B1G Week 11...

B.A.R.

CTG Partner
Staff member
Busy as can be lately, sorry for the late thread but I will get it started and won't be able to contribute much more until Thursday...


Quick thoughts about last week...

The minute that game got delayed in East Lansing I knew Sparty was winning. I should have bet it live coming out but did not. They couldn't run. If that game doesn't get lightning then they were screwed big-time. The delay allowed them to throw the ball 50-60 times and that is what they are getting better and better at. Penn State was in a bad spot, as stated, but they still were sloppy too. MSU now wins the East with a win in C-Bus on Saturday (not technically but they are not losing to Maryland or Buttgers).

Iowa and OSU -- not much more to say. That game was 17-17 with 9 or 10 minutes left in half and the game totally changed right then for OSU on offense. Iowa played balls out. It was a perfect storm. Kirk will never get fired from there, lol.

Wisky with an impressive 4th quarter at IU. The Hoosiers have to be mentally done at this point to be honest.

Michigan played it safe in the rain and are sticking with one idea of how to run...power...I like it...defense other than their usual early score giveaway was dominant. Michigan ran only 45 plays in this game and scored 5 TD's. They should get some injured guys back for this week, hopefully.

Nebraska and Northwestern, blah.

Not much else I really need to talk about...



Quick take on CFB Playoff rankings as of tonight:

I said it about LSU and a few others last week... 'what the heck are they doing in top 25 of ranking?' I get it, it doesn't matter but now this week in the B1G...Iowa and Northwestern are ranked in the top 25? Um, why? These teams are average at best. Very odd. They play in a weak-ass division. Oh well, again it doesn't matter just very odd...


Okay, on to this week...

Michigan goes to Maryland. The terps have had awful injury luck. They are either hoping Goldshlaeger plays or it is a walk-on. This should not be pretty either way.

Michigan State and OSU in a defacto B1G East playoff game. The line is high, no doubt but I think it is for a reason.With that being said, Team Lucky Charms finds ways to win and this is their 2nd Super Bowl... man this game screams over to me...like a 41-27 type of game...Sparty passes well...and won't stop even if down big...OSU does not defense the pass all that great...nice recipe...CUM won't play this close to the vest like the last few years against Sparty.

Rutgers and Penn State has all the appeal of getting a haircut by your dad as a small child.

Illinois is flaming hot garbage but as said before, IU has to be emotionally wrecked by now... IU has to win out to get bowl eligible though I believe...

Nebraska Minnesota intrigue will be if the total points eclipses the projected high temperature... right now I have Temp -1.5

Here come the Cats..they get Purdue...Cats on a winning streak..working their way towards a sunny bowl location in Florida perhaps...Line seems a bit low to be honest...thinking 6.5 would be good...I dunno though..two tough fought wins for NW the last two weeks...



More to come...
 
nw in the top 25 is unreal. lost to an awful dyke team by like 40.

that's a fitting typo for duke, so I'm leaving it.
 
NC State also lost to south carolina in week 1, can we not still talk about beginning September, that may as well have been last year
 
NC State also lost to south carolina in week 1, can we not still talk about beginning September, that may as well have been last year
Well yeah...

They did lose...in a game they outgained them big-time...shit happens...

NW was gang banged by Duke.

NW and Iowa are both 6-3 in conference... and play on the easy side...
 
Cavs,

I get that losses early are not weighed as heavily as losses late...always has been for most part...

But, you have to have some sort of resume.
 
Cavs,

I get that losses early are not weighed as heavily as losses late...always has been for most part...

But, you have to have some sort of resume.

They beat Sparty...

Iowa gang banged Ohio State and was a play away from beating Penn State
 
They beat Sparty...

Iowa gang banged Ohio State and was a play away from beating Penn State

They have 3 losses.

I get that Sparty 'vaulted' after PSU win but will drop back to around 20-25 this week unless they pull the upset...
 
Why is Iowa rated above Northwestern then? NW beat them h2h and they both have identical records.
 
They have 3 losses.

I get that Sparty 'vaulted' after PSU win but will drop back to around 20-25 this week unless they pull the upset...

I think you attach an elevated importance to top 25, especially like rankings 20-25. at some point within the top 25 the point varies every week there is a bit drop in quality
 
I think for rankings the ceiling is more emphasized than the basement. So top wins more impressive than bad losses are to punish
 
Iowa performance vs top competition. Including now Iowa State
H2H doesn't matter anymore?

That is too bad.

I guess Georgia might be able to say with a loss to Bama they should be in due to a better schedule, right? Or you can use that same theory with ND and Georgia down the line too, right?

Just asking...

I get they have agendas at the bottom of the rankings like LSU last week. Now, it is almost to help Wisconsin of all teams.
 
H2H doesn't matter anymore?

That is too bad.

I guess Georgia might be able to say with a loss to Bama they should be in due to a better schedule, right? Or you can use that same theory with ND and Georgia down the line too, right?

Just asking...

I get they have agendas at the bottom of the rankings like LSU last week. Now, it is almost to help Wisconsin of all teams.

Well Georgia loses that on neutral territory whereas Iowa loses it in Northwestern. I think that's a crucial difference. I think h2h matters to a degree but at that point Bama will also have beaten Auburn on the road and a then highly ranked FSU with Francois

Fucking smashin Ohio State though is really insane, that's gotta be a special circumstance
 
Whether a win or loss was September 1st or November 4th, it all must be taken into account, and I think taken into account evenly. It all makes up the specific results the given team produced.

I get bothered at the end of the year when some want to put all the emphasis on how the team is finishing and not how they started. Improvement is great, but what a team did (or didn't do) early in the season can't be ignored and must be weighed for or against teams just the same then vs now.

It all means something, as it should.
 
I was thinking it could be a good spot for Purdue...and it could still be. But I was also thinking that Blough kept making his way into the starter spot for a reason. He is either better than Sindelar or, well, he definitely was more dual threat. Not sure Purdue can rely on a drop back passer to make all the plays to their average WRs without the running threat out of the QB position. I will have to go back and look at some of their games and see how Sindelar did. I know he provided a spark and at times led the O better than Blough, but at times Blough was better. Now they are stuck with Sindelar and it might make them worse off.
 
I think differently than most but I think I am right. If Team A loses to Team B and Team A plays them very close ON THE ROAD in hostile environment I am more impressed with Team A. e.g. Penn St losing to 1 at OSU. OSU was also off a bye while PSU was off Michigan. To me, more impressive is the road team.

Agree Sparty luck boxed their into another win due to mother nature. But over the years their luck has been unbelievable and I always agree you create your own luck. That game was the perfect storm for them no pun intended, but they made plays in the pass game that PSU did not. I said it for weeks, PSU was a fraud, they have major deficiencies (run game, pass rush, pass D) and all it took was a couple of competent teams to expose them and two key injuries. That said, they could just as easily be 9-0 as 7-2 losing both by a combined 4 points. Getting 3 straight against the other big teams was test they failed and shameful that any team should have those 3 in a row. James Franklin may or may not be a DB, but he is an awful in game coach. They will not win a Natty with that guy so he can stay put forever as far as I'm concerned. He's like the dorky kid in class who got cool and all of a sudden thinks he's elite. Humble pie for him, being a dick and running pass plays with your star RB up 30 and running an extra play on Michigan he didn't have to at end of game....yeah Karma didn't forget that. Meanwhile, D'Antonio is just a dick, guy looks miserable on the sideline all game and has this enormous chip on his shoulder constantly trying to prove to the world his team is relevant. You know what though, it plays well with his players and sloppy fan base and Michigan needs to start playing with a chip on their shoulder and with some hair on fire.

We will find out about Michigan soon and how they have developed. This is a rebuilding year to a degree and getting Peters game action was vital for next year. I don't want to hear Speight may come back, its completely pointless to play him. Maybe a charity series or 2 in the bowl but cmon. I'll take a split against OSU/Wiscy and be happy at 9-3.

The Big 10 is awful this year to me. Only team with a chance to make playoff is a team that has played absolutely nobody and gets a bye yearly to the championship game. This will be the norm until they mix up the divisions. Asking Michigan, OSU, MSU, and PSU to beat each other up and cancel each other out yearly is frustrating while still having tough road games at Wiscy and in Kinnick. Delaney as crooked as they come, he must realize this is going to negatively affect conference from getting a team in playoffs which is why I hope Wiscy loses badly in conf champ and no one makes playoff. Its so easy to change and something has to. Rank the teams over the last few years and where they are trending and place them accordingly. Fix the ranking to keep rivalries in place. This is what i would do.
1. OSU 2. PSU 3. Wiscy 4 Michigan 5 MSU 6 Iowa, start there. Take 1,4,5 in one division and 2,3,6 in other then continue. Re-evaluate every 4-5 years. simple.
 
I think differently than most but I think I am right. If Team A loses to Team B and Team A plays them very close ON THE ROAD in hostile environment I am more impressed with Team A. e.g. Penn St losing to 1 at OSU. OSU was also off a bye while PSU was off Michigan. To me, more impressive is the road team.

Agree Sparty luck boxed their into another win due to mother nature. But over the years their luck has been unbelievable and I always agree you create your own luck. That game was the perfect storm for them no pun intended, but they made plays in the pass game that PSU did not. I said it for weeks, PSU was a fraud, they have major deficiencies (run game, pass rush, pass D) and all it took was a couple of competent teams to expose them and two key injuries. That said, they could just as easily be 9-0 as 7-2 losing both by a combined 4 points. Getting 3 straight against the other big teams was test they failed and shameful that any team should have those 3 in a row. James Franklin may or may not be a DB, but he is an awful in game coach. They will not win a Natty with that guy so he can stay put forever as far as I'm concerned. He's like the dorky kid in class who got cool and all of a sudden thinks he's elite. Humble pie for him, being a dick and running pass plays with your star RB up 30 and running an extra play on Michigan he didn't have to at end of game....yeah Karma didn't forget that. Meanwhile, D'Antonio is just a dick, guy looks miserable on the sideline all game and has this enormous chip on his shoulder constantly trying to prove to the world his team is relevant. You know what though, it plays well with his players and sloppy fan base and Michigan needs to start playing with a chip on their shoulder and with some hair on fire.

We will find out about Michigan soon and how they have developed. This is a rebuilding year to a degree and getting Peters game action was vital for next year. I don't want to hear Speight may come back, its completely pointless to play him. Maybe a charity series or 2 in the bowl but cmon. I'll take a split against OSU/Wiscy and be happy at 9-3.

The Big 10 is awful this year to me. Only team with a chance to make playoff is a team that has played absolutely nobody and gets a bye yearly to the championship game. This will be the norm until they mix up the divisions. Asking Michigan, OSU, MSU, and PSU to beat each other up and cancel each other out yearly is frustrating while still having tough road games at Wiscy and in Kinnick. Delaney as crooked as they come, he must realize this is going to negatively affect conference from getting a team in playoffs which is why I hope Wiscy loses badly in conf champ and no one makes playoff. Its so easy to change and something has to. Rank the teams over the last few years and where they are trending and place them accordingly. Fix the ranking to keep rivalries in place. This is what i would do.
1. OSU 2. PSU 3. Wiscy 4 Michigan 5 MSU 6 Iowa, start there. Take 1,4,5 in one division and 2,3,6 in other then continue. Re-evaluate every 4-5 years. simple.
This is how the SEC has been for years (sorry Twink, but your little ride is over). Bama plays the best of the worst half.
 
Division X
Ohio State 1
Michigan 4
Michigan St 5
Northwestern 8
Indiana 9
Illinois 14
Purdue 12

Division Y
Wisconsin 2
Penn St 3
Iowa 6
Nebraska 7
Minnesota 10
Maryland 11
Rutgers 13

Little move on seedings based on being able to keep "rivalry" matchups in place. Iowa v Nebraska Minny v Wisconsin Purdue v Indiana Mich v MSU Mich v OSU
Keep the East teams together like Maryland PSU and Rutgers, they were brought in to attract eastern viewers. PSU MSU is not a rivalry game though Big 10 has tried to push that. PSU v Nebraska could turn into one with the traditions there and some history. I do worry about the Little Brown Jug lol
The top 3 in each division should be required to play one and no more than two (one home one away) against the other divisions Big 3. Then you give them a mid level opponent and then a bottom feeder if playing top team only once.
 
Easiest fix is to eliminate divisions for all conferences. Keep a couple, three rivalry game intact and rotate the rest of the conference schedule. Fairest way to do it
 
I can go through every schedule for this decade and find something messed up but I'll startwith the home team...

UM hasn't played at Camp Randall since 2009. Before last season, they played Wisconsin 6 times in 11 years (which would be around 'fair' for being different divisions).

Now, starting with last year, Michigan and Wisconsin are playing minimum of 6 years in a row. Why is that? It is not a protected rivalry... So until 2021, at least...

-Penn State, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan State EVERY year. Generally that will be four of the top 5-7 teams in a 14 team conference. That is tough.

The flip side to that is obviously the Wisky schedule every few years is charmin soft, such as this year. At the end of the year, they may have played 2 teams that will be ranked in the final poll.
 
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Conferences are too big. If teams are in a conference they should play everyone in that conference annually. Conference Title games that create rematches don't do much in determining who the best team is in the league, just the team that won the rematch second. Smaller conferences, no divisions, play everyone, use tie breakers. Yeah, I like things the way they used to be, chasing dollars and growth ruins alot of things.
 
I would rather have super conferences with 24/confrence. 12 team divisions. Winners of divisions play in championship. Champions play it out.
 
I would rather have super conferences with 24/confrence. 12 team divisions. Winners of divisions play in championship. Champions play it out.

In a 12 game season with 3 nonconference opponents? Teams wouldn't even play all their divisional teams let alone conference teams.

I can't put the genie back in the bottle, probably going closer your way than mine. Not something I would like to see though.
 
In terms of national championship, which trickles down to conferences, let the conference do whatever they want and just do teh national title with 8 and have computers like the BCS used to pick the 8 highest ranked conference champs. Power 5 and Group of 5 = 8 of 10 get in. Only 2 conference champs will be left out, and most likely deservedly so. Get rid of the committee all together. Essentially every conference champ gets in. Every team under the sun has a legit goal and knows the rules, win your conference and you can play for it all.
 
Then Notre Dame...it shouldn't be our problem to make a system to fit Independents. It should be Independents role to fit the system that is created to suit the other 125 teams.
 
If you have any UM questions...for this game or last few...

Leave em and I'll answer with my best ability...
 
If you have any UM questions...for this game or last few...

Leave em and I'll answer with my best ability...

I'd rather talk about them beating Wisconsin next week. I'm still a little made they didn't cover vs Bucky last year.
 
I'd rather talk about them beating Wisconsin next week. I'm still a little made they didn't cover vs Bucky last year.
One positive already...

Game will be at 11, 2:30 or 3:00 Central time.

I like that better than a possible night start.

No night games in B1G next week.
 
I agree miss the old model, thought BCS was pure shit but a fuck ton better than a tournament model in CFB...we're so tournament eccentric it's annoying. This sport isn't meant for a tournament. It's still COLLEGE football, not Football college for your pleasure. I hate it.

This system blows
 
I agree miss the old model, thought BCS was pure shit but a fuck ton better than a tournament model in CFB...we're so tournament eccentric it's annoying. This sport isn't meant for a tournament. It's still COLLEGE football, not Football college for your pleasure. I hate it.

This system blows

I'm there with you. The 8 team with conference champs was my compromise to what we have now and what some people want. If we go to 8 I will be adamant about it being conference champs or it is going to be the same shit we go through now. 2 teams from this conference, 2 teams from that conference. Screw all that. 1 team per conference and it's easy. No committees with questionable knowledge and agendas. The season is the playoff to get there. Excellence over the course of 4 months is pretty rare air, if we look back historically there are only a handful of teams each year that really have the resume, not 8 or 16. I really didn't hate how things were done for 100 years before the BCS. The regular season and everything that comes with it is why I love this game. The champsionship stuff is anticlimatic.
 
I was always ok with a MNC in contention based on the vote. It's COLLEGE football, not life...it's not professional. Unlike all other sports, not all teams get a fair chance to participate. It's pure fiction/opinion...and I'm ok with that. There aren't enough games or more importantly ways to do that. Let the controversy live on. Michigan/Nebraska was brilliant...best natty in the last two plus decades. Better than UT/USC....

Open for biz
 
I was always ok with a MNC in contention based on the vote. It's COLLEGE football, not life...it's not professional. Unlike all other sports, not all teams get a fair chance to participate. It's pure fiction/opinion...and I'm ok with that. There aren't enough games or more importantly ways to do that. Let the controversy live on. Michigan/Nebraska was brilliant...best natty in the last two plus decades. Better than UT/USC....

Open for biz

Just for Cub...

"You mean the retirement gift given to Coach Tom?"

:)
 
They said in 1994 that was a gift for Osborne getting the vote over Penn State. Osborne got a lot of gifts?

More like he earned that shit!

But yeah, that was the thing at the time.
 
Oh, he was a great coach, no doubt.

'94 PSU prolly the best team of my football lifetime not to win a MNC.
 
Oh, he was a great coach, no doubt.

'94 PSU prolly the best team of my football lifetime not to win a MNC.

Offensive team. I remember going to Michigan with a friend and watching Wheatley vs KiJana, what a great game. Of course I was in the pisser for Wheatleys long td run.

The PSU 94 team was great but their defense stunk to a degree and prevented them from being voted #1. Nebraska was the best team to me that year but boy Nebraska vs PSU would be 56-55 I think. The irony is that was the beginning of the Paterno vs Sandusky hatred as Paterno blamed Sandusky for not winning the NC. Paterno blamed Sandusky for not enough focus coaching because he was focused too much on some 2nd mile charity for kids, i guess now we know why. After 94 this started the Paterno "fire Jerry" rant while Jerry was convinced he was next in line to take over the HC duties when Joe hung them up. Paterno said no chance and that added fuel to the fire. This lead to Jerry being defiant even waiting for photo ops with the team photos after Joe left to troll him and act as if it was his team. The one and only picture you see of the two of them together Joe did not care to take and Jerry got a kick out of Joe's anger. If you look at the photo Jerry is even laughing, those in the know said mocking Joe for just taking pictures with team after Joe left and saying to the players this is my team. The guy literally made all the players stay there so he could get these photos sans Joe. Whack job? The 99 team was the tipping point in Jerry's last year with a defense made up of 7 pros including Lavar Arrington and Courtney Brown, #1 overall and #2 overall NFL picks as they lost 3 games in a row to end the year where Paterno and Sandusky almost came to blows in arguments over the defense underachieving. Some guy named Tom Brady played a big role in ruining their season. Meanwhile, Sandusky was set to be HC at Virginia just two years after leaving PSU until the Jets tanked the end of their season (3 straight losses to miss the playoffs) and Virginia alum Al Groh resigned and got the gig last minute over Jerry. Imagine that if the sexual predator was coaching at Virginia, apparently Virginia had no clue of his mischief either after an elaborate vetting process.
 
Quick predictions for tomorrow...these are mostly for fun but also kinda what I expect...we shall see...I'll be involved with 2 of them...


Michigan 33-10

Penn State 34-7

Ohio State 41-24

Illinois 17-16

Northwestern 24-20

Nebraska 23-17

Wisconsin 27-13
 
** Michigan did have a backup kicker travel, fwiw. Still not sure on Nordin injury, so who knows... just to keep in mind **
 
My plays I would play if I bet ;) on the Michigan game...

Michigan minus the points

Maryland tt Under.
 
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