Bielema tightens the ship at Wisconsin
April 2, 2009 by feed · Leave a Comment
Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
MADISON, Wis. — As Bret Bielema's wins total has declined, the anxiety level from some fans about the Wisconsin head coach has escalated.
After a 17-1 start to his head coaching career, Bielema has gone just 11-10 since. Wisconsin briefly held a top 10 national ranking last fall, only to finish 7-6 after a blowout loss to Florida State in the…
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Buckeyes reach Sweet 16
March 23, 2009 by feed · Leave a Comment
I watched a really good basketball game yesterday in Nationwide Arena. The Buckeyes ran into a Mississippi State team every bit as athletic as the bunch from Florida State that knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament in the first…
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Spring Q&A: Wisconsin’s Bret Bielema
March 18, 2009 by feed · Leave a Comment
Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
For better or for worse, Bret Bielema became a college football coach last season. He faced his first real bout with adversity and criticism, guided Wisconsin back to a bowl game and finished on a sour note against Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl. David Stluka/Getty Images Things didn't go as…
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Florida, Oklahoma odds on favorites for 2009
March 10, 2009 by feed · Leave a Comment
The Wiz spotted BodogLife’s updated odds for the college football season. Long story short… it looks like the Gators and Sooners are the early picks, followed by USC, Texas, and Ohio State.
Here’s the complete rundown:
Alabama 22/1
Arizona 100/1
Arizona State 150/1
Arkansas 150/1
Auburn 150/1
Boise State 100/1
Boston College 100/1
California 60/1
Cincinnati 90/1
Clemson 60/1
Colorado 100/1
Florida 7/4
Florida State 30/1
Georgia 50/1
Georgia Tech 50/1
Illinois 80/1
Iowa 75/1
Kansas 75/1
Kansas State 175/1
Kentucky 125/1
Louisville 150/1
LSU 20/1
Maryland 200/1
Miami 35/1
Michigan 120/1
Michigan State 100/1
Missouri 90/1
Nebraska 55/1
North Carolina 45/1
North Carolina State 100/1
Notre Dame 30/1
Ohio State 17/2
Oklahoma 5/1
Oklahoma State 50/1
Oregon 20/1
Oregon State 100/1
Penn State 35/1
Pittsburgh 60/1
Rutgers 125/1
South Carolina 100/1
South Florida 80/1
Tennessee 100/1
Texas 8/1
Texas A&M 150/1
Texas Tech 60/1
UCLA 150/1
Utah 125/1
USC 5/1
Virginia 100/1
Virginia Tech 20/1
Wake Forest 80/1
Washington 200/1
West Virginia 75/1
Wisconsin 100/1
Field (Any Other Team) 20/1
And remember… entertainment purposes only… of course.
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Big Ten lunch links: Paterno deserves record
March 10, 2009 by feed · Leave a Comment
Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
Slim pickings today. The academic fraud scandal at Florida State is unfortunate, but Penn State's Joe Paterno deserves the all-time coaching wins record, Ron Cook writes in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"It would be a crying shame if [Bobby] Bowden ended up with that record. It would be one of the most fraudulent records in sports,…
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NCAA Slams FSU With Sanctions…..Bowden Might Lose 14 Career Wins!
March 6, 2009 by feed · Leave a Comment
An unresolved scandal involving Florida State University athletes and academic misconduct might have been settled by the NCAA today–not in a way the university was hoping.
It appears the NCAA lowered the boom on the Seminoles in a case involving 61 of their student-athletes and their tutors.
According to the NCAA, the student-athletes were provided answers for an on-line music course by…
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FSU scandal could increase Paterno’s wins lead
March 6, 2009 by feed · Leave a Comment
Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
Florida State is in big trouble, and the penalties leveled against the football program for violations stemming from academic fraud likely will affect the all-time FBS coaching victories race.
Florida State's Bobby Bowden and Penn State's Joe Paterno have traded the top spot for some time, with Paterno holding a slim edge…
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FSU scandal to increase Paterno’s victories lead
March 6, 2009 by feed · Leave a Comment
Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
Florida State is in big trouble, and the penalties leveled against the football program for violations stemming from academic fraud will affect the all-time FBS coaching victories race.
Florida State's Bobby Bowden and Penn State's Joe Paterno have traded the top spot for some time, with Paterno holding a slim edge (383-382)…
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Final Grades: A look back at the preseason AP poll
February 16, 2009 by feed · Leave a Comment
It’s time to pay the piper. Here’s a look back at the 2008 pre-season AP poll contrasted against the final 2008-2009 AP poll.
2008 AP College Football Poll Comparison – Preseason vs Final Poll
| TEAM | FINAL RANKING | PRESEASON |
| Florida | 1 | 5 |
| Utah | 2 | NR |
| USC | 3 | 3 |
| Texas | 4 | 11 |
| Oklahoma | 6 | 4 |
| Alabama | 6 | NR |
| TCU | NR | NR |
| Penn State | 8 | 22 |
| Ohio State | 9 | 2 |
| Oregon | 10 | 21 |
| Boise State | 11 | NR |
| Texas Tech | 12 | 12 |
| Georgia | 13 | 1 |
| Ole Miss | 14 | NR |
| Virginia Tech | 15 | 17 |
| Oklahoma State | 16 | NR |
| Cincinnati | 17 | NR |
| Oregon State | 18 | 22 |
| Missouri | 19 | 6 |
| Iowa | 20 | NR |
| Florida State | 21 | NR |
| Georgia Tech | 22 | NR |
| West Virginia | 23 | 8 |
| Michigan State | 24 | NR |
| BYU | 25 | 16 |
The big standout poll flops are Georgia (P-1 F-13), Ohio State (P-2 F-10), Missouri (P-6 F-19) and West Virgina (P-8 F-23). And — of course — the teams that never even made it to the final poll, including LSU, Clemson, Auburn and Wisconsin.
The Cinderella stories of Utah, TCU, Boise State, and Alabama surprised pollsters and fans alike. (Outside of Alabama, of course, who always expects the Tide to be #1… and they’re not afraid to tell you about it, as well. Still, I suspect there were more than a couple of surprised Bama fans out there this season when the Crimson Tide rose to the top of the polls.)
The biggest surprise for me was how many of the teams were actually ranked consistently from pre-season to final poll. That shocked me, actually. I have long advocated not doing any polls at all until the fourth week of the season, but there’s enough balance between the good & bad of the pre-season poll to suggest that *some* of the pollsters might actually put some thought into this whole thing.
What stands out to you and where do you stand on pre-season polls — sacrosanct or sacrelidge?
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Big Ten content to be Saturday staple
February 12, 2009 by feed · Leave a Comment
Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
A look at the 2009 ACC composite schedule released earlier Thursday illustrates how leagues take different approaches toward football scheduling.
The ACC opens its season on a Thursday night, as NC State hosts South Carolina. The league features five more Thursday night games as well as a Labor Day (Monday) matchup between rivals Miami and Florida State.
Midweek games are nothing new in college football, especially in the last few years. Football is an every-day affair, and while the non-BCS leagues are a big reason why, the bigger-name teams are also willing to give up a Saturday or two. One of last season's biggest moments came on a Thursday night, as top-ranked USC fell at Oregon State.
But the Big Ten has largely stiff-armed the midweek trend, and it figures to stay that way. The league played all of its games on Saturdays last fall. In 2007, Northwestern faced Eastern Michigan on a Friday night in a contest that had to be moved because of high school games at Ford Field in Detroit.
The Big Ten hasn't played a true midweek game since 2006, when Minnesota and Northwestern opened against Kent State and Miami (Ohio), respectively, on a Thursday night.
Mark Rudner, the Big Ten's associate commissioner for television administration, told me in an e-mail today that only on a "very rare occasion" would a Big Ten game get moved from a Saturday. This would only occur during the first or last week of the season. The Big Ten's television agreements are based on Saturday games.
I'm a bit greedy when it comes to college football and wouldn't mind seeing Big Ten games every night of the week (it's hard to keep track of everything on Saturdays). But midweek games present logistical problems for coaches, players and even fans, who plan their travel and tailgating around fall Saturdays.
Plus, the Big Ten really has no reason to move away from Saturdays, given its strong ratings during the regular season and the bowls. It would seem very un-Big Ten to have, say, Iowa play Penn State on a Thursday night. Then again, I wouldn't complain.