Big Ten Turmoil

There are a lot of changes in the Big Ten: something that this conference hasn't had much of in the past. Just to name a few, Nebraska is coming in, with the new addition we've added a championship game, and the biggest turmoil of all to me: Ohio State.

I for one would just like to get this mess over with. Obviously Jim Tressel did some things he shouldn't have done. I admit I was one of those at the beginning defending him, but with everything coming out, I have to think he did do all that stuff. If you're going to do that stuff, don't write a book on integrity. And then what really got him and Ohio State in trouble, don't lie to the NCAA! Had he not lied, this could have been avoided. I think all the major college programs are breaking at least 1 rule, but the big rule you can't break is lying or the NCAA will do everything it can to destroy you.

That being said, I am ready to move on. This year was already going to be a down year with Pryor jetting for the NFL, but with some of the new recruits bolting (and for Michigan?! Buckeye fans your whole life, huh??), a new coach, a new system, possible consequences from the NCAA, this year is really going to be a down year. Now Ohio State down years haven't really been down years, but I think this year we need to make it that way. I hope Delany says Ohio State is not eligible to participate in the Big Ten championship and I hope the NCAA bans this years' bowl game. OSU can afford to take a hit one year; we'll be okay. Then we can say we've been punished; we've atoned for the rules we broke. By we, I mean Jim Tressel and Terrelle Pryor & crew.

The Pac-12 Test

Seeing as how it's "Pac-12 Day" in Utah, another summer holiday most people won't know why Utahns are celebrating, I decided to do a blog on the Utes and their new home. Most of this deals with football. I think they'll be fine in other sports. They're very competitive in gymnastics, one of what I like to call the 'lesser sports' around the country. Basically, in college sports there's football (#1, not even close), basketball (#2, a safe distance ahead of #3), and the rest of the sports are just regional. The Pac-12 actually takes some pride in their lesser sports, so Utah may be a good fit. Utah basketball, led by their new coach, is going to a conference that is pretty lousy. When your conference barely gets 3 teams into the tournament, that's not good. The Mountain West got better teams in than the Pac-10, and Utah women's basketball is pretty good. So they have nothing to worry about in basketball.

Football, on the other hand, is the sport I think people should be a little more concerned about. Now, it's a great day to celebrate so maybe that's why nobody is worried about the future. But as a Big Ten fan, all I hear out here in Utah with all the Ute, Cougar, Bronco, and Aggie fans is how the BCS is horrible, the little guy never wins, and how small teams deserve the shot to play in the national championship. They point to the bowl records against BCS teams, which between TCU, Utah, & Boise State are pretty good. BYU doesn't help it much, but at least they can compete against the 5th seed in the Pac-10 when they're a 2 seed. Look at what Utah did to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, right?

I think MWC apologists get caught up in their top teams rather than their conference as a whole. The knock on the Mountain West Conference isn't their top 2 or 3 teams, nor is it their bottom 1 or 2 teams: it's the teams in the middle that bring it down. All teams have just horrible teams at the bottom of their conference. Take a look: Duke/Wake Forest (ACC), Kansas (Big 12), Rutgers (Big East), Memphis (Conf. USA), New Mexico (MWC), Washington State (Pac-10), Vanderbilt (SEC), and Indiana (Big 10). Everyone has a bad team or two that they play. But good conferences can go 6 deep with good teams. Let's take a look at the 6th-best team from each: Miami FL (ACC), Texas Tech (Big 12), Louisville (Big East), Penn State (Big 10), Arizona State (Pac 10), South Carolina (SEC), Idaho (WAC), and  Colorado State (MWC).

Can you see the difference? South Carolina won their division in the SEC AS THE 6TH-BEST TEAM in the conference! They finished at 9-5. The reason people consider teams that beat up on their weak conferences is because Colorado State finished 3-9! Idaho finished at 6-7. Can you imagine if South Carolina, Penn State, Texas Tech, ASU, or Miami were in the MWC? Not together, just one at a time. This last year, all of these teams would have gone undefeated, possibly losing 1 game to TCU. So yes, TCU stood up for their conference by beating Wisconsin, but not really. They stood up for themselves, really. Now they're in a BCS conference along with Utah. Why did they all bolt to go to bigger, better conferences? They need a stronger conference. The teams that need to stand up for the conference are Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force, UNLV, SDSU. Utah & TCU have done their job, they're just not getting any help.

So the issue with Utah going to the Pac-12 is not about the bowl games (they've obviously done well there), but with their new conference. Now instead of playing BYU, SDSU, Wyoming, CSU, UNLV, & New Mexico at the end of the year, they'll be playing USC, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and either Oregon, Cal, or Stanford. It's a week-to-week grind. It takes its toll on you. You may be the best team but when you play USC, Oregon, and Arizona back-to-back-to-back anything can happen. You could lose 1, 2, or all of those games. Maybe you have a bad game against USC, a close one that didn't go your way at Oregon, and by the time you get to Arizona you're just too tired. In the MWC, you only have to prepare for TCU and BYU. You usually don't play them close to each other, and even if you do, you only have to worry about those 2 games. Even Coach Whittingham recognized it:

"The week-in and week-out level of competition is ratcheted up," Whittingham said. "There are some excellent football teams in the Mountain West Conference. ... Not to downplay or disrespect anything that's going on in the Mountain West, but we're convinced the weekly challenges will be much more difficult than they have been in years' past for us."


The big difference between a BCS conference and a non-BCS conference? How teams handle playing good teams every week instead of twice, maybe three times a year. Going to their new home will be a test to see if Utah fans can back up the hype they've created for their football team. With USC being ineligible this year Utah may be able to sneak in the first year, but I don't think they'll be consistent over the next few years. I don't know if they'll succeed or not, but I am excited to see what does happen.