Around the Big Ten

[lineygoblue]

Indiana's problems have been in the trenches. They never seem to get the people on the O or D lines to get them into title competition.

[Hannibal]

Kiel is the kind of guy who can attract talent on offense to build a team around him. I could easily see him becoming another Tim Couch.

[entropy]

Per Multichannel.com:

BTN, joining the growing roster of programmers offering full, authenticated, streaming services, will kick off a multiplatform extension of the channel to coincide with the start of the 2011 college football season.

BTN2Go will feature a live, online simulcast of all BTN linear network programming, including more than 40 football games, over 100 men's basketball contests and hundreds of other events. Moreover, there will be extra football game channels for scheduling conflicts, on-demand programming and archived content, including contests that premiered on ABC and ESPN.

BTN president Mark Silverman said BTN2Go will be offered exclusively through the network's participating cable, satellite and telco distribution partners as an authenticated digital service to customers who already receive BTN as part of their video subscription. Once their provider agrees to carry the service, BTN subscribers will be able to access BTN2Go on three platforms: the Internet, iPad and iPhone.

Silverman said that Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and Dish Network have committed to launching BTN2Go on the aforementioned platforms.

"All three will be ready to go with BTN2Go," he said, noting that other affiliates are also in the huddle for the multiplatform service.

Game action aside, BTN2Go viewers also will gain on-demand access to BTN's video archive, including all current season games. Original series such as The Journey, Big Ten Icons, Big Ten's Best and The Big Ten's Greatest Games, as well as game highlights and coaches' shows, will be available.

LINK

[lineygoblue]

Kiel is the kind of guy who can attract talent on offense to build a team around him. I could easily see him becoming another Tim Couch.

I dunno, Hanni. I still can't see 4-star OL's and DL's now jumping in line to grab a IU scholarship just because Gunner Kiel committed there. Those guys want teammates around them as well.

[Jamie H]

Yeah, I could see him drawing people to a Purdue or Michigan State, or even Illinois. But Indiana? I don't think anyone outside of Indiana grows up wanting to play Indiana football, and most likely even kids that grow up there don't want to. If you love football in Indiana you want to play for ND, and then maybe Purdue. IU is a last resort.

[Hannibal]

I can at least see a few good receivers going there to catch balls for him. He gives the Indiana offense instant credibility. Enough at least to compete for a recruit with a team like Illinois or Iowa.

[Jamie H]

Randle-El went to Indiana and was a 1-man show. He didn't exactly bring the talent along with him. But I don't know how highly regarded he was.

[hodgkal]

There was a time when Indiana actually had good football teams, in the mid 1940s. Bo McMillin was their coach and he later coached the Det. Lions. The Hoosiers beat us in both 1944 and 1945. Of course the rosters were pretty thin in those days because of the war. But the Hoosiers were for real. They also had a good team in 1967, co-Big Ten champs, and lost respectably to a great USC team in the 1968 Rose Bowl. The Trojans had some guy name O.J. Simpson.

Seems hard to believe today.

The Rose Bowl game was a huge achievement for Big Ten teams in the old days and it took a couple of decades before every Big Ten team had made at least one appearance. Indiana was the last one to make it.

[geo weidl]

Looks as if beline doesn't like liars and cheaters as well.

Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema was asked Thursday about the NCAA cracking down on rule-breakers. He never mentioned Jim Tressel, but it certainly sounded as if he doesn't have much sympathy for the former Ohio State coach. Bielema was the second coach to address reporters at Big Ten Media Day and he shared some strong opinions about what to do with coaches who cheat in recruiting. ''If you're trying to be competitive, you're trying to win a football game, all those things, maximize all your opportunities, do what you have to do,'' he said. ''But when you consciously break an NCAA rule, to me the only way to deter that is to get rid of people, or seriously hold programs accountable. That's probably the number one thing I would love to see happen in the world of college football.''

[Tom W]

I wouldn't put much faith in Bielema's statement. Based on my experiences with Badger and Packer fans, I would have to say that the best and brightest people in Wisconsin are the ones that make brats.

[Jamie H]

I think Bielema is a jerk, but I don't get the sense that he is a cheater.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Along with the 9-game conf schedule, the Big10 may start playing conf games in the first weeks of the season

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/29824/big-ten-coaches-discuss-schedules

[Rocky Bleier]

Fickell reminds me of Bielema - only dumber.

[Dr. Strangelove]

And Hoke reminds me of Flounder. Only sweatier

[Optimus Prime]

The OSU program is obviously now on double secret probation or worse courtesy of the "disgraced Senator", Dean Weber.