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I know it sounds unfair, but there is a reason the Rose Bowl is loyal to the Big Ten and the Pac Ten. Its because those 2 conferences were loyal to the Rose Bowl. They forced the Rose Bowl into the BCS by holding out unless the Rose Bowl was one of the games.

Shocking that LSU had to pay off Ainge yesterday to win. In no way would I have ranked them ahead of Oklahoma who pounded the #1 team in the nation. This LSU love is just ridiculous and driven by the overrated SEC. What the heck is everyone going to do when OSU beats them.

I think that a couple more years like this one will lead to a playoff pretty quick

that was one incredible holding call.

Wouldnt it be proper to not just show how a player did in clutch situations, but to compare those ABs to regular ABs. I mean if a guy has a 1.000 OPS in regular ABs and has a 1.010 OPS in his limited clutch ABs, is he really clutch?

That would be one heck of a deal for the Twins. With them already getting Young. Adding LaRoche, Hu and Kemp would give them one heck of a lineup in a couple of years. Then adding Kershaw/Billingsley would just be incredible.

Assuming USC beats UCLA this weekend, they're gonna drill either OSU or Illinois if they play in the Rose Bowl. Oregon's the only team USC has played all year that was better than OSU or Illinois. They lost to them. They lost by 7 on the road with their backup QB in the game and were driving for the tying TD when Sanchez threw the pick. USC also outgained Oregon 378-339 and held Dixon to his worst game passing (going by passer rating) of the year. It's not like Oregon dominated the game and Dennis Dixon is a much better QB than Juice Williams. Did you see what the USC offense did to Arizona State's defense last Thursday? And Arizona State's defense is allowing fewer rushing ypg and passing ypg in an offensive league than Illinois is this year. Not to mention that if they played in the Rose Bowl, it would be a de facto home game for USC. I'm not debating that USC would be favored against U of I and probably by about a TD. But to say they'd drill Illinois or tOSU is quite an exaggeration. There seems to suddenly be this prevailing notion that Illinois and Ohio St. are terrible teams, and I'm not quite sure where it's coming from. Its the preception that the Big Ten is very weak this year. Based mostly on Michigans struggles and teams inside the conference beating each other up. I agree that the Big Ten is down this year, But they are not that bad. I think they are going to win their share of bowl games and surprise some people. However I do think USC is going to beat either OSU or Illinois in the Rose Bowl.

So I am watching some of this Wisconsin/Duke game and notices something very strange for Big Time college basketball. I think there is 9 white kids on the floor at the same time.

I think there are 2 major stumbling blocks. The NBC TV package and some joint academic stuff that may be against Notre Dame's beliefs. I think the Big Ten would take them in a heartbeat, but they want to TV money shared. I am sure the academic stuff could be worked out if the NBC thing got worked out.

Well, the options for the Big 10 on adding another team are limited. They are looking for a good academic school that also would have competitive athletics. I've heard names like Pitt, Rutgers, and Missouri thrown around, but the question becomes why would any of those schools want to jump conferences? There's simply no school that fits the Big 10 well enough that would probably be willing to join right now. I dont think they are wrong for not adding another school. If the only reason they would do it is so they could have a conference championship game in football, Its a bad idea. I just didnt like how it was implied that the Big Ten chooses not to play a championship game. Which is not the truth. Personally I think the Big Ten shouldnt raid other conferences. If a school leaves thats fine.

I think the Big Ten should add 2 conference games. I know they wont because than noone would play a road game ooc. Which might force Notre Dame to join the conference though. Of course this goes back to the NCAA needs to take control of scheduling if they are going to keep the BCS. Also watching ESPN, a couple of their commentators were implying that the Big Ten chooses not to play a Championship game. That is not the case. You have to have 12 teams in your conference to play a championship game. The Big Ten just chooses not to add another team not named Notre Dame.

Not that argueing why a 3 loss Florida team is one of the Top 5 teams is a lot of fun. But I was watching Mike and Mike this morning and while a commercial was on switched over to Sportscenter. I see it coming and am predicting it now. If Missouri or West Virginia lose, there is going to be a big push to get Ohio St out of the National Championship game. I dont know if it will be successful, but ESPN obviously has their orders. Those orders are to get Ohio St out.

or Kansas. Did I read the poll wrong? Sure looked like Kansas was 5th and Virginia Tech was 6th

Its amazing how many times I have read that LSU would blow out (you put the name of a team here) in a National Title game. I havent seen evidence of LSU being great since the Va Tech game early in the season. Va Tech was not playing well then either. LSU's hype is based mostly on some people insisting that the SEC is in a different league than other conferences. I think they may be the best overall conference, but not so much better that their teams deserve the huge breaks in the polls that their teams are getting.

Man the SEC sucks

In college football a loss is everything, even a good loss. That is how the system is set up. I would go as far as say that the time of a loss is more important than who the loss is to.

What happened during the Penn St/Purdue game? I havent heard anything controversial from that game. Also except for the early fumble call was there any bad calls in the Illinois/OSU game.

I agree with Truffle on this. Games now have very long stretches of boring action. I dont think the answer is a larger goal. I very much can enjoy a 2-1 game with a lot of action. If the size of goal was increased we would still have long stretches of boring action with more goals but no more action. I think the 2 best solutions are to make the Ice surface larger and call interference. I know they have increased the interference calls the last couple of years. It still is no where near as open as it was in the 80s early 90s. They need to call interference when its interference. If someone doesnt have the puck you cannot limit his motion in anyway. That is interference.

Are you a Blues fan or do you just hate Scott Stevens as a player? i'm a flyers fan, and yes i hate scott stevens as a player I always thought he was one of those players that you hate unless he is on your team. I would have had him in a second on the Wings. He knocked Slava Kozlov out in Game 1 in the 95 finals. That hit pretty much propelled the Devils to a sweep. Clean hit too. Didnt he knock Lindos out a couple of time in the playoffs?

Are you a Blues fan or do you just hate Scott Stevens as a player?

I asked them to do that to make you guys feel good. Dont do it for me I am a Wings fan

It would help if the conference didn't refuse to play ND after September. Yea, scheduling Notre Dane would really help the Big Tens out of conference schedule lol. I have heard some grumbling this year about a lack of bye week. Dantonio said something about a lack of bye week and I think I remember hearing another Big 10 coach say something about it. It would probably help get some players healthy. I am not sure how much more it might help. teams are reluctant to play more than one legitimate OOC game because they don't have time to prepare for more good teams and recover physically as well. I know the Big 11 has ALWAYS ended the weekend before thanksgiving, but maybe they can look around and see that ending a solid two weeks before a lot of other major conferences puts them at a significant disadvantage. But no, God forbid we mess with tradition. Yeah it really hurt them last year. I think that is why next year(or maybe the year after) they are adding a bye week and going to the week of Thanksgiving. They should have done this as soon as the 12th game was added. Personally I think they ought to start a week later, keep the bye week and go to the same weekend as all the conference championship games.

It would help if the conference didn't refuse to play ND after September. Yea, scheduling Notre Dane would really help the Big Tens out of conference schedule lol. I have heard some grumbling this year about a lack of bye week. Dantonio said something about a lack of bye week and I think I remember hearing another Big 10 coach say something about it. It would probably help get some players healthy. I am not sure how much more it might help.

My cornflakes taste like crap all of a sudden. Coffee isnt much better.

The Red Wings have 4 total loses this year. 3 to the Blackhawks