Varsity Numbers: Defense Stats
Varsity Numbers gives us an interesting look at defensive statistics. They some how weigh in strength of schedule. Iowa comes in at 11th in the "Defensive '+' Rankings for 2008, but the article predicts a potential drop off due to Iowa's large disproportionality between the defense's effectiveness on passing downs compared to standard downs.
"The next team on the list, Iowa, has had a reputation for always having solid defenses under Kirk Ferentz, but until 2008 they had not finished in the Top 15 in Total Defense since 2004, so this surge back to near the top of the rankings will probably come with at least a slight fall in 2009."
Rivals: #71 Best Football Player
Pat Angerer was ranked the #71 best player in America by Rivals.
"Angerer is a throwback defender, from the days when folks watched football on a black-and-white TV. Watching his hard-hitting style, you get the sense Angerer would play without a helmet if he could."
At least it's college football related
Black Shoe Diaries - Penn State Game Times
Nittany Whiteout - Shorter Tailgates
Bleacher Report - Why no season tickets?
Yesterday the Big Ten released the TV schedule for the first 3 weeks of the 2009 season, including 2 more Iowa games. Penn State's first three games will all be on the BTN with 11:00 CST (it'll be 12:00 in Happy Valley if you can't do the math) start times. Apparently that's too early for some Penn State fans, but what do you expect with games against Akron, Syracuse, and Temple. The funniest quote is in the Bleacher Report post:
"The responsibility of waking up for noon kickoffs when you’ve been out all night before, and all you want is one more hour of sleep, is too much."SERIOUSLY?
BSC says no to MWC
Surprise, surprise. The BSC rejected the Mountain West Conference's plan to have a college football playoffs.
"There was no overall support for the proposal, although some conferences were interested in considering certain elements of it in the future."
CFN Roundtable on Big Ten
The Big Ten's reputation has not been the best lately. While the question was "Why does the Big 10 stick?" I think theses Roundtablers for the most part offer good reasons why the Big Ten is better than is perceived. I liked this quote in particular and it think it's the very reason the Big Ten is perceived as a weak conference:
"the Big Ten will continue to face the toughest postseason match ups in the nation. And the nation will continue to frown on them."
Not even football related
USA Shocks Spain
The USA Men's Soccer Team beat the number 1 ranked team in the world, Spain, yesterday breaking Spain's 35 game unbeaten steak.