<p>0-5 on New Year’s Day. What’s the remedy besides banishing Rich Rodriguez from the entire Midwest?</p>
<p>Learn to count? Get rid of the whole Legends and Leaders nonsense?</p>
<p>All but one team was playing a higher ranked team. NU was without their QB and should not have been in such a major bowl game without him. UM and PSU are not ready yet. Badgers just screwed up to much. Alabama is the #2 team in the country. Big Ten teams usually get matched against higher ranked teams because they bring more fans to the table but it makes winning tougher.</p>
<p>Might as well send Indiana to a bowl game!</p>
<p>I love him, but it’s time for Mr. Paterno to pull the car into the garage. Call it a great career.</p>
<p>At our house, we have Indiana, Iowa and Illinois fans. Everyone was pretty happy – even the IU fan said “at least we didn’t lose!”.</p>
<p>Yeah, watched the Badgers with about 50 or so other Badger fans and other assorted sportsfans at the sportsbar all the local Wisconsin alums frequent (I was still in my UF shirt and ended up befriending a Penn State fan, even though we beat them, because I overheard him talking about going skiing later this week at Park City, and I told him about the discount tickets available at Costco- he was very appreciative). But I digress. DH was wearing his “Wisconsin 1994 Rose Bowl Champions” shirt. DS#2 joined us for the second 1/2 . I think he slipped the waitress his phone #, so all was not lost ;)</p>
<p>The Michigan fans who were guests at our house last night were seriously bummed. I hadn’t even known who they were playing.</p>
<p>Big 10 did as well as one could expect. The often buried fact that it is a soft and overrated conference was exposed when playing better than average opponents.</p>
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<p>Agreed. A fun family fact: my mother (who started dating my father when she was 15) attended Pembroke while Joe Paterno was at Brown. Mom had a date with the only man she ever dated after she met my father…Joe Paterno. It was only one date, there was no spark, and Mom got back together with Dad. My kids were sorely disappointed to discover that JoePa could have been their grandpa.</p>
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<p>I first read this as “DH was wearing his “Wisconsin 1994 Rose Bowl Champions” shirt. He joined us for the second 1/2 . I think he slipped the waitress his phone #, so all was not lost” </p>
<p>Was looking for a detailed account of big bar brawl. ;)</p>
<p>^^ HaHa. Way to go, jym’s hubster!</p>
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<p>Missing #1 RB also. Looked like the defense was back in Evanston.</p>
<p>Remember this day when you do your March Madness picks…</p>
<p>Big 10 hoops should be pretty strong this year (although NU’s fate will depend on the health of John Shurna’s ankle).</p>
<p>Schmaltz, you are so right about Rodriguez 
I am a Michigan grad, and was dismayed when they hired him. My opinion has not improved.</p>
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<p>Agree completely.</p>
<p>I can’t wait to hear Colin Cowherd on ESPN tomorrow (today) since the results pretty much mirror what he has been saying about the Big 10 for years…overall they are slow, nonathletic teams when compared to SEC, PAC 10 etc…Cowherd’s point is that bad weather schools have a much harder time recruiting the real athletic “studs” who would rather play in warm weather…Ohio State being the lone exception and even they don’t get the number of pure “athletes” that schools like USC, Florida and Texas do, year in and year out.</p>
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<p>Raider fans fervently hope that Al Davis hitches a ride.</p>
<p>OK you guys-- it was my SON who may have slipped his number to the waitress, not my husband!!</p>
<p>Paterno is a figurehead and is actually very good for recruiting. Tom Bradley has been handling the team for awhile now but there is alot of rumors about him heading to PITT. Penn State is probably the most consistent team in college football and very little would change if Paterno stepped down, other than recruiting would drop and the program would take a major hit in donations. Plus, who would you replace him with? You don’t push out a coaching legend when there isn’t a large applicant pool, especially not after a winning season and one season removed from a NYD bowl victory over LSU. </p>
<p>I played for Rich Rodriguez at WVU and he’s actually a very good coach. Right now his problem is that they’ve put all the athletes on the offensive side of the ball and while Denard Robinson is very dangerous, a good spy can limit his production, much like Pat White’s production was able to be limited against faster defenses and speedy spies. </p>
<p>Right now Rodriguez can’t attract a “splash” Defensive Coordinator because his job status is to uncertain and qualified DC’s don’t want to make a one year move. The Michigan AD refused to give him a contract extension which is understandable, but that extension is crucial when retaining good staff and when recruiting players.</p>
<p>Unless Harbaugh is on board and ready to jump, I don’t see RR getting fired. LOI day is around the corner so each day that passes makes it more unlikely he will be fired.</p>
<p>I don’t buy the argument that weather has anything to do with recruiting. Right now, the best recruiting fields are in the south (Florida) and Texas, so the players are already there. Western PA recruiting isn’t what it use to be, football has become more popular in other areas and the style puts an emphasis on speed. Plus, some of the best coaching talent has migrated into the southern programs which is a huge difference maker.</p>
<p>Cowherd’s point is that bad weather schools have a much harder time recruiting the real athletic “studs” who would rather play in warm weather…</p>
<p>I don’t know how true that is…</p>
<p>Most football players come from within a 500 mile radius (mostly less) than their campus. There are reasons for this…family wants their children close to home so as to be able to go to games, recruiting is easier, etc. </p>
<p>Mark Ingram is an exception at Bama. The main reason he went to Bama rather than Mich St is because his mom trusted Nick Saban to make sure her son would pay attention to his studies. Mrs. Ingram is grateful that Nick made sure that her husband (a former Saban player) graduated from college.</p>
<p>I really don’t think “weather” is the issue. Many schools now have indoor practice facilities for when the weather is “too much” (either way). Yes, they do still practice some in the awful heat or frigid cold, but they don’t have to practice all day in such weather. </p>
<p>I really think it’s the quality of the coaches. The SEC just has better coaches. (altho I <3 Joe Pa.)</p>
<p>Texas Tech fan here. I feel fortunate that we beat a depleted Northwestern team on Saturday. That was a game with two crummy defenses trying to outlast one another. If it would have been a 5 quarter game, NU would have won.</p>
<p>I think the Big 10’s poor bowl record this year was more about match-ups than anything else. The Big 10 played some good teams, and still has a chance to redeem itself somewhat with OSU vs. Arky. Illinois and Iowa beat two decent Big 12 teams earlier in the bowl season as well.</p>
<p>All the other conferences are behind the SEC these days. I don’t think it’s all about weather and great coaches, although the SEC certainly has among the best of both.</p>
<p>I am from the camp that believes speed is the #1 factor for the great teams in college football today. Look no further than the two teams playing in the NC game, Oregon and Auburn. The SEC seemed to embrace that philosophy sooner than the others across the board.</p>
<p>The Big 10 has a reputation for size and strength over speed, although that’s not fair to lump all the conference in that description. Rich Rod is actually on the right track, but I doubt he survives at UM. Nebraska will bring some speed to the conference next year. I think Nebraska will recruit better in Texas now that they are going to the Big 10. Recruiting head to head against UT and OU was not effective for the Cornhuskers in the Big 12, but now they have a little something different to offer.</p>
<p>It’s all good. College football is the greatest sport on the planet!</p>