News. Sports. Arts & Entertainment. Politics
Can’t leave Big Ten football alone the game needs me. Notorious B.I.G. once said that he raps about the ghetto because that’s what he knows. And…”if I worked at McDonald’s, I’d be rapping about Big Macs and fries.”
You write and talk what you know and live. And I know Big Ten football. We’re still a ways away from Big Ten football media days. Well, less than two weeks now. The preseason is indeed here, time for some WAY TOO Early Big Ten football power rankings
Follow paulmbanks
Wisconsin Badgers junior center Travis Frederick has elected to forgo his final season of eligibility with the Badgers and enter the 2013 NFL Draft. He projects as a round 2-4 level pick, and his ability to play both guard and center helps his draft stock.
In short, if you make the starting five up front in Camp Randall, and you grasp the pro style offense of the Badgers, you’ll probably get your chance to in the NFL after your senior year. It’s an OL factory for the professional ranks.
Follow paulmbanks
With perennial Big Ten powers Ohio State and Penn State suffering through controversy and Michigan taking a step back for a couple of years, the Wisconsin Badgers have cemented their status among the league’s elite. Bret Bielema has transitioned from the Barry Alvarez Era without missing a beat. Another transfer quarterback steps under center in Madison, but it will be their always dangerous ground game that could have UW smelling roses for a third straight season.
Follow paulmbanks
It’s the topic everyone wants to talk about today, and for good reason- Penn State. The sanctions handed down by the NCAA and the Big Ten will dominate sports media today, and the talk of the league media days later this week. Now only four teams within the Leaders division are eligible for the league title game: Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, and Wisconsin.
Therefore, all four benefited from the ruling that made PSU in eligible. Of course, you won’t hear the Badgers say that of course. Here’s what the athletic department did have to say:
Follow paulmbanks
Last weekend in the NFL Draft, Wisconsin Badgers offensive linemen Peter Konz and Kevin Zeitler were taken in the first two rounds. Ricky Wagner should be a first round pick in 2013. In 2011, Gabe Carimi, John Mofitt, tight Lance Kendricks, and another guy who didn’t even start during his college football days in Madison were all drafted.
In short, if you make the starting five up front in Camp Randall, and you grasp the pro style offense of the Badgers, you’ll probably get your chance to in the NFL after your senior year. It’s an OL factory for the professional ranks. Another name you can count among them is guard/center Travis Frederick, an incoming junior.
But what makes Frederick so special is that he has the potential to have a very bright future even without football.
He may well be the smartest guy in not just the Big Ten, but all of college football.
Follow paulmbanks
Wisconsin has it’s own version of the Plumlees. Like how all Plumlee brothers go to Duke, if you’re a Watt, you’re headed to Madison.
According to his Facebook page, and confirmed by a tweet from big brother J.J. Watt, Pewaukee junior tight end/defensive end T.J. Watt (6-4, 198) will be the third member of his family to play football for the University of Wisconsin.
First you had the NFL first round draft choice who’s been an impact player for the Houston Texans. Next you had the middle brother Derek Watt, who’s a current Badger. Now you’ve got a third member of the family.
Follow paulmbanks
Fresh off the success of last year’s so-called “rent-a-player” or “free agent quarterback signing” Russell Wilson, the Wisconsin Badgers inked another prominent college football transfer: Maryland’s Danny O’Brien. The junior will have two years of eligibility in Madison beginning this fall.
They had been in the hunt for Notre Dame signal caller Dayne Crist, but he choose to follow the coach who recruited him, Charlie Weiss, to the Kansas Jayhawks instead. If O’Brien enjoys even a fraction of the success the last ACC transferdid (new NCAA record for single season passing efficiency, set in the Rose Bowl, greatest year by a quarterback in Badgers, Big Ten history), then this process will have been well worth it.
Follow paulmbanks
You could make a case that Wisconsin had the greatest running back and quarterback tandem in college football history. Quarterback Russell Wilson broke the season passer rating record, and tailback Montee Ball tied the season record for touchdowns. The Badgers were the first team to ever have a player run for 30 TDs, and another player pass for 30 TDs.
Production like that will no doubt attract attention for the offensive coordinator, and Paul Chryst parlayed the astronomical numbers he generated into a new head coaching gig at Pittsburgh.
Today, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema named Matt Canada his replacement.
Follow paulmbanks
Wisconsin had a double-digit win total for the third-consecutive season, a first for the Badgers program. Only five other schools have won at least 10 the past three years: Alabama, Boise State, the Badgers Rose Bowl opponent Oregon, Virginia Tech and TCU. In honor of this achievement, UW head coach Bret Bielema has been named a finalist for the Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award.
Follow paulmbanks
It looks like ex Notre Dame quarterback Dayne Crist will soon join the Wisconsin Badgers program, sources close to both programs told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
There are only two times when doing a power rankings can be fun- way early in the season/preseason, or when everything is jumbled, disorganized chaos and blah. Doing a power rankings when the hierarchy is clear cut is a practice strictly for centrist, vanilla losers.
In the current Big Ten football world, mediocrity, blahness, national irrelevance, and parity reign. And remember that’s PARITY not PARODY! Weird Al Yankovic does not play tailback in college football.
I HATE when writers make that mistake worse than when announcers call coincidence “irony.” Some say the teams beat up on each other and hurt each other’s record. That’s a feeble excuse; because every team in this league is severely flawed in at least one major area. And in the interest of me being my ornery, cynical self, I’m going to highlight each team’s fatal flaw in my snippet.
Numerical rankings are from the latest BcS standings.
Follow paulmbanks
Last year, sports fans in America’s Dairyland probably thought things were as good as they could possibly get. But 2011 is looking a whole ‘nother level can be reached. You have the #5 Badgers at 5-0, the reigning Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers as one of the NFL’s two undefeated teams (the Detroit Lions are the other), and the Milwaukee Brewers about to eliminate the Arizona Diamondbacks in their NLDS series.
Sure, the Bucks are still a train wreck, but the NBA is on lockout, so we won’t really see that.
Yes, there’s something in the water right now; and the state is half-bordered by great lakes.
Follow paulmbanks
