Big Ten Keeps it Close; Loses Challenge Again

After Wisconsin's win to start off the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the goal for the Big Ten was to split the rest of the games and finally steal a win in this thing.

After dropping three of five the first night, it didn't look good. Illinois and Iowa had close losses that would have been huge wins for the Big Ten and left a tall task for the teams playing the second night.

Penn State took care of Georgia Tech on the road and it looked like the Big Ten had a shot. Michigan battled with Maryland, even bouncing back to take the lead after a 16-3 run by the Terps to start the second half. Maryland won by five though, leaving it up to Michigan State to keep the Big Ten alive. North Carolina was just too much for the Michigan State in a mostly empty Ford Field. How do people fill it up to watch the Lions, then stay at home when the best basketball team in the NCAA comes to town?

Anyway, when the Tar Heels beat up the Spartans, it was over and the ACC won again. Could you imagine though, if it had all came down to Northwestern and Florida State and the Wildcats got the win to give the Big Ten its first BT/ACC victory?

This has to be the closest the Big Ten has come to winning the challenge, needing only one of three very close games to go their way for the win. It didn't help that the Big Ten was on the short end of the home games this time around either.

As close as this event ended up, it was clear the Big Ten is down this year and the ACC is superior, especially at the top. Duke dominated Purdue on Purdue's home court and North Carolina came into Ford Field and made it clear they were in a separate class than Michigan State. If Wake Forest had gone up against Wisconsin, this thing could have been ugly again, since Indiana would have lost to just about anyone.

Oh well, I guess the Big Ten will just have to wait until next year to try and get its first win in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. How long will they keep doing this thing anyway?

Big Ten/ACC Challenge Tied Going into Final Night

With the ACC going 3-2 against the Big Ten Tuesday night, they squared up the challenge and set up another ACC win based on the schedule tonight.

Last night Ohio State started things off with an upset win at Miami, but Iowa and Illinois likely killed the Big Ten's chances in the challenge with a pair of two point losses. Ohio State benefited from the ejection of Miami guard Jack McClinton after he bitch-slapped an OSU player; shocking from a Miami student-athlete. Illinois and Iowa both had chances to send their games to OT, but the Illini failed to get a shot off in the final 11 seconds and Iowa missed the front end of a 1 and 1 (that probably should have been a three-shot foul) with seconds left. Duke dominated Purdue throughout the game and Minnesota closed out the night with a win.

The win by the Gophers gives hope to the Big Ten, but not much. Here's what we're looking at tonight.

Indiana at (15) Wake Forest, 6:15 PM

The Hoosiers don't stand much of a chance in this game. I don't really know what a Hoosier is, but a Demon Deacon is not to be messed with. That's not the only reason though. Indiana has been anything but impressive early on with blowout losses to Notre Dame and St. Joes. Wake, meanwhile hasn't played much of anyone, but has looked great doing it. With Indiana looking sketchy and the game at Wake Forest, I'll pick the Demon Deacons to win this one.

Penn State at Georgia Tech, 6:30 PM

Add Penn State to the list of teams that has played absolutely no one yet this season, oh and look, add Georgia Tech. The Nittany Lions lost to Rhode Island, while GT has pulled out close games against Mercer and Jacksonville. Ron Mercer is kind of washed up and the Jags can't seem to beat anyone, so I don't see those wins as being too impressive. Based on the fact that this might be the Big Ten's best chance at a win, I'll pick Penn State.

Michigan at Maryland, 6:30 PM

Michigan might have the second best chance at a Big Ten win and that tells you a lot about the Big Ten's chances. Maryland is a killer at home, winning over 86% of their games in College Park over the past 10 years. The Terps have been a bit difficult to figure out thus far, beating Michigan State by 18, then losing to Gonzaga and Georgetown by 22 and 27, respectively. The Wolverines have an upset of their own against UCLA and a 15 point loss to Duke. With a young team rebuilding under Beilein, I think Michigan falls short at Maryland and the Terps get the win.

(1) North Carolina at (13) Michigan State, 8:15 PM

A week ago this looked like an unbelievable match-up. A possible Final Four preview, even at the Ford Field venue, which will host this year's Final Four. A week later, it looks like the Spartans will be lucky to keep things close. Tyler Hansbrough's health and availability was still in question as of Tuesday night, but the Spartans have health issues of their own with big man Goran Suton out and Delvin Roe limited. You can never count a Tom Izzo coached team out of any game, but this will be one of his toughest tasks against a Tar Heels team that has the best talent in the country. UNC wins and if this thing isn't decided already, the ACC wins the challenge.

Florida State at Northwestern, 8:30 PM

And for dessert, we get FSU and Northwestern. The Noles are 7-0 with wins at Cal and at Cincy coming into the game with Northwestern. The Wildcats, well they have won some game, but they're still Northwestern and this is basketball. I expect a loss.

Week 13 Big Ten Preview

This is it for the Big Ten. The long, at times boring, occasionally exciting, a couple times shocking season is drawing to a close. I'll get unnecessarily nostalgic in the recap next week, but what will this last week hold for us? For one thing, we finally know what each of these teams is all about. Penn State and Ohio State rule the conference this year, while Michigan State has managed to not screw up their shot at taking down Penn State for a share of the title. There is a middle group including Northwestern, Iowa, with Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota confusing the hell out of everyone, then Michigan, Purdue and Indiana just lose a lot. And this is tough to say:

The game of the week has to be Penn State and Michigan State. I'll probably jinx the Nittany Lions by saying this, but until Michigan State in 2008 I've never seen a team accomplish so little and have a chance at an outright Big Ten Title in the last week of the season. They lost to a mediocre Cal team in the first week of the season and got blown out at home against Ohio State. They have zero impressive wins, but with just one they can win a share of the conference championship. The key to this game will be Javon Ringer vs the world Penn State defense. PSU is 10th in the nation against the run and the Spartans won't be able to beat them without Ringer going for at least 100. For Penn State, Daryll Clark has to take care of the ball and put Derrick Williams and Evan Royster in positions to make big plays. I don't believe that Michigan State has ever won in Beaver Stadium, so they'll look to break that trend along with their 10 game losing streak against ranked opponents. The game starts at 2:30 CST.

I can hardly believe that Ohio State - Michigan isn't the premier game of the weekend in the Big Ten. Regardless of the hype, this Jim Tressel said this is the most important game and the most important goal of the season for Ohio State. The Bucks have a chance to win their fifth straight game over Michigan, which would be the longest streak over the Wolverines in Ohio State history. It looked pretty likely throughout the year that it would be an easy win for OSU, but this week has made it look like a lock. Michigan will be without QB Steven Threet, RB Sam McGuffie, RT Steve Schilling, and still missing all their good offensive players ever and their defense's collective brain/self esteem. Terrelle Pryor throws the ball about 15 times per start, but he might not need to throw once to win. Key match-up is Pryor/Wells against tripping over their own feet. Michigan - Ohio State starts at 11:00.

Illinois travels to Northwestern Saturday and will try to become bowl eligible. Hey, guess what the key to the game is...Juice Williams vs. turnovers! The Illini certainly have the talent to beat Northwestern, but the Cats have shown great mental toughness this year and have a great chance to win at home.

Minnesota hosts Iowa in a battle of teams going in opposite directions. Shonn Greene will have a chance to set Iowa's single season rushing record, and probably will.

Wisconsin takes on Cal Poly (wooo!) and Indiana and Purdue face-off in a game someone has to win. Let's go to the picks:

Indiana 24 - Purdue 31
Cal Poly 10 - Wisconsin 38
Iowa 27 - Minnesota 13
Illinois 27 - Northwestern 28
Michigan 10 - Ohio State 27
Michigan State 13 - Penn State 28

Illini Perspective From The World's Largest Fire Hazard

NQTC reader and Illini faithful Danimal went to the Big House this weekend to watch the Illini spank Michigan 45-20. Here was his observations of the Big House:

Stormin Norman: was it kinda cool though?
Stormin Norman: i mean its huge and its been around forever
Danimal: watching michigan fans cry? yes
Danimal: the stadium is a filthy ass dump

Danimal: i mean, you wrap a turd in a bow and its still a turd

Danimal: someone asked me "so howd you like the big house?" i responded "well, it was like any other stadium, except we ewre too far away to see the plays and it was whisper quiet, so I could hear my dad talk... so that was good"

Sounds like it was a great place to see a game. Makes sense that Michigan fans have been overrating it forever; people who went there are so puffed up on their own importance that there is no way they can see something like the Big House for what it really is. The world's biggest fire hazard.

***UPDATE: Danimal wanted to add this regarding the Big House:
Danimal: whats the difference between a porcupine and the big house
Stormin Norman: what?
Danimal: a porcupine has thousands of pricks on the outside

Ha!

Your Week Six Big Ten Preview

We're entering the second week of Big Ten play and while every game at this point has championship implications, there is one above all the others this week.

Ohio State travels to Madison to take on the Badgers. In the last 20 years Wisconsin has had more success than any team in the Big Ten outside of Michigan. Add that Ohio State is traveling to the land of cheese to play a night game with a freshman quarterback and there is a good game brewing. Now we saw Michigan's big slow white QB run for a 58 yarder last week and if UW loses contain against Pryor he is gone. Ohio State has been less than impressive so far this year, but this could be a breakout game for the Bucks.

The other major game in the conference this week is Illinois at Michigan. The Wolverines already handed one conference heavyweight a loss this year and will look for another this week, even though they are inexplicably slight favorites. Illinois' two losses have come against the #3 and #6 teams in the country and Juice Williams has looked good. Michigan's defense has struggled against spread attacks with short timing routes and Illinois has the best athletes they've seen this year. With Michigan's turnover prone offense, I think the Illini get their first big win this year.

Big Ten favorite Penn State travels to Purdue in what I would have called an upset alert a couple weeks ago. But Purdue has looked bad the last couple of weeks, but maybe Tiller has some voodoo tricks for his last season with the Boilers. Probably not.

Michigan State hosts Iowa this week also. Iowa has not looked too good recently, but it's October, so nothing is a given for Sparty. If you're a State fan, I wouldn't worry about losing, but you'd better hope Ringer has less than 40 carries this week.

Indiana travels to Minnesota. 12 people will be watching. Picks?

Picks:

• Ohio State 30 - Wisconsin 20
• Illinois 28 - Michigan 17
• Penn State 40 - Purdue 14
• Iowa 16 - Michigan State 24
• Indiana 21 - Minnesota 24

Big Ten Week Five Wrap-up

Did Penn State prove me and the rest of the doubters wrong Saturday night against Illinois? Yeah, mostly. Illinois did keep the game close, trailing 31-24 with about 13 minutes left in the game. Illinois lost their second game of the year, but both losses came to teams who now sit in the top six in the nation. And both losses were largely a result of one playmaker tearing them apart. First it was Maclin and this week it was PSU's Derrick Williams catching a touchdown, running another, and taking a kickoff 94 yards for a third score. Sound familiar? A reporter actually asked Juice after the game if it was time to start thinking about basketball season for the Illini fans. Ridiculous.

Michigan had two weeks to get ready for Wisconsin after the Wolverines fumbled the Notre Dame game away, but the offense didn't skip a beat in the first half, turning the ball over five times to the Badgers. Then something happened in the second half. UM didn't find the endzone until the 2:22 mark in the third, but didn't waste much time after that. Another TD drive in the fourth was followed with an interception return for a score as Michigan put up 13 points in three seconds to take a 20-19 lead. After another Michigan score and UW fumble in the red zone, the Badgers made a gutsy drive that would have tied the game had Travis Beckum not lined up wrong on a successful 2-point try, but after the penalty the do-over failed and Rich Rodriguez got his first big win in Ann Arbor.

Northwestern made a 14 point comeback in Iowa City to beat the Hawkeyes Saturday and improve to 5-0. Barring a Mets-like collapse, someone owes me an apology for making fun of my bowl prediction for the Wildcats. C.J. Bacher was great Saturday throwing for 284 yards and three touchdowns, while leading Northwestern to its best start since 1962.

Michigan State beat Indiana, Ohio State topped Minnesota, and Purdue lost at Notre Dame 38-21.

Your Week Five Big Ten Preview

Conference play has finally started in the Big Ten! Well, not until Saturday but still...!!! Two big games this weekend with Big Ten Championship implications.

The premier game of the weekend in the Big Ten is Illinois at Penn State. This is a night game in Beaver Stadium, so it won't be easy for Illinois to go in there and come out with a win. But the Illini showed last season that they can win big games on the road when they won in the toilet seat in Columbus. Last I saw, the line on this game had Penn State giving about 15 points. I've said before I think Penn State is overrated based on its cupcake schedule so far. Look for Illinois to keep this one close by putting a lot of points on the board, then pull off the upset in the end.

Wisconsin, the highest rated team in the Big Ten, travels to Ann Arbor to take on the Wolverines. In the last 17 games played at Michigan Stadium, Michigan is 16-1. The times they are a changing though, and Wisconsin comes in as about a touchdown favorite, sporting a 3-0 record and a top-ten ranking nationally. Michigan has a top five defense in the country against the run this year, but sack yardage accounts for most of the success. Stopping P.J. Hill and company behind Wisconsin's line of athletic Manginos will be the key to the game. For Wisconsin, the key will be slowing down the spread offense, which the Badgers have struggled with in the past, and forcing turnovers to set up a short field for the offense.

Purdue travels to Notre Dame in the Irish's third straight match-up with the Big Ten. Notre Dame looked awful last weekend against MSU, with an offense consisting of runs for little to no gains, followed by prayers lobbed up to receivers downfield by Jimmy Clausen. The only time ND was productive was with short, quick passes. Those quick strikes hurt Purdue last weekend against CMU, so if Notre Dame comes out with a good gameplan, they have a good chance. But hey, it's Weis. Purdue wins.

Northwestern travels to Iowa, the Buckeyes will host Minnesota, and Michigan State plays at Indiana. Picks?

Picks:

• Illinois- 38 Penn State- 34
• Wisconsin- 27 Michigan- 21
• Purdue- 30 Notre Dame- 16
• Northwestern- 20 Iowa- 27
• Ohio State- 42 Minnesota- 17
• Michigan State- 38 Indiana- 14