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The Red Wings are a large market hockey team that has embraced tanking since Yzerman has taken over. He had a head start because the previous GM tried to keep the Wings a playoff team several years after they clearly had no way of winning the Cup. the red wings did not tank. They just suck and have for over half a decade. There’s a difference between sucking at hockey and tanking.I dont disagree that they have sucked for a while. And the beginning of their downfall was poor drafting, other teams improving their International scouting and a GM who gave out bad contracts out of loyalty. But when Yzerman took over it was an intentional suck....tank. They have had all kinds of cap space and could have easily had a half way decent team. Probably a similar situation that the Cubs were in when Epstein took over.

The Red Wings are a large market hockey team that has embraced tanking since Yzerman has taken over. He had a head start because the previous GM tried to keep the Wings a playoff team several years after they clearly had no way of winning the Cup. Which is exactly where the Blackhawks were when the new GM took over. I would agree. Though I think the Hawks pulled the trigger on Bowman before the Wings made Holland uncomfortable enough to go somewhere else

I can’t think of another big market team that has done what the Blackhawks did this year, in terms of blatant over the top tanking. I think teams have unintentionally became really bad. Then you have the Bears pulling the almost unheard of move of a new guy bringing in absolutely nothing in his first year, and sabotaging a first round QB with zero help. The Cubs pulled off their 2nd tank in less than a decade and blamed it on the pandemic their owners political party claimed wasn’t real. It’s all rather disgusting. When NY teams perform this poorly, heads roll. But Chicago applauds it. And all the teams are doing it together. The 76'ers did it very famously. The Red Wings are a large market hockey team that has embraced tanking since Yzerman has taken over. He had a head start because the previous GM tried to keep the Wings a playoff team several years after they clearly had no way of winning the Cup.

Would you trade Michigan’s end game collapses for Illinois’ seeming need to be punched in the face (almost literally) before they wake up and realize that there’s a game going on? They turned the ball over in their first 4 possessions and allowed Purdue to score in their first 5 to go down 11 points three minutes into the game, had to play catch up the rest of the way and end up losing by 5. I’m looking around the Internet to find Illinois’ first half vs second half point differentials. It’s got to be substantial. Well Illinois is going to the NCAA tournament and because of the last 2 painful OT losses Michigan almost certainly isnt, so yes. But I have noticed that a ton from Illinois. Gotta be frustrating. Michigan's issue was not the last 2 games....it was what they did before February.

A small bright spot in a channel filled with nothing but bad Dempster impersonations and Ricketts loving company men. what is going to prevent Dex from being a Ricketts loving company man?

The last time I was this gutted about a sporting event was the 2003 NLCS. This is really bad. Ouch. Sadly I think if Michigan would have just played straight up defense in the 2nd half they would have won. Taking big risks killed them.

It’s hilarious that this is a real possibility for a not quite yet 37 year old. Madden was about 40 when he retired, if I remember correctly.

Not college, but wasn't Sean Payton OC at Illinois?

Are the Mets going to pay out more in Luxury Tax than the Cubs pay in actual payroll?

I think this is it, unless only Georgia losses. Then Michigan would go to 1 and OSU would jump TCU

What do you have against boat rowers?

I fully expect TCU or USC or both to lose. But I would love it if Alabama, OSU and Clemson were not going to the playoff.

In-state normally comes first. Purdue-Indiana, that's the rivalry. One thing I always found amusing when I was at OSU was how much they horsefeathering hate Michigan. I mean hate. Well, they hate everyone who isn't OSU, but the hate for Michigan is on another level. In Ann Arbor, they recognize OSU as their biggest challenge, but the stronger dislike is for MSU. However, similar to ND in Ann Arbor they generally consider themselves above everyone all the time about everything. Some not jokingly, compare UM to Harvard and MIT. They sell t-shirts that say; Harvard, Michigan of the East. I've never seen a worse college atmosphere than Columbus in terms of perspective on what college sports are. I live in Alabama and there are definitely some nutters at Auburn and in Tuscolusa, but it is nothing compared to Columbus. Interesting take RE: Michigan. I definitely agree that Michigan fans are very pompous. More talking about the perspective of rivalry. I agree that OSU fans have this unhealthy hatred of everything Michigan but I haven’t met very many Michigan people that say they dislike MSU more. They do dislike MSU especially in basketball but they loathe OSU. I grew up in Michigan and am a MSU fan because of Michigans superiority complex. But I always had the feeling that MSU took the rivalry with Michigan way more serious than Michigan fans did. No doubt they were more interested in hating OSU

Reminds me of when the B1G first went to divisions and Iowa/Purdue was the protected rivalry game and everyone on both sides was confused. Closest team in your division...somewhat similar competitive levels. Where I live it is almost as close to Purdue as it is to Champaign and there is a fair amount of Purdue fans around. I think Purdue's style of "play" in the game this year against Illinois is going to create some resentment if it continues in the future

I was pretty meh about the top 9. LSU being 10 speaks volumes

MSU has to be the hardest decent program to cheer for in the country. At least once a year they do something that is hard to justify for reasonable minded fans.

I am not convinced either Georgia or OSU are on a much higher level. But Tennessee did give up 49 points. Personally I am not sold on them being the 3rd best team. To be honest, they only beat Alabama at home because of a missed FG Are we going to play that game now? Georgia barely beat Missouri and struggled against Kent State. Alabama is a damn good football team and Tennessee beat them. Period. Sure they gave up a lot of points but they also scored a [expletive] against the Tide. My point is I am not sure Tenn is better than Alabama, the results would suggest not by much if any. And I did say I wasn't convinced that Georgia and OSU are on a higher level either. Tenn is good, no doubt. I just am not sure they are better then anyone currently ranked 3-7

There’s a large gap between those two and Tennessee? I am not convinced either Georgia or OSU are on a much higher level. But Tennessee did give up 49 points. Personally I am not sold on them being the 3rd best team. To be honest, they only beat Alabama at home because of a missed FG

Will be interesting to see how they rank everyone tomorrow. Georgia and Ohio State will definitely be some combo of 1-2. Do you bring Tennessee ahead of Michigan and Clemson after beating Bama? Do you flip UM back to 4 after beating Penn State by 24, combined with a 6 point Clemson win? Of course because it’s SEC/Bama there’s always a chance they don’t drop all the way to 6 due to a 3 point road loss to a top 5 team. None of it ultimately matters but fun to speculate. Still another 2 weeks until the first CFP rankings come out Alabama will be 6th. If they win out they will still make the playoffs. I think what may be interesting is the Georgia/Tennessee loser v the Michigan/OSU loser as the 4th team in the CFB rankings

SEC needs to have reviews for PI. Seems like they miss a lot of easy ones and call ones that ghry shouldnt

I have been high on Illinois this season, but I would pump the brakes a bit here. Illinois is good but wouldn't assume a victory over either Nebraska or MSU.

So like they were under Ron Zook

I don’t think they’ll lose, but Maryland loves chucking the ball and can put up a lot of points. They did last year too and Michigan won 59-18 in College Park. Different Michigan defense and as you implied untested but playing at home Michigan shouldn't have an issue (Boy I'm giving myself a lot of potential crow to eat) Michigan may hang 70 on Maryland

In years past I feel like this is a game that Illinois would have played a lot closer than last nights final. I am not a huge Beilema guy, but just having a competent CFB coach seems to be making a big difference on the field for Illinois. I am not all in with Illinois but the product has been a lot better last year and the beginning of this season

Illinois has play on week 0, a Friday game and now a Thurs game. They were fairly competitive last season and sometimes entertaining. I think in the questionable West they have a shot at 7 to 8 wins. Though their last 2 cross conference games are Mich and MSU. I live fairly close to Champaign I I feel like I care more than any Illinois fan I know. I know it's been bad but it clearly is getting better, where is any support.