[NU Sports] Uh Oh! BCS Poll Warnings

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> I don't think it's the BTN that's at fault. The fact
> is that the Big Ten 
> doesn't have a single out-of-conference victory
> against any team receiving 

Excellent point. I've seen plenty of NU highlights on
Sports Center from the BTN. I just think it's the lack
of a big win.

It started with the BCS losses last year ... never
mind that we were actually 2-1 against the SEC in New
Year's Bowls last year. OSU and Michigan's defeats,
coupled with the AppState loss and the lack of a big
win just set us back early.

Tough to say who's at fault for the scheduling. I'm
sure when Notre Dame, Washington, Pitt, Syracuse, etc.
were placed on the schedules they were intended to be
quality opponents.

I know it's tough to get SEC schools on the schedule
(they make our cupcakes look good in NC play, but they
have the brutal league schedule) - so maybe we need to
look eastward. It would be a joke if the Big East got
two BCS teams over us -- maybe it's time we schedule
more games with Rutgers, Cincinnati, etc. to knock the
Big East hype down a bit (though South Florida did win
at Auburn).

> Meanwhile, our high-profile games have been losses:
> Michigan loses to 
> Appalachian State and Oregon, Illinois loses to
> Missouri, and most of our 

That's the big one there. We blew our chances.
Michigan gets smart and runs Hart earlier or the
Illini hang on to the ball and we get more respect.

> I'm not saying the Big Ten can't get two BCS teams
> (most likely scenario 
> would be Michigan wins out and Ohio State loses only
> to Michigan), but I 

Yup - really it's either that or PSU wins out and OSU
wins out aside from PSU (meaning OSU gets the
automatic and PSU is 10-2 with wins over OSU, Wisky
and Purdue down the stretch).

Otherwise we're screwed. Interesting dilemma though -
what if the SEC and Pac 10 fill up so many of those
top 14 or so spots that they need to go beyond those
to fill the BCS? If there's any year it could happen,
this may be it.

It'll also be interesting to watch whether Hawaii gets
in. They haven't been terribly impressive against
so-so foes lately, but most of the teams ahead of them
do face each other.

For us, I think it's those IU and Purdue games - gotta
beat the Hoosiers and Boilers to help our case to be
chosen over them. Of course, we gotta beat EMU first.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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


       
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