For the life of me, I can't figure out why the B1G thinks it's a good idea to play 9 games and play conference games in week one. All it does is damage your brand nationally and create disgruntled fanbases. Indiana, Northwestern, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin are all saddled with losses right from the get-go that hurt the conference's bowl appeal and dampen their programs' enthusiasm.
I'm not whining because IU got beat (and looked like horseshit in the process). Had IU been better and won, Iowa would have been in the same situation we are in tonight. Either way, one program with high pre-season hopes was going to be put in a hole from a national ranking standpoint with the first week's polls. Same was true with Wisky/Penn State. It's stupid on the part of the conference, imo. Why would you want to pit two nationally ranked teams from your own conference against each other in week one, virtually guaranteeing that one or the other would crash in the polls ?
A conference that cared about its national reputation and fan bases would give all of its teams the opportunity to work out bugs and build a bit of hype the first two or three weeks. Give teams a chance to build interest and their records before pitting them against each other. Trust teams to schedule OOC games according to their own estimates of their best interests. If OSU feels good about a matchup with a national contender, let them do it. If others want to schedule the Little Sisters of the Poor to build confidence and answer internal questions, give them that option.
And for f$%k's sake, give all your schools a chance to go bowling by allowing them to all schedule seven home games and get four OOC wins if they need to Or schedule regional rivalries, or improve their national title/bowl resume's by scheduling up, or give a non-P5 in-state school a chance to play the major state school for a nice payday (and a shot at upset glory). Or get a break in the heat of conference play by playing a weaker opponent before a major rivalry game - instead of again fv$%ing over one school by giving its opponent a bye week before the two meet.
I don't mean for this to sound like sour grapes, but if it does, so what? Indiana and Iowa both deserved the opportunity to find out a little about their teams and knock some rust off before they had to meet head-to-head. Same with all conference schools who had to play an important conference game right off the bat.
I'm not whining because IU got beat (and looked like horseshit in the process). Had IU been better and won, Iowa would have been in the same situation we are in tonight. Either way, one program with high pre-season hopes was going to be put in a hole from a national ranking standpoint with the first week's polls. Same was true with Wisky/Penn State. It's stupid on the part of the conference, imo. Why would you want to pit two nationally ranked teams from your own conference against each other in week one, virtually guaranteeing that one or the other would crash in the polls ?
A conference that cared about its national reputation and fan bases would give all of its teams the opportunity to work out bugs and build a bit of hype the first two or three weeks. Give teams a chance to build interest and their records before pitting them against each other. Trust teams to schedule OOC games according to their own estimates of their best interests. If OSU feels good about a matchup with a national contender, let them do it. If others want to schedule the Little Sisters of the Poor to build confidence and answer internal questions, give them that option.
And for f$%k's sake, give all your schools a chance to go bowling by allowing them to all schedule seven home games and get four OOC wins if they need to Or schedule regional rivalries, or improve their national title/bowl resume's by scheduling up, or give a non-P5 in-state school a chance to play the major state school for a nice payday (and a shot at upset glory). Or get a break in the heat of conference play by playing a weaker opponent before a major rivalry game - instead of again fv$%ing over one school by giving its opponent a bye week before the two meet.
I don't mean for this to sound like sour grapes, but if it does, so what? Indiana and Iowa both deserved the opportunity to find out a little about their teams and knock some rust off before they had to meet head-to-head. Same with all conference schools who had to play an important conference game right off the bat.
