Big Ten Power Rankings (Midseason)

Don't get too excited, this is just the quickie edition, but with all the Big Ten teams having played at least six games I thought I'd throw out some quick PRs just to see what everybody thinks - if I have time later, a longer and more detailed version with bowl projections, season expectations, etcetera will follow. I swear.

Please do let me know if you agree/disagree. And sorry about the lack of pictures/video, I'll get in and edit this later tonight.

1. Michigan State Spartans (7-0, 3-0)
Rankings: No. 7 BCS, No. 8 Coaches/AP, leading Big Ten

Starting out your conference season by beating Wisconsin, then stomping rival Michigan on the road and easily handing an Illinois team that gave Ohio State fits is pretty damn convincing in my book.

Next up: @ Northwestern. I believe Admiral Ackbar may have something to say about this game for the Spartans...

2. Wisconsin (6-1, 2-1)
Rankings: No. 13 BCS, No. 10 Coaches, No. 11 AP, T-4th in Big Ten (with tiebreaker over OSU)

Huge win at home over an undeserving national number one in Ohio State last week. Wisconsin struggled early in the season, but their sole loss is on the road at Michigan State, and that's not going to hurt them much in the long run.

Next up: @ Iowa. If Wisconsin can survive, the rest of their schedule shakes out favorably.

3. Iowa (5-1, 2-0)
Rankings: No. 15 BCS, No. 12 Coaches, No. 13 AP, T-2nd in Big Ten (with Purdue)

The only time I've gotten to watch Iowa for an entire game this year was their loss at Arizona, but this seems like your classic Kirk Ferentz team with extra talent on the defensive line. Ricky Stanzi is the ultimate patriot - I'll have more on this later, courtesy of our correspondent, Capt. Alec Kinczewski, serving our nation abroad in the armed forces (that's right, Peter King! You see what I did there? You're not the only one who can name-drop Army guys!).

Next up: Wisconsin. 3:30, ABC. Should be a snoozefest, but a well-played one, and the winner has Capital One Bowl pole position.

4. Ohio State (6-1, 2-1)
Rankings: No. 10 BCS/AP, No. 11 Coaches, T-4th in Big Ten

The conference's bell cow, Ohio State did their part to allow Big Ten haters in the room (I'm looking at you, Schlereth) with the upset loss at Wisconsin. The Buckeyes looked great against Indiana the week before, but then who doesn't? The Sweater Men have three absolute must-wins coming up if they want to get back in the thick of the Big Ten race.

Next up: Purdue

5. Purdue (4-2, 2-0)
Rankings: T-2nd in Big Ten

Let's give them credit now. Beating Northwestern on the road erased a lot of the early season stench of losing to Toledo at home. They have an incredibly tough slate coming up in the second half, so I expect this is as high as the Boilers will get, despite quality play from QB Rob Henry.

Next up: @ Ohio State

T-6. Northwestern (5-1, 1-1), Michigan (5-2, 1-2)

Northwestern commits too many penalties, while Michigan plays no defense. These are talented football teams with painfully obvious flaws, which is why I have them tied. NU has an absolutely HUGE home game this week against MSU, while Shoelace and Co. have a bye. I see both as bowl-caliber teams that need to get it together a little bit.

8. Illinois (3-3, 1-2)

Hey, they're better than I expected. Great road win against a bad Penn State team, followed by an acceptable road beating at East Lansing.

Next up: Indiana. Winner gets to pretend they have a shot at a bowl!

9. Penn State (3-3, 0-2)

Everybody knew this team would have some issues, but Evan Royster stinking was not one of the expected problems, and neither was a defense that traditionally would NEVER give up 33 points to Illinois at home.

Next up: @Minnesota. They need this win to be playing for bowl eligibility against Indiana at FexEx field down the road. Otherwise that might just be a 3/4 empty venue, which would look awful for the conference. I think you know what Jim Delaney is telling the refs for this game.

10. Indiana (4-2, 0-2)

Best receivers in the conference, and one of the best quarterbacks too - I put Ben Chappell in the front rank with Robinson, Pryor, and Persa. But that Homecoming 'win' over Arkansas State (which by the way gives IU a 2-0 record in the Sun Belt) was not impressive. On paper, this looks like a team that could get bowl eligible. In reality, having watched them almost every week, I'm not so sure.

Next up: @Illinois. Should I go to this game? Debating.

11. Minnesota (1-6, 0-3)

Tim Brewster is finally gone, following Mike Locksley and Ed Orgeron (and Ron Zook?) as living proof that great recruiters aren't always great coaches. (*cough* MIKE DAVIS) They play three of the conference's top four in their second half slate. They lost to South Dakota State. BUT - maybe an interim coach and having absolutely nothing to lose will energize this team. I've seen crazier things happen, and Adam Weber is a proud veteran leader at QB.

Next up: Penn State. Win, and your season isn't a total loss.

The NFL standings based on Pete Prisco's Overall GPA

I was going through Pete Prisco's week 5 grades and noticed how crazy they were. So, I wanted to create a list of how the teams should be ranked based on the grades he has given them for their performances. And by ranked, I mean their standings in the NFL. This is an oddity. However, since the Jets/Vikings game is not decided, I will not include them. I will also not include those on bye weeks this week (I'm only looking at his week 5 GPAs). Okay, here we go:

1. Chiefs - GPA 3.10 - Actual Record 3-1

2. Falcons - 2.86 - 4-1

3. Texans - 2.74 - 3-2

4. Redskins - 2.74 - 3-2

5. Titans - 2.68 - 3-2

6. Ravens - 2.54 -4-1

7. Giants - 2.54 - 3-2

9. Bucs - 2.50 - 3-1

9. Colts - 2.48 - 3-2

10. Lions - 2.42 - 1-4

11. Rams - 2.40 - 2-3

12. Eagles - 2.40 - 3-2

13. Bears - 2.34 - 4-1 (Tied Best in NFC)

14. Chargers - 2.20 - 2-3

15. Jags - 2.14 - 3-2

16. Browns - 2.08 - 1-4

17. Broncos - 2.06 - 2-3

18. Cowboys - 1.93 - 1-3

19. Bengals - 1.88 - 2-3

20. Packers - 1.86 - 3-2

21. Saints - 1.82 - 3-2

22. Raiders - 1.80 - 2-3

23. 49ers - 1.80 - 0-5

24. Cardinals 1.66 - 3-2

25. Panthers - 1.22 -0-5

26. Bills - 1.00 - 0-5

Okay, I have a few questions:

1) How are the 1-4 Lions a top 10 team in GPA?

2) How are the Cardinals the third worst team, yet they have a winning record?

3) How are the Rams better than the Bears?

4) If this is based on expectations, shouldn't the Bears be near the top as they have the best Record in the NFL and have beaten two Superbowl Favorites?

I guess I'm just confused...

Radio shows

I apologize for not posting in quite some time, however since my last post we have done two more radio shows.


Show 4
Show 5

If nothing else listen to them to laugh at our awful predictions. Since that dallas game my crystal ball has been in the shop.

I am very open to topics if you guys think I should cover something on the show let me know and I can address it.

ROAD TRIP!!

Indiana are 22.5 point underdogs to tOSU Buckeyes tomorrow. See you there, Armchair Superstars!

One quick thought: I've always found Ohio State's marching band to be one of the most overrated in the country - they spend so much time on "Script OHIO" that they don't both learning how to play real music, and it really shows. Keep an ear out for some high-school level stand tunes tomorrow.

Hopefully will be somewhere in C-Bus or Indy in time to catch Northwestern-Purdue, let me know if you have any bar recommendations!

Very Special Birthday

Ladies and gentlemen, I wanted to take this chance to wish a happy 90th birthday to my Grandma Jean Fodor. She just got out of a successful surgery and will be partying it up with my parents tonight. By the way, she is a Bears and Illinois fan - (we'll agree to disagree on the second one.)

Ninety is one hell of an achievement, as I'm sure you'll agree, and so in Armchair Superstar Style, here are the sports-related highlights of October 7th throughout Grandma's long and storied career:

1916: Okay, so this is four years beforehand, but today was the day Georgia Tech beat Cumberland University 222-0 in college football. Tech's coach? John Heisman. Yeah, you may have heard of him.

1920: Along with Grandma, famous Manchester United player Jack "The Gunner" Rowley was born.

1931: Lowell "Cotton" Fitzimmons born in Hannibal, Missouri. Grandma is, meanwhile, growing up just a stone's throw away in Iowa. Fitzimmons goes on to a career as an NBA basketball coach for at least six different teams, including the Suns just before the Bulls got to them in the '93 championships.

Some other notables born on October seventh? Desmond Tutu, Oliver North, John Mellencamp, Yo-Yo Ma, Tony Braxton, Priest Holmes, Charles Woodson (last year's Defensive Player of the Year!), and Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays.

At SportsIllustrated, Steve Rushin makes the argument that October 7, 1975 was part of the most important three weeks in SPORTS HISTORY! It was the day the Reds swept the Pirates to get into the World Series -- by the way, this is a great article if you're a history nerd like me.

Finally, and most importantly to all us Bears fans, October 7, 1984, as Grandma was admiring her very first and most adorable grandchild, we saw Sweetness do this:



Happy 9oth, Grandma! Hope it's a great one.

Monday Night Football: Don’t bet on them next Sunday

Last night, Chicagoans all saw what I have noticed as a trend this season. Teams that play on Monday Night Football do not play well the next week. The Bears showed this as they embarrassed themselves in front of a national audience on the Sunday Night Game of the week. Let’s look at the rest of the MNF teams

Week 1

Baltimore @ New York Jets
&
San Diego @ Kansas City

Week 2 Performances
Baltimore: Lost to Cincinnati in a game they were favored to win.
Kansas City: Beats Cleveland by 2, doesn’t cover the spread.

Chargers and Jets won and covered

Week 2

New Orleans @ San Francisco

Week 3 Performances
New Orleans: New Orleans Loses by 3 in OT in a game they were favored to win.
San Francisco: Loses to Kansas City by 21

Week 3

Green Bay @ Chicago

Week 4 Performances

Green Bay: Beats Detroit by 2 but fail to cover the double digit spread
Chicago: Lost by 14 and allowed 3 times as many sacks as points they scored.

Week 4

New England @ Miami

Lucky For New England and Miami they both have bye weeks coming up after their games.


Why are the teams playing poorly after their Monday Night Football games? I believe a lot of it has to do with screwing up the schedule of practice for the week. NFL teams are so regimented today, that losing one full day of preparation time or even resting time hurts the team. Also, for road teams, jet lag becomes a factor. Games are not ending until Midnight EST. The away team then has to shower, talk to the media, get to the airport, fly back home, then get back to their homes. When New Orleans was flying back from San Francisco, they didn’t get land until around 7 in the morning. Add another hour to get home and they aren’t going to bed until almost 8 AM. Most NFL teams get Tuesdays off, but New Orleans needed that entire day Tuesday just to recover from their flight.

Also, teams don’t physically recover in enough time. Older lineman need every minute of the NFL week to get their body healthy enough to play again on Sunday, Losing 36 hours in that week hurts how much they can recover.

I am sure there are other reasons why teams are not playing well following Monday Night Football. It could just be random luck and not a trend, San Diego and New York Jets played well after their MNF games. Until I see reasons to change my mind, I will not be wagering on any teams that played on MNF the week before.

Bears vs. Packers Recap

Last week, the Bears offensive line was getting dominated. Jay Cutler ended up on his back many a times. However, the run was effective. Johnny Knox had another good performance. And the defense, well the defense looked a little bad and a little good. The d-line was dominating, even though they didn't produce the sack numbers you'd want. The linebackers looked good as well. It was the secondary that I had a problem with, but we ended up with the win.

Now, let's talk about what everyone else is talking about: "Greenbay shooting themselves in the foot." Quite frankly, they did not. They were outplayed. The Bears defensive line caused the Packers to hold and the fans plus the d-line caused many of those false starts. It's all part of the game. The pass interference calls weren't wrong, they were pass interfering. The Packers had to do it, b/c they couldn't keep up with the receivers. It's just that simple. Now, You add, or subtract, yards for penalties which the Bears should have got or the Packers would have lost due to sacks, and add the 100 yards of punt return yards to the Bears offense and you've got a clearer picture of how this game went. It was dominated by the Bears. The Bears left 10 points on the board. That game could have easily been 30-17.

Now, my grades for last week:

Jay Cutler B
Running Backs C+

Wide Receivers A-

Tight Ends B+ (would be an A but Clark dropped a TD)

Offensive Line C

Defense Line A

Linebackers A

Corners C+

Safeties B-

Special Teams A (would be a + but Robbie missed a make able field goal).

This week, the Bears play the Giants in the meadowlands. As many have stated, this has the makings of a trap game. But, I think the Bears are pissed enough that even after they start out 3-0 beating 2 division rivals, and 2 teams that many people picked to win the Superbowl (Cowboys and Packers) they have not received ANY respect. In fact, the Giants are favored! I see the Bears coming out on fire. Not to mention, the Giants aren't that good. My prediction: Bears 37-17 (and if they put Hester on kickoff returns 2 special teams TDs). Did I mention I called Hester's TD return to Steve?