[NU Sports] Hell freezes over in Michigan

Sun Sep 9 11:29:42 CDT 2007

Paul,

You are right about the Scarlet Knights put college
football on the map in the NY/NJ area. My neighbor is
a season ticket holder of the Knights and he did not
even attend Rutgers. He had an extra ticket for me on
Friday and five of his friends (including me) went to
see the Navy vs. Rutgers game. Later I found out that
out of these five people, only one is remotely related
to Rutgers (he went to Rutgers-Camden law school).

It's rather annoying to hear them talking about how
great Big East is and how down Big Ten is given the
fact that App. State beat Michigan. However, it is
nice to know that all these people remember the great
Northwestern teams of '95 and '96.

Cyril Ku

--- neonrye at aol.com wrote:

> 
> 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!!!
> > 
> > 
> >  
> >
>
________________________________________________________________________
> > ____________
> > Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect.
> 
> > Join Yahoo!'s user
> > panel and lay it on us.
> >
>
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> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
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> > nwu-sports at tssi.com
> >
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> > 
> 
> 
> * * * * * * * * *
> STEPHEN J. TRUOG
> sjtruog at yahoo.com
> GO CATS!!!
> 
> 
>        
>
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