OHIO STATE, PENN STATE, MICHIGAN, AND WISCONSIN IN USA TODAY'S TOP 10

   

    Excuse me if this post seems a little disjointed. I finished reading the USA Today Coaches Poll and have been rolling around on the floor laughing. It's time to catch my breath. Some things are so palpably funny it is hard to take them seriously. USA Today delivered for the Big Ten like a pimp will deliver the goods for a political national convention. Michigan? Holy out of your mind, Batman. Penn State? Only good if you count the wins in the lowly BigTen. Wisconson? I have loads of respect for a good program and no quibbling from me on the Badgers or the Buckeyes for that matter. Four teams in a conference which has become irrelevant cannot be sold with a straight face. 

           Let me make my case to the football jury out there in posting land. Since the BCS National Championship seems like a good place to start, I looked at the Big Ten winners. Starting in 1998 and looking skyward you find NO BigTen Champions until Ohio State won in 2014. That's it. One is the loneliest number you will ever find. That is one out of nineteen games (1-19). There are several ways you might choose to look at that Stat. I pick, "how horrible is that?" The alternative is, "what a joke conference."  But wait, perhaps I need more analysis. There were nineteen games in the first BCS system. 16 of those games were before the final four version and featured only two teams. So let's look to see how many BigTen teams played in those games?  That number would be a lackluster two (2). Sorry, I almost hit the floor again but stopped at laughing tears at television's hope that the BigTen is an important conference. 

        Just to be fair, let's look at the BCS National Playoffs version of the Championship. Okay, that is three years for six more teams that played for a Championship. May I have the envelope, please... and the winner isn't the BigTen. Only, you guessed it - one BigTen team was involved and that is Ohio State. Actually, Ohio State is the only BigTen team to make it to a National Championship Game in the history of the BCS era. Maybe,  I'm looking at this wrong. Could I be biased? Is the National Championship Sports Information Director giving us fake news? This will require additional research and study so I'm headed to my liquor stash to get a drink. Preparation is important in these matters. 

        I am a SEC man through and through, so I decided to expand the search to find more favorable stats for the BigTen. Okay, here is where I short changed the mighty BigTen. The last three years have involved four teams. Michigan State got thrashed by Alabama in one semi-final game. So after bracing myself with an Oban single malt scotch, I wish to tender my remorse for short changing the most overrated conference in the NCAA. I said you had sent one team to the Championship. Well, actually you still only sent one to a Championship game, but we need to acknowledge the Spartans. I will update you on how to define that stat as soon as I have a second Oban, and pick myself off the floor one more time.