I had all these plans to watch a DVR’ed spring game, break down positions, comment on things like how good Boom Herron looked in the first half or how improved Brandon Saine looked in the 3rd quarter. And how Terrelle Pryor could be scary good this year and we actually see the potential Ray Small is full of. Or maybe how the defense is looking good while the offensive line still needs work.
But, as it turns out, I ran out of time and had to travel for two weeks for business. So you get that condensed version.
I did just recently read this article by Andy Staples and it’s got me even more excited about #2.
Also, in my readings, I came across this little piece by Bruce Hooley. He certainly could stand for some paragraph breaks, so if you make it all the way through I’m interested to know what you guys think. While I don’t always agree with Hooley, I hate to admit he’s got a point.
A snippet:
That’s six straight years without a single winning post-season record, meaning only three of the league’s coaches (Tressel, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz and Penn State’s Joe Paterno) were in the conference when it last won more bowl games than it lost.
What do you think? Do you agree, or has the Big Ten had enough “moral victories” to still be part of the conversation?
Big ten needs fresh people. New kids, new dreams. Look for pryor to bring the league back to the top.
The midwest is very down right now. If the auto makers all crap out it could be the death of the Big Ten. It consumes a lot of resources to recruit out of state and Big Ten teams are doing it more and more as the population thins out. It just isn’t sustainable for any long period of time. Also, factor in the disparity between salaries in the SEC and Big Ten and you’re seeing how bad the situation is. The SEC is basically in an arms race to get the best and brightest coaches (assistants included). It’s going to be a long time before the Big Ten is on top again. If ever.
poop – economic changes have never impacted CFB – especially when impact is global & every state/team suffers similarly. The only time economics impacted CFB is when Bear Bryant paid his players.
The Big Ten’s just fine. Take any random time period of significant size and compare it to another – they average out the same.
It’s not an issue of skill or quality of football. The fault can also be placed on a higher standard for the Big 10. Over the past five years, they have been regularly matched up with higher-ranked teams – more so than at any other time in conference history.
In the past five years, OSU’s dominance or popularity has drawn it away from bowl affiliations, and the rest of the conference has been bumped up at least one notch as a result.
I have yet to hear one of the talking heads acknowledge this ranking discrepancy as a contributor to the losing record. Nope, it’s just because the Big 10 is slow, or old fashioned. Sigh.
No other conference is sending as many second, third, or fourth place conference finishers to play another conference’s #1.
At the same time, in that five-years USC has been stuck in an odd pattern where they choke away a NC spot, and get rewarded with a home bowl game against the Big 10 #2 or #3.
It’s very, very unlikely that both sets of aberrant coincidences will continue. Shoot, simply ending the pattern of “OSU gets pulled away from Rose to play #1-3 team, USC chokes its way back into Rose to play #10-15 team” would likely improve the postseason numbers alone.
THOSE are the true oddities; and are the primary reasons for the recent spate of Big 10 postseason losses.
And holy cow… combining that reasoning with my “higher standard” statement above… think about what that could mean. The fact that the top half of the Big 10 has been playing above its head for several years now bodes well for how much better they’ll be prepared in the next two/three years if their competition ends up returning to a relative even-strength. It’s like “fine, I’ll play against the PAC 10 #1 for five years… oh holy cow, this year I get to play against their #3? Awesome!!”