1701

They said he was penalized for “calling attention to himself”. In that case, the act of scoring a touchdown should be considered unsportsmanlike unless the whole team holds the ball together when they cross the line.

1702

My favorite image from last night

What the hell is the placeholder thinking at that moment???

1703

That it’s an ACC game and they’ll get away with it.

ACC refs are one step short of evil rudo refs in lucha libre, I suspect Ron Cherry will come out with suspenders next year.

1704

The Music City Bowl had a Big Ten officiating team.

1705

Yeah, but UNC is probably conditioned to ACC reffing, which is kinda special.

1706

I’m certainly enjoying the SEC-Big Ten Challenge today, though I wish they didn’t start all three games at the same time.

1707

No Pac 10 team in the Rose Bowl ? It just doesn’t have much appeal to me.

1708

I know what you’re saying, but I’m looking forward to seeing what TCU can do against Wisconsin.

1709

Very stupid. Especially since I am traveling for work and am missing most of them all. Enjoying a bit right now in an airport bar, however.

1710

Jebus, do the Spartans suck today…

1711

I didn’t see the game, but his passing stats were awful. For the season, he has a 55.4 % completion percentage, which isn’t great. Passing percentage is one of the best indicators of pro performance. He may turn into a fine QB, but I’m certainly not enamored with him as a prospect.

1712

Like you admit, you didn’t see the game. Nebraska has maybe the best defensive backfield in the country. They certainly have two 1st round corners. Locker didn’t have anyone to throw to most of that game. His receivers were getting totally dominated by Nebraska’s DBs. Most of his incompletions were throwaways on rollouts, because even after 4 or 5 seconds his receivers were still blanketed. When his receivers did get some separation the ball was there, but Locker suffered from several well-placed drops. It was the same as the first game in September, but the big difference this time was Locker didn’t try to force the issue by throwing picks. He threw it away when he had pressure in his face (which was often), or he ran it for gains.

Like Uncle Lou said during ESPN’s halftime analysis, Locker had no one to throw to. Even Joe Montana would be fucked if his receivers were totally shut down.

Also, Sark also came into the game focused on the ground. That’s because that’s Nebraska’s defensive weakness, plus he has Locker and a probably NFL back in Chris Polk to just jam it down their throats. Polk finished with almost 200 yards. Locker about 70 or 80.

The big surprise of the game was Washington’s D-Line. Three starters were out due to injury. They gave up an average of 60 to 80 pounds to Nebraska’s O-Line. And suddenly it was like someone slipped Steve Entman into the fucking game. Holy shit, Nick Holt earned every penny of considerable salary because his kids came to play. The UW D-Line blew up Nebraska’s O-Line. NO ONE EXPECTED THIS. Especially since this was the same D (minus three starters) that gave up three 100-yard rushers against Nebraska in September. They held Nebraska to under 100 yards on the ground and under 200 yards total. There are a bunch of UW players now on NFL radars. Look out for Alameda Ta’amu next year. He returns as a senior, and if he plays like he did on Thursday he’s going to be a first rounder. There was an absolutely ridiculous play when UW rushed three. He was quadrupled-teamed and HE STILL GOT THE SACK IN TWO SECONDS!!! ESPN replayed that over and over and it was just incredulous. And Nebraska has NFL talent on its O-Line. Just incredulous.

1713

This has not been a good day for the Big 10.

1714

Ouch. Looks like I picked the right set of bowls to miss. The SEC now roaring back after the previous sad displays.

1715

If Iowa ends up being the only Big 10 bowl winner I’m gonna have a hell of a laugh and then go on to worry about next season’s Iowa team.

The way it’s going today I might actually have that laugh. Depends on if Ohio State shows up or sits around worrying about suspensions and the like. And if TCU can pull off the Rose Bowl.

Edit: My bad, I didn’t even know Illinois was in a bowl. And apparently they won. Still gonna laugh.

1716

So Pitt supposedly just fired their new head coach over the domestic violence stuff that surfaced yesterday. Both Pitt and Maryland are going to discover that the grass isn’t always greener with their “not good enough for our unreasonable expectations” moves.

1717

Johnny Majors is still available.

The Rose Bowl has been fun so far. I don’t normally pay attention to the bands, but Wisconsin looked pretty cool during halftime.

1718

Really not good day for the Big 1G

Wiscy goes down.

There was some terrible clock management during their last drive. They were playing like they wanted to ice the clock. It was like they assumed the 2-pointer was guaranteed if they got the TD. They needed to go no-huddle and score as fast as possible because if they didn’t get the 2-pointer and they only had one TO left, they were fucked. And that’s what happened.

1719

Good on Wisconsin for at least fighting back today, Penn State also showed some grit, but this is a dark day for Big 10 fans. I’m an SEC guy, and Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina have shamed us to some degree this bowl season so I sort of know how it feels, but wow…the teams from the fine state of Michigan were truly horrible today.

Now hoping little UConn can beat Oklahoma in the nightcap.

1720

Don’t forget the Badgers missed a field goal.