JoePa loves him some twister.The Big Ten meetings concluded in Chicago yesterday and unfortunately, Joe Pa and Jim Delaney didn't end up in a steel cage wrastlin' match over expansion of the conference. In fact, Paterno reversed his comments leading up to the meetings regarding the subject, probably realizing adding a 12th school has little, if anything to do with the football field.
While expansion isn't going to happen anytime soon, if ever, the idea of playing 9 league games is gaining momentum and will be looked at more closely as the conference prepares to set the schedule beyond 2012. Perfect math won't allow every team to play nine games, leaving one team with just eight, but hosting a lesser program is rapidly becoming more expensive and adding another B10 game will keep the money close to home.
If this becomes reality, conference officials can take the opportunity to add another bye week to the regular season, pushing The Game into the first week of December and reducing the layoff before the bowl season, making the conference championship game a moot point.
Another popular item is adjusting the recruiting calendar, allowing kids to start making official visits in June of their junior year. For some reason, the students aren't allowed to start making school sponsored visits until after they start their senior classes, but with coaches handing out promise rings earlier and earlier, this only makes sense. Gene Smith even threw out the notion of reducing the number of official visits from 5 to 3.
Keep an eye out as the Big Ten enters bowl game negotiations this fall, 5 of their affiliations expire after 2009. Economic problems have caused delay on renovations at Citrus Bowl Stadium, which host the Capital One and Champs Sports Bowls. The Cotton and Gator Bowls would love to swoop in and snag a B10 tie-in contract if the conference shies away from Orlando.
Though it was rumored last month after some time slots were announced, the Big Ten officially decided against any night games in November. The conference is slated for 12 primetime slots in the first two months of the season, but weather, safety and logistics makes it too tough to pull off after Halloween. This guarantees the Buckeye will start at Happy Valley in the sun for the first time since 2003.
And finally what would be a recap of the Big Ten meetings without a JoePa story. Adam Rittenberg sat down with the coach on Tuesday and came away with this beauty.
He also thumbed his nose at technology, wondering what "goggle" (Google) and "twister" (Twitter) exactly were and proclaiming somewhat proudly that he didn't own a cell phone or an e-mail account so that no one bothered him.
The baseball Buckeyes start B10 tournament action tonight at 7:05 against Illinois, who clobbered Michigan State yesterday, 16-5. The Illini were fourth during the regular season and lost 2 of 3 at home to the conference winning Bucks. Bob Todd won his fifth coach of the year award earlier this week, while Dan Burkhart was named POY and Alex Wimmers shared the pitcher of the year honors.
Meanwhile down in Athens, Georgia, the softball team is making their first ever appearance in the Super Regionals, starting a best of three series with the Dawgs today at 7pm. We don't pay too much attention to any type of softball around these parts, ever since they banned alcohol from our rec league, but props must go to the ladies for their effort this season in opening up their new home field.
In hoops news, Evan Turner is one of fifteen players invited to try out for the World University Games to be held in Serbia this July. The invites include 5 Big Ten players and the team will be coached by Bo Ryan.
Comments
1) I like Gene's idea of 3 official visits. Makes more sense in terms of the shaky economy. 2) Just like the Pac-10, play everyone in your conference. Nothing wrong with having just 2 non-conference games to play. Since the Big Ten will be adding a permanent bye week starting in 2010,"THE GAME will be officially be played on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
To be honest, I'd rather see OSU-MICH be played on Championship Saturday.
Funny stuff from JoePa. Never a dull moment with him.
goggle and twister are overrated anyway.
Twister is awesome, especially if you can get the chicks you're playing with drunk.
I honestly don't blame him. If I had as many people trying to contact me as a head coach does, I'd probably toss my cell phone as well, or at least turn it off outside all business hours.
Moot point, not mute point.
I really like the idea of playing everyone in the conference, that way the PSU scums cant cry about sharing the title, as it will be clear cut. Granted, we wouldn't have won the B11 last year, but woulda been more fair. Plus, I hate seeing Sparty replaced with Indiana and the such. IMHO Sparty should never rotate off our schedule, due to the great games that we usually have. One of my favorite games of the season usually for some reason. Maybe it was the '05 John L. Smith blowup?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
what is less of long shot?
tressel using twitter
joe pa figureing out what twitter is
hell freezes over
Big Ten Playing 9 conference games a season?
Who the hell is working in their offices? 9 Games is impossible!!!
Do the math, they have 11 teams (an odd number).
Right now there are 8 games for each team: or (8*11)/2 = 44 big ten games/season
A ninth game would mean (9*11)/2 = 49.5 big ten games/season
A nine game season wouldn't work unless one team plays 8 big ten games or two teams play 10 big ten games.
It's impossible for every team to play 9 (unless we kick out Indiana)
If we played and beat iowa last year, wouldnt that still be a shared title?
He said one team gets stuck with 8.
Why do 9 Big Ten games. If they aren't going to add a 12th team just play 10 Big Ten games and make it a true round robin. Drop the crap games schedule a meaningful OOC game and a MAC team as usual then duke it out for the Big Ten crown...
I hereby repeal my vote for a 12th team and conf. champ. game.
Pushing back the season keeps the big ten in the discussion as long as other programs, which is the real problem with the perception of the b10. That and other teams just need to get better. scUM was the only other team the conf. could hang there hat on and now Dick Rod is creating a travesty of a scUM program.The resurgence of PSU has helped but even they have always had their down periods. I think Minnesota and Purdue are headed in the right direction as well as Mich. St. I would say the same for the Zookers, but the loss of his east coast connection will hurt their talent pool, which is the only reason they were good. Zook is a horrible coach.
dude.... that was totally awesome.... I laughed my ass off and the team meltdown in the 2nd half was even funnier.
Poll question: Besides OSU, scUM and PSU, who will be the next B10 team to reach a BCS bowl????
I love this idea... I love a true round robin more, but this is a great step. Drop Youngstown state, Western Michigan, Northern Iowa, North Dakota State, etc... and add a Conference game. That makes the Conference stronger, helps prepare for bowl games, and improves strength of schedule. I like adding 2 bye weeks to push the finale weekend to 1st weekend of December...... I really dont care when OSU plays michigan and it keeps the game on TV when the "Conference champ. games" are on..... good idea and do not do a 12th team and playoff.
Michigan State -- Dantonio will have them legit in a couple more years. He is a great coach.
I agree. I'd really prefer to go all the way to 10 conference games, but 9 and bumping the last game by a week is a good step. It also makes it (hopefully) less likely that the top two teams in the conference don't meet each other during the season.
Thanks for the correction, I was thinking mute when typing this out, because my wife had American Idol on in the background.
I remember that game vividly. Hawk was a moster all over the field, and we had that unbelievable blocked FG at the end of the 2nd qtr. returned by Youboty. Like I said, for some reason all the Sparty games in the last few years were memorable. Remember teddy catching the 5 yard slant and taking it like 70 yds. to the house in 04? Epic Win
Going with Fitzgerald and the underated nerds
Having THE GAME in the first week of December could prove quite interesting due to the weather. OH MAN, that first special teams pop is gonna hurt soooo much more for the troops.
LOL PWNED!
Technically, round-robins do NOT eliminate the problem of shared championships. Everyone makes a big deal about how the Pac-10 plays a round-robin schedule, and subsequently has a "true champion." Even Pac-10 fans will say this continuously. But, it's actually not true:
http://www.pac-10.org/school-b...
They still have shared titles. The same goes for the Big East, which also plays a round-robin:
http://www.rauzulusstreet.com/...
A round-robin in the Big Ten merely brings a more legitimate tie-breaker into the picture, and would make the schedule more difficult.
I still think the B10 should take the lead in going with a 2-game playoff for the championship. Someone's eventually going to do it, and why shouldn't that be the B10? The key is to play the games in the two indoor NFL stadiums that are in midwestern states: Ford Field and Lucas Oil Stadium. Each division would have a div. championship game and then the div. winners would meet for the conference championship game (the stadiums could alternate for the conf. championship game). It would earn extra revenue for the conference, keep B10 teams in the news, out-do every other conference, and best of all it would give the championship team two games in a playoff-type atmosphere at the end of the season. That kind of experience would go a long way toward helping B10 teams do better in the post-season.
Remember, outside of the Pac-10, the Big Ten was the last major conference to get around to implementing postseason basketball tournaments. While I like your idea, I think we need to take baby steps on the change front.
I do like this system that you describe, but I just don't see them doing it.
But talking about the whole 9 games a year thing, how are they gonna decide who plays the 8 games? It'd be much easier if tehy do 10 games, and it still leaves room for 2 OOC's, which is good enough imo, gives you one big game, one cupcake, or two mediocre teams
I'll take the Hawkeyes
Not sure if I like the idea. Like I said before...you are setting up an undefeated team for failure. If an undefeated PSU or OSU loses in that Conference Playoffs, they are eliminated from national title contention.
If I was a coach, I'd rather take my chances in the national championship game than in a conference playoff.
12 games should be enough to get you prepared for a national championship game, especially if you get rid of the Akron's and the Arkansas State's of the world. Dropping those games and picking up better competition would be just as good for the Big Ten as adding a conference championship or conference playoffs.
And if everyone is saying that the conference can't win the big games, what does adding a conference championship or a conference playoff do to help with that? You are still playing conference opponents.
If OSU beats USC and wins a big bowl game, people will forget all about the last 3 seasons.
Lets face it...unless you are the SEC, the public's preception of conference strength is based on the teams' ability to beat OOC opponents.
Schedule two BCS OOC schools a year and throw in a MWC or a WAC opponent.
Start winning those games and people will start to appreciate the Big Ten again.
Id love to see a Utah/BYU type team in the opener, then a power like USC/Oklahoma in the second week, then play all 10 b1o teams. I know we have not fared well on the national stage lately, but isnt it the WAC and Mountain West teams that have something to prove? Let them come see us.
Maybe the NCAA should start considering pre-season games. Extra revenue and it would allow teams to go right in to facing top opponents from week one and eliminate alot of SOS talk.
One thing I dont think helps is ducking challenges at every turn, we should be more than willing to play tough teams at every opportunity.
yep... and 2008 we tried not to score and kept scoring in every way imaginable. 45-7 was great. I cancelled dinner plans with friends because it was a 3:30 start time and I wanted to watch every minute.
respectfully.... no way. Bad idea.... why play the regular season then?? It means nothing to lose a couple, then win the division and the conference. Iowa (7-4) and Northwestern(6-5) play for west conference and NW wins with a 7-5 record --- OSU(10-1) and PSU (9-2) play for the east confernce and OSU wins with a (11-1) record....
OSU already beat NW in week 4 and now loses 28-27 ... NW is the big Ten champ with a 8-5 record and OSU has the best overall record at 11-2...... how does that help the conference. Big-10 makes the most money of all conferences ( I think).... not a good idea at all.
Boilers
Agreed on Purdue. 14 players from the state of Fla. in this years recruiting class plus maybe their best QB recruit since Brees
I always find myself not attending other events I'm supposed to be at during the season man....I have my priorities you know?
Iowa already has
My thoughts:
A B10 Championship game would give us legitimacy in the sense that a. we would have a true Champion, and b. it would sharpen the edge in terms of post-season competition. I'd rather be beat in a close re-match than get blown out by an OOC opponent, because we got fat dumb and happy (2006).
A true champion will rise up and win that game. "Every game matters", so f*ck being scared of competition. Do you think they would've been motivated to beat another team after the emotional letdown they had after the scUM game?
The NCAA as a whole needs some kind of scheduling regulation across the board as far as numbers of games, max OOC games allowed and max IAA opponents allowed, as well as a playoff of some sort.
testing my new avatar
I recommend that we do the inverse of what JoePa proposes; I suggest that Penn State be the team that returns back to the Big East so that they can once again rein supreme in New England by beating the likes of Syracuse, Temple, WVU, PITT, Rutgers, and so on.
This way, the Big 10 can retain its signature game (UM vs OSU) and maybe the Big Ten can add some tougher non-conference games that are nationally attractive. We need to remember what happened to the regular Nebraska/Oklahoma game when they added teams... it is now irregularly scheduled, instead of being in its former at the-the-end-of-season rival game.
We don't need Penn State and we should not be forced to sacrifice our big game to please Penn State.
ITT Tech has as good a chance as any of the other 8.
Yeah and it would also successfully prevent us from putting anybody in the NC game for many years to come.
Hey Joe here is a better idea- have every big 10 team start out 0-1 before playing a single game and then if any of them run the table they must forfeit 2 of their wins and turn them into losses and 4 lost scholarships if they somehow still make it into a BCS game.
Of course we need Penn State. Where would we be if they didn't think that we were rivals? I also loved it when the students threw cups of piss at the band in 2005. What a great f*cking memory!
"respectfully…. no way. Bad idea…. why play the regular season then??"
This argument goes against any type of playoff scenario. I would answer the question by saying: you play the regular season to get into the playoff. If you don't get into the playoff, you can still make a bowl game by winning 6 games or more. It's a win-win situation. The university presidents won't vote for a National playoff because it would mean losing their coveted bowl games. This way they can get the extra conference playoff money, plus then collect the bowl money. Can you see their greedy little faces light up at that prospect?
"OSU already beat NW in week 4 and now loses 28-27..."
This exact scenario happened in 1975 when we beat UCLA like a drum in the regular season, only to play them again in the Rose Bowl for the National Championship...and lose. Was it fair? Probably not. Did anyone have sympathy for us? Probably not. The same thing could happen this year: we beat USC in the regular season and then play them again in the BCS Championship game. Is it fair? No. Will anyone feel sorry for us if we lose? Nope. That's the game. Win 'em all and you're the champ; lose a game or two and you are at the mercy of the pollsters.
Yes, I can see how much the Big-12 Championship game has hurt the Sooners in this regard. Oh wait, they seem to get there a lot. Never mind.