<p>I guess now that we have nothing to lose, our team can still play the role of spoiler. The defense has finally lived up to its potential. For Michigan to have won convincingly at Minnesota with a second string QB is pretty impresive. Maybe we can finish the season strong, but I doubt it.</p>
<p>Maybe we can even beat OSU eh ;)</p>
<p>I cannot look past Northwestern at this stage. If we can beat them, I will be really happy. As for OSU, miracles can happen...but I don't see it happening in C-bus this year. Maybe next year.</p>
<p>On a sadder note, I was really disapointed with PSU's loss. I really respect Joe Paterno and I would have loved it if he could have had one more National Championship before he retired. A classier coach you will not find. Along with coach Carr, he is my favorite coach in college football. Hopefully, coach Rodriguez' career will prove to be as productive.</p>
<p>BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO</p>
<p>I lost my bet</p>
<p>Whatever, I was 3-1 for the day.</p>
<p>I'm glad Penn State lost, now Joe Paterno can play in a bowl that he will actually win. He is a legend in Big Ten coaching, has class and coaches with respect in wins and losses, and I hope he can go out on a high note with a win in the Rose Bowl or a New Year's Day Bowl. If Penn St. actually finished undefeated and had to play a Florida/Alabama or a Texas/Texas Tech., no question Penn St. would have gotten embarassed in the National Championship game and it would have been a terrible ending to such an amazing coaching career.</p>
<p>Edit: By the way congrats to Michigan for playing a great game, they could've folded and quit trying after a losing season, but came back with the hard work and high performance that is expected from the Victors of Ann Arbor.</p>
<p>I don't know ramen. Joe Paterno is full of surprises. Michigan managed to beat Florida last year (Citrus Bowl) and Alabama in 1999 (Orange Bowl). A Big 10 team can definitely beat SEC teams. I agree that PSU would have a difficult time against Alabama or TTech, but Paterno definitely has the moxxy to make it happen. At any rate, PSU needs to focus on next week's game vs MSU. They are not to be taken lightly. If they can win that game, they will be taking their Big 10 title all the way to the Rose Bowl, which is no small thing.</p>
<p>It won't matter, all it means is that Paterno now gets to go to LA and lose to USC as opposed to going to Miami and losing to a Big 12 team or SEC team.</p>
<p>PSU is playing Indiana at home next week. MSU, also at home, is the following week. I notice that Penn State had a week off before the Iowa game. It so often seems that teams come out flat after that week off.</p>
<p>Alexandre no disrespect to the Big Ten, but that Michigan win over Florida is a rare occasion where Michigan had Henne Manningham and Mike Hart in their Senior Season and didnt even make it to a BCS Bowl losing to App St. etc. and Florida was on a weak year reloading from the national championship season they had and had no running back now with demps and rainey at running back Florida's ridiculous offense (if you have watched even 2 min of their past 3 games and looked at the absolute godliness of their offense) would beat Michigan this season probably 98-3 if not worse and if Michigan had lived up to their potential and had to play the 2007 Georgia or LSU team of last year they would have been beaten by 20 or more, Florida destroyed an undefeated Ohio state in 2006 and LSU embarassed an Ohio state team last year with 1 loss and the outright Big Ten Champions in the past two National Championships, and last year Tennessee beat Wisconsin, not to mention the 2003 season where USC(although not an SEC team just trying to restate the fact that the Big Ten has not been good in College football since 2002) beat a 1 loss Michigan team 49-14?????, 1999 stats are irrelevant because the SEC has only recently gained college football dominance they have clearly dominated college football since 2003</p>
<p>The SEC finished 7-1 overall in Bowl Games last season by far the best record out of any major conferece, the Florida fluke loss to Michigan being the only loss they suffered while the Big Ten finished 4-5, Big Ten Teams are far worse than the SEC generally and the Big 12 this year has heavily improved and are almost as good as the SEC now, the only conference that is worse than the Big Ten at college football is the ACC</p>
<p>Penn St got beat by a struggling Iowa team, what do you think they would be able to do against a Florida offense that put up 49+ on Georgia and LSU defense(returning 9 starters from a national championship season) and 63 on Kentucky, an Alabama team with nick saban at coach that has outscored its opponents 200+ to 20 in the first half all season, or a Texas Tech or Texas offense that has passing efficiency of 75% or better every game (granted they don't play defense in the Big 12 but still)</p>
<p>I will never question if you say that Michigan or any Big Ten School has great academics because they do, but as far as college football goes, the rest of the nation's perception of the Big Ten's skill in football can be summed up in this phrase: the laughing stock of college football</p>
<p>This saddens me because I am a Big Ten fan, we really need to start winning BCS Bowls and National Championships to get back to the glory days of the 90's when the Big Ten was considered the cream of the crop in college football. It is frustrating having to listen to SEC and Big 12 fans mock your Big 10 schools you are so proud of, but you can't say anything because statistically over the last 5 years we are terrible compared to their football conferences. To be honest, a mediocre bottom 4 SEC team like Ole Miss could probably give a top 4 Big 10 team a challenge in a game and that is just sad to hear. We need to really improve recruiting, coaching, and discipline to get back to the upper echelon of college football. I have faith that it will happen, we just need more time, but in the 2010 or 2011 year is the year I see the Big Ten coming back in college football.</p>
<p>However I've moved on accepted it and look forward to basketball season so we can laugh at the Big 12 and SEC come basketball season, Wisconsin Purdue Indiana Michigan State > SEC</p>
<p>I like your analysis ramen. The Big 10 is not as strong as it should be and the nation seems to disrespect our conference. But I don't think the Big 10 has been that bad and the disrespect is more a question of bias than deserved observation. </p>
<p>Michigan is 5-1 vs SEC teams in Bowl games in the last decade, and none of those Bowls have been minor. We beat Florida twice, Auburn once and Arkansas once (all four of those games were played at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando) and we beat Alabama in the Orange Bowl. Our loss was against Tennessee, also in the Citrus Bowl. The Citrus Bowl generally goes to the second, third best or fourth best team in the SEC and the second or third best team in the Big 10. </p>
<p>The Big 10 has beaten the SEC in the Citrus Bowl 7 of the last 10 times, including the last 4 years (Iowa over LSU, Wisconsin over Auburn, Wisconsin over Arkansas and Michigan over Florida. </p>
<p>In BCS Bowls, the Big 10 has won 4 Fiesta Bowls, 4 Rose Bowls, 2 Orange Bowls and 1 Sugar Bowl since the BCS started. That's 11 BCS wins in 12 years, an average of 1 BCS Bowl win per year. No other conference has won more. The SEC has won 10, the Big XII and PAC 10 have won 8 each. The Big 10 is the only conference not to have a BCS Bowl in its own region and somehow, it is the only conference to have managed to win all 4 BCS Bowls. </p>
<p>The Big 10 also won a couple of NCs in the last 12 years. </p>
<p>So although the Big 10 is not doing great, I think it is unfair to say that it is a weak conference.</p>
<p>I agree the Big 10 with some recruiting and more time will be back to in the elite of college football, it sucks that the national perception of the Big 10 in football is that we are mediocre, we have speed and play just as physical as the SEC and Big 12, we have just had a few bad years, and Ohio State in the past two national championships have really hurt our national image.</p>
<p>since you're speaking about other conferences, i always wondered what it would be like for another team (not from the north, where it snows) to play a bowl game here in ann arbor... wouldn't that be interesting?</p>
<p>
[quote]
but that Michigan win over Florida is a rare occasion
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Really?</p>
<p>The why is it that the B10 is .500 against the "mighty" SEC in bowl games in the past 5 years (mind you, many of these bowl games are virtual home games for SEC teams)?</p>
<p>And in the BCS era, the B10 has a winning record against the SEC in bowls (but then again, that's not saying much, since so does the Big East).</p>
<p>I predicted a close game last season w/ UM ultimately edging out NU - w/ an NU win to come this season.</p>
<p>I still think NU has a good shot to win this game, but it's now more like a .500 shot due to all the injuries on NU's roster (losing Sutton being the biggest).</p>
<p>As for PSU losing to Iowa - that was a game that I thought PSU could lose.</p>
<p>Kinnick is a tough place to play and Iowa has a great RB in Greene and very good players in the trenches - which spells recipe for upset.</p>
<p>If Iowa had a good/experienced QB and some receivers, they would be a top 10 team.</p>
<p>K&S, I didn't say the Big 10 couldn't ever beat the SEC, but you would have to be a little bit insane to say that the Big 10 has accomplished more than the SEC in football in the last 5 years or to say that Michigan has done more than Florida in the last 5 years in college football. All I am saying is that the Big 10 has to regain respect in college football as far as National perception. Football fans across the nation won't notice that the Big 10 is .500 with the SEC, they just remember Ohio State, the class of the Big 10 for the last two years getting dominated by LSU and Florida. Think if you were a fan from another conference, if the best team from your conference dominated the supposedly best team from the other conference, wouldn't it lead you to believe that your conference from top to bottom is overall superior? Michigan is one of the few Big 10 teams that has been able to beat the SEC in consecutive bowl games. Overall though if you asked any football fan that watches a good amount of college football who the best conference has been in the last 5-6 years, I almost guarantee that 8 out of every 10 football fans would say the SEC has been the best conference. The SEC has 3 out of the last 5 national titles(LSU 2003, 2007 Florida 2006), and probably should have 4 out of the last 5, if the 13-0 Auburn team from 2004(that had Jason Campbell who starts for the Washington redskins, Cadillac williams starting RB for Tampa Bay Bucs, and Ronnie Brown(starting rb for Miami Dolphins) didn't get screwed out of the USC vs. OU national title game.</p>