Random thoughts about the season openers for several schools, in no particular order:

• The jury is still out on Wisconsin’s QB situation. Allan Evridge seemed confident out there, and he completed 70% of his passes with a TD! Oh wait, he only threw 10 passes all game. Handing off to P.J. Hill continuously without fumbling was perhaps Evridge’s greatest achievement.
• What Kellen Lewis situation? The QB performed brilliantly against a decent Western Kentucky team, running for near 200 yards and passing for 2 scores. I am sure that Crimson and Cream fans are grinning this morning.
• Michigan State is the model for “close but no cigar”. The seven point loss to Cal marked the sixth straight game in which the Spartans lost the game by a TD or less. It also marked the 10th straight loss MSU has had to a Pac 10 team. Ouch.
• Minnesota’s defense is still suspect. I know Illinois gave up monster yardage to Missouri and MSU didn’t fare much better against Cal, but the Golden Gophers gave up nearly 400 yards to Northern Illinois? Minnesota wasn’t supposed to make a huge turnaround defensively, but coach Tim Brewster has to be concerned.
• Penn State’s running game seems downright scary. Ohio State, Michigan State, and Wisconsin came in with the pub, but Penn State came out with the stats–334 yards on the ground, with 5 guys getting 60 yards or more. Evan Royster only got 8 touches, but 3 TDs–now that’s a good day.
• Yes, I know it was supposed to be a blowout, but you have to give some recognition to the Iowa defense, who limited the Maine offense to 220 total yards, a field goal, 2 picks, and only 83 yards in the air. The Hawkeye defense is young but definitely looks pretty solid.
• Michigan’s running game looks pathetic. Going into the game, many were questioning the QB situation, and while Rich Rodriguez used a platoon situation, they still didn’t do terrible, but when you consider that Brandon Minor led the team with 21 yards on the ground and his longest gain was 21 yards…ummm…yeah….you get the picture.
• Did Northwestern throw more than they needed to? C.J. Bacher tossed the pigskin 35 times, but his running game was blowing up huge numbers behind him, with almost 270 yards on the day total. I don’t get it…but me suspects some stat-padding.
• As far as the biggest dissapointments from Week 1, Javon Ringer is up there, but he also faced a great defense–but people won’t look at Arrelious Benn’s numbers (7 catches for 92 yards) and think that he had a bad game–but believe me, he could have done so much more for the Illini versus an exposed Missouri secondary. He seemed like he was just going through the motions out there and dropped several passes. He better get his act together if the Illini are to bounce back in big games.
• I would not be surprised to see Utah get a bunch of votes for the Top 25. Not that they don’t deserve it, but the “aura” that Michigan carries with them everywhere will now have bandwagoners jumping on the Utes for simply going into Ann Arbor and winning. This isn’t your father’s Wolverine team.

Well, that’s enough for now. I could go on for several more bullet points, but….I digress….

Ok, I know that I was perfect in my picks for week 1, but that still doesn’t hide the fact that the games that I picked for the Big Ten to lose were ones that I wouldn’t have minded “losing” in terms of my picks. The bottom line of the games that the Big Ten lost were ones that could have assisted a lot in the conference’s image and label of being weak this year–Illinois couldn’t keep up with Missouri, Michigan State trailed California for the entire game, and Michigan got embarrassed for the second straight year in a season opener.

They are just not doing too much to shake the label that they are weak. Sure, the big name teams won big, but come on–those games are supposed to have spreads of 30 or 40+ points, and the competition was just not even good enough to really even think about overall–that’s just typical across all conferences. Where the league will make the most noise is where the nonconference marquee matchups are won by the Big Ten, and they are 0-3 thus far, and the schedule doesn’t get a whole lot easier. While some people are hanging the “weak” label clearly on if Ohio State can march into USC and take a victory away, that’s not really fair or accurate anyways–even if Ohio State loses. The games that should give the Big Ten a bit more notoriety and respect overall are the Indiana-Ball State game, Michigan-Notre Dame, Michigan State-Notre Dame, Penn State-Oregon St, Purdue-Oregon and Purdue-Notre Dame, along with another nationally hyped game of Wisconsin-Fresno St.

The league better start doing something..I’m getting tired of having to defend these guys the day after New Year’s…………….

Indiana, as all Big Ten fans know, had a special season in 2007-08, as they carried on former coach Terry Hoeppner’s “Play 13″ motto into a bowl game in Arizona versus Oklahoma State. Now, after reaching this level of prominence, the Hoosiers go into this season with bigger plans and more confidence than ever under 2nd-year coach Bill Lynch. They face the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in Bloomington, who have had 12 consecutive winning seasons and are in their first year in the “Football Bowl Subdivision” (otherwise known as Division I football). Read the rest of this entry »

According to the Indianapolis Star, coach Bill Lynch has been quoted that the starting quarterback job just won’t be handed back to Kellen Lewis, that he is going to have to “fight it out” with Ben Chappell to get the helm.

Ok, sure, Bill, whatever it takes to make you feel better about reinstating Kellen. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the more exciting times in Big Ten football is the Media day, which is held annually before the season starts. This gives a chance for the media (duh) to meet with coaches and for the programs to get some exposure.  On the second day, both players and coaches have the chance to hob-knob and to discuss many different agendas.

This year’s Media day, starting tomorrow in Chicago, will show off several different personalities, ranging from the cagey veteran Joe Paterno, who will undoubtedly be asked for the billionth time what his future holds at Penn St, and Rich Rodriguez, who will undoubtedly be grilled about his West Virginia deal. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg–the media will probably be asking Kirk Ferentz about the whole Iowa debacle and try to worm into details, challenge Ron Zook if the Illini’s season was a fluke, badger Jim Tressel about losing the last two national championships, and try to finally rile Joe Tiller on his last media day. All in a media day’s work, right?

The real fun comes when the players get into the mix, as many are natural charmers and also provide more than just coachspeak–many talk candidly, which is a refreshing thing when you get used to the boring cliches that seem to revolve year after year. Juice Williams, James Laurinaitis, Malcolm Jenkins, Travis Beckum, and Javon Ringer are just a few of the big names that will be mobbed by the press, and it should be very interesting, to say the least.

What really happened in the Kellen Lewis situation? He was suspended in the spring for unspecified reasons and has just, as of this week, been reinstated back to the team. Coach Bill Lynch has never been forthright as to the reasons that Lewis has not been with the team, but he did note that he was in good academic standing previously, so we know from this statement that it really doesn’t have to do with his classroom performance. Read the rest of this entry »

The Big Ten has only had five commissioners since 1922. That’s an amazing number and a testament to the loyalty shown by these five individuals. One of those elite is none other than Jim Delaney, who has captained the conference for almost 20 years. He has undergone several changes in several different arenas, and one of his chief responsibilities at the current time is amongst other commissioners on the Bowl Championship Series “team”. Read the rest of this entry »

It seems that every year the Big 10 has a big name in the finals or even a winner of the Bronco Nagurski Trophy, which awards the National Defensive player of the year award. James Laurinaitis, who won the award in 2006 and was a finalist in 2007, returns for another year of contention and should be a shoo-in for another finals. Other than the Ohio State standout, nine other Big 10 players were announced as being considered for the trophy. They are: Illinois’ Vontae Davis, Indiana’s Greg Middleton, Iowa’s Mitch King, Michigan’s Terrance Taylor, Northwestern’s John Gill, Ohio State’s Marcus Freeman and Malcolm Jenkins, Penn State’s Maurice Evans, and Wisconsin’s Matt Shaughnessy. Read the rest of this entry »

I still remember back in the day watching football and baseball on astroturf. It was the rule rather than the exception, but to see players diving and cringe as they hit the all-weather turf as if they were bouncing off of concrete and how this surface created such injuries as “turf toe”, it was apparent that this was not the end-all be-all for playing surfaces. Read the rest of this entry »

The Big 10 didn’t exactly have a banner year in terms of the NCAA tournament, although it was better than what many had predicted. But with 30 picks in the NBA draft for the first round, the conference posted 3 players that were taken, with Eric Gordon being the number 7 pick for the Los Angeles Clippers, Kosta Koufos taken 23rd by the Utah Jazz, and D.J. White being taken 29th by the Detroit Pistons. Read the rest of this entry »