Well, if this ain’t a game that ain’t taylor-made for the Big Ten, I don’t know what is. Smash mouth football. Offensive struggle. Grind-it-out physical game play. Are ya ready, kids? (Aye Aye Captain!)

Perhaps the best game of this weekend for Big Ten teams is the match up of Iowa versus Pittsburgh, a clash of two programs that have proud football histories. While both are trying to regain some public favor and respect, the winner of this game should get some street cred for sure. Why? Well, Iowa is 3-0, but they haven’t really beaten anybody. Iowa State was their biggest win, but the Cyclones haven’t been a football power for quite some time. Pittsburgh started off the year ranked but then lost at home in the opener to Bowling Green and beat Buffalo by a mere 11. If there’s any game where two teams are wanting to make a statement, it’s this one.

Kirk Ferentz would do us all a favor by making a statement as to who his quarterback is. While Jake Christiansen started off the year as the leading man, Richard Stanzi has been playing quite a bit and has thrown for more yards AND more TDs than Jake the Snake. Prognosticators such as myself thought that the running back position was going to be the big question mark, but that seems to be settled well in hand as Shonn Greene has exploded as the go-to guy. But there’s no question marks on the defensive side of the ball, where Iowa is giving up a paltry 2.7 points per game. Yowza. That’s impressive, I don’t care who you are. The ball-hawking “D” has already snagged seven passes this year and the tenacity to the ball is something that you have to see for yourself.

But they get a different look in Pittsburgh, who has their quarterback position solidly in place with Bill Stull who has thrown for over 500 over the first two games. The running game is anchored by LeSean McCoy, even though McCoy has yet to break the century mark yet this year. Don’t get me wrong, the team’s average yard per rush is not terrible (3.6 avg per carry), but it’s nothing to really be overly excited about. The defense has been vanilla at best–nothing really exciting or dominating about them against two opponents that they could have shut down.

Pittsburgh is a slim 1 point favorite in this game as they are at home, and this will be the Hawkeyes first game out of Kinnick Stadium. While I understand that Dave Wannstedt is definitely a coach that will prepare well, Ferentz’ crew looks like they are poised to have a breakout game against a worthy opponent. If they can settle in on a QB (Stanzi is my vote…sorry Jake) and Greene can continue to rack up the yards, this could be a one-sided game when it comes down to it. My prediction: Iowa 24, Pittsburgh 13

While the fans in Minnesota are really starting to gear up for their recruiting classes in the face of terrible seasons, a similar “parallel” is happening in Evanston, where coach Pat Fitzgerald is riding the momentum of a good offensive 2007 and try to build it into an explosive 2008. This has been a longtime coming for Wildcats fans who have waited for a return to the glory days of the mid-90s, and they start this season against a team that has headed in the wrong direction as well for a while–and there may not be any sign of the downward spiral ceasing in the case of the Syracuse Orangemen.

Fitzgerald is going to be relying on C.J. Bacher to continue his passing fancy in the way he did last year, where he averaged an eye-popping 300+ ypg. However, when Bacher wasn’t throwing the ball, he seemed to be fumbling it on the ground. He has absolutely got to keep it tucked away if the Wildcats are going to be successful.

The running game also has to be prevalent for Northwestern to keep defenses honest–they were last in the Big Ten in rushing, but you could really attribute that to the injuries that Tyrell Sutton had after having a stellar first two years with NU. With him at full strength, this should make for a very potent team when they have the ball.

Potency doesn’t go in the same sentence with the Syracuse Orangemen. Picked to finish last in the Big East media day, the team has struggled immensely over the past three seasons, and the defense has been atrocious–which spells disaster for the Orangemen when pitted against the purple engine. Syracuse doesn’t have an awful offense at all–QB Andrew Robinson did throw for over 2000 yards and threw for 13 TDs, but he got sacked an amazing 50 times (Hey Orangemen, there is thing called blocking–ever heard of it?) The rushing game should be improved regardless–they averaged a paltry 2 yards a carry last year–but again that depends on the blocking that the offensive line can provide and not play the matador offensive scheme.

Overall, it just seems that the deck is stacked way too much against ‘Cuse. In my mind, it won’t be pretty. Northwestern 38, Syracuse 21

I’ve read a few articles about the situation with Rich Rodriguez and his buyout clause with the University of West Virginia. Now that the proverbial dust has cleared and the University of Michigan will help Rodriguez pay back a portion of the 4 million that he owes the Mountaineers, many are claiming that it’s “closure” and that it can “finally be laid to rest”.

But is that in fact true? Read the rest of this entry »

Ok, coaches come and go. Players come and go. Their records are concrete evidence of how they performed. But, there is those little intangibles that set a coach apart. For one, look at Bobby Knight. The man has won more games than 99% of coaches will even dream of even being involved in much less winning, yet even with that huge laurel, he has an intangible stigma, a smear on his record of being a bad guy at Indiana. Gone are the days of his temper tantrums, but still–he will always be looked at differently.

Now we have Rich Rodriguez. Once a man that was looked at as a future hall of fame coach now is becoming quickly a jerk amongst jerks. Not that he didn’t do any favors to his West Virginia team by bolting before a BCS showdown (which his team won without him–cue Nelson’s HA-HA!), but then it became a nasty mudslinging between himself and the university’s administrators, where Rodriguez was told he was contractually bound to pay back over 4M in pay, to which he’s said he won’t do. Of course, this has prompted the lawyers to all start huddling en masse, and the cold war begins.

But it gets better…or worse, actually. Now we learn that this week all records–YES–ALL–records over 7 years of his tenure with the Mountaineers have gone up in smoke….smoke, that is, that is fuming from the paper shredder that he used to destroy everything. We’re talking everything–booster information, summer camp info, financials, you name it, it’s now in pieces somewhere in the bottom of a trash bin.

Seriously? ARE YOU SERIOUS?

How does this look on Rodriguez? Well, if I were a kid looking to go to Michigan, I’d have to question character…integrity…and class. Is this the kind of coach like John Voight portrayed in Varsity Blues, where life is football and he would turn his cheek to NCAA violations amongst other things? Well–why wouldn’t I say so? He’s not proving otherwise, in fact he’s just acting like a child on a playground who just took off a kid’s hat and threw it in a tree. It’s really no different.

Ohio State’s best recruiting pitch: Come play for us or play for Rodriguez. Beautiful.

I think in order to make things more streamlined and formative, I am going to start doing some frequent posting that encapsulates different items on certain days in order for fluidity to the site. That being said, here is what my schedule will be going forward per conference:

Monday-Big Ten

Tuesday-Pac 10

Wednesday-ACC

Thursday-Big East

Friday-Big 12

Saturday-SEC

Sunday-All others

In these daily capsules, I will have different posts discussing the previous week’s events, news, and future discussions about the teams and conferences themselves (not limiting to specific sports). I will also post on news events as they transpire with my two, or three cents, maybe even a dollar’s worth. For those of you out there that would like to have a discussion on a certain topic, shoot an email my way and I’ll be happy to give it a shot.

Thanks for your support of the site and I look forward to getting started on this!

Tim AKA “The Athletic Supporter”

Hey, I won’t lie, I thought Oklahoma, amidst all of their crying about not being able to play in the national title game, would pull a USC and basically play for the masses the way to show that they deserved to be there. With West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez bolting for greener pastures in what was his football team’s finest hour in a long time, the bookmakers had Oklahoma as a near-lock in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

Enter Bill Stewart.

Highlighting the big-time offense that catapulted them into the BCS game against the Sooners, the Mountaineers dominated from start to finish, winning in convincing fashion 48-28. And in a class move by the university, the interim coach that Stewart held was officially knocked off, and he has been named the football coach. Take that, Mr. Rodriguez. Enjoy your beatings by Ohio St.

Things couldn’t get much worse for Sooners coach Bob Stoops, who has lost big bowl games now 4 straight times. Oklahoma, who last won “the big one” in 2000, couldn’t mount (no pun intended) any offense behind top-rated QB Sam Bradford, literally being in the backfield almost every play. And on the other side of the ball, the Sooners vaunted defense couldn’t find an answer for the wily Pat White, who kept them guessing all game long.

Gonna make ya sweat ’til y’all bleed….

So, now that all of this talk for USC possibly vaulting to a national title, why not discuss West Virginia? I mean, the Mountaineers beat a higher ranked team on a higher platform, beat the crap out of them no less under much more dire conditions. If you are going to place the Trojans near this pedestal, you have to consider WVU then as well.

Oh yeah..the national championship game still hasn’t been played.

*Sigh*

Papa John’s. Better ingredients. Better Pizza. (Can we get better teams?) 

This game looks on paper like it should be a pretty clear choice. For one, Cincinnati has the schedule and the ranking. They have the firepower and the street cred. But, on the other hand, there are five fingers.

Just thought you’d like to know.

Seriously, though, Southern Miss does have one big intangible–and that this is ’s last game as coach for the Golden Eagles. Bower has been with the school for 17 years and although he already resigned and the school has found his replacement, he is being allowed to coach the team in the bowl game. This gives Southern Miss more motivation, more heart, and more chance than most people are giving them.

However, with Cincinnati, their offense may just be too dominate for the Eagles. The Bearcats have Wake Forest transfer Ben Mauk, who has a gaudy 154.6 passer rating. He also had 27 TDs on the year, despite being injured 2 games. As a team, the Bearcats averaged almost 37 points, the second-best offense in the Big East.

The Cincinnati defense, though, is the X factor in this game. They are not exactly stellar, and the offense has had to bail them out of many games this year. The Achilles’ heel for the defense has been giving up huge plays through the air-it’s been a killer. However, the Golden Eagles were last in C-USA in passing yards.

While I like both teams and it would be a storybook ending for Bower to get the win on his way out, I just think Cincy is too strong to buckle in this bowl.  I’ll take them 37-24.

While everyone prognosticates about the fervor that the BCS is bringing, all of the matchups that could be a possibility, there is one thing that remains with the teams that are near the top of the standings, and that is the fact that they all lost games at the right time.

It doesn’t make it right–I’ve already gone on record about it–but it is what it is. With this in mind, I am thinking about what I’d like to cozy up to the night of the national championship game with my beer in one hand and remote in the other. First of all, if the experts have their due, it will be Ohio St and West Virginia. If that is indeed the case, my remote hand will certainly be getting more work than my beer hand, which is NOT a good thing (well, perhaps for my liver).

Why? Because that would be the single most BORING game that could possibly happen. No flash, no panache (that’s peh-nawsh for those of you without class), I mean–the Mountaineers are a working man’s team, a grind-it-out tough-it-out team that lulls other teams to sleep with execution, much like how Pete Sampras used to play tennis–precise, but utterly hard to watch without falling asleep.

So–if there is a team I am rooting for this Saturday, it’s going to be Missouri–and it’s for purely selfish reasons–because I believe they will bring the excitement that the BCS needs to recoup those that will 1) continue to remark about teams backsliding into the big game and 2)Because they are just fun to watch. Sure, their defense sometimes looks like the special olympics, but the offense is something to take in–call it “Hawaii without the feeling of getting motion sickness from watching guys run routes like their hair was on fire.”

They’ve got star power in Chase Daniel and a deep running and receiving crew. And they are really the underdog for even being in the national title game–despite being number 1, because people feel that the Oklahoma Sooner defense is going to dismantle this offense, despite giving up 31 points to Mizzou in their win–at home.

Ohio St. being in the national title game is really kind of a joke to me. The Buckeyes didn’t play an entirely strong schedule, the Big 10 was for the most part not strong at all despite Illinois’ resurgence, and they really haven’t dominated anyone. They literally have benefited from the losses of other teams and have not fought their way to the top.

If I had my choice, right now I would pit Georgia versus USC in the national title game. These two teams are at the top of their games and have been playing wonderful opponents. USC came back from an embarrassing loss to basically kick the crap out of a good Arizona St. team. And Georgia has been on an offensive roll, winning six in a row, and their biggest win in the last month was a 25 point drubbing of Auburn.

But–alas–I don’t have any say. BUT I DO HAVE A BLOG!!! MUHAHAHAHAHA! (whoops…obviously my beer hand has been working overtime…)