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The taste makers of the Big Ten along with the programming czars from the networks that carry college football really did Midwestern football enthusiasts dirty with Week Four’s schedule.
Fans scrape their feet against the bottom of a very shallow lap pool since the two most prominent games in the conference start at the same time. Lungs will be worked raw after continuous chants of “B-1-G, B-1-G” fill the bars on Chicago’s north side in the early part of Saturday afternoon, the rest of the day left to everyone’s own devices. There is nothing finer than extolling the virtues of a membership group in which one fan bases despises some members and feels sorry for the rest. On the bright side, fans have the whole day in front of them.
No sun up to sun down Big Ten coverage. The early part of the day belongs to the Big Ten. As salt-of-the-earth types, the day’s work is met head on, not left for a few hours of leisure to amp things up. Soaring with the eagles in the morning to hoot with the night owls during Notre Dame vs. Georgia. Work first then party. And yes, there is a widely held belief that the Irish Spring shortage in Georgia predated this week.
Game #3: Nebraska @ Illinois 7 pm, BTN
Our menu consists of a good amount of burnt crust. Both teams dropped a game (Nebraska to Colorado, Illinois to Eastern Michigan) that put the slightest dent in pre-season aspirations. Nebraska needs to handle teams like Illinois swiftly and with little doubt if they want to extend the charade I bought into in the preseason that they would surpass the 8.5 wins assigned by sportsbooks.
How Adrian Martinez operates on the road in conference, even in a middle school pep rally crowd in Champaign (excluding Nebraska fans) is a slight glimpse into the quarterback’s growth from the second week against Colorado. Lovie Smith is going to need at least one Big Ten win against a team outside of New Jersey this season to entrench himself in his job for at least one more year.
When other options include Boston College or Connecticut, it’s best to keep it in the family. No need to travel far.
Game #2: Michigan State @ Northwestern, 11 am, ABC
The transitive property of college football is leaned on far too often when it comes to predicting wins and losses. I should take note when it comes to entertainment.
Michigan State’s game against Arizona State and Northwestern’s against Stanford were marked by a lack of offensive aesthetics. Dig into a thesaurus and pull, pull, pull from the choices to describe pooled rain waiter in a hen house.At least viewers won’t be disappointed if they approach the game with the proper mindset.
Stay for the defense, be surprised by the scores. A lot is made of the low Under, but what better way to honor the 150 year anniversary of the sport with the sort of offensive execution emblematic of the first 15 years of it? I’m recommending this game on the sole intention it comes without a number of official reviews or penalties to slow down a game dragging around enough dead offense to fill the second hour of a roast to Regis Philbin.
Go ahead and find something to say about Regis. Difficult? Sure is, he’s a national treasure. Pull up Youtube clips of him on Letterman if this game goes into overtime.
Game #1: #11 Michigan @ #14 Wisconsin, 11 am Fox
The most delectable game on the Big Ten schedule so far this season, there’s a magician’s handkerchief of story line after story line and it’s not even October.
There’s the Michigan offense and the lack of fun as presented in the first two games minus Christian McCaffrey, the Wolverines’ inability to hold onto the football, Jonathan Taylor’s first Heisman showcase of the season, or Jack Coan’s efforts to weaponize the wide receivers around him on Wisconsin’s offense.
Fun lives in the panic when it comes to Michigan thanks to Jim Harbaugh’s grating nature to the general public. Anytime Michigan goes into a tough game it lends itself to a big game environment. Watching Taylor run against Don Brown’s Michigan defense, a group that played well its first two weeks of the season, will be the most intriguing part of the game.
Mix in the environment at Camp Randall and the most justified reason for Gus Johnson to yell so far in 2019 and it’s an ideal way to start the day.
Nick is a writer for saturdaytradition.com. Your overuse of GIFs forced him away from Twitter. He removed himself from consideration in the Vanderbilt heading coaching search.