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WHY ALL THE HATE FOR THE BIG TEN?
A lot of America absolutely loves bashing of the Big Ten Conference.
That is the only conclusion I can come to after listening to the never ending chorus of complaints about the league’s football teams. Yes, Ohio State got roughed up by USC last Saturday. Yes, the Buckeye’s deserved to drop out of the top-10. But the way so many people gleefully attack OSU’s program – and the Big 10 as a whole – has gotten way over the top.
First off, the Buckeyes were playing a road game, against the No. 1 team in the country and without its best player. And they were a double-digit underdog to begin with. The outcome was what just about everybody expected, so why all of the post-game darts and arrows?
In case you missed it, about 90 minutes after USC’s win, Wisconsin finished off a top-20 opponent, Fresno State, in one of the most impressive road wins of the young season. And earlier in the day, Penn State completely dismantled Syracuse by 42 points. But we don’t hear the same type of rhetoric about how bad the WAC or the Big East is.
Why is that? Is it jealousy? Nobody draws more fans year after year than the Big Ten. Nobody puts more financial support behind their programs. And nobody else has its own television network.
The Big Ten went 7-4 last weekend, including another head-to-head wins against the Big 12 (Iowa over Iowa State). Sure, there were disappointments, like Michigan’s big loss at Notre Dame, and Purdue’s overtime loss to Oregon. But the week before, the Big Ten went 11-0. And for the season, the Big Ten is 25-6 – that’s a .806 winning percentage.
I am not saying that the Big Ten is the nation’s best conference. Nobody is saying that. But can we get a little perspective here? Just because Ohio State lost a big game in September doesn’t mean they stink. Did USC stink when it lost at home to woeful Stanford in November?
And it certainly doesn’t mean that the Big Ten stinks either. In another Big Ten-Pac-10 clash a week earlier, the Nittany Lions pummeled Oregon State. Did anybody extrapolate that out to mean that the Pac 10 is terrible?
The Big Ten is always going to be one of the nation’s best football conferences – it’s a fact and it is not going to change. Right now, I’d say it is behind the SEC, the Big 12 and maybe the Pac 10, but nobody else.
Being third or fourth out of 11 is not exactly a disgrace. -- NEIL GEOGHEGAN.
That is the only conclusion I can come to after listening to the never ending chorus of complaints about the league’s football teams. Yes, Ohio State got roughed up by USC last Saturday. Yes, the Buckeye’s deserved to drop out of the top-10. But the way so many people gleefully attack OSU’s program – and the Big 10 as a whole – has gotten way over the top.
First off, the Buckeyes were playing a road game, against the No. 1 team in the country and without its best player. And they were a double-digit underdog to begin with. The outcome was what just about everybody expected, so why all of the post-game darts and arrows?
In case you missed it, about 90 minutes after USC’s win, Wisconsin finished off a top-20 opponent, Fresno State, in one of the most impressive road wins of the young season. And earlier in the day, Penn State completely dismantled Syracuse by 42 points. But we don’t hear the same type of rhetoric about how bad the WAC or the Big East is.
Why is that? Is it jealousy? Nobody draws more fans year after year than the Big Ten. Nobody puts more financial support behind their programs. And nobody else has its own television network.
The Big Ten went 7-4 last weekend, including another head-to-head wins against the Big 12 (Iowa over Iowa State). Sure, there were disappointments, like Michigan’s big loss at Notre Dame, and Purdue’s overtime loss to Oregon. But the week before, the Big Ten went 11-0. And for the season, the Big Ten is 25-6 – that’s a .806 winning percentage.
I am not saying that the Big Ten is the nation’s best conference. Nobody is saying that. But can we get a little perspective here? Just because Ohio State lost a big game in September doesn’t mean they stink. Did USC stink when it lost at home to woeful Stanford in November?
And it certainly doesn’t mean that the Big Ten stinks either. In another Big Ten-Pac-10 clash a week earlier, the Nittany Lions pummeled Oregon State. Did anybody extrapolate that out to mean that the Pac 10 is terrible?
The Big Ten is always going to be one of the nation’s best football conferences – it’s a fact and it is not going to change. Right now, I’d say it is behind the SEC, the Big 12 and maybe the Pac 10, but nobody else.
Being third or fourth out of 11 is not exactly a disgrace. -- NEIL GEOGHEGAN.
posted by Nittany Lines at
4:13 PM
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