Was it the worst day in Big 10 football history yesterday? Perhaps.
Was it the worst day in the history of Big Ten football from a national perception/brand damage stand point? Absolutely. No doubt it was nothing short of catastrophic. I did a cover story for the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition previewing and predicting this season in August. (link here) I also listed the biggest story-lines. I did not have “Big Ten football will resemble a bunch of mediocre mid-majors by week two” as one one of them.
If you don’t turn on the Big Ten Network again until basketball season, no one would blame you. Well, it’s worth it to see Teddy Greenstein do his work (Dave Revsine and Gerry Di Nardo are very talented too), but non Tedward reasons to watch BTN are few and far between. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that this league’s broadcast arm of its Sports Information Department exists. Because now you can see games that would otherwise never be televised.
Its just the quality of that Big Ten football being televised is…….well Rutgers has the conference’s only win over a Power 5 school, and that’s Washington State; who barely qualify. The league is virtually eliminated from playoff contention, and it’s week two! Big Ten football is going to take on much less meaning this fall moving forward and 30/32 NFL teams haven’t even kicked off yet.
It’s a situation that even the Big Ten Network can’t spin. The channel promotes itself as a news provider, but their version of “news” is just reading press releases on air, or worse, tweets from team/league official accounts. If you thought BTN was sanitized before, watch what happens now as the league has hit a new low point. Glad you came Maryland and Rutgers?
Let’s get to the Big Ten football tweets, starting with the brain of FC Tucson, and Michigan grad H. Jose Bosch:
1. Sad 2. Depressing 3. Pathetic 4. Weak 5. Rutgers. MT @PaulMBanks: If you’re going to do a Big Ten Power rankings this week…
— H. Jose Bosch (@HJBosch21) September 7, 2014
My original tweet on this, if it seems harsh, remember, every Midwestern newspaper does a Big Ten football power rankings, so does every student daily in the conference, every SB Nation blog, every team-centric blog, every…well you get the idea.
If you’re going to do a Big Ten Power rankings this week 1.) that’s an oxymoron 2.) get an original idea, you walking cliche — Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) September 7, 2014
From Ken Fang of Awful Announcing
The B1G should rename its divisions “The Meek” and “The Weak”
— Ken Fang (@fangsbites) September 7, 2014
Yesterday saw Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State all lose on the same day for the first time since 1988. OSU lost their home opener for the first time since 1978. Michigan was shut for the first time since 1984, their only shut out in the series with Notre Dame, and their worst defeat in the rivalry which began in 1887. The Wolverines were shut out by a non-conference opponent for the first time since 1928. So Travis Miller of SB Nation’s Hammer and Rails nailed it:
At least the rest of the Big Ten sucked along with us. — Travis Miller (@HammerAndRails) September 7, 2014
Speaking of SB Nation:
Our Big Ten basketball blog is talking crap to our Big Ten football blog. This is what it’s come to https://t.co/UshKjIXFbn
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) September 7, 2014
Big Ten Network = UPN and The WB in their final year #noviewership
— T Dog Media (@tdogmedia) September 7, 2014
You’ll hear “adversity” a lot this week in Big Ten player/coach interviews. “adversity” is a euphemism for “sucks at playing football” — Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) September 7, 2014
There’s an ACC chant going on in Ohio Stadium. This is our life, Big Ten fans. — Mike (@mikjones24) September 7, 2014
The day the Big Ten died.
— McNeil (@Reflog_18) September 7, 2014
Paul M. Banks owns and manages The Sports Bank.net, in partnership with Fox Sports and Yahoo. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)