[NU Sports] Big Ten and the BCS ...

[Jonathan Hodges]

Although it would be nice, only 2 teams per conference are permitted into
BCS games, even with the additonal game.  See the rules here:

http://www.bcsfootball.org/bcsfb/eligibility

"No more than two teams from any single Conference may play in BCS games in
a single year, regardless of whether they are automatic qualifiers or
at-large picks."

Outside of the top 3 in the Big Ten, nobody else is that impressive and we
may witness a down year in terms of bowl wins since the next 4 are all
rather mediocre.  PSU and Purdue may both have 8 wins, but their non
conference schedules were notoriously weak.  Looks like those two will be
headed to the Outback and Alamo, respectively, and they'll be facing some
tough teams from the SEC and Big XII.

The Illinois win was great for Northwestern and our program and it's great
that the clock tower will be purple all year!

Jonathan

On 11/19/06, SjT (Stephen J. Truog) <sjtruog at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Well, I think #1 vs. #2 lived up to the hype and was
> one heck of a game. Coupled with the Rutgers loss, it
> creates one heck of a debate for the final few weeks.
> I really think after today that round two is 50 days
> away in Arizona.
>
> And does anybody (Mike?) have the BCS rulebook handy
> to say if it's limited to two per conference with that
> extra BCS game in there this year? Wisconsin will
> probably be #7 or #8 after this weekend and with four
> of the top six still playing each other, the Badgers
> could move into the top five or six by the end of the
> season.
>
> I know the top four are guaranteed berths (OSU getting
> in over Oregon last year), but if the Rose Bowl loses
> two Big Ten teams to the national title game, it'd be
> awfully hard to pass up the 11-1 and #6 or so Badgers,
> who'd bring about 75,000 Cheeseheads to Pasadena.
> Especially since the Rose Bowl (who will have the top
> at-large BCS pick now that OSU is title game bound) is
> the one BCS bowl who would not want to pick Notre Dame
> at-large and have a rematch with SC.
>
> But after the Cats victory (Wildcat Wrap to come
> later), it was fun to watch the Big Game before flying
> back to Phoenix and having it live up to expectations.
> I think Notre Dame is eliminated because an 11-1 Irish
> team couldn't head to the title game over an 11-1
> Michigan team that kicked Notre Dame's butt in South
> Bend. And Arkansas and West Virginia are probably too
> far back to leap over the Wolverines.
>
> So it really comes down to SC, Florida and Michigan
> for the right to play the Buckeyes in Arizona. At the
> end of the year, Michigan will likely have beaten two
> of the BCS top 10 (Wisky and ND) and lost by 3 at #1.
> Tough to see the Gators or Trojans matching up with
> that. Yeah, it'd be a rematch - but we've had that
> before (FSU/Florida ... a couple BCS bowls in recent
> years) and we've seen Oklahoma and Nebraska get beaten
> by much, much more in their season finale as a BCS top
> two and still play for the title. We'll have to see.
> The good news for Michigan is that they're done at
> 11-1 while SC and Florida have big games yet to play.
>
> And one more side note ... the Valley of the Sun
> already has a town named Buckeye (where I teach -
> named for Ohio roots with tires and cotton) ... but
> they may want to move some OSU home games here. The
> Bucks will be here in 2006, won the title here in 2002
> and were on track to come here in the BCS debut in
> 1998 save for a late letdown vs. MSU (and many felt
> they were still the best 1-loss team that year and
> deserved to be #2 and have a crack at Tennessee). Plus
> OSU won Fiesta Bowls here after the 2003 and 2005
> seasons.
>
> It may not be fair to OSU, but I think OSU-Michigan
> round 2 is around the corner. Hopefully it lives up to
> the game today.
>
> GO CATS!!!
> -SjT
>
> * * * * * * * * *
> STEPHEN J. TRUOG
> sjtruog at yahoo.com
> GO CATS!!!
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Jonathan W. Hodges
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