Around the Big Ten

[Cody_Russell]

Sad that is the last ND vs Purdue game for 6 years because that sell out Swarbick & a few others don't value tradition. Purdue is ND's #2 rival based on the argument that was made last week by the people on NBC during the ND game.
It's disappointing ... Yea ND, enjoy those games vs NC State and Georgia Tech

[Cody_Russell]

This Penn St vs Rutgers game has been entertaining haha

[lineygoblue]

I also watched the last few minutes of Penn St v Rutgers.

I don't see how Michigan beats either one.

The game versus Rutgers is a night game in Piscataway. I can't see Michigan winning a road game in that environment.

And Penn State actually plays defense and has a QB that just makes plays.

Michigan loses to both.

I'll predict it now. Michigan goes 5-7. This will be the last time Michigan is over .500 for the rest of the season. The only possible wins I see remaining on the schedule will be Minnesota, Indiana and Northwestern. And even those are not locks.

[hack]

I don't agree, but there's definite upside to that. Not only would Hoke not survive that but it may inspire the school to actually make a proper effort at fielding a great team.

[Cody_Russell]

5-7 record = Hoke is gone... 3 consecutive years of Hoke teams getting worse = Hoke fired.

I still think Michigan looks like a 8-4 or 9-3 team. Remember, the B10 REALLY sucks ... just like Michigan kind of sucks. The Michigan defense is good and can be great (for a B10 defense) if Taylor and Peppers are playing. Miami Ohio scored those 10 points off turnovers. App St didn't do much on offense until the game was over. ND was held to under 300 yards even though Michigan was without 2 of their top 3 CBs.

If Utah comes in and beats Michigan ... I'll lose all faith in Hoke haha

[lineygoblue]

Well get ready to lose faith, because Utah is going to lay a double-digit loss on our guys.

Mark it down.

Utah 40
Mich 20

[Sanders Fan]

Sad that is the last ND vs Purdue game for 6 years because that sell out Swarbick & a few others don't value tradition. Purdue is ND's #2 rival based on the argument that was made last week by the people on NBC during the ND game.
It's disappointing ... Yea ND, enjoy those games vs NC State and Georgia Tech

You could make a very good argument Navy is a bigger rival than Purdue and ND will NEVER pull out of that series. Purdue is #4 at best.

[Jeff Buchanan]

BIG = ACC.

I don't think I have ever seen the conference play football so poorly out of conference. My recollection is dominance except against the OOC elite and the the BIGs were probably .500 .Why is this?

The skill level in HS football has improved dramatically over the last two decades. Conditioning, coaching and young boys starting their serious football careers way early. The talent pool is larger. HS coaching is better. A career can be made of it. Were not talking about dual role HS Teacher/Coaches anymore at elite HS programs .... at least not in practice.

TV. Think about it. 40 years ago, you might see 5 football games televised on Saturdays. Didn't count but I bet the number approaches 75, maybe more in a given week counting weekday broadcasts. That means exposure and dollars. More CFB programs can attract skilled kids from the expanding pool. Smaller programs can make coaching hires that they would not have been previously able to do. The number of well coached teams with talent is expanding.

From the perspective of conference commissioners, this is probably a very good thing. For the kids its a good thing. That the Big Ten programs are probably playing on a par with the MAC, C-USA, MW/MWC, Sunbelt programs is distasteful to BIG fans, its a huge boost to CFB nationally raising fan interest, not to mention revenue, that may have been moribund/nonexistant for decades.

It's just the new reality. The smaller programs that BIG teams used to dominate are ALL better and capable of playing with and sometimes beating teams in the power 5.

[Jeff Buchanan]

.......... follow-on to the post above.

We've heard of the spending war. IMO, we're in a period of relative equality among conferences. That's going to change moving forward. So, if a program wants to elevate itself, conferences elevate themselves (I'm talking about the Power 5), they have to out spend the other conferences and based on the sheer macroeconomics of it, that is going to happen. Winning translates to increased revenue .... absolutely no doubt about it. I think I've actually seen some numbers on this somewhere but just fundamentally that has to be a valid formula.

To shrink the discussion and have it apply to M football, While Brandon has done some good things to increase revenue, the one aspect that he appears to not understand is that you cannot decouple the football team's performance on the field from the revenue calculus. I think he has done that trying to shill product, improve the game experience on Saturdays, all this BS you hear him spout while tolerating serious weakness in the performance of M's football coaching staff. If he does understand it, and I think there is a very good chance he does, he is not going to admit it, sticking egotistically to the choice he made in Brady Hoke.

The bottom line, like many have said here, if you want to compete in collegiate athletics, especially CFB, you have to pay the piper to do it. I'm not convinced that the deciders at M want to do that. They may be satisfied with watching Brandon scramble in his defense of Hoke. Their foot-dragging and willingness to watch the FB program bottom out in this regard has cost the team dearly. I think they care. Its just the glacial speed at which change in mind-set occurs among those that do the deciding at Michigan. We want it now, they don't, may just be starting to recognize and understand the calculus involved in playing football at a high level and garnering the revenue that kind of play brings, and are not likely to move as quickly as we want them to move.

It's hard to judge the temperature of the water with regard to this calculus at the BIG level. It seems Delaney understands or he would not have made the changes, like starting the BTN or expanding the conference TV footprint as he has done. But, I don't have a feel for how far he can reach down to the U level and kick butt. Michigan, certainly one of the premier BIG programs for half a century and more is faltering. Is Delaney happy about this? Can he do anything about it? Will he do anything about it?

[Optimus Prime]

Had Martin been lucky enough to land Les Miles or if Dave Brandon had secured Jimmy Harbaugh, this gut-wrenching saga is moot.

[hack]

Well with Brandon no amount of luck was going to prevent him from doing the wrong thing. And with Martin, no amount of luck was going to allow him to do the right thing.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Yer boy LLLLLloyd Carr sabotaged any chance of getting Les. And now he's too old and probably wouldn't come anymore.

[hack]

Michigan can succumb to its own hubris in a variety of ways.

But with the paucity of candidates out there, I think some of the drawbacks of Miles pointed out last time loom a lot smaller now. If we can get him we should be pretty damn happy about that -- it would buy time for five years or maybe a little more before we've got to hire again.

[Jeff Buchanan]

While I don't think the U is going to move on firing Hoke, the most important characteristic some new HC would have to have is that he has to be running a pro-style/NFL Hybrid offense.

I think all of us understand how destructive the Rodriguez experiment was. Looking around CFB today, I think it was clearly a bad move. Sure, the spread run by fast, dual threat QBs is fashionable and tends to give the offense some winnable match-ups on the opponents D, I've come to see its not the only way to go.

I like what Nussmeir is doing at M. This isn't a read-option Rodriguez type offense that is so popular today. It looks a lot more like a pro-style O. Its got those, as Brian calls them, rather large, catchy/blocky type receivers; it has an impressive zone blocking scheme that when it is executed, allows rumbling backs like Green and Smith to rip off big chunks of yardage taking the pressure off the passing game. You all know 2nd and 9 sucks ..... 2nd and 2 doesn't. That is what Nussmeir is trying to find: he wants the offense to consistently get to 2nd and 2.

So, if Brady shits the bed, goes 5-7 and the U does move, put Nussmeir in there and let him pick his own staff. He's young and probably pretty well connected with young, upcoming coaches.

[*JD*]

They haven't really played anyone but RR is currently 3-0.