Qualified Links (Today's Links)

• The Hawks win again. Maybe I should be watching them more during the sports wasteland known as "February".
• Illinois continues its cold play against Wisconsin. It's never easy to win in Madison but this one would have been big.
• It looks like there is going to be a movie made about the book Moneyball and Brad Pitt is going to be starring as Billy Beane. Score one for sabremetrics!
• Elton Brand is being shut down for the season with shoulder problems. Will he ever be the force that he once was? Regardless of the injuries I think Chicago fans will always regret trading him for Chandler.
• Dusty Baker wants to recreate the Chicago Cubs he coached a few years back in Cincinnati. Today's acquisitions? Daryle Ward and Jacque Jones.
• BDL is going to do a 2 on 2 tournament of NBA teams, sort of like an NBA Jam. Hey that was my idea! Well we all know Skeets will do it better than me anyways.
• Looks like Gordon is a little put off by the fact he wasn't selected for the 3 point contest.
  

Today's Links

• Just when you think things can't get any worse for Eddy Curry, the mother of one of his children gets murdered. Even after everything that has gone on with him, my sympathies go out to him.
• The Bulls suck.
  
• Joe Torre's new tell-all book about the Yankees is very interesting. Some highlights include ripping on A-Rod and Steinbrenner being the evil emperor you thought he was. Big surprise.
• Derrick Rose is thinking about rejecting an invitation to take part in the skills challenge at all-star weekend. First Tyrus disses his invite to be in the dunk contest, now this? What is it with Bulls rookies?
• The East beat the West in the NHL All-Star game, but apparently Toews and Kane looked good.
  
• Illinois gets a big win at home against the Badgers. If only Indiana could have pulled out the win against Minnesota, the Illini could have moved up in the Big Ten standings. That's right, I'm cheering for IU since they are so bad I'm not worried if they get a win here or there.
  
• Michael Redd's knee goes "CRACK" and so goes the Bucks season. Good luck getting to the playoffs with the rest of that bunch Coach Skiles.
• Even Sox fans are acknowledging the Ricketts family may be good for the Cubs.
  

Bowling with the Big Ten

The Big Ten squeaked two teams into BCS games this year, mostly due to how awful the Big East and ACC were, and with an assist to the bowl committee for the Fiesta Bowl screwing over Boise State a bit. The two BCS berths make 19 total appearances by Big Ten teams, more than any other conference in the 11-year history of the puzzling system. Overall, the Big Ten will send seven teams to bowl games, here's a look at the match-ups:

Champ Sports Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Florida State, Dec. 27

Wisconsin will return to Florida for the fifth straight season when they take on the Seminoles in the Champ Sports Bowl. This is the first game for the Big Ten and might be the conference's best shot at a win. It also carries on the tradition of the Big Ten playing what are essentially road games in the bowl season.

Alamo Bowl: Northwestern vs. Missouri, Dec. 29

The Wildcats will go down to Big 12 country to take on Mizzou in the Alamo Bowl. Tough draw here for Northwestern, but they've come up big all year when people have counted them out. Northwestern will be looking get its first bowl win since 1949. Now is as good a time as any to get your first bowl win on color television.

Insight Bowl: Minnesota vs. Kansas, Dec. 31

What a turnaround for Minnesota, going from winning only one game last season, to a bowl game this season. Another turnaround happened in the middle of Minnesota's season though. The Gophers went from the top of the Big Ten to four straight losses, including a 55-0 loss to end the season. Kansas and quarterback Todd Reesing did not live up to expectations this season, but should hand Minnesota its fifth straight loss.

Outback Bowl: Iowa vs. South Carolina, Jan. 1

Here is the other good chance for the Big Ten to win. Iowa has won five of six to end the season and will take on Steve Spurrier and South Carolina. The Gamecocks have beaten virtually no one this year and finished off their season with two lopsided losses. Iowa has taken down teams like Florida and LSU in the last five seasons in New Year's Day bowl games, so a win against South Carolina is not out of the question.

Capital One Bowl: Michigan State vs. Georgia, Jan. 1

Oh boy, this could be ugly. We have a Georgia team that was #1 to start the season and suffered through a disappointing year, culminating with a loss to Georgia Tech in their last game. Give them a month off to think about things and get ready for a bowl game. Add in the fact that Stafford and Moreno will want to show off for the pro scouts and Georgia becomes a team no one wants to see in a bowl game. Michigan State is not the team the Big Ten wants to send to match up, but there they are. The Spartans played well against Cal to start the year, but were blown out by the only other two good teams they played all year. It doesn't look good for MSU, but there is usually at least one big upset for the Big Ten recently, so maybe this one. Never know. Right? No.

Rose Bowl: Penn State vs. USC, Jan. 1

This game doesn't look favorable for the Big Ten either. Ohio State already went out to Southern California and got spanked this year, now it might be Penn State's turn. But hey, the Nittany Lions blew out Oregon State this year and the Beavers gave USC its only loss, so there is hope! Not much though. USC will be looking to make a statement that their crappy loss wasn't much different than Florida's crappy loss and maybe they deserved a little more consideration to play in the championship game. Penn State will be looking to make a similar statement, but I think they'd be thrilled with a 3-2 win.

Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State vs. Texas, Jan. 5

Ohio State and Texas are toward opposite ends of the BCS spectrum. Texas is feeling the wrath of the system because their win against Oklahoma was played in October and not November, while Ohio State underacheived and coasted through their schedule beating bad teams, only to be welcomed to the BCS party with open arms over Boise State. This makes four straight BCS bowls for the Buckeyes, but the task will be tall against an angry Texas team holding out hope for a split national title. The formula will be the same for Ohio State as it has been all season, hope that the defense can keep it close and rely on Chris Wells for the offense. A win for the Bucks could take some sting out of what was a down year for the Big Ten.

Your Week Ten Big....Ten Preview

Too many tens. All the Big Ten games will be done by around 6 PM this week. No games in prime time, because there aren't any games worthy of prime time. We'll give the game of the week nod to Wisconsin at Michigan State. The Spartans have fallen to self-inflicted late season doom every year in recent memory and this game against Wisconsin has the potential to send them down the same path. A week after their self-proclaimed epic victory over Michigan, a team with an actual physical presence comes to town. Wisconsin has their own issues though. Just a couple weeks ago the Badgers gave up about 740 yards to Iowa's Shonn Greene. You know that Sparty is going to pound Javon Ringer, the key to the game will be Wisconsin's improvement stopping the run.

Northwestern at Minnesota is the next best game of the week. See what I'm talking about? Actually, this match-up is somewhat intriguing. What are Minnesota and Northwestern doing near the top of the conference? Will the Iowa-beating Northwestern show up or will it be the team that handed Indiana a win last week? How in holy hell is Minnesota near the top of the conference? Check Lake The Posts for good info on both teams leading up to the game. Bacher is questionable and Sutton is out for NW, but as we saw last week, the conference is so unpredictable this season.

Illinois will try to bounce back from the loss at Wisconsin last week when they host Iowa in the lone 2:30 start of the week in the Big Ten. Iowa had the week off to prepare for the Illini, but the Hawkeyes struggled with the spread last time they faced it in a loss to Northwestern. The attack the Illini bring is significantly different from Northwestern's but I expect Illinois to move the ball just as well and match or surpass the 38 points the Wildcats pinned on Iowa.

Purdue will try to get its first Big Ten win this year as Michigan comes to town. Quarterback Curtis Painter is questionable and Purdue's backup QB is out, meaning that Justin Siller could see a lot of playing time again this week. Siller was a running back a few weeks ago.

Indiana plays host to Central Michigan. Picks?

God, really?

Central Michigan 28 - Indiana 24
Michigan 20 - Purdue 14
Iowa 31 - Illinois 42
Northwestern 17 - Minnesota 24
Wisconsin 27 - Michigan State 31

Your Week Seven Big Ten Preview

Really there is just one major game this week in the Big Ten. For the second week in a row the game of the week is in Madison, Wisconsin at night. The state will cease the production of cheese for a few hours while another Big Ten favorite comes to town, this time the Nittany Lions of Penn State.

Penn State's transition back to a spread attack reminiscent of Michael Robinson's days at Happy Valley has gone very well and they'll need to keep it on track against a tough Wisconsin defense. PSU's defense meanwhile hasn't been bad either, giving up only six points last week to a solid Purdue attack. The Badgers will need to run the ball well early to open things up for quarterback Allan Evridge. I can't decide which team to pick here. I'll write about some insignificant games first.

Actually, I'd be lying if I called Michigan State and Northwestern an insignificant game. I've been hyping it since last week, and as we learned yesterday, J Leman will be in the booth! Pressure for both teams to impress there. These teams have combined for about 200 points over their last two meetings and it will probably be more of the same this week. MSU struggled against Indiana's spread "offense" and Northwestern can execute the spread as well as anyone. For MSU, Ringer could run wild this week and MSU's hopes ride with him. As always.

Purdue travels to Ohio State this week hoping to catch the Buckeyes looking ahead to back to back games against Michigan State and Penn State. Probably won't happen, but I hope it will.

Illinois takes on Minnesota and will try and avoid a letdown after a big win in Ann Arbor. Shouldn't be much of a problem, but the Gophers have played pretty good defense this year, including an impressive showing at Ohio State a few weeks ago.

Michigan hosts Toledo and Iowa takes on Indiana. Picks?

Picks:

Penn State 24 - Wisconsin 27
Northwestern 42 - Michigan State 38
Purdue 13 - Ohio State 30
Minnesota 17 - Illinois 38
Toledo 16 - Michigan 28
Iowa 21 - Indiana 14

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

Mo-ped Mo' Problems

2008 has been the year of the DUI in Big Ten footall. Ohio State and Michigan have notably suspended players for DUI arrests. Now a bit of an uproar and high-horsemanship has followed the lack of action taken by Bret Bielema when linebacker Jonathan Casillas was arrested for DUI on August 24th. Beilema said he had already punished Casillas and he would miss no game time for the incident. "Jonathan, come on out and get your whoopin."

I really don't care about the lack of suspension and University of Miami-like discipline from Bielema. What I do care about is how Casillas picked up the citation. Casillas was drunk, while operating a moped, with a passenger! A moped! A passenger! The horror! This is the kind of gold you only stumble upon at most once per decade right? The Badgers wish it was so.

We travel back to 2006, almost two years ago to the day. Wisconsin linebacker Elijah Hodge leaves the athletic training facilities in Madison, and figures he needs to get home somehow, right? As luck would have it, sitting right outside the building was....you guessed it, a moped. Hodge stole the hog and shockingly got caught.

That's two moped incidents in two years for Wisconsin. What the hell is going on there? I'd be careful driving your new vehicle next time you visit Paul.