FanHouse

No Surprise as Ohio State Tops Michigan

Mark Hasty — 2009-11-21T16:00:00 00:00

"For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: 'It might have been!'" -- John Greenleaf Whittier

For Michigan it really might have been, if not for a dreadful game by Tate Forcier and the Wolverine offense. Rich Rodriguez's squad fell to Ohio State 21-10 today, keeping Michigan out of the postseason for the second year in a row.

Forcier threw four interceptions. He also fumbled in Michigan's end zone on the Wolverines' opening drive, which OSU recovered for a touchdown.

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Pickin' on the Big Ten: The Rich Rodriguez Spread Dilemma

Mark Hasty — 2009-11-19T16:30:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten previews the upcoming weekend's games and ponders the meaning of it all, staring into the yawning existential void and calling a fullback dive on third-and-seven.

With one more loss, Michigan will become ineligible for a bowl game for the second season in a row. This has not happened since W.A. "Brad" Thornwhistle's disastrous first two seasons in 1847 and 1848. To avoid this horrible dishonor, all the Wolverines have to do is to beat Ohio State on Saturday. That will keep them alive for the Little Caesar's Pizza! Pizza! Bowl Bowl.

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Big Ten Notebook: Ohio State Spiffs Up

Mark Hasty — 2009-11-18T23:03:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin

Below, former Buckeye Raymont Harris models the uniforms Ohio State will wear this weekend.

Your eyes don't deceive you. Raymont Harris still exists, and he's modeling the new throwback uniforms the Buckeyes will be wearing for this weekend's game at Michigan. This is where all you coastal and Southern types wonder aloud how anybody can tell if a Big Ten team is wearing a throwback uniform.

Of course, Columbus is the headquarters of Abercrombie and Fitch, Victoria's Secret, The Limited, and a few other fashion-type retailers. You'd expect some swanky threads on the Buckeyes sooner or later. But what else is going on in less fashionable parts of the conference?

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Jerry Glanville Resigns at Portland State

Mark Hasty — 2009-11-17T16:30:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Coaching, FCS

Attention Elvis Presley: you will no longer have tickets waiting for you at Portland State's Will Call window. Your boy, Jerry Glanville, has been relieved of his duties as Portland State's head coach, according to KPTV.

Glanville, the larger-than-life former coach of the Houston Oilers and Atlanta Falcons, is wrapping up his third season as the Vikings' head coach. Under his leadership Portland State has gone 9-24, with a 2-9 record this season. Oregon Live reports that attendance, always a concern for any FCS program, has hit its second-lowest point in 22 seasons.

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Buckeyes Earn First Rose Bowl Since '97

Mark Hasty — 2009-11-14T19:11:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Iowa, Ohio State

Ohio State is going to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1997. The foot of former Major League Soccer player Devin Barclay gave the Buckeyes a 27-24 overtime win over the Iowa Hawkeyes Saturday. Barclay's 39-yard kick came after Ohio State picked off Iowa quarterback James Vandenberg's desperation heave on the Hawkeyes' first possession of overtime.

Vandenberg, replacing the injured Ricky Stanzi, was unimpressive last week but performed much better after a week of preparation. The two defenses essentially dominated the game until the fourth quarter when OSU started running effectively and Iowa began to throw the ball almost at will.

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Pickin' on the Big Ten: Coping With Buckeye Fatigue Syndrome

Mark Hasty — 2009-11-12T16:30:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten previews the upcoming weekend's games and issues random taunts to overconfident fan bases.

Be careful what you ask for, college football fan. The very same Iowa team that so many of you desperately wanted to see lose lest the Big Ten get another team into the title game is now the only thing standing between Ohio State and the BCS. If the Hawkeyes can't pull off a ginormous upset in Columbus behind a quarterback making his first college start, you're going to get the Scarlet and Grey facing some honked-off Pac 10 team.

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Big Ten Notebook: Buckeyes Back in Control in Title Race

Mark Hasty — 2009-11-11T12:00:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Big 10

One little loss to Northwestern can change everything. Iowa looked like the team to beat in the Big Ten title race, but now that it has fallen to the Wildcats and Ohio State has beaten Penn State, all the momentum has moved back to Columbus. Technically, both the Hawkeyes and Buckeyes control their own destiny. Whichever team wins Saturday's game is the presumptive conference champion.

Now go try to figure the odds that Iowa can win in the Horseshoe with a redshirt freshman quarterback making his first career start with no run support to speak of.

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Happy Trails No More for Hawkeyes

Mark Hasty — 2009-11-07T17:17:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Iowa, Northwestern

We finally figured out what sort of misfortune Iowa's Cardiac Kids couldn't survive. They couldn't survive losing Ricky Stanzi. As a result, No. 8 Iowa fell to unranked Northwestern on Saturday, 17-10.

The junior quarterback left just before halftime after Northwestern's Corey Wootton tackled him in the end zone. Stanzi sprained his right ankle and fumbled the ball. As Northwestern's Marshall Thomas recovered the fumble for a touchdown, Stanzi remained on the Kinnick Stadium turf. He would walk off the field on his own power, but Stanzi would not return to the game. Neither would Iowa's offense.

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Iowa's Ricky Stanzi Out With Injury as Hawkeyes Lose

Mark Hasty — 2009-11-07T14:01:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Iowa, Injuries

Breathe easier, America: the Iowa Hawkeyes' luck finally ran out. Quarterback Ricky Stanzi was injured just before halftime of today's 17-10 loss to Northwestern in Iowa City. Stanzi was tackled in his own end zone by Northwestern's Corey Wootton. He sprained his right ankle and fumbled the ball. Northwestern recovered the fumble for a touchdown.

Stanzi did not return to the game. Redshirt freshman James Vandenberg, who holds most of the state of Iowa's high school passing records, replaced him. Vandenberg's first pass was intercepted by the Wildcats.

ESPN cameras showed Stanzi on crutches and in a protective boot during the second half.

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Pickin' on the Big Ten: Let's Go Bowling

Mark Hasty — 2009-11-05T11:30:00 00:00

by Mark HastyEvery Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten previews the weekend's games so Big Ten haters can get even more nervous.

I don't know if you've noticed, but the rest of the college football universe is sort of obsessed right now. They have a deep, lingering fear of Iowa winding up in the BCS Championship Game. That, to them, could only mean one of two things. The Hawkeyes could get blown out in a total snoozer. That would be bad. They could also win, which would be worse. Now what conference would they have to say is overrated? Their own?

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Big Ten Title Race Tightens Up

Mark Hasty — 2009-11-04T16:45:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Iowa, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Big 10

With three games left in the conference season, the Big Ten championship is seemingly up for grabs. I say "seemingly" because thus far Iowa has proved to be more resilient than Kevlar, cast iron, and Gary Busey. At this point it almost seems like the Hawkeyes could not even take the field until late in the fourth quarter and still win.

They've looked quite mortal at times, though, so it's worth looking at who still has a shot at the trip to Pasadena. There's even one team you'd think wouldn't be in it based on who they've lost to.

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Pickin' on the Big Ten: Iowa Isn't Concerned About Your Scorn

Mark Hasty — 2009-10-29T12:00:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Big 10

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten runs down the weekend's games from inside a chicken coop, at least as far as you know.

Cue the inevitable anti-Iowa backlash. A team that barely got by Arkansas State and Northern Iowa is somehow No. 1 in the nation according to the computer polls the BCS uses. Don't like it? Line forms to the left. Kirk Ferentz even agrees with you.

Shouldn't the computers' top ranked team have at least some sort of offense? Yes, of course. But whose fault is that No. 1 ranking?

Yours, you loudmouth.

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NFL Coaches Fight Club, Round 2: Jim Mora Jr. vs. Josh McDaniels

Mark Hasty — 2009-10-27T09:00:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

More Coverage: Fight Club Introduction | The Bracket | Round 1 Recap

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Clearing Up the Big Ten Picture

Mark Hasty — 2009-10-26T07:30:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Big 10

While most of the world is still trying to figure out how the Iowa Hawkeyes stole the cheese out of the mousetrap -- again -- the conference title race is beginning to take a little more shape. Since neither Iowa nor Ohio State lost this past weekend, there's no shakeup at the top. Both teams remain equally in control of their respective destinies.

But what about the rest of the league? Is anybody new out of the hunt this week? Who's still alive but barely breathing? And where do things go from here in this crazy conference?

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Undefeated Iowa Gets Timeless Victory

Mark Hasty — 2009-10-24T23:40:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Iowa, Michigan State

Iowa and Michigan State decided to save all the excitement for the last three minutes of their game Saturday.

The Hawkeyes beat the Spartans 15-13 on a seven-yard, last-second touchdown pass from Ricky Stanzi to Marvin McNutt.

Michigan State went up 13-9 on a Kirk Cousins-to-Blair White pass that went right down the middle for 30 yards. The pass came just two plays after an unbelievable hook-and-ladder involving White and tight end Brian Linthicum.

After the kickoff Iowa had just 1:32 to find the end zone.

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Pryor Silences Critics ... Sort Of

Mark Hasty — 2009-10-24T16:15:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Minnesota, Ohio State

It took more than a half, but eventually Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor proved that he's not all hype. The Buckeyes totally routed Minnesota Saturday 38-7 in Columbus.

Pryor and his coach, Jim Tressel, spent last week under continual assault from all corners. Part of it was just another expression of the college football world's Buckeye Fatigue Syndrome, but most of it was the natural consequence of OSU's dreadful performance last week. The Buckeyes turned the ball over five times in a loss to Purdue.

Saturday was a different story. Eventually.

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Pickin' on the Big Ten: Sorting Saturday

Mark Hasty — 2009-10-22T15:00:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten answers the questions, questions the answers, and looks ahead to Saturday's games.

It's now indisputably late October. The leaves here in Wisconsin went from being Monet-like things of beauty to being a soggy ground-based nuisance in less time than it takes for a new Jim Tressel criticism to appear on the internet. It feels like the season just started but after this weekend it's two-thirds over.

There are so many questions yet to answer, however. I've already explored the various Big Ten title scenarios, so let's look at some of the other burning issues.

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NFL Coaches Fight Club: Ken Whisenhunt (4) vs. Mike McCarthy (5)

Mark Hasty — 2009-10-22T14:00:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Sports of an Extreme Nature, NFL

NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

More Coverage: Fight Club Introduction, 1st Round Seeds

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NFL Coaches Fight Club: Jack Del Rio (1) vs. Dick Jauron (8)

Mark Hasty — 2009-10-21T11:30:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: NFL

NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

More Coverage: Fight Club Introduction, 1st Round Seeds

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Big Ten Title Race Far From Over

Mark Hasty — 2009-10-20T15:30:00 00:00

by Mark Hasty

Filed under: Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Big 10

The Iowa Hawkeyes are the Big Ten's only undefeated team, both in conference play and overall. Right behind the No. 7 Hawkeyes stand a 5-2 team (Ohio State), a 4-3 team (Michigan State), and a 6-1 team Iowa has already beaten (Penn State).

The Hawks look to be in complete control of the conference race, with those 6-1 Nittany Lions nipping at their heels. But Iowa the only Big Ten team in control of its BCS destiny? No, no they are not. You might be surprised how little help some of the other teams need, too.

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