It doesn’t look like that will be the case. Today, Iowa fell, but not to Penn State (no, they beat them gloriously – sigh – earlier this season) and not to Ohio State (they play one another next week). Iowa was stomped into the ground by none other than Northwestern.

Ok, “stomped into the ground” is a little harsh. The game ended up with a score of 17 – 10, which isn’t necessarily bad, until you realize just how mediocre  both of the teams really were today. It’s really easy to claim that this only happened because Ricky Stanzi, the Hawkeyes quarterback, got taken out with an ankle injury in the first half. That definitely contributed to the loss. I’m not buying it, though, that the team deserved to be ranked #4, with or without Stanzi. Iowa may have been undefeated, but what the records don’t show is that they’ve played sloppily in many games and almost lost more than once.

So at this point, the Big Ten title could still go to Iowa, or it could belong to either Ohio State or Penn State. After the Iowa game, all of these teams had one loss. Just a short time after, though, Ohio State and Penn State kicked off, and it quickly became apparent who had the upper hand. Personally, I think that both quarterbacks looked pretty bad today, but when it was put on the shoulders of the rest of the offense to make plays, Ohio State’s players stepped up. Penn State’s embarrassing 24 – 7 loss puts them out of the running for the title.

Yep, this was pretty much the scene all day in Happy Valley. Image: Newscom

Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Michigan State finally showed that they actually remember how to play football by crushing Western Michigan 49 – 14. Michigan, on the other hand, didn’t have such a good day, losing 38 – 36 to Purdue. I will say, however, that even though Michigan’s record isn’t so good, they’re hanging in there every week and actually showing some hope for the future under Rich Rodriguez. Wisconsin held on against Indiana (for the record, I think they’re overrated too at #21, but that’s a post for another day), and Illinois overcame Minnesota 35 – 32.

The Big Ten may not be a powerhouse at this point, but hopefully they can rebuild the conference to be competitive nationally again. At least with teams like Iowa rising to such a high ranking, which teams in the Big Ten do consistently every year, they’re remaining attractive to prospective students, which can only lead to strong teams in the future.

Post from: EveryJoe

Big Ten Teams Shake Things Up

• #8 Oklahoma at #17 Miami: Word from Oklahoma is that Sam Bradford still isn’t ready to play, so he won’t be

  

  Sam Bradford, Image: Newscomstarting against Miami. The team may not have a perfect record so far, but the Hurricanes have more than proven that they’re a solid group of players, not just lucky. Without Bradford, I do think Oklahoma could lose to them unless their offense can really step it up to out-play the Miami D-line.

• #22 Michigan at Michigan State: Michigan is on a roll, and I’m curious to see just how far they’ll go. They’re already ranked #22, when few had hopes for a winning season this year. Are they really the sleeper team that will take the Big Ten? Michigan State will be a harder opponent then some they’ve faced in the past, but I’ve been disappointed in them this year, so it should be a fairly easy game for the Wolverines IF they really are as good as I think they might be.

• #4 LSU at #18 Georgia: This is one of “the” games of the week, and I hope it doesn’t turn into a game of “who sucks less.” Personally, I think LSU is way overrated at the number four spot. Georgia may be about right sitting at 18. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.

• Washington at Notre Dame: With Jimmy Clausen not at 100% (and the team not that great anyway), can Notre Dame beat Washington. Remember, this is the team that beat #3 USC. Of course, they had some bad losses too, so I wouldn’t count the Fighting Irish out just yet.

As always, I’ll also be interested in the Penn State score, even if Iowa has ruined their chances for a perfect season. What games interest you most in Week Five?

Post from: EveryJoe

Week Five 2009 Preview

I digress. Let’s check out the AP Top 10 this week:

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. USC
4. Alabama
5. Mississippi
6. Penn State (actually, they’re also #5, it was a tie)
7. BYU
8. California
9. LSU
10. Boise State

All of the top ten teams are still undefeated, but that’s not surprising since many of them had super easy games the past two weeks – or no game at all (Mississippi already had their week off).

I have to start at the bottom with Boise State at #10. I predict a win against Fresno State, with a score of roughly 51 – 34. Ok, that game was tonight. So, they remain undefeated – more on that when we review Week Three. Also significant: #20 Miami beat #14 Georgia Tech 33 – 17 on Thursday night. Again, we’ll talk about that more in a few days when I review the entire weekend, but damn. Where did this team come from?

So let’s see. #5 Penn State has a gimme, and #8 California should have too hard of a time at Minnesota. #4 Alabama plays North Texas at home. *shrug* And poor Washington is about to feel the wrath of #3 USC. Even #5 Mississippi is just playing Southeastern Louisiana (who?), and #9 LSU is playing Louisiana-Lafayette. Errr….scratch what I said about people playing real teams.

We aren’t totally without decent match-ups. #1 Florida finally plays someone we’ve heard of at least when they host Tennessee tomorrow afternoon. Can Kiffen and his boys pull off the upset? Highly unlikely, but you never know. Stranger things have happened. I think that it is more likely that Florida will run all over them. We’ll see I guess.

#7 BYU hosts Florida State later that evening. Now, if you would have asked me at the start of the season, I would have said that this would be an interesting game. Florida State has proven, however, that they were highly overrated coming into 2009. I mean, at least they won last week. There for awhile, it looked like they were going to lose to Jacksonville State.

Then there’s #2 Texas, who hosts Texas Tech this week. Texas Tech is 2 – 0, but they’ve played North Dakota and Rice…so they might as well be 0 – 0. What makes this game interesting is that last year, Texas Tech stop the Longhorns at the last second with a Michael Crabtree touchdown. This year, though, they have a brand new quarterback after losing Graham Harrell, and of course, Michael Crabtree is making NFL headlines instead of NCAA headlines. Texas? They still have Colt McCoy. Either Texas Tech is going to prove themselves in this game, or they’ll prove that their first two games really were just against horrible opponents. Texas is out for blood, having been denied the National Championship because of this game last year, so my prediction is that Texas will put them in their place.

McCoy and the Longhorns want a little revenge after last year. Image: Newscom

That covers the top ten, but there are a few other games worth mentioning. #19 Nebraska travels to #13 Virgina Tech, with kick off at 3:30. I think Nebraska has really been a sleeper team so far. Granted, like most programs, their first two weeks were basically not even games, but their offense is pretty strong. I’m looking forward to both teams showing what they got.

I’m also interested to see if Notre Dame bounces back from their loss last week to Michigan. They play one of their rivals, Michigan State, this week. Now, Michigan State isn’t the bottom of the barrel, but they aren’t good by any stretch of the imagination. Ya’ll know as well as I do, though, that college football is all about momentum. Notre Dame was thrown for a real loop last week, so we’ll see if they can spring back.

To be honest, not many games interest me this week. Penn State will be lucky if I roll out of bed in time to watch the kick off, and most of the top ten have easy weeks, once again. I know the major debate in college football is whether or not to have a playoff system, but maybe more important that this is the debate of changing scheduling rules. I mean, when a horrendous team plays a top-ranked team, it just looks bad for both schools.

Post from: EveryJoe

College Football Week Three 2009 Preview

Sparty for President! Image: Newscom

Perles is the CEO of the Motor City Bowl, an MSU board of trustees member, and a fundraiser for the Special Olympics. He says that he’d focus on recruiting should he be voted into office. Essentially, he’d do for the state what he did on the field – try to get more people to come to Michigan.

Name recognition is big in politics, so while Perles seems like a long shot, he does stand a change in this race. Would you vote for him?

Post from: EveryJoe

Ex-MSU Coach could be Governor

North Carolina 2009 Champions (Image: Newscom)

Tyler Hansbrough put an exclamation point on his legendary college career by scoring 18 points and pulling down seven boards. However, the best player on the court had to be Ty Lawson, the speedy point guard for the Tar Heels. Lawson finished the game with 21 points, eight steals, six assists and four rebounds. Wayne Ellington, yet another North Carolina player who will one day play in the NBA, chipped in 19 points.

For Michigan State, bigman Goran Suton had 17 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks. Coming into March Madness, Suton wasn’t a widely known player. But after a number of memorable performances, he’s now known around the country. Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers scored 14 and 13 points for the Spartans, respectively.

The game quickly got out of hand when North Carolina jumped out to a 34-11 lead. Their 21-point halftime lead was the largest in the history of the championship games.

“When you play North Carolina,” said Tom Izzo, the coach of the Spartans, “there’s nothing you can do.”

Nothing other than hand over a fifth national championship.

Post from: EveryJoe

North Carolina Wins Fifth Championship

In the postgame press conference Tyler Hansbrough nonchalantly said that he guessed the decision to come back for his senior season was a good one.

Was it not quite refreshing to see the Tar Heel studs put winning a collegiate title over making millions?

It's All Good (Image:Newscom)

Post from: EveryJoe

In A League Of Their Own

Burress wasn’t in a talkative mood at the 2009 Final Four contest. The only question he answered was when he said he felt great following his release from the Giants.

Born in Virginia, Burress attended Michigan State before being selected in the 2000 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. The 6-foot-5 Burress established himself as a wide receiver who was both big and talented in his days with the Spartans. The apex of Burress’ football career came when he caught the winning touchdown in the 2007 Super Bowl as the Giants upset the previously unbeaten New England Patriots.

On Monday, Michigan State will face North Carolina for the 2009 college basketball championship. There’s no confirmation yet that Burress will attend the championship game. Either way, Burress will be in a court in June when he faces gun charges in New York.

Plaxico Burress - From Basketball Court to Court of Law (Image: Newscom)

Post from: EveryJoe

Plaxico Burress Cheers on Michigan State

North Carolina faces Michigan State for the title (Image: Newscom)

On Saturday, the North Carolina Tar Heels advanced by beating the Villanova Wildcats in the 2009 Final Four 83-69. Point guard Ty Lawson led the way with 22 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and two steals. Wayne Ellington chipped in 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists, while Tyler Hansbrough had 18 points, 11 rebounds and four steals.

On the other side of the bracket, the Michigan State Spartans upset the Connecticut Huskies by a final score of 82-73. Kalin Lucas led the way for Michigan State with 21 points and five assists. Raymar Morgan added 18 points, nine rebounds and five steals for the Spartans.

Michigan State won NCAA tournament championships in 1979 and 2000, while North Carolina has been national champions in 1957, 1982, 1993 and 2005.

Post from: EveryJoe

Michigan State vs. North Carolina for Title

North Carolina
Tyler Hansbrough has had a wildly successful four years for the Tar Heels. He’s a bigman with a great touch around the basket and a tireless worker. However, he’s not the only very good player on North Carolina. Ty Lawson is a lightening quick point guard, while Wayne Ellington and Danny Green offer a nice mix of athleticism and skill out on the perimeter.

Connecticut
Though he isn’t much of a threat on the offensive end, Hasheem Thabeet is a monster on the defensive end. At 7-foot-3, Thabeet can rebound and block shots as well as any center in the land. The team’s biggest offensive threat is senior guard AJ Price. Price can stroke it from the perimeter and also get to the basket to cause havoc. Jeff Adrien offers muscle in the middle and is averaging a double-double on the season.

Michigan State
Goran Suton is another bigman who has helped lead his team to the 2009 Final Four. The 6-foot-10 center has averaged 19.5 points and 9.5 rebounds over his last two games. The team’s leading scorer this season has been Kalin Lucas, a silky smooth guard who can also distribute the rock. The wildcard on the team has been Raymar Morgan. When he’s on, the Spartans are tough to beat.

Villanova
Dante Cunningham has led the Wildcats all season long in scoring and rebounding. At 6-foot-8, Cunningham is strong enough to control the paint for Villanova. Scottie Reynolds is a streaky outside shooter but he has hit a number of big shots this year. Corey Fisher has been quiet as of late but he’s the third double-digit scorer on the team.

Here is a Tyler Hansbrough Highlight Mix Video:

Post from: EveryJoe

Best Players in the 2009 Final Four

Best Story

Forget about Villanova’s impressive run to The Motor City—featuring a ‘why the heck did people pick this team to go to Detroit’ (when they were trailing American by double digits) and ‘this Scottie Reynolds is stinking up the joint’ comments from yours truly—Michigan State takes the cake here. Me hailing from Michigan, what a surprise, huh? Well, Tom Izzo and Co. deserve it. MSU is far from dominant, but they’re a fun team. Fun to watch interact with each other, fun to see plead with an irate Izzo, fun to watch on a fast break, fun to analyze which big man (there’s 5) Izzo will usher into the game, and extremely fun to witness pound a ‘powerful’ Big East team into the ground.  Jump on the MSU bandwagon now national media, yeah, own up.

Spartan Fever (Image:Newscom)

Player Most Instrumental To Team’s Success

Villanova- One guy has been playing way over his head. Senior guard/forward Dwayne Anderson. He’s scoring and rebounding over his season average. He does not want to play his last collegiate game.  Give me more Dwayne says.

North Carolina- Tywon Lawson is a top 5, top 10 draft pick?  Probably working himself into the former based on this three game tear where he’s shooting above 50% from inside and outside the long line, feeding and turning over the rock at a 10/1 ratio, and out potty mouthing Ari Gold. If I didn’t know any better I’d say Ty is healthy.

Connecticut- Lanky 6′9 Stanley Robinson sans the opening round game when he scored 24, has just been pretty good, nothing legendary, but he hasn’t needed to be. When Jerome Dyson went down with season ending injury, UConn needed someone to step up, play more minutes and be a threat to consistently score in double figures, and Craig Austrie sure wasn’t going to be that guy. Stanley Robinson is that X-factor guy.

Michigan State- The 6′10 Bosnian senior Goran Suton has been PUURRRE! the last two games, totaling 39 points (5-10 from deep), 19 rebounds, and 6 steals. Don’t know if he’ll be able to be so PUURRRE! against Mr. Thabeet, but if he is, MSU will be playing on Monday for the title.

Prediction For The Final Four

Ford Field will be a Green and White madplace for the Saturday 6:07 tip v. UConn and then for the Monday rematch with UNC.

Prepare.

Post from: EveryJoe

Round 3 & 4 Wrap