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2007 (College Football News) Big 10 Preview
College Football News ^ | 16 July 2007 | Pete Fiutak

Posted on 08/02/2007 12:24:56 PM PDT by GOP_Raider

Bring up the Big Ten this off-season and you’ll get two topics of discussion: the schedules and the perceived lack of speed. While it might be the granddaddy of the conferences, it has a lot to learn from the younger, hipper leagues when it comes to scheduling, and to some, fielding teams with fast players.

Schedule-wise, forgetting the mega-gap between the end of the Big Ten season and the bowls (Ohio State beat Michigan on November 18th and didn’t play Florida until January 8th), the league that can’t add up its own teams continues to have a big problem with the configuration of the slates.

Having eleven teams makes it realistically impossible to have a round-robin schedule like the Pac 10 (no way the Big Ten teams are going to give up the cash cow of a third non-conference game), and not having twelve prevents the league from splitting into two divisions and settling things with a title game. Therefore you have a situation like last year when Wisconsin and Ohio State didn’t meet, and Purdue didn’t have to play Ohio State or Michigan.

Talk about your unfair draws, Iowa, a very good team, but not an elite one, doesn’t have to play the Buckeyes or the Wolverines meaning it’ll be right in the hunt for the Big Ten title, while other teams miss some of the lightweights. That still won’t change.

(Excerpt) Read more at cfn.scout.com ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: big10; chatroom; chitchat; collegefootball
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To: RinaseaofDs
I’d take Appalachian State straight up against Michigan. I’ve seen Western Washington University play when they were national champs, and the discipline they have can make up for the size.

Boise State is a good example of that. Interesting to see what happens to that team this year.

A lot of I-AA--er, Div. I Championship Subdivision--schools will take in a lot of players that transfer from schools from BCS conferences or take junior college guys that either didn't have the grades to go anywhere else or had at least some raw talent.

BSU's next to last year in I-AA (1994) had a team that featured a lot of JUCO players and they ended up winning the Big Sky Conference and went all the way to the I-AA title game only to lose to traditional I-AA power Youngstown State.

BTW, the coach for Youngstown State that year was somebody in a sweater vest. Tressel was his name...wonder whatever happened to that guy? ;)

41 posted on 08/02/2007 4:59:19 PM PDT by GOP_Raider (Your one stop shop for all your useless information needs.)
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To: GOP_Raider

From your picture of the Holy Shrine of The Horseshoe I can see where I sat for last years Penn State-Ohio State game. Go Bucks!!!


42 posted on 08/02/2007 5:10:53 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Do people who say hello at the end of each sentence know how stupid they appear to be?)
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To: GOP_Raider
Theres talk of a 12th team for the Big Ten. I dont't know how they would divide that up. Would it be done East-West. If that happened you figure OSU, Mich & Penn St would be in the same division. Talk about unbalanced.

My darkhorse for this years Big Ten is Penn State. I was looking at an old copy of Street & Smith from 2002 and I saw that Ohio St was picked for 20th or so that year and they ended up winning the whole thing. Maybe Penn State can do that.

43 posted on 08/02/2007 5:15:24 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Do people who say hello at the end of each sentence know how stupid they appear to be?)
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To: GOP_Raider
****no way the Big Ten teams are going to give up the cash cow of a third non-conference game)****

I future years OSU will play USC and Miami (FL).

44 posted on 08/02/2007 5:16:53 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Do people who say hello at the end of each sentence know how stupid they appear to be?)
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To: KarlInOhio
*****After adding a twelth team you'll have the trouble of how to split the divisions and what to name them. I propose calling them the Buckeye Division and the Wolverine Division. In the unlikely event that the annual Ohio State vs. that school up north game doesn't serve as the year's conference championship game an additional game can be played between the division winners.****

If that had been in effect last year then OSU and Mich would have played each other twice. Two weeks in a row. I don't kow if that would work. I don't think either school will want to give up that big game.

45 posted on 08/02/2007 5:19:17 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Do people who say hello at the end of each sentence know how stupid they appear to be?)
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To: dfwgator

NBA schedule came out today. I’m excited about Horford. He’s the one player off of that UF team that I thought could have a nice NBA career. I’m glad the Hawks drafted him. BTW Mr. Oden comes to town on MLK day. Maybe I will buy a NBA tix for the first time in a long time.


46 posted on 08/02/2007 5:22:33 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Do people who say hello at the end of each sentence know how stupid they appear to be?)
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To: fkabuckeyesrule

I noticed that the writer for CFN in the link I originally posted has Northwestern as a “team on the rise”, but I can see Penn State mixing things up this year.


47 posted on 08/02/2007 5:22:52 PM PDT by GOP_Raider (Your one stop shop for all your useless information needs.)
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To: Kryptonite

Don’t overlook Penn State.


48 posted on 08/02/2007 5:23:37 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Do people who say hello at the end of each sentence know how stupid they appear to be?)
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To: fkabuckeyesrule
BTW Mr. Oden comes to town on MLK day.

I have a few former coworkers who now live in Portland, and Oden got that city fired up about something other than hating Bush and smoking pot.

49 posted on 08/02/2007 5:27:59 PM PDT by GOP_Raider (Your one stop shop for all your useless information needs.)
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To: A message
****Believe me, to many of us Buckeye fans Florida has leaped over Michigan as the school we really, really dislike.****

I agree with you...My fav team is the buckeyes....2nd fav is whoevers playing Michigan and my 3rd fav is whoevers playing Florida. They're really the most obnoxious people you'll ever run into and most of them didn't even go to the univ of fla. The exception to all this is of course my wonderful niece who got her masters degree form UF. LOL!

50 posted on 08/02/2007 5:30:16 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Do people who say hello at the end of each sentence know how stupid they appear to be?)
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To: WhiteGuy
****O H****

I O

51 posted on 08/02/2007 5:31:51 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Do people who say hello at the end of each sentence know how stupid they appear to be?)
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To: GOP_Raider
**** noticed that the writer for CFN in the link I originally posted has Northwestern as a “team on the rise”,****

The Northwestern coach sang the 7th inning Take Me Out To The Ballgame song at Wrigley Field last night. I was listening to WGN online and he was excited because Northwestern has 7 home games for the first time ever this year.

52 posted on 08/02/2007 5:38:06 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Do people who say hello at the end of each sentence know how stupid they appear to be?)
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To: GOP_Raider
****I have a few former coworkers who now live in Portland, and Oden got that city fired up about something other than hating Bush and smoking pot****

He seems like a neat guy. And his jersey is fairly cheap. But the NBA schedule came out today and his first game is at San Antonio versus Mr. Duncan and Co.

53 posted on 08/02/2007 5:41:02 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Do people who say hello at the end of each sentence know how stupid they appear to be?)
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To: fkabuckeyesrule; WellThoughtOut; WhiteGuy; KarlInOhio
I had several other pics I considered for today's ping:

I can't really quite imagine what it has to be like going to see game there every Saturday with 90,000 of your closest Ohioan buddies.

54 posted on 08/02/2007 5:45:01 PM PDT by GOP_Raider (Your one stop shop for all your useless information needs.)
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To: fkabuckeyesrule

Their nonconference schedule is fairly easy, too. Michigan and Iowa looks to be their two toughest home games.


55 posted on 08/02/2007 5:58:24 PM PDT by GOP_Raider (Your one stop shop for all your useless information needs.)
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To: GOP_Raider

Those two towers in the background are Morrell (Sp?) Towers. Or as they we sometimes called Immoral Towers. LOL


56 posted on 08/02/2007 5:59:53 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Do people who say hello at the end of each sentence know how stupid they appear to be?)
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To: GOP_Raider
****I can't really quite imagine what it has to be like going to see game there every Saturday with 90,000 of your closest Ohioan buddies.****

Well now thanks to those south stands (when I went to OSU they really were stands like you might see at a typical high school field) it now seats over 103,000.

57 posted on 08/02/2007 6:04:02 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Do people who say hello at the end of each sentence know how stupid they appear to be?)
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To: GOP_Raider
****Their nonconference schedule is fairly easy, too. Michigan and Iowa looks to be their two toughest home games****

Well this is kind of a rebuilding year. I believe they have home and homes versus USC & Miami in the next few years.

58 posted on 08/02/2007 6:06:18 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Do people who say hello at the end of each sentence know how stupid they appear to be?)
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To: fkabuckeyesrule

LOL, I take it they’re dormitories??


59 posted on 08/02/2007 6:08:08 PM PDT by GOP_Raider (Your one stop shop for all your useless information needs.)
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To: fkabuckeyesrule
Pictures really can't do "The Shoe" much justice, because I wouldn't have quite guessed it seats 100k, let alone a few thousand under that number in the past.

when I went to OSU they really were stands like you might see at a typical high school field

Heck, I've seen college stadiums in this part of the country with the "high school" type of bleachers.

60 posted on 08/02/2007 6:13:40 PM PDT by GOP_Raider (Your one stop shop for all your useless information needs.)
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