Introducing: The OTE ICYMI Wednesday Recap

We have some outstanding writers (both on our staff and in the fanpost section) here at Off Tackle Empire and while we try to make sure every writer has a little room to breath, sometimes pieces get pushed aside. Not anymore! Our hope is that a) you can enjoy all the content on the site, b) you can insert a comment that you might have missed and felt stupid commenting a week later, and c) that we can put a poll up to say what was the best of the week to boost our own egos. Enjoy the OTE ICYMI Wednesday Recap.

By Jesse Collins Jan 23, 2013, 10:00am CST

OTE Football

Hoegher's 2012 Season Review: The Dregs by Hoegher

I gotta hand it to Hoegher. He has stuck to the statistical analysis and he won our bowl competition. While I am no stat genius, I do appreciate the way he breaks down both offense and defense and makes pretty good projections. For a lot of you who like this stuff, you might not know he's talking about it, so check it out in the fanposts. Also, remember kids, Illinois cannot have nice things... like good statistical projections (this does not imply Hoegher has bad statistical projections, but rather that Illinois just is bad at football... glad we cleared that up).

Fact vs. Fiction at That School In South Bend by Chad

Seriously, this was only a week ago and we're already over it. Still, if you need to have a laugh, just remember that ND has awoken the echoes... of a fake dead girlfriend. If you enjoyed this piece, it might be a good time to point you to Charles P. Pierce and his take in Esquire. While this is strictly a NO POLITICS ZONE (seriously, the back half of this piece is so political, that I almost recommend you only read the first paragraph if you're GOP friendly), I will say that the front part where he rips the Irish a new one is fantastic:

At a spectacularly ill-advised press conference, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick got all teary-eyed talking about how his dogged team of investigators had proven that Te'o was an innocent victim of the Intertoobz. In addition to infantilizing the player, Swarbrick's lachrymose maundering served to remind the country that Notre Dame had been a helluva lot less diligent in trying to get to the bottom of a sexual assault allegation made against one of its players by a woman named Lizzie Seeberg, who got threatened over the phone for her trouble and ended up taking her own life. However it all shakes out for Te'o, and he'll be playing on Sundays no matter what happens, this means that the response of "Fk Notre Dame anyway" is still valid in the context of this story, and that's all for the good.

Comparing Big Ten vs. ACC Attendance by VP19

This is really a link out, but the information dump is pretty interesting. I was surprised that basketball in the Big Ten was not a bit higher, but it's also nothing to scoff at. This is probably a good thing to discuss more as we look at the decline of care for the fans that go to games vs. the fans that put money in the BTN.

OTE Basketball

How Good is Michigan? by Brian Gillis

This is just over a week old, but since we didn't have an ICYMI Wednesday last week, it gets inclusion. Michigan was coming off of a loss by three to OSU when this posted and then they went to Minnesota and pulled off the victory at the Barn. I think we can all more or less agree that Michigan is really good and this conference depth is just ridiculous. No easy outs, and Michigan understands that. Despite freshmen all over the place, they're in a good position to do some things come March.

What's Gone So Terribly, Terribly Wrong? by MNWildcat

Yikes. Well, Northwestern fans were/are in a funny spot with Carmody. He is by far the best thing that has ever happened to Northwestern basketball and to be honest, considering what the administration has made him deal with, it's been a good run. However, it feels iffy as to what comes next. Northwestern knows it's still the only team to not make the Dance from the major conferences. Sooner or later, they need to decide if Carmody can lead that charge or not.

OTE Big Ten Stuff

Is Virginia the Next Big Ten Target? by Ted

I tell you what. We might not know what happens next for the B1G outside of rumors, conjecturing, and discussion, but 500+ comments later, discussions about the AAU, apples, ag-schools, and competitive balance, and you have probably the most entertaining thread we've had in a while. Seriously, you don't even have to read the article. Just go read the comments. It's pretty fantastic stuff.

Scheduling Note: Big Ten at Ten will happen every day at 10:00 AM except Wednesdays now. This will take it's Wednesday spot so we can go and find more links for those other days. Seriously, trying to find relevant news five days a week is tough. Four is much more manageable... and interesting.