Boilermakings for 12/15
by BoilerTMill on Dec 15, 2009 11:32 AM EST
in Boilermakings and other Purdue sports
24 comments
The Big 10 tour announces its "Bests" list - Some of you may remember me mentioning this group earlier in the year. Drew and his posse visited all 11 Big Ten Stadiums in 11 weeks. They picked the Ohio State game for their visit to Purdue, which only ended up being the biggest upset of the Big Ten season. The crew selected several "bests" involving Purdue, including this very blog as an honorable mention in that category. I got to meet Drew when he came through Indianapolis on his way to their IU visit. Great guy!
Can we get a recount? - CFN has an excellent discussion on why Drew Brees should have won the Heisman in 2000. I remember saying before the season he would win if he took us to Pasadena. He did that bu still didn't win. How much did the late losses to Penn State and Notre Dame hurt him? I do like how they call Brees' NFL career as Hall of Fame caliber. As a second question, does he make it to Canton before Alstott?
Despite loss, Orton enjoying career season - I went to Sunday's game and Kyle had a pretty good day. Put him in the NFL record book too as the quarterback who threw to Brandon Marshall for his record 21 catches. I bet the Bears have some buyer's remorse right now. Too bad Kyle is not a real NFL quarterback like Cutler and only, you know, WINS THE FREAKING GAME (Sunday excluded)!!!!
Journal & Courier calls it a Kramer moment - I want royalties! I called it that first!
Women's basketball breaks 3 game skid - Still looks like a long season when we struggle with teams like Oakland.
Jay Buente makes Marlins 40-man roster - I forgot to post this a few weeks ago, but this is a big step for the young righty. Being on the 40-man puts him likely at triple-A for the season and he'll be on the short list to make his Major league debut in 2010. The last Boiler to make the Majors was Dave Gassner, who had a cup of coffee with the Twins in 2005 (he even won a game). Reliever Josh Lindblom also has an excellent chance of making the Show in 2010 after a good year for the Dodgers at Triple-A Albuquerque.
Neal to play in east-West Shrine Game - Quite an honor for the departing senior, as the Shrine game is one of the top college All-Star games.
Big Ten expansion talk gets bigger - I haven't talked much about this because there has been nothing concrete short of "we're thinking about it", but is seems to be gaining more steam. As the article states, a more formal statement is expected later today. I think it is going to happen, the question is, who joins? Notre Dame is the obvious choice, but as others have stated, they would be stupid to do so as long as they have the TV contract and special BCS privileges. Iowa State and Missouri have been thrown around, but I don't see that happening unless the Big 12 grabs a team from somewhere else (Utah? Colorado State? New Mexico?) The two that make sense to me are Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, with the Panthers being my top choice. Pitt gives Penn State a true rival, their academics are on par with the Big ten campuses, and it gives us geographic balance with an East-West split. I can see the divisions lining up this way then:
| East | West |
| Penn State | Iowa |
| Pittsburgh | Minnesota |
| Ohio State | Wisconsin |
| Michigan | Illinois |
| Indiana | Northwestern |
| Michigan State | Purdue |
If that is too top heavy in the East (and it probably is) they might go North-South
| North | South |
| Minnesota | Indiana |
| Michigan | Illinois |
| Michigan State | Purdue |
| Wisconsin | Ohio State |
| Iowa | Penn State |
| Northwestern | Pittsburgh |
Thoughts?
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The ND and PSU losses didn't help
but the loss to Michigan State is what cost Brees the Heisman. Both of the earlier losses had been forgiven by the college football world after the Michigan and Ohio State games. Nothing he could have done against IU could have made up the egg the Boilers laid at Spartan Stadium.
Big Ten Expansion
I wonder how long it would take before the Big Ten expanded. Adding Notre Dame would help the Big Ten and make the most sense geographically, but as you said as long as they still have the t.v. and BCS connections, they would never join. Pitt wouldn’t be too bad. I think the North-South way is more balanced, but I don’t know if Michigan and Ohio St. would be placed in different divisions. Of course it may be difficult to keep all of the rivalries within the same division.
I don't see Pitt coming
Their rivalry with West Virginia would get broken up and I don’t think they’d want to do that.
I remember in the past people talking about Mizzou as a possibility and the Big 12 would bring in TCU to replace them. That would put the Big Ten in the St. Louis area, which I think they like. Something similar with Iowa State would also work although I think at this point from a football/basketball and even baseball standpoint Mizzou is the better option.
Would Central Michigan, No. Illinois or Miami (Ohio) interest anyone?
Wisdom can not be cultivated through ignorance of information.
Changing conferences doesn't mean a rivalry can't continue.
Plenty of schools have rivalries and yearly games with schools in different conferences. Florida/Florida St., for example.
CMU, No. Illinois, and Miami (OH) are not Big Ten-quality academic schools.
I don't think I've ever heard of a school changing conferences
when their rival was in another. Florida/Florida St never were in the same conference that I recall. I just don’t see Pitt doing it. Maybe I don’t understand what advantage they would gain by joining the Big Ten since they are already in one of the 6 BCS conferences.
Are there any MAC schools that would be good enough academically?
Wisdom can not be cultivated through ignorance of information.
only one MAC school:
Buffalo is an Association of American Universities member, which is historically the benchmark for Big Ten membership.
Division breaks
I think the Big 10 would make every effort possible to break up Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan so that at least 2 of these 3 could potentiall meet in a title game (although it doesn’t look like MIchigan is RSVP’ing anytime soon)
Lindblom
I should be seeing the Dodgers in Spring Training and then again during the regular season a few times. I’ll try and gets some pics for the blog if I get to see him.
Wisdom can not be cultivated through ignorance of information.
Thanks a bunch!
I am trying to do some more baseball stuff to bring attention to the program as a whole, so I appreciate it.
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
Purdue’s baseball history sure isn’t an illustrious one. But, it does seem like the program is getting more and more guys drafted recently. I’m a huge baseball fan, but I tried to go to a game once (actually it was a doubleheader) and it was a little to cold at Lambert field for me to sit in the sparse bleachers in March. At least at the colder football games you can stay near the crowd for warmth.
Wisdom can not be cultivated through ignorance of information.
Say N-O to N-D!
I dont want Notre Dame stinkin up our conference. We have enough teams that can lose to Navy already. From a black and gold perspective… we play them each year anyway, makes no difference. I’d like to see some new blood come in. Cincy, Pitt, and Louiville make the most sense.
I'd rather see...
Notre Dame coming begging to us because their “national brand” has withered completely, and they no longer have their fat NBC contract. And then we can tell them we don’t want their crappy teams.
I like the East-West division very much, but North-South seems more likely.
But if Missouri comes in, we have…
Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Northwestern
Penn State, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State
Handling the Ohio State-Michigan dynamic is tricky
The ACC does their marquee rivalry (Miami-Florida State) by having them in separate divisions (hoping for a Canes-Noles title game) and having them play their regular game early in the year. I can’t see Michigan and OSU going away from that last week, so do they keep the same division then like Oklahoma-Texas?
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
Pitt?
I’ve heard Pitt thrown around as the possible 12th school, but doesn’t Penn State give Pitt the stiff-arm when it comes to playing football? If so, there must be some bad blood between the schools. I could see Paterno pushing for Rutgers instead. Rutgers also has the NYC TV market going for it.
by Bulldogsmoltz31 on Dec 16, 2009 1:08 AM EST reply actions
plenty of bad blood
Though who’s to blame depends on who you ask.
The main arguments against Pitt joining the Big Ten are that it’s an urban school and it doesn’t bring a new TV market (Penn State already puts the Big Ten Network is on expanded Cable in the region.) Academics and Facilities are at the same level as the Big Ten.
Keep it local, not loco.
My vote’s for Nebraska, Kentucky, Missouri, and Pitt, in that order. All with regional ties to the Big 10. Nebraska for the huge nationwide following and TV exposure. Kentucky/IU, Mizzou/Illinois, PSU/Pitt, already have natural rivalries. I’ve heard Rutgers and Syracuse thrown around. Rutgers is a dump. Trust me, I’ve been there. Can you imagine going to a game with the cast of “Jersey Shore”!!! The Cuse has an attitude problem as well. Keep the B10 in the Midwest.
How would the divisions affect basketball?
I’m not up to speed on how other conferences do it. I know football is the main concern with divisions since you don’t play everyone in the other division, but in basketball is it just that you play everyone in your division twice and some of the other division twice?
Wisdom can not be cultivated through ignorance of information.
Big 12
I think makes you play all the team in your division twice and then the all the teams in the other division once and two teams in the other divison twice
by Delaware Boiler on Dec 16, 2009 5:44 PM EST up reply actions
I think I would shrink back to a 16 game schedule
Everoyone in your division twice (10 games) and 3 home, 3 road against the other division (6 games). if you keep it at 18 I think you need to protect any rivalries that are cross-division (IU-Purdue, Michigan -OSU, etc.)
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
My Picks
1. Missouri
+brings solid football and basketball teams to the table
+academics decent enough
+Brings in St. Louis Market
-might be hard to pull from Big 12
2. Pittsburgh
+very good academics
+good basketball and football
-unlikely to leave Big East
3. Iowa State
+good enough academics
+basketball team has had moderate success
-IU-caliber football team
+most likely team to join big ten
I don’t see Big Ten going after Notre Dame again. Louisville, Cincinnati, Central Michigan, and West Virginia just don’t cut it academic wise to be considered. The Big Ten won’t undercut its academic reputation no matter how badly they want to expand. Rutgers in my opinion is too far east and their football and basketball programs are mediocre at best. Syracuse again is just too far out of the Mid-West and their football program is just terrible. I think Missouri and Pittsburgh are the top choices. Iowa State would be good enough if the Big Ten really wants to expand.
Forgot Vanderbilt
4. Vanderbilt
+meets the academics standards
+/-expands Big Ten down to Tennessee
-not very impressive Basketball or Football programs
-no rivalries with any Big Ten Schools
my choice would be Cuse
yes thier football team is not that great but it is getting better.
+ gives IU another team it cant beat on a regular basis
by Delaware Boiler on Dec 16, 2009 10:41 PM EST reply actions
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