hope mI*ch*g*n loses every game they play. I understand - completely - the logic to the contrary, but I don’t care. I enjoy watching our rival lose.
Any chance we’ll get the Clemson/Alabama game in place of MSU/Cal? I want to watch Sparty, just to see what Dantonio is cooking, but would love to see Tommy Bowden lay another egg.
Joe Fox - 08/29/08 @ 10:22 am - #
0-3
Bob - 09/03/08 @ 1:34 am - #
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