Derwood

Regarding academics that is one of the reasons ND will never join. The Big 10 often does joint research, and with the religious nature of ND's research it would either a) limit their ability to do what they want with research b) involve the other schools in research they are not interested in doing. This was one of the main reasons given by the University a few years ago when the Big 10 invited ND. That plus the alumni funding. Since ND is funded mainly by the alumni the school often makes efforts to schedule games where a large fan base can see them play. A conference affiliation would take away from that ability. Those are just two of many reasons, but they are largely non-football, so I thought I would throw them out there. Just a tidbit of interesting info. Many, many, many years ago ND attempted to join the Big 10, but was denied in large due to Fielding Yost and his hatred for ND. There's one reason---and one reason only---that Notre Dame does not join the Big Ten: NBC TV money. Well that's no secret. Don't have to split their bowl revenue 12 ways either (though when 6 or 7 Big Ten teams make it to bowls, everyone does alright in the end)

The irony of the Cubs being named for a baby bear does not escape me, but on with the poll!

Penn State 1994 Northwestern 1995 Wisconsin 1999 Purdue 2000 Illinois 2001 Penn State 2005 I'd hardly say that Michigan and Ohio State have owned the Big Ten's top spot and the automatic BCS bid. Besides which usually (this year being an exception), the "underdog" team wins this game, screwing up the season of the favored team. OSU's title year was another exception, but so many times, one or the other is undefeated or on the verge of a big bowl or conference title and they get beat by the underdog.

Well, they decided to go with the State College Spikes. I was pulling for the Furnace personally, but Spikes isn't terrible (considering some of the other options). No logo posted yet. EDIT: The team website is launched. Uniforms aren't great, but the logos are pretty cool. I'll make the Antler one my avater here soon.

Regarding academics that is one of the reasons ND will never join. The Big 10 often does joint research, and with the religious nature of ND's research it would either a) limit their ability to do what they want with research b) involve the other schools in research they are not interested in doing. This was one of the main reasons given by the University a few years ago when the Big 10 invited ND. That plus the alumni funding. Since ND is funded mainly by the alumni the school often makes efforts to schedule games where a large fan base can see them play. A conference affiliation would take away from that ability. Those are just two of many reasons, but they are largely non-football, so I thought I would throw them out there. Just a tidbit of interesting info. Many, many, many years ago ND attempted to join the Big 10, but was denied in large due to Fielding Yost and his hatred for ND. Notre Dame's graduation rate (for athletes) would be tops in the Big 10. Right now Penn State is #1 in the conference and #4 in the nation (Div 1-A) behind just BC, ND and Vanderbilt

That must be a grandfathered rule, as I think I read that OSU's football graduation rate is about 10%

Congrats indeed. Too bad he won't even get a guest pass to the Heisman ceremony

No, it wouldn't happen. I'm shocked that Plaschke would say anything nice about UCLA, though. firejoemorgan.blogspot.com tore Plaschke a new one the other day for his article about the new Dodgers GM

I believe the Pirates ae in Williamsport in the NY Penn League. And Philly's AAA team (Scranton Wilkes Barre) is close by ad well. Pirates AA is 50 miles away

Oh Yeah' http://newrepublic.silvergriffin.com/ootp80slogos/logo5.jpg

If you hate a person because he cheers on another team, you need help. Cue JR

double post

I just heard on ESPN radio the Oregon could now be in the Fiesta and OSU will get left out. So many different stories :x When is the BCS selection show? Dec. 4th BTW, another argument for a Big 10 title game: Ther have been split or co-champs 6 of the past 10 years

ESPN has Oregon bumped all the way down to the Holliday Bowl. Ouch

Theyare unveiling the team name/logo/uniforms today. Expect my avatar to change shortly ;)

Then who would PSU play? Va Tech? Here are some current "bowl projections" off of espn.com

Right now, the best possible Bowl scenario (as far as great games) would be: USC vs Texas PSU vs ND Va Tech vs LSU WVa vs. OSU actually OSU vs Oregon would be better, but that darn Big East tie-in...

Psht. PSU is the only Big Ten school with fewer alumni in the Chicago area than Northwestern. So there. I'm surprised it's not more than NU, since PSU has 40,000+ students on main campus alone (plus over a dozen sattelite campuses) while NU has 6,500. I'd expect that to change in the near future when PSU is more established in the Big Ten. Then I'd think you'd see a rise in the # of Chicago-area students going there. I meant there are more PSU alumni living in Chicago, not that there are more kids from Chicago going to PSU

Psht. PSU is the only Big Ten school with fewer alumni in the Chicago area than Northwestern. So there. I'm surprised it's not more than NU, since PSU has 40,000+ students on main campus alone (plus over a dozen sattelite campuses) while NU has 6,500.

What bowl comittee wouldn't want to pit the two teams who made huge comebacks this year after several years of bad teams? Notre Dame vs. Penn State harkens back to some of the best college football games I've ever seen (back in the mid to late 80's and early 90's)

I really don't care. Most people around here consider us the Big Ten champs, and really, if you get the automatic bid from your conference by way of a head-to-head victory, you have good reason to think that. Most people at O$U probably don't think of them as Big Ten champs because they could end up going to the Crapital One Bowl. As for where PSU goes, I really don't care. To be honest, I think the Orange Bowl is idiotic for choosing O$U over Penn State. Penn State is the #3 BCS team, won the head-to-head matchup, is a prestigious program returning to national prominence and has a legendary coach who was written off last year. There's more interest in PSU than O$U this year. I have a feeling that the Fiesta Bowl-Orange Bowl dealings will be kind of a "you scratch our backs this year, we'll scratch your backs another year" type of thing. The Notre Dame-Penn State matchup will have mega-ratings, probably the best of any non-championship BCS game in history, I'm guessing. Exactly. Plus, PSU historically draws great ratings and has fans who will travel anywhere. Local paper said that the alumni association has already had over 1000 calls from people interested in the organized bowl game trip, and that's just locally. I'm pretty sure that PSU is #1 (or close to it) in # of alumni in this country. It's pretty astounding

All the merchandise here says Big 10 Champs. No talk (or griping) about co- anything. Fans here are thrilled not to be 4-7 again...

Pretty short circus trip this year

I chose "rock" because "all of the above" wasn't an option. The latest CD's I've purchased: System of a Down - Mesmerize & Hypnotize The Mars Volta - Scab Dates Kanye West - Late Registration Coldplay - X&Y White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning Doves - Some Cities Sigur Ros - Taak...

And solidifies (IMO) that Ichiro isn't going anywhere