The Big Ten Goes Down. Hard.

After such a hot start to the Big Ten bowl season, it finally lost the gas to keep going. Iowa and Illinois provided a 2-0 start, giving much hope to Big Ten fans across the nation for another winning bowl season. Last year, the B1G was able to finish 4-3. While the record may not stand out, it was still one of the better years that the Big Ten has had. Let's see what went down, and will go down in infamy, on 1/1/11.

Texas Tech: 45, Northwestern: 38: Moves Big Ten to 2-1.
The Wildcats rallied to get within a touchdown twice in the fourth quarter and were driving for a tie or win when the Red Raiders intercepted a heave on the final play, preserving a 45-38 victory and allowing Tuberville to joke about his risky move. Northwestern (7-6) lost its eighth straight bowl game, extending a drought that dates to 1949. Coming close after being down by 22 points wasn't much solace because the Wildcats were close the last two post seasons, dropping both in overtime.

The consolation prize is coach Pat Fitzgerald is now counting on the guys who've endured three straight crushing bowl losses to come out hungry as seniors next fall. He challenged them with a fiery opening statement to his postgame news conference that's certain to be replayed all offseason.

Mississippi State: 52, Michigan: 14: Moves Big Ten to 2-2

Chris Relf accounted for four touchdowns, Vick Ballard ran for three scores and coach Dan Mullen's 21st-ranked Bulldogs routed Rich Rodriguez's Wolverines 52-14 on Saturday.

The 38-point drubbing was the worst bowl loss in Michigan's storied history and might have sealed Rodriguez's future. His three-year tenure has been tainted by consecutive losing seasons, NCAA sanctions and late-season slides.

Rodriguez said all the speculation about his job was "the elephant in the room" during meetings and practices but insisted his team never "cheated the University of Michigan a day of work."

Should We Thank Wisconsin?

Did Watt do us a favor?

Something came to my mind earlier today. Along with the fact that some of Ohio State's best players are going to be suspended for 5 games, and maybe the Sugar Bowl (depending on what Tressel decides), maybe Buckeye fans should be thanking, yes thanking,  Wisconsin. The tatgate has hit OSU hard, and hit the legacy of Terrelle Pryor even harder. Ohio State plays in the Sugar Bowl on January 4th, but what would have happened if they were playing on the 10th, for the National Championship? The NCAA and Ohio State would be in a pickle. Say Auburn was our opponent, would the NCAA still suspend these Buckeyes after letting Cameron Newton go free with money in his pocket, simply because he "didn't know"?

If they did, maybe it's time to be gracious we aren't in a position to win a National Title this year. If we had to stick the ball into Bauserman's or Guiton's hands without our starting left tackle, without a starting wide receiver, and without the leading rusher, could they really pull out a win? The defense might be fine, other than the mind game they would be playing while trying to tackle the best player in college football in Cam Newton. The mind game would overtake their minds simply because they have no offense backing them up. Who knows, maybe they would take that into a good way, maybe they like taking the load on their shoulders, but really, you can't win with just a defense. You can come close, don't get me wrong, but you have to have some sort of an offense.

Jim Tressel's Milestone

Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel notched his 99th win last Saturday against Illinois. That means that Ohio State's next victory (lookin' at you, Indiana) will make The Senator only the 3rd coach in Buckeye history to reach the 100 win milestone, joining Woody Hayes and John Cooper as the only other members of that club. Tressel has his fans and detractors, but nobody can say he has not been successful during his tenure. Whether you are in love with Tressel-ball (as I am) or you cringe when you see the "Run, Run, Pass" offense that is so often employed by Ohio State, Jim Tressel is approaching legendary status as an Ohio State coach, and I think it is time to take a look back on his career and some of his accomplishments, and to show some appreciation for the man that reminded us what it is like to beat Michigan.

The Speed Myth - Big Ten vs. SEC

Sigh

(Ed. Note) ITS Top 25 comes out tomorrow.

When Ohio State didn't show up against Florida in the National Championship game a few years back, experts and pundits everywhere lambasted the Big Ten's lack of speed. Apparently they thought that all 11 Big Ten schools only recruited big, slow, Midwestern farm boys so they could have an offense that runs up the middle and gains 3 yards at a time (and I say that only half jokingly as that appears to be what many people actually believed, and what Mark May still believes. Wow Mark May, classy). Even after all the big games flops in the past 3-4 years, I never felt Ohio State lost because of lack of speed. It felt that was a completely unintelligent analysis of what was occurring on the football field. After listening to Desmond Howard and Mark May emphatically pick Miami to win yesterday, with both citing Miami's speed as a problem for the oh-so-slow Buckeyes, I can't help but do my part to address and correct the common misconception that Ohio State, and the rest of the Big Ten, is simply too slow to compete with the SEC and other big name schools from the south.