[NU Sports] Hell freezes over in Michigan

Sun Sep 9 10:31:35 CDT 2007

Stephen:

I usually read your posts and agree with most of your conclusions, but your swipe at the "Big Least" was really undercut by the magnificent showing of USF against Auburn last night.? I watched the game--in disbelief--as the South Florida crew was incredibly talented and well-coached, and played with amazing heart.? There are 4 very good teams atop the Big East this year--Mark Ament's hometown Cardinals, the Scarlet Knights of NJ (who are really putting college football on the map in the NY Metro Area), the Mountaineers in W.Va., and USF.? Syracuse stinks, and the other teams will be lucky to achieve mediocrity, but the league is far from a joke at this point--and the four top teams are all exciting to watch.? Given the BT's stagger out of the gate, I don't think this is the time to hurl brickbats at other leagues.

Paul Levinson--

-----Original Message-----
From: SjT (Stephen J. Truog) <sjtruog at yahoo.com>
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Sent: Sat, 8 Sep 2007 10:10 pm
Subject: RE: [NU Sports] Hell freezes over in Michigan

>  As a Northwestern fan, I am personally happy to see
> Michigan, Ohio
> State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa,
> Illinois, Minnesota and
> Michigan State lose anytime, anywhere. In that

:) ... on one hand I can understand. There is a point
that if it comes down to tiebreakers, overall mark
could be on the list somewhere (though it's much less
of a factor than bowl prestige and fans, which NU
would likely lose to other schools on anyway in
postseason selections) ... plus, you just like seeing
those annoying bullies in your league get some
comeuppance.

But overall, it is far better for NU when our Big Ten
brethren win in the non conference slate. It bolsters
our credibility when we beat them , raises the
league's reputation for those extra BCS bowl slots
(the Notre Dame one has officially just opened up :) )
and keeps our league and by association NU, in good
standing nationally.

It just seems to be a touchy topic now - I don't think
anyone in the Big Ten has ever challenged SEC
supremacy, but the folk down south must have felt
mighty threatened somehow because they began lobbing
pretty big attacks on our conference before and
especially after the BCS title game last year.

Personally, I've never really doubted that the SEC is
the strongest league in football. But the Big Ten has
usually been a clear runner-up and I'll match our
traditions, fans, atmosphere and such with the SEC any
day - both areas are passionate about their pigskin!

And while the SEC and Pac 10 come close, I still don't
think they quite match our depth. The SEC champion has
been pretty select company in the past decade or so,
whereas the Big Ten title has been spread around
nicely. And while the Pac 10 is improving, the SEC and
Big Ten are still the leaders in conference strength
for week by week opponents - with the home field edge
and traditions of both leagues, there are few if any
gimmes on the league slate.

But with the BCS loss and Michigan's madness, we're
now regarded by many as in the bottom half of BCS
leagues. It's hogwash, but perception matters and that
could hurt in a few postseason areas - getting an
extra BCS berth to allow a 6-6 team from our league,
perhaps NU, to go to the postseason. Or, should NU or
another Big Ten team run the table, they could be out
of the title game because of a perceived weakness of
the conference.

Like I said, I was hoping this would be a "get off our
back" weekend ...

* The ACC is getting smacked around in Norman and
Baton Rouge ... plus FSU barely survived at home
against a team Sparty crushed last week.

* The Big Least's top two teams allowed massive chunks
of yardage in unimpressive victories.

* The Big XII is having some struggles outside of OU,
with Texas looking human the first two weeks and
narrow escapes by ATM and UNL ... not to mention
Mizzou's narrow victory over one of our lower teams,
Illinois, despite the Illini doing everything they
could to hand the game over to the Tigers.

... but now all the story will be is Michigan losing
again and how the Big Ten looks weaker than ever. UGH!

And while most Big Ten fans may delight in our
conference rivals losing, a stronger force may be our
collective hatred of the Evil Empire, which means big
cheers for the Maize and Blue in the "very moveable
object of Michigan's defense vs. the very resistable
force of ND's offense" in next week's "someone's gotta
win" showdown. And more cheers for Sparty and MooMoo
to keep digging the hole GaTech and PSU started for
that blasted leprechaun in September!

But of course, the most important thing is a Wildcat
victory. BEAT DUKE!!!

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

> spirit, you can bet I was
> rooting for Akron today, and Appalachian State last
> week, and so on.
>  Why?
>  Because, one, it's good for Northwestern in the Big
> Ten race if these
> other teams lose. 
>  Further, I could care less whether Ohio State or
> Michigan or Wisconsin
> or Penn State is in some BCS game. I could care less
> than less if
> Illinois or Minnesota are in the Pesky's Combo
> Weedeater Bowl, or
> whatever some lesser bowl might be called. As a
> Wildcat fan, I only care
> if Northwestern is in position to make such a bowl
> game, particularly a
> BCS tilt.
>  And if the Wildcats win, the poll numbers and all
> the other hoo-hah
> takes care of itself. As I recall it -- and I
> realize this was in the
> pre-BCS era -- Northwestern had climbed to No. 3 in
> the rankings going
> into the 1996 Rose Bowl. 
>   
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com
> [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com]
> On Behalf Of SjT (Stephen J. Truog)
> Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2007 2:44 PM
> To: nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Hell freezes over in
> Michigan
> 
> I'm in disbelief.
> 
> I just hope Michigan doesn't get rid of all this
> suckiness before they
> come to Evanston at the end of the month!
> 
> I also really don't want Michigan to lose too much
> more (especially not
> to the Evil Empire next week) because it's just
> going to keep hammering
> the league.
> An upset in week one is bad enough - two bad games
> in a row and these
> commentators are really going to start hammering the
> league. 
> 
> We had to deal with the SEC talk all off season
> after the title game
> (nevermind that we were 2-1 vs. the SEC in bowls
> last year and that OSU
> only had 23,000 weeks off before that title game).
> Then Michigan's
> meltdown in week 1 just keep hammering the league to
> the point where
> more than one talking head said we were the weakest
> BCS league.
> Nevermind that the ACC is getting spanked in their
> few tests today and
> that the Big East seems to allow 7,000 yards per
> game.
> 
> Don't get me wrong, I want to see us slice through
> this Michigan D like
> Oregon and AppState did ... but in the
> pre-conference games I want
> Michigan and the rest of the league to look good.
> The way it's going now
> could hurt our league in the polls and ultimately
> BCS race later on.
> 
> GO CATS!!!
> -SjT
> 
> * * * * * * * * *
> STEPHEN J. TRUOG
> sjtruog at yahoo.com
> GO CATS!!!
> 
> 
>  
>
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* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!

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