ACC Crumbles, Big Ten shines...

[buckeyefan78]

Hmmm...

Ohio State 22 NC State 14 in Raleigh ( Nugent is one lucky bastard. Never mind hard work and discipline right? )

Texas A&M 27 Clemson 6

West Virginia 19 Maryland 16

ACC goes 0-3 in it's big games this weekend. And from the media hype, I thought God gave Moses an 11th Commandment...

" though shall worship the ACC"

Seems like that isn't the case blowhards.

Ohio State wins on the road.
Michigan wins, although ugly.
Wisconsin wins on the road out west to an improving Zona team.
Minnesota is looking good in their game in progress out west.
Illinois gets a W.
Michigan State loses by 7 to Notre Dame, with no shame there.
Penn State won big time.
Northwestern gets a W against a BCS school ( lookin at you Miami, FSU, and Virginia ).

Indiana gets beat bad, but who cares? Iowa seems to be the only black eye, getting handled badly so far out west by ASU, but that game isn't over yet. Even if they lose, the question remains, will the national pundits give the Big Ten credit and blast the ACC?
Nah, that won't go down.

No worries though, we'll prove ourselves week in, week out for our own sake in the Big Ten.

Nice win by FSU though today. Didn't know there was a team in college football with a dragon on their helmet, like UAB, thought I was watching NFL Europe. Then again, when you line up these cupcakes, like the ACC does, you're bound to see some strange stuff.

[MountaineerDave]

Michigan's win is NOTHING to be excited about as a Big Ten fan. Michigan again and again seems to be unable to rebound from losing very easily, and while I have to give SDSU their props for going to the Big House and making a game of it, nothing but bad things about Michigan are going through my head tonight. A win, but likely to be out of my Top 20.

Of course, Iowa, a top 15 team in both polls, getting drubbed by Arizona is a pretty serious shiner if you ask me. Not a good day to be playing schools in Arizona for the Big Ten. Beating 'Zona by 2? Come the hell on. Wisconsin is going to have a long conference schedule if they can't score some points.

Illinois squeaked out a win over a team that an ACC team beat 60+ to nothing. And Penn State crushed a desperately bad UCF team.

In fact, it's about time we started talking about the MAC and the Sun Belt in the same sentence. You throw out these wins by PSU and Illinois as if they're meaningful, when you point fingers at UVa and Miami for doing to Akron and La Tech what they're supposed to do.

Where's the moral outrage at Big Blue's almost complete ineptitude in this game against SDSU? Sure, toughing out the win "builds character," but elite teams don't build character against SDSU, they build stats. They do what UVa did. They do what Miami did. They don't sit on a 3-point lead and get outplayed for much of the game.

Dave

[FSUViking]

Minnesota is looking good in their game in progress out west

Despite what you picked for the week.... :P

Being someone who likes a team from both conferences I'll say this. Prior to Miami joing the ACC, you could make a very strong argument that FSU had one of the toughest NC schedules, year in and year out....playing Florida and Miami alone will make that case.

Last year, throw in Louisville on the road, and that's a mighty tough NC. This year we have Syracuse, who is not good, but isn't much worse than a lot of the teams the Big 10 has played.

The Big 10 plays their fair share of cupcakes too (not just Minnesota, either).

I think the SEC annually plays the worst NC games.

[buckeyefan78]

Purple...

I'll always defend Minnesota as one of " my guys" when making points against outsiders, but inside conference play, I'll blast them, so cherish my love for them tonight.

Dave...

Yeah, you have some points, and they have merit, but come on, wins are wins. The Big Ten went 7-3 this week, only losing Iowa AT ASU, ND at MSU, and Indiana went down, so we did good. The ACC went 2-3 today in non-conf action, LOSING ALL 3 OF THEIR BIG GAMES THAT I FOCUSED ON IN THE PROVING THREAD ( I excluded Wake's win against some I-AA bum ). The only 2 ACC wins were against La Tech and Akron, so let's get real here.

Yeah, the MAC and Sun Belt deserve the bed together Dave, but there's a catch my friend. It is TEMPORARY. The Mac WILL BE back, as the have a few upstarts every few years, we just got spoiled in the last year or two. And let us not forget Marshall's ability to hang with big boys ( Georgia and OSU ). The Sun Belt has NEVER had a pulse. The Mac will be back.

Ohio State, an elite team, did win CLOSE against SDSU last year Dave, and I do believe an 11-2 mark is something to write home about. Bottom line, Michigan will come around.

Remember Dave, in the Big Ten, wins are important, not style.

No defense of Iowa though. Get GoHawks for that one Dave, he's all yours...LOL.

Maine beat an SEC school tonight in Miss State ! :D Damn that made my day.

[Alex]

Originally posted by MountaineerDave
And Penn State crushed a desperately bad UCF team.

That game was hell of a lot worse for Penn State than it looked on paper. Just casually looking at the score you can see Penn State drubbed a team we were expected to beat. If you watched, or in my case listened, to the game it was just ugly. Zack Mills threw two picks. He's an average QB, can't condemn him for that. Now here's the kicker, Penn State lost FOUR fumbles including two botched snaps. One of those steps was on the UCF one yard line after Penn State had just forced a UCF turnover. Had this game been played against Minnesota or Purdue the score would've been 73-10 them.

On the bright side, Tony Hunt looked good. He had three touchdowns on the ground and 125 yards. Gerald Smith is solidifying himself as a competent possesion receiver. The defense as a whole was pretty good but then again, this is Central Florida we're talking about. Freshman LB Dan Connor played a lot yesterday and was damned impressive. Derek Wake, a CAPTAIN, spent most of the game on the bench. Hopefully Joe saw what the rest of us did and will start Connor against Wisconsin. Penn State's next five games are incredibly tough- trips to Wisconsin and Minnesota followed by home games against Purdue and Iowa. The stretch ends with visits from Northwestern and Michigan State and a trip to Indiana.

[HibachiDG]

I'm not sure about Gerald Smith being a competent possession receiver just yet. The proper terming might be "only" possession receiver. They pretty much have to throw to him a ton of times.

Mills annoys me, and I don't think this will ever end. I'd open up Big Ten play with Mills and Robinson as WR with their Freshman Anthony Morelli taking the snap and go from there.

Tony Hunt has looked better than expected, except in the Boston College game.

[Marc]

Hey, my Wildcats of the SEC scored 52 points in a big win over the Hoosiers of the Big 10, buckeye. :) It was really unexpected, a throwback to the Hal Mumme days of the late-'90s where we were a high-powered offense. And Indiana looked good beating two other big conference schools, but they were dominated by UK.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Doug Graham
I'm not sure about Gerald Smith being a competent possession receiver just yet. The proper terming might be "only" possession receiver. They pretty much have to throw to him a ton of times.

Mills annoys me, and I don't think this will ever end. I'd open up Big Ten play with Mills and Robinson as WR with their Freshman Anthony Morelli taking the snap and go from there.

Tony Hunt has looked better than expected, except in the Boston College game.
Joe's too stubborn to change. Mills will play no matter what. Lets face facts, Morelli's redshirt was wasted. Joe proved that by letting Chris Ganter on the field at all against UCF or even Akron for that matter. What's more important? Getting your future QB mop up minutes to get comfortable in the game or playing your scrub back up who may not even be back next spring?

Hunt needs a big game against Wisconsin. If he falters again, he deserves to be labeled a player that can only beat up on bad teams.

Marc, when did Central Michigan and the MAC become a big conference? The Oregon game was a fluke. The Ducks were probably looking ahead to the OU game.

[HibachiDG]

Alex, it's not a fact that Morelli's redshirt was wasted. He only came to PSU because they weren't going to redshirt him. Getting Ganter on the field for 2 or 3 passes in a mop up play IS important as Ganter runs the fake field goals.

[buckeyefan78]

LOL Marc...

Yeah, you can have that one, I'll concede there, but let's get real. Are people on campus hyped about that, or the new b-ball recruits?

I don't put much stock in the annual rivalry of two basement dwellers of each conference that are heavy b-ball schools. Well, Kentucky does have a better football program, but you know what I mean.

[tigereyes33]

How in the hell could you possibly be pleased with your conference, when the #2 team (Iowa) gets absolutely humiliated against an unranked team, and the #3 team (Michigan) nearly loses at home to San Diego State. Nobody in your conference beat anybody ranked. So, what is there to get excited about. I still have no respect for the Big Ten, and if this is to be known as one of their "good days" of the season, then that is just pathetic. And ****, your sorry #1 team (OSU) only won by 8 against a sorry, unranked N.C. State team. Wow, what a huge statement day for the Big Ten... Shutup!

[MountaineerDave]

I was in and out of this game (on up against the WVU game, so...) and while I didn't really see much go on, I did hear the commentators note just how ugly the game had been on both sides of the field. The only positive PSU play I saw happen was a QB draw play off the right side for some 20-odd yards by Robinson.

Penn State's doing better this year than they have in the last couple years, because they're destroying teams that they should on the scoreboard.

Re:MAC Conference is coming back? Says who? The power of the conference over the past decade is departing for C-USA. Toledo, Northern Illinois, maybe MiamiOH will likely continue to finish with winning seasons, and occasionally attract some on/off attention, but I think maybe the MAC is toast now. I'm just guessin'. I'm not making a legitimate prediction based on anything. Just throwin' out there. The Mac wasn't much of anything to brag about pre-1997. I see it sliding back to that sort of attention-grabbing and talent-level.

Wins: I get a chuckle, 78, when you say Michigan's win is a win and only wins count. But, UVa gets no credit when they dismantle in every way imaginable a MAC team. It's supposed to be the win that counts, you say. Not the how. And it's okay that UM was the bad side of atrocious is beating SDSU, but VERY BAD that UVa went out and shallacked a team they should have shallacked. Whatever.

Dave

[buckeyefan78]

Let me know when Virginia EARNS the reputation for coming back in their season and sticking around to contend for their league title year and year out Dave, and then I'll get back to you. You're making me defend Carr, which is sad. Yeah, he isn't a great coach, but the team seems to have enough in place on a yearly basis to keep the tradition going with respect.

Bottom line: give Michigan some leeway here. They've earned it. Virginia needs to prove to EVERYONE EVERYTHING WEEK IN WEEK OUT. Especially if their conference is deemed the greatest one in the NCAA.

Why do you sh*# your pants or go berzerk ( I still recall your ranting on OSU-SDSU from last year ) when the Big Ten teams seem to struggle despite the fact that year in, year out, they recover and finish with good records, rankings, and bowl wins, for the most part?

Wisconsin winning 9-7 isn't going to wow me, but it's the type of style the conference is known for, and has won with ( they were down 7-0 and just physically dominated the Cats the rest of the way, man it was beautiful ). I don't expect you Dave, or anyone else for that matter, to give them credit, I gave that up along time ago, but fail to understand how a reasonable mind can look at the finishes each year, and fail to see that this style produces positve results overall.

Ohio State had 138 total yards, and I felt more comfortable in this game against NC St. than I have all year !!!!

[MountaineerDave]

Well, sir, that's just because you are a sick, sick man. :)

I understand the proving it baloney, but I don't really buy it. Every year is different, in different ways.

Michigan proved that they continue to respond poorly to losses in the following week, rather than pulling together and kicking a lesser opponent in the teeth.
Virginia proved that they know how to deal with a lesser opponent at home.

As for tradition, there's no arguing that UM has infinitely more football tradition than UVa, but that doesn't excuse choking against sub-par competition.

As for Wisconsin... all they proved to me is that they are going to have a VERY TOUGH time in conference play. They have problems on offense rivaled only by Iowa and Indiana.

Dave

[buckeyefan78]

Ah Dave, don't forget about that Wisconsin D and O line though. Again, their defense has been outstanding, with their physical play just wearing down opponents. Too bad Alvarez seems to blow it year after year. After beating OSU last year, they just crumbled. Someone needs to knock some sense into him.

I think EVERYONE in the Big Ten is going to struggle to score in conference play on any given week, with the exception of Purdue. The defense will be the key, as always, and Wisconsin is fine tuning their D very nicely.

[KevinBeane]

Originally posted by MountaineerDave
Every year is different, in different ways.

Dave

Damn it, I can't find the post, but weren't you just telling me that Oregon State's loss to Boise State would've happened similarly in Coravllis, because Oregon State tends to just fold with a little bit of heat on them? That's just how they are?

Even if I'm misquoting you and/or misinterpreting you in this instance, I'm gonna hang on to this little gem. Surely there will be ample opportunity to use it against you in the future.

[MountaineerDave]

Every year is different, in different ways.

Every year is also the same, in the same ways.

You can count on Lloyd Carr's Mee-shigan to respond to a loss by being plain ol' bad the next week.

Mike Reilly's Beavers also fold when hit in the mouth sufficiently hard, and would have in their especially fragile state of mind coming off the LSU loss. I see no drastic contradictions here.

Similarly, Tressel's Buckeyes play like absolute crap on offense on the road. There isn't one road game in the last three years where I thought WOW! about a Tressel offense on the road. At home, they're usually much better.

Sorry. Thanks for playing.

Dave

[KevinBeane]

Originally posted by MountaineerDave
Every year is different, in different ways.

Every year is also the same, in the same ways.


Right. And I'M Buddha.

Actually, that sounds more like Confucius. If someone doesn't stuff that little kernel of deep truth of yours above into a fortune cookie somewhere, they're missing a bet. Why, I want to embroider that on a pillow right now.