The Little Ten

Even FCS schools are taking shots at the Big Ten.

Ahh, the poor Big Ten. After getting destroyed last weekend in their big showdown games - Michigan State losing to Oregon (though most teams would lose to Oregon at Autzen), Michigan getting shutout by Notre Dame and Ohio State losing at home, at night, to Virginia Tech - and having the media kill them all week, they followed it up with another poor showing in Week 3. And some of the quotes from coaches involved in the game just made it even worse.

Yes, there was some cheering to be heard. Ohio State bounced back and took out Kent State 66-0. And Michigan beat Miami (the bad one from Ohio, not the okay one from Florida). Hey, don't laugh, the MAC has owned the Big Ten this year. Nebraska shook off the near loss to McNeese State by putting up "double nickels" on a Fresno State team that played marginal defense last year and now plays none as they gave up at least "half-a-hundred" for the third straight game. Penn State beat new Big Ten member Rutgers 13-10 with the help of five Gary Nova interceptions, so that's a wash.

Everything else was a disaster. Bowling Green beat Indiana (the MAC is owning the Big Ten's middle tier teams this year); West Virginia got by Maryland in overtime; Iowa decided to try and ice the Iowa State kicker with a timeout...he missed the kick that didn't count then nailed the game winner. Thanks, Coach Ferentz, for that brilliant piece of strategy. Three losses in four years to the Cyclones. Notre Dame whipped Purdue, but in a slight moral victory, it was close at the half.

"We should have moved to the Big Ten instead of the Big XII...
neither one can count and we could make a couple Rose Bowls."
-Gary Patterson, TCU Head Coach

Minnesota traveled to TCU and showed they didn't belong on the same field as the Horned Frogs, losing 30-7. When TCU head coach Gary Patterson was asked after the game about his offense's progress this year, he had this to say: "I have no idea. We played Samford and then played a Big Ten team." A team only a couple years removed from the Mountain West taking shots...

Illinois wrapped it up by losing 44-19 to a Washington team that had struggled with Hawaii and Eastern Washington. And sticking with Big Ten delusions of grandeur, Illini Head Coach Tim Beckham had this to say: "You take out 21 points on three big plays and we're in this football game." Ummm, okay. You still lose 23-19, but if that counts for something in the Big Ten, you go ahead and take that. I guess it's better than losing by two touchdowns or more.

Now we roll into week four and conference play starts in earnest. And beating other Big Ten schools just isn't going to help the perception of the conference. Good job Big Ten on going 1-10 against the other Power 5 conferences (Rutgers beating Washington State on the opening Thursday). That's the same amount of wins as the Sun Belt has against the Power 5 (Louisiana-Monroe beating Wake Forest the first weekend).

The chances of the Big Ten getting a team into the College Football Playoff this year is dwindling each week, and their fans are going to go ballistic if two SEC teams get in over their conference champion, but you only have yourselves to blame, Big Ten.