Thursday Night Links
- The 2008 Big Ten/ACC Challenge: Best Ever?
No so much for us. - SPARTANS DOWN, NOT OUT
Travis Walton to Jeff Goodman: “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of you.” - Kaizen: Making sense of a 35-point loss
I link to anyone who calls me “insightful.” - MSU makes Wisconsin star’s final four
Marquette apparently still on Jamil Wilson’s list. - The Big Ten-SEC Challenge
Fun football series in alternative universe.
The Big Ten’s Midsection
While MSU and, to a lesser extent, Purdue have been disappointing relative to their lofty preseason rankings, the teams expected to find themselves in the middle of the conference rankings have been surprisingly strong. This was highlighted by the league’s near win in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Penn State all pulled off road victories. And Michigan and Iowa stuck close to quality opponents on the road before ultimately losing.
Below are the national rankings of the 11 Big Ten teams based on the current Sagarin ratings. These are still based to some extent on last year’s results, but they indicate that the conference might not be as top-heavy as we thought it would be. And there may not be very many easy road wins in conference play outside Bloomington.
18. Ohio State (4-0)
27. Wisconsin (6-1)
28. Illinois (6-1)
29. Purdue (5-2)
31. Michigan State (4-2)
42. Northwestern (5-1)
47. Michigan (4-2)
57. Penn State (7-1)
63. Minnesota (6-0)
64. Iowa (6-2)
136. Indiana (3-3)
[...] By Spartans Weblog [...]
The SEC/Big 10 challenge thing in football would be awesome and probably lead to even more BCS chaos. Personally, I like BCS chaos. Minnesota and Wisconsin might have to give up a few I-AA opponents, though.
Of the teams I saw play in the challenge, PSU really impressed me as being better than I’d have thought. I think they might push up into the group that’s just below the top 3 teams.
I agree the middle of the pack are looking stronger than expected. I always thought Wisconsin would be pretty good, but U of M, Illinois and Ohio State have been better than I expected. I thought Minnesota would be pretty good and while they haven’t played anyone really great they have won all their games. Penn State and Northwestern have both performed beyond my wildest expectations. If these trends continue the race for the title will be a lot more interesting than expected.