[NU Sports] One week from today....

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Aaaah, the high schools kicked off tonight in Arizona,
the colleges begin next week and NFL after that. It's
nice to have the pigskin back!

I'm really at a loss as to what to expect in Oxford on
Thursday besides a lot of emotion. I think the fans
will be emotional on both sides, but as for the teams
it will definitely show more with NU as these were
Walker's players. As to whether that emotion will be a
drain as we hit a wall of grief or fuel that causes NU
to focus on one game at a time this nonconference
season is yet to be seen.

As for what the game looks like on paper, throw that
out the window. Big Ten teams rarely visit MAC
stadiums and when they do they should always be on
upset alert - heck, the MAC has shown an ability to
pull those surprises on the road in recent years. I
like that we at least have the people around the new
QB back to give him some confidence. As for what the D
will look like, we'll see, but I think Nick Roach will
make a fine field general and make Coach Fitz proud.

Final score? No clue whatsoever here - but I'll hope
for the best and expect victory.

> Also - it is my understanding that the NCAA will
> allow 6-6 teams to be bowl-eligible as long as the
> conference has sufficient tie-ins.  Since the Big
> Ten has 7 tie-ins, do we have to finish in the top 7
> to guarantee bowl-eligibility ?  If we go 4-0

This is going to be an interesting year for the league
- with the right breaks, we could have as many as 10
bowl-eligible teams with six wins (don't laugh until
you look at Illinois' schedule and think what would
happen if they beat Rutgers) ... but half of those
teams have little or no margin of error and NU is one
of them. Gotta win all the gottawins and tossups as
well.

The good news is that we could be looking at a double
dip in the BCS again, especially with that Iowa/OSU
game early to give the loser time to recover. Plus,
with Notre Dame playing four Big Ten teams, we have
the chance to create an extra opening by wiping that
smug grin right off Charlie and the Domers' faces in
September. I dunno if Lloyd Carr will step up and play
to win vs. the Irish, but I'm starting to smell an
upset in JoePa's visit to South Bend with the speed
PSU has at wideout and how Paterno's teams usually
play when JoePa and his coaches have a long time to
prepare.

I'll try and get a Big Ten preview out this weekend if
I get my class essays graded in time:), but a quick
look at the bowl picture.

LOCKS - OSU, Michigan, Iowa, PSU, Wisconsin ...
Bucky's got a kind schedule, PSU will slip a bit but
not far, and the other three are all legit Top 10
teams who will be in the thick of what should be a
wild MNC race to wind up in the beautiful new stadium
I can see on my drive to work that's sprung up in the
Valley of the Sun since last year.

LIKELY - Purdue, Minnesota, Michigan State ... None of
the three are going to sneak up on the Rose Bowl race,
but they could pull an upset or two ... only problem
is that each could lose a game or two they should win
as well and all could be sweating out a bowl bid come
late November. None more than Mr. Smith in East
Lansing, who better have that bowl bid locked up
before November if he wants to keep his job.

HOPING - Northwestern, Illinois ... they gotta get all
the breaks, but it's possible that the Sweet Sioux
game could be for a six-win season and bowl trip for
these two. Heck, given Indiana's cushy NC schedule and
improvement they could even be 4-7 heading into the
bucket, but the Illini get to play both NU and IU
whereas the Hoosiers and Cats are off each other's
schedules. Advantage Zookies ... if they can figure
out how to stop NU's running game in November.

T.G.I.Footballseason!:)

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!

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