2010-11 College Football

Minnesota plays for these:

• Floyd of Rosedale - Iowa Hawkeyes
• Governor's Victory Bell - Penn State Nittany Lions
• Little Brown Jug - Michigan Wolverines
• Slab of Bacon/Paul Bunyan's Axe - Wisconsin Badgers

They have a brand new stadium with a nice big trophy case. Maybe one of these days they might get to fill it.

Minnesota had a tougher year than I expected. But, the Big Ten was a solid conference last year from top to bottom. The top 4 teams all won their bowl games.

Still, I like their coach, his philosophy, the way Minnesota is trying to improve themselves, and the cojones to play outside - the new stadium looks fantanstic. It'll become a tough place to play - On Campus - filled to the brim, visitors will have tougher time getting tix, making it a better home team experience, and the weather advantage - unless it's as hot this Fall as it's been this summer.

As long as Adam Weber continues to play QB, the Gophers will have a tough time.  He's a 4-year starter, which is a testament to weakness at QB, not his talent.

The jury is still out on the Minnesota coach. He's more talk than results so far and he couldn't recruit the best player in the state last year. They've got a couple of good quarterbacks in the wings but loyalty and rewarding a longtime starter might be their undoing and that would be a coaching mistake.

Weather advantage? If they played into December like the old Viking teams outside, yeah. But the Big 10 wraps up before Thanksgiving and you can still play golf in Minnesota at that time contrary to myths about Minnesota winters.

Davydd

you can still play golf in Minnesota at that time contrary to myths about Minnesota winters.

I heard that!

As BigTen expands and eventually becomes Big16, look for the championship game to fall in Dec. Even this year, BigTen play goes late in November to AFTER thanksgiving, which is a change BigTen has made in its scheduling. Final conference games are Nov 27th.

Dave----You really can't blame Coach brewster for losing Henderson.

When every team in the country wants your services it is hard to select Minnesotta.  Joe's picture of the golf tournament is just part of it.  Henderson selected So Cal which didn't have a better 4 year education to offer him, but it had a lot of other stuff----
and when that fell apart because of USC's violations Henderson headed to the other coast and the beaches of Miami----there he will be wined and dined by that kid from Cleveland names James. 

It is hard to beat out California and Florida-----just invite the kids to visit in January.

True but Ohio State was ahead on the list as well.

Joe's picture has to be Colorado. There are no mountains in Minnesota.

Dave---Maybe it ain't no mountain at all, maybe it is the refuge pile at the dumps.

Highest spot on Long Island, 400 plus feet, is the mound of junk at the Bethpage Dumps.

Back in the 30's and 40's the Gophers were the best team in the country year in and year out----------but the SEC has taken over and
we gotta live with what the Good Lord dealt us. 

My birthday was on July 31. Gift from wife: lower level (13th row) tickets to Penn State v. Indiana at FedEx Field!!!! Wahoooooooo!!!!!!!

I don't want to rush out the Summer and fly through the Fall, but I can't wait for Nov 20th!

Scorereader


My birthday was on July 31. Gift from wife: lower level (13th row) tickets to Penn State v. Indiana at FedEx Field!!!! Wahoooooooo!!!!!!!

I don't want to rush out the Summer and fly through the Fall, but I can't wait for Nov 20th!

Nice Gift! What's a nice team like PSU doing playing in MD? They just spent a Gazillion $$$ upgrading Beaver Stadium Must be trying to steal The Mighty Turtles Recruits!

Ironically, it's an Indiana home game, not PSU.

Big Ten wanted a game on National TV, in DC market, etc. PSU wouldn't give up a home game, in part because FedEx Field is smaller than Beaver Stadium - they wouldn't be able to satisfy their ticket holders.

Indiana gets a winfall, and the exposure - so it's worth it for them, even though they know the stadium will be covered in Blue and White.

And so the Score Man scores a ticket to see Papa Joe and
his boys is blue and white kick a collective Indiana Butt-----

Hope you have a great time

Have a few good dogs with kraut and mustard and beer
Wake up that morning to find the sun shining brightly
and I hope you are satisfied beating IU cause that's
the only team from that state you will beat for a long. long time.

the ancient mariner


And so the Score Man scores a ticket to see Papa Joe and
his boys is blue and white kick a collective Indiana Butt-----

Hope you have a great time

Have a few good dogs with kraut and mustard and beer
Wake up that morning to find the sun shining brightly
and I hope you are satisfied beating IU cause that's
the only team from that state you will beat for a long. long time.

 
Unless ND finally joins the Big Ten, Twelve, eighteen, whatever!
 
Tough, Tough year for PSU.  Game #2 @ Albama, game #5 at Iowa, Oy Vey!

I'm predicting we'll go bowling on Jan 1. Our toughest games on paper are Alabama, Iowa and Ohio State. I'd like PSU to win at least one of those to stay up in ranking. Losing to all three we could still make a Jan 1 bowl, but it'll look weak if we can't beat a top ten team during the season.


oh ancient one: you know the truth, that PSU can beat all the Indiana teams.

Your guys will go bowling all right---

at the Alley in downtown Happy Valley.

I will accept your apologies in December----

T'will make my old heart flutter to have

Joe the Pittston Kid and Scorereader say they were wrong. 

the ancient mariner


Your guys will go bowling all right---

at the Alley in downtown Happy Valley.

I will accept your apologies in December----

T'will make my old heart flutter to have

Joe the Pittston Kid and Scorereader say they were wrong. 

The Mighty Nittany Lions have made more bowl appearances (41) than any other team in the Big 11 including OSU & Meeeeshagan! Put that in your statistics pipe & smoke it!

Penn State actually has 42 bowl appearances, Ohio State has 41, and Michigan has 39.

Part of the reason that Penn State may have more bowl appearances was that from 1918 to 1945, Big Ten Teams were not allowed to participate in bowls.  From 1946 to 1974, only the conference champion could go to a Bowl, but not for two consecutive years.  Penn State, being an independent at the time, was not tied by the same constraints. 
 
Michigan has 11 National Championships, Ohio State 7, and Penn State 2.

Wow Saps: are your National Championships skewed toward showing Mich and OSU as greats and PSU as not or what.

First, Michigan played bowl games way before they were Big Ten, and were awarded "National Championships" before Penn State was allowed by their school to participate in post-season games and before there was any real heirarchy for end of season awards. So, the same rules can apply. You seemed to skip that. 

Considering the mess of choosing the Div 1A  National champion with a myriad of polls and association titles handed out each year, it's hard to credit anything prior to 1950 - because that is the point the NCAA created its concensus National Champion as the "true" National Champion(s) as seen by the NCAA, and taking into consideration that there is a heirarchy in the polls - something not really acknowledged before 1950. Even then, the next 17 years saw National Champions being chosen before the bowl games - but, it is what it is. And 1950 is the start of the "concensus" which we come to quickly realize, wasn't alway a concensus.

From there:
OSU 6 (1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970, 2002)
PSU 2 (1982, 1986)
Mich 1 (1997)

Of those 6 for OSU, they weren't the only concensus of the year 4 times. Of those 4 times, only once did they hold the AP. So, they really only garnered 3 outright championships (1954, 1968, 2002). The three others they shared, they weren't the AP pick.

Officially, the NCAA recognizes a bunch of championships along the way from the 1869. All included, the numbers are:
Mich 22
OSU 13
PSU 7

But to put those numbers into a historical (and relative) perspective, one has to keep in mind that Princeton owns 28 Championships and Yale owns 27, Harvard 12. Even Dartmouth and Washington & Jefferson have one of these championships.

So, suffice to say, we need to, in the least, start with 1950 to give a little perspective and stick to NCAA concensus champs - otherwise, we'll never settle on even ground.

When you do that, you need to accept that Notre Dame has 5 of these concensus championships, but can take away 1964, when Alabama was also a concensus champion and took both the AP and UPI polls. Leaving:  1966, 1973, 1977, 1988 for ND.

Lads, Lads, we are talking about 2010 not 1918. 

Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth and Chicago were all
 big shots back then-----we now have a oval ball not a round one and
no more drop kicks-------

Lets talk about 2010 in December --- I'll be waiting.

No, not really.  Foodbme was just going back into history.  So did I.  Michigan did not play in any bowl games in 1907-1916, the interim period when they dropped out of the Big Ten before rejoining.  You're right, everything before 1950 is sketchy.   

I think that they are all great legacy programs with storied histories, despite my disdain for Michigan and Ohio State.   I don't know that any one program is better than the other. 

I'm stuck with the University of Minnesota, a powerhouse in the 1930's and 1940's, now with sub-par QB Adam Weber starting his 10th year, with no hope on the horizon.

the ancient mariner


Lads, Lads, we are talking about 2010 not 1918. 

Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth and Chicago were all
 big shots back then-----we now have a oval ball not a round one and
no more drop kicks-------

Lets talk about 2010 in December --- I'll be waiting.

 
You remember 1918.  You were what, in your 30's around then?

Gentlemen, Gentlemen,
I'm impressed by the breadth & depth of your historical pigskin knowledge, however but no one has mentioned the #1 record holder of bowl wins and that would be the Fighting Elephants of the Univ. of Alabama. Let's put that in the pot & stir it up!

Foodbme-

They are all great programs.  Are you a Penn State fan?

What a story they have there in Alabama. A storied program that went dormant, flat, out of the talk (like what happened to Texas but even more so) but now are back in a big, big way. I thought Nick Saban was nuts going to Alabama, but I was wrong - he's made them the jewel of the SEC again. And that's no easy task.

I know it's not big news elsewhere but many of us on the left coast are outraged that Houston McNutt at Old Miss gave his starting qb job to Jeremiah Massoli, the criminal from my beloved University of oregon who disgraced himself with an off season full of criminal activity that  blackened the reputation of his former school and team.

The preseason AP rankings are out. The Labor Day game between Boise State & Va Tech will shake things up a bit.

Until Boise State plays 8-9 games vs. BSC schools, I don't like them in the BCS National Championship - even if they could beat everyone in the country, their schedule is not nat'l championship calibre.

I'm looking forward to the day they join Utah in the Pac-10/12/16

mr chips


I know it's not big news elsewhere but many of us on the left coast are outraged that Houston McNutt at Old Miss gave his starting qb job to Jeremiah Massoli, the criminal from my beloved University of oregon who disgraced himself with an off season full of criminal activity that  blackened the reputation of his former school and team.

HEAR! HEAR! I totally agree. Punks like him should be playing for Prison Teams. He's still not been cleared by the NCAA.