Dispelling Some Myths
Myth No. 1: The Big 10 - with teams like "Slowhio State" - can't compete with the "fast" teams in the other conferences.
Somebody better tell Miami, LSU, Auburn, and Oregon that their teams aren't "fast".
Myth No. 2: Ohio State finally overcame it's "BCS curse".
What "BCS curse"?
At this time 3 years ago (prior to playing Florida in the so-called "National Championship" game), Ohio State was 4-0 in BCS bowl games, including a January 2003 "National Championship" win against a "fast" Miami team (who hadn't lost in close to 3 years). After yesterday's win, Ohio State is now 5-3 in BCS bowl games. There are a lot of other "elite" teams out there (see Oklahoma with its 2-5 BCS record) who would like to be similarly "cursed".
Labels: Football, Higher Education, Ohio
posted by Pro Ecclesia 12:08 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I understand your take, but last year's B10 bowl performance made the criticism understandable.
The conference has looked all right. The only two games I've seen significant chunks of were the Rose Bowl and the Alamo Bowl. I thought OSU handled Oregon's speed just fine. Though, from the hype, you'd have thought the Ducks were a team of Usain Bolt clones. MSU was game against Texas Tech, but having 14 suspended/dismissed players made that a foregone conclusion. I'm very curious to see how a Stanzi-led Iowa does against GT. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, it's Iowa's offense v. Tech's defense that will decide the game. If Stanzi's in good health and shakes off the rust, I think Iowa will make the B-10's record a very respectable 4-3.
Did you watch the Cap-One "bowl?" With the huge chunks of grass coming up? There was no speed to be had with that field. Put LSu & Penn State on an actual field, we would have seen a very different game.
That said, the big 10 looked good this year so you get some props. But no national championship, not to mention the big wins were over Oregon (lost to Boise), Georgia Tech (ACC; lost to Georgia), and LSU (who pretty sucked this year, barely beating LA Tech & Washington & Miss St.). We'll see what next year holds.
Dude, don't you have a honeymoon to be enjoying or something? The last thing I'd be doing 2 days after I got married is commenting on some guy's blog post about football!
;-)
Congrats to you and your bride, Michael. Best wishes for a happy new year and a happy new life together.
By the way, that field that Penn State and LSU played on is part of the game. It's why football should be played outdoors on grass and in the elements and not indoors and/or on astroturf.
For years, Big 10 teams have had to build teams to deal with such conditions during their regular season only to go down to sunnier climates to play their bowl games on fake grass against teams that cry at the first sign of less-than-perfect weather conditions.
It's about time the conditions were reversed and a "fast" team from the South had to play a bowl game on the Big 10's "turf".
"... not to mention the big wins were over Oregon (lost to Boise) ..."
And one other thing: that Oregon loss to Boise State isn't looking so bad right now. My guess is that the 13-0 Broncos, fresh off yet another Fiesta Bowl upset of a higher ranked team, will finish in the top 4 in the final BCS poll.
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