MACrifice No More!

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Sep 28, 2010 11:18 AM CDT

Was Bo Ryan dressed in a Bielema suit? Because Wisconsin's average time of possession was about the same as the swing offense. Thad Matta had to have been promoted to offensive coordinator of the Buckeyes, because there's no way Jim Tressel would ever have done that otherwise.

After the jump: How do we avoid the ritual MACrifices that eSECpn condemns the conference for? Why not...beat up on the ACC?

So, unless you're a Purdue fan, you were pretty happy this weekend. Wisconsin put up 70 points (basketball offense, Scott Tolzien was almost perfect from beyond the arc). Ohio State put up an unfathomable 73 points (basketball offense again, Terrelle Pryor WAS perfect from beyond the arc). Michigan slammed the door on the worst tacklers in FBS (another basketball offense, didn't matter who was taking the shot, it just went in) to the tune of 65 points. Iowa pummeled hapless Ball State (holding them to identical passing and rushing offense numbers). Indiana won rather handily, Northwestern took care of business (but was VERY lucky to escape), Illinois was out of service (which could describe MANY things about them), NIU did what it was supposed to, and Penn State came from behind to supplant Temple as the best team in the state.

But as a whole, this nonconference slate was...uninspiring. Yes, Ohio State shot down Eastern Michigan, but they were supposed to (the Owls are kinda...terrible). Wisconsin signed up Austin Peay for the purpose of building Brad Nortman's net yardage as time expired. Purdue signed up Toledo and got burned badly. Iowa signed up Ball State just so they COULD massacre them.

Enough is enough. This MACrificing is not helping anyone (aside from NIU, which built its resume so they could join the Big Ten, and Toledo, which is looking for a bowl berth for the first time since Bruce Gradkowski). If anything, the Big Ten is smashing the MAC so badly that the MAC looks and feels like fail.

What do we do? The SEC would hammer Ohio State (or so I've heard), and eSECpn would surely spin that into "Big Ten sucks" broadcasts even if ALL the other Big Ten teams won. The Pac 10 is just a bit too competitive, but I'm certain that USC would meet a horrible demise if they faced the Buckeyes this year. Yeah, you heard me. The Big Twelve? Who wants to deal with THEM? Big East? Full of fail.

That leaves the ACC.

The ACC is rather...paltry, this year. N.C. State would go a long way towards building their NCAA Tourn- I mean. BCS bid, with a win over VT this weekend. Boston College just can't play VT EVER AGAIN, JaFOURy Harris is terrible against Big Ten teams, and Florida State...can't play anyone outside their own conference, and would get punished many times over in Madison. I think the Badgers could roll up 70 points on THEM, too.

So, here goes my idealized lineup for a Week 4 ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

N.C. State vs/@ Wisconsin - Really, this needs to happen.

UNC vs/@ Michigan State - Crossover Hoops juju would make this game a sellout, no word on whether Tom Izzo would shove Mark Dantonio out of the way and coach Kirk Cousins to victory, though...

Wake Forest vs/@ Northwestern - I think this would be interesting. Wake is schizophrenic at home and nowhere near their 2006 form.

Ohio State vs/@ Florida State - Premier program in Ohio State vs. the ACC Grandfather? Should be interesting. (Florida State hasn't been a title contender since the beginning of the new millenium)

Iowa vs/@ Miami - Both programs suffered disappointing losses in non-conference play; Iowa's secondary IS (IMO) better than Ohio State's. Plus they don't have walking PI penalty Devon Torrence starting at corner...

Indiana vs/@ Duke - I imagine hoops juju would also make this game a sellout, even in Wallace Wade.

NIU vs/@ BC - I can't imagine how this would turn out, but I think it would be...interesting...

Michigan vs/@ Maryland - Both teams desperately trying to shake a losing bug, sadly, there are no ties anymore so someone has to go home with a loss

Clemson vs/@ Penn State - Hype war, one I think Clemson would fall miserably short in. Robert Bolden IS the real deal at Penn State thus far.

Georgia Tech vs/@ Purdue - Miserable nonconference losses have left these potential conference contenders at the bottom, looking up. Someone HAS to win.

Virginia Tech vs/@ Nebraska - The way Nebraska played against South Dakota State leaves me wondering if they prepared for Seattle a little too much. But these teams were once top 5, legitimate contenders for the National Championship, especially during the days of Eric Crouch and Michael Vick (when he was still a kid who could run REALLY fast).

Virginia vs/@ Illinois - It seemed like just a little while ago, these programs were respectable. Then Al Groh's QBs forgot how to complete a forward pass and Zook's recruits couldn't hack it against Western Michigan.

---

(in case you're wondering why NIU is now a member of the Big Ten, please look up 2010 Minnesota football results and all sho- Can't say, my Minnesota contempt/sarcasm/HATE filter just locked up and committed suicide.)

So what do you think?

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Would this make an ACCrifice Weekend?

Reality has a little-known Northwestern bias

NU prez knows how to get PUMPED

by nuftw on Sep 29, 2010 11:03 AM CDT reply actions

Well, it would be a drastic improvement on the RPI...

Imagine how critical that would be towards BCS resumes. Now, I’m not suggesting taking the cupcake and putting it in week 2. I’m suggesting throwing it out altogether, because 1) it tastes bad and 2) it frequently finds a way to get SOMEONE’S ACL torn in the early going.

We replace the cupcake week with MWC week (which could turn up VERY interesting, I mean, TCU vs. Ohio State and Wisconsin vs. Utah might be blockbusters). But after BYU jumps ship, the MWC looks a lot weaker. The top 3 (football wise) are TCU, Utah, and Air Force. But Utah is joining the Pac 12 and Boise is joining the MWC, so things just get weird after a point.

Oh, and Fresno State and Nevada are ditching the WAC for the MWC (according to Wikipedia), which should make the conference race much more interesting than “TCU and Boise State blow up hopeless, middling, bottom feeders in MWC”…

Maybe Koa Misi and Jared Odrick would be Patriots if Bill Parcells wasn't Comedic.Sans's father...
"I looked at BN once. I got banned." -the immortal words of JShufelt

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Sep 29, 2010 12:12 PM CDT up reply actions

You are definitely on to something

Since our dream of 9 conference games seems to be slipping away, I would totally be down for an ACC-Big Ten Challenge week every year.

I even wonder if we could do it without sacrificing home games for our big programs (yes, this would be massively unfair and totally implausible, except money-wise).

How cool would it be to have one week when the Big Ten and ACC squared off, as we do already in hoops. I say try it as a 2-year, home-and-home deal.

When Vanderbilt visited Michigan in 2006, I seriously suggested making this an annual thing. Vandy gets to come play with its intellectual equals for one game each year (for a payday bigger than anything they get against Florida or Alabama), and we get to go around bragging about a steadily increasing Big Ten vs. SEC gap in win totals.

Okay, back to the realm of the plausible: I really wish we could schedule the bottom rung of BCS conferences every year for a one-and-done. I think we would be more than happy to let their monsters eat up an Indiana or Minnesota or Northwestern in return (and we’d squeal with delight when Northwestern or Minnesota or (less likely) Indiana upset them).

L'Équipe! L'Équipe! L'Équipe!

by Misopogon on Sep 29, 2010 12:40 PM CDT reply actions

I think this is a great idea seeing how we already do it in basketball.

When asked why he went for 5, Tate responded "..because I couldn't go for 6...".

http://www.insidetheshoe.com/

by SouthBayBuckeye on Sep 30, 2010 11:54 AM CDT reply actions

I think MSU might destroy UNC...

I mean, sanctioned UNC. That defense has been gutted courtesy of Marvin Austin and associates (thank you very much, losers, you just set the wheels in motion for LSU to only need 4 conference wins to play a Big Ten team!)

Maybe Koa Misi and Jared Odrick would be Patriots if Bill Parcells wasn't Comedic.Sans's father...
"I looked at BN once. I got banned." -the immortal words of JShufelt
No longer using Yahoo! Sports for anything besides stat checking since 9/29/2010...

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Sep 30, 2010 5:13 PM CDT up reply actions

Would love to see Big Ten Pac 10

or Big Ten SEC. But I’d take this, too. Nice matchups

"A parent's only as good as their dumbest kid. If one wins a Nobel Prize but the other gets robbed by a hooker, you failed."

The Daily Norseman
Off Tackle Empire
SB Nation Minnesota

by Ted Glover on Sep 30, 2010 12:58 PM CDT reply actions

Which one did you like best?

And of course, which did you like the least?

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Sep 30, 2010 10:10 PM CDT up reply actions

OSU-FSU would be the most attractive

But I think Iowa-Miami would be the best game. Worst game…Illinois-Virginia would be a suckfest, I think.

"A parent's only as good as their dumbest kid. If one wins a Nobel Prize but the other gets robbed by a hooker, you failed."

The Daily Norseman
Off Tackle Empire
SB Nation Minnesota

by Ted Glover on Oct 1, 2010 12:41 PM CDT up reply actions

While picking the ACC as the matchup conference is fine and dandy, I don’t see the ACC agreeing to it since they already effectively play an SEC Invitational year in and year out.

Clemson-South Carolina (and this year Auburn thrown in)
Fla St-Florida
Wake Forest-Vandy
GA Tech-Georgia

And also this year

NC-LSU
Duke-Bama

I’d rather see a matchup with the Big 12 or Pac12 instead.

Pac12 makes more sense since we typically play 3-4 OOC games already with them. Big12 makes snese since they are pretty close geographically (although 2 teams will have to sit out from the Big10).

The SEC invitational would be the best of the bunch, but we all know the SEC would not allow a few of those teams to play a road game out of the South.

by talonk on Sep 30, 2010 3:19 PM CDT reply actions

Well...

GT and UGA, as well as Clemson-USCEast, are old matchups that would require the assassination of their athletic directors for the series to take even a year’s hiatus…

The SEC doesn’t play fair against anyone except the ACC. And even that’s questionable.

I’d love to see the SEC/Big Twelve powers beat the h3ll out of each other to start out the year. That way no one’s talking about undefeated Texas, Bama, and Florida in the title game…

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Sep 30, 2010 5:10 PM CDT up reply actions

If only we could have a Dream Scenario (I wrote a long essay on one of the old OSU SBN blogs) about dividing college football into 12 conferences of 10 each. 6 of the 12 conferences would be upper division (BCS) and 6 lower division (non-BCS).

Each team plays 9 conference games, 1 game against its sister league (for example Big10 vs MAC, SEC vs SunBelt, etc) and 1 game against another conference (Big10 vs SEC, Big12 vs Pac10, BigEast vs ACC) which rotates ala the NFL, and one game for whoever you want to schedule (rivalry game, etc). If an FCS school is scheduled, they have had to made the FCS playoffs once in the past 3 years.

After a 5 or 6 year cycle teams move up and down similar to soccer in Europe. Moving a Boise St up to the Big12 and a team like Baylor down to the MWC.

Now I know it would never ever ever ever happen …. but it is fun to dream about.

by talonk on Sep 30, 2010 5:43 PM CDT up reply actions