Iowa fans may be hoping that coach Todd Lickliter has the tools he needs for his type of game play after finishing 13-19 last year, but they may be a little ahead of themselves. Lickliter prefers the slow down game, and while he is a good coach, his team this year may not be exactly up to snuff as far as wins and losses.

But then again, this is kind of mystery team, so a lot could happen either way. Tony Freeman’s transfer was a killer to the Hawkeyes, as he put up almost 14 points a game. Still, Cyrus Tate came on strong at the end of last year and could very well make up for some of those points lost, and long bomber Jake Kelly will be looked to lead the team–and with the three point line being moved back, he may be one of the premier shooters in the league.

The Hawkeyes are still very young, and 7 new players will don the black and gold this year. Devan Bawinkel, a transfer from West Virginia/JUCO, should provide immediate help to these young players and also should make an immediate impact offensively.

The overall look at the Hawkeyes is that the team has little depth overall, but decent experience in the starting five. Tate, Bawinkel, and Kelly will form a decent scoring duo, and Lickliter’s approach to discipline should bring the younger players up to speed quicker than most, but to ask for an NCAA berth at this point may be pushing it. An NIT bit and an over .500 record is definitely something that is within reach. Just a wait a couple of years, Hawk fans. They’ll get there.

Well, if the Big Ten is weak, apparently the bowl gods aren’t showing that so far with the predictions of bowl season coming up soon–in fact, two experts have listed that they prognosticate 8 teams in bowls–two in the BCS alone with Penn State in the national title game versus Texas, along with a USC-Ohio State rematch in the Rose Bowl (great, the Trojans get another home game for another bowl).

I understand that one of the biggest issues and complaints against the conference is that they put a bunch of teams in and no one seems to ever win. Well, if there’s any time to prove the naysayers wrong, it’s now.

Here’s the link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowlprojection?season=2008&week=9

Now, I’ll get flak for this, I am sure. Wisconsin started off 0-4 in the Big Ten. Ohio State hasn’t beaten a real good team and started off ranked #1 for the year. But if there’s a team that really has been a disappointment this year, it’s the Illinois Fighting Illini. Coming off of a 9 win season and a BCS berth last year, the Illini had tremendous weapons on offense and a decent defense returning. They had every opportunity to take things to the next level, give coach Ron Zook a label as a great coach, and make some stars in the process.

They didn’t.

Sure, they’ve lost to some good teams–Missouri in St. Louis, Penn State in Happy Valley, and Wisconsin in Madison. But they also lost a game they should have won at home against Minnesota, barely eeked out a victory against Louisiana-Lafayette, and their other three wins have come against 1-A Eastern Illinois and Big Ten doormats Michigan and Indiana. Not a great resume. They have to scrape two wins out of four left, and it has to come more than likely in the next two weeks against Iowa and Western Michigan, as the last two are against Ohio State and at Northwestern.

Even with a split, the team ends up 6-6, and they are bowl eligible, but it’s not anything to write home about; sure, Illini fans are very happy considering how awful the team has been in the 21st century, but it still is way below where this team should be playing.

Again, I know I’ll take some flak, but oh well. I call ‘em like I see ‘em.

Most of the time you can pretty much count on at least one team from the Big Ten making the BCS bowl games, and having 2 has not been entirely unusual–but this year, I don’t think that most people would have ever copped to thinking that the possibility of having 2 teams in it would even be a remote thing.

But–not so fast, my friends!

With Penn State already as high as they are at #3, if they were to lose to Ohio State and that alone, it could still keep the Nittany Lions in the BCS bowl scheme and allow the Buckeyes–who would need to win every game the rest of the season–to also get a BCS bowl. It’s a possibility, that’s for sure, and one scenario I really didn’t think had a snowball’s chance in hell. But I have to say that with both of these teams playing the way they have, the grumbles about the Big Ten being down overall would be quieted at least a little. But in order to really keep the boobirds from flocking, if this would happen, both PSU and OSU would HAVE to win both of their games, else the conference will have to endure yet another offseason of finger pointing and insults.

With the way college football has gone where it seems the number 1 carousel has been going around faster than any season of recent memory, this is now a very real possibility. If Penn State beats Ohio State, it will be the only one in the BCS, and that may be the big one–a national title game. Either way, I’ll take it as a Big Ten fan.

The Skinnymoose media team has recently informed us as bloggers of their network that we are going to be featured individually on Alltop, a news aggregator service that goes over a ton of topics and a ton of feeds–basically, if you want information about pretty much anything, it’s going to be there.

Well, Skinnymoose is jumping on board–but guess what? I’ve been there for a while, and it is truly a great thing–the badge that you can put on your site is “confirmation that I kick ass”–I love it. Even though I can’t really customize this blog, all I need to know is that I am on there–and that’s confirmation enough! Go check them out–seriously!!!

While the media continues to have already determined that the sun has set on Michigan’s season after they lost another season opener, this time to Utah, Rich Rodriguez‘ squad looks to turn back the storm with another home game this week against the Miami, Ohio Redhawks. One thing is for sure: drop this one, Mr. Rodriguez, and you will be thinking that the stress that the West Virginia fans have caused you was a walk in the park–I can guarantee you that! Read the rest of this entry »

Alright, not really Big Ten news and discussion, but I have to at least take the chance to at least brag on myself and pat my own back: in my game previews this week, I went 9-0 on my predictions. A run down on what I predicted and the final scores:

Big Tenet prediction: Missouri 41, Illinois 31
Final Score: Missouri 52, Illinois 42

Big Tenet prediction: Wisconsin 41, Akron 10
Final Score: Wisconsin 38, Akron 10

Big Tenet Prediction: Ohio State 55, Youngstown State 7
Final Score: Ohio State 43, YSU 0

Big Tenet Prediction: Minnesota 38, Northern Illinois 24
Final Score: Minnesota 31, NIU 27

Big Tenet Prediction: California 20, Michigan State 17
Final Score: California 38, Michigan State 31

Big Tenet Prediction: Utah 13, Michigan 10
Final Score: Utah 25, Michigan 23

Big Tenet Prediction: Iowa 48, Maine 10
Final Score: Iowa 46, Maine 3

Big Tenet Prediction: Penn State 45, Coastal Carolina 7
Final Score: Penn State 66, Coastal Carolina 10

Big Tenet Prediction: Indiana 31, Western Kentucky 21
Final Score: Indiana 31, Western Kentucky 13

To quote the immortal Ace Ventura–”Man I’m tired of being right!”

Big Tenet Prediction: Northwestern 38, Syracuse 21
Final Score: Northwestern 30, Syracuse 10

The final was no big surprise. 43-0 over Youngstown State, ho-hum, pretty much the exact way it was supposed to go.

Wait a minute…not so much. Read the rest of this entry »

Hmmm, learn something new every day. I had no idea that Youngstown’s mascot was the Penguins. Most people would scoff at this and especially from a team named Youngstown St., but those who are close to the college football scene know this is a program that is very good in its own right. I say in its own right because of the fact that it is good within its division–it won a national title in 1999 in the lower division, but against the big boys, probably not so much. Read the rest of this entry »

Joe Paterno has been coaching Penn State football since Elvis was “Cool” instead of “Polyester Elvis”, almost 25 years before the Berlin Wall came down, and an actor named Ronald Reagan was a budding politician and running for California’s Governor seat. And now, 42 years later, he is still roaming around the sidelines, and while the Nittany Lions have had wonderful success over time and he is most certainly going to go down in history as one of the best coaches ever.

However, there has been questions for a while now that Paterno, while his X’s and O’s may still be solid, should not be coaching any longer. The biggest question has come from the fact that the players that have been in the Penn State program have been having a ton of off the field problems. In fact, 163 of them.

163 counts of criminal activity have marred the program since 2002. During this time, while Penn State has had good success overall with the win-loss record side of things, the question has to come as to why in the world something like this hasn’t been questioned as to Paterno’s control of the team, and the recruiting of such players also comes into question.

So then–should he continue to be on the sidelines? I mean, we’re talking about an icon here–one of THE faces of college football and certainly an asset of the Big Ten. But when things like this continue to happen, the integrity of the university as well as the conference really has to be weighed against the success of the football team.

My take is this–maybe again because I am old school–but these players–by this age–understand the responsibility that they have as a student athlete and therefore must be accounted for in terms of the rules–in fact, they should be scrutinized even more as they are going to a place of higher education FOR FREE. But when these players on a certain team continue to have problems in a more widespread fashion over a period of time, the leadership of the program must answer for this and be held responsible. I know Paterno has an amazing record and is a great guy, but there must be change in order for the University to really be able to have institutional control. We love you, Joe, but it’s time to go.