This storied conference is rich in past glory, but the teams continue to make history every year. All fourteen teams are in a constant battle for supremacy in the conference and the 2017 Big Ten season is just getting underway.

14. Rutgers – 0 AP Votes – Notable Wins: N/A

(1-3, 0-1) Next Game: vs #11 Ohio State

Before losing in Lincoln, Rutgers got its first win on the season against the Morgan State Bears. The Scarlet Knights have struggled to get much going so far this season, but put up a fight against Nebraska.

Looking for its first conference win since Oct. 17, 2015, Rutgers has a tough test against Ohio State coming. Senior quarterback Kyle Bolin has thrown for a subpar 642 yards this season and they’ll need a more impressive outing from him if the team wants to beat a ranked team for the first time since 2009.

13. Illinois – 0 AP Votes – Notable Wins: N/A

(2-1, 0-0) Next Game: vs Nebraska

Illinois lost its first game on the season against #22 South Florida, but it wasn’t all that close. Quarterback Chayce Crouch was benched midway through the game in favor of backup Jeff George Jr. It wasn’t just the offense that struggled, the Illini defense allowed 680 yards of offense on Friday night.

Illinois has a good chance of getting a win at home and tying last season’s win total. Tanner Lee has been struggling for Nebraska and freshman running back Mike Epstein should thrive against a Nebraska defense that allows upwards of 350 yards a game.

12. Nebraska – 0 AP Votes – Notable Wins: vs Rutgers

(2-2, 1-0) Next Game: at Illinois

The nonconference has been a disappointment for the Huskers. A 1-2 start got athletic director Shawn Eichorst canned and head coach Mike Riley cannot afford to lose this one. Considering the next two games are Wisconsin and Ohio State, this contest becomes all the more important.

Junior QB Tanner Lee has disappointed for Nebraska by leading the Big Ten with nine interceptions through four starts. He’s thrown 146 times for 898 yards, but has cost his team plenty of chances down the stretch. This will be a great stage for Lee to prove that he’s worth his weight.

11. Northwestern – 0 AP Votes – Notable Wins: N/A

(2-1, 0-0) Next Game: at Wisconsin

Northwestern was a sleeper pick to win the Big Ten West this season, but after the walloping at the hands of Duke, it’s not looking as likely. Clayton Thorson has been uninspiring thus far and the defense hasn’t backed him up.

The Wildcats have turned the ball over seven times in three games and they head to Camp Randall Stadium for its toughest test of the year. Wisconsin has a Big Ten best +5 turnover margin so far and will not make it easy for Thorson.

10. Maryland – 0 AP Votes – Notable Wins: at Texas

(2-1, 0-0) Next Game: at Minnesota

You’ve got to feel for this Terrapins squad. Both Tyrell Pigrome and Kasim Hill have suffered season-ending injuries and the team is now relying on sophomore Max Bortenschlager. Regardless of who’s throwing, the team will depend on star wide receiver D.J. Moore who leads the conference in receiving yards (323) and touchdowns (four).

Winning in Minneapolis is much easier for an east coast team now than in frigid mid-November, so that’s one solace the Terps can take. The team has done well to take care of the ball thus far and Bortenschlager will have to improve quickly to compete at TCF.

9. Indiana – 0 AP Votes – Notable Wins: at Virginia

(2-1, 0-1) Next Game: at Penn State

Freshman running back Morgan Ellison ran for 186 yards and two scores in his first career start which is great news for Indiana. The team struggled on the ground in its first two games and Ellison will need to exploit Penn State’s linebacking corps to stand a chance.

There’s no real chance that Indiana wins this football game in Happy Valley and the near future doesn’t look much better for the Hoosiers. However, the team gave Ohio State a run for its money in the first half a month ago and can still air it out despite the defense’s deficiencies.

8. Michigan State – 0 AP Votes – Notable Wins: N/A

(2-1, 0-0) Next Game: vs Iowa

Getting dismantled in East Lansing by Notre Dame is no way to end the nonconference slate, but no one expected an insane Spartan resurgence this season. After a forgettable 3-9 season, MSU sophomore Brian Lewerke leads the charge to kick off the Big Ten schedule against Iowa.

Sparty is favored in this one, but the team will have their hands full against the Hawkeyes. The team’s only test thus far has been a home blowout, so the team will need to reset for the Big Ten schedule. The team is already much better than last year and improvement is certain.

7. Purdue – 0 AP Votes – Notable Wins: at Missouri

(2-2, 0-1) Next Game: BYE

The Boilermakers have been an oddity of sorts in the Big Ten. Purdue has gone from nearly upsetting the defending Heisman winner on opening weekend and dismantling Missouri last week to losing handily at home to Michigan and its backup QB.

Switching between Elijah Sindelar and David Blough has been a roller coaster for the team with both QBs notching over five touchdowns so far. Heading into a bye week will give the coaching staff enough time to evaluate its shot caller scenario before the Minnesota game.

6. Minnesota – 3 AP Votes – Notable Wins: at Oregon State

(3-0, 0-0) Next Game: vs Maryland

PJ Fleck has rowed the boat to an undefeated nonconference schedule and his defense has dominated. The Gophers have allowed three touchdowns in as many games and have six takeaways so far.

At home against Maryland, Minnesota and its running game should roll over an already depleted Maryland squad. The Terps have allowed 39.5 points per game in their two contests against FBS opponents and its third-string QB will struggle to keep up.

5. Iowa – 16 AP Votes – Notable Wins: at Iowa State

(3-1, 0-1) Next Game: at Michigan State

A heartbreaking loss in the final seconds has Iowa reeling, but the team showed that it can fight to the finish with any Big Ten team if they’re at Kinnick. However, the team will be in East Lansing against Michigan State and hasn’t faced the Spartans since the Big Ten Championship in 2015.

Sophomore quarterback Nate Stanley has put up impressive numbers through four games, passing for 12 touchdowns and only one pick. The reason for Iowa’s success, however, his supporting cast. Linebacker Josey Jewell led the team in tackles and managed a fumble recovery and interception in the loss versus PSU. The defense will put plenty of pressure on the Spartans, but there will be memories of the championship game two years ago.

4. Ohio State – 1016 AP Votes – Notable Wins: at Indiana

(3-1, 1-0) Next Game: at Rutgers

Since losing at home to Oklahoma, the Buckeyes have rolled over some relatively measly competition at home. Traveling to New Jersey, OSU is favored by 30 against a team struggling to put up points.

Freshman running back J.K. Dobbins leads the conference in rushing yards (520) and will likely keep pushing the bar against Rutgers. J.T. Barrett is regaining form since his dud against the Sooners and doesn’t get another true test until Penn State on Oct. 28.

3. Wisconsin – 1023 AP Votes – Notable Wins: at BYU

(3-0, 0-0) Next Game: vs Northwestern

The Badgers are rolling on defense, allowing 10 points per game entering this home contest. Hoping to take an early lead in the Big Ten West, Wisconsin is touting a prolific offense to pair well with the intimidating defense.

Freshman back Jonathan Taylor is hitting the ground running 438 yards on only 53 carries. This is good news for the Badgers as the Wildcats have allowed over 150 rushing yards per game. A fast start is in the cards for this team as NW doesn’t match up well in any category.

2. Michigan – 1088 AP Votes – Notable Wins: vs Florida, at Purdue

(4-0, 1-0) Next Game: BYE

Michigan is running a fine-tuned machine through four weeks. The Wolverines lost ten starters from their stellar defense last season, yet haven’t missed a beat. Tallying an astounding 18 sacks in the first four games, this D is lights out.

The real issue is the offensive unit. Inconsistent Wilton Speight left the Purdue contest with an injury and John O’Korn picked up where he left off, throwing for 270 yards, one score and one pick. The season will be decided on the success (or lack thereof) of the offensive side, but the blue and maize look quite impressive through four.

1. Penn State – 1304 AP Votes – Notable Wins: vs Pittsburgh, at Iowa

Winning a night game at Kinnick is no easy feat and it seemed like the Nittany Lions wouldn’t be able to get it done when trailing by four with less than two minutes on the clock. However, Heisman candidate Saquon Barkley’s bulging stat line (305 total yards, one TD) proved too much for the Hawks to handle as Penn State won on the final play.

This team is not only the best team to watch in the Big Ten, but arguably the best to watch in the country. This averted upset proved that Barkley is even better than imaginable and that quarterback Trace McSorley’s stats and game management are for real. Penn State is the all-around most complete team in the Big Ten, hands town.

The post Big Ten Football in Full Swing appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Digging into the park factors, other than Penn State, there were no large changes that caused a park to go from a pitcher’s park to a hitter’s park and vice versa. They went from a 97 park factor(slight pitcher’s park) to a 116 park factor(hitter-friendly). Nebraska is no longer the most hitter-friendly park and Purdue remains as an extreme pitcher’s park with a 63 park factor rating.

There are seven teams who have a pitcher-friendly park and six teams who have a hitter-friendly park in the Big Ten. Just an FYI, the Big Ten Tournament will be played at Indiana’s home park, Bart Kaufman Stadium, which is a pitcher-friendly park.

Now that park factors are out of the way, let’s get into OPS+, and weighted on base average, better known as wOBA.

According to FanGraphs, “Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA) is one of the most important and popular catch-all offensive statistics. It was created by Tom Tango (and notably used in “The Book”) to measure a hitter’s overall offensive value, based on the relative values of each distinct offensive event.” I am a big fan of Tom Tango and his work, and had the honor to hear some of his work at the SABR Analytics Conference in March. I recommend reading The Book, as I enjoy the wOBA statistic, because it adds a precise value to each event, like walks, hit by pitches, singles, doubles, triples and home runs. wOBA also does a good job of projecting future performance. Thanks to Jeff Zimmerman at Fangraphs, we are able to have a formula for wOBA, although it is not the most precise. The run values are a general estimation over many years in the MLB, but we are talking college baseball. I wanted to use the general formula just to have a number out there for stat nerds and college baseball fans to see. So, here is the basic formula for wOBA that I used: Basic wOBA = (.7* (BB + HBP) + .9*1B + 1.25*2B + 1.6*3B + 2*HR)/PA. Each event has a run value attributed to it. For example, a walk or hit by pitch is worth .7 runs. Now that’s the explanation part, get ready for graphs of each team in the Big Ten, displaying their OPS+ and wOBA. The league average wOBA is .344 in the Big Ten. To qualify for this list, a player must have at least three plate appearances per game played. For example, Iowa played 53 games in the regular season, which means to qualify for this list, an Iowa batter must have accrued at least 159 plate appearances. League average OPS+ is 100, anything above is above average, anything below is below average.

Here is an example calculation for wOBA. Jake Adams walked 27 times and was hit by 5 pitches, while tallying 35 singles, 14 doubles, and 24 home runs in 246 plate appearances. Plug in the numbers to each event, (.7* (27 + 5) + .9*35 + 1.25*14 + 1.6*0 + 2*24)/246 and it comes out to a .482 weighted on base average.

There were a few questions as to how these numbers make sense. Like, why does a nationally ranked team like Michigan have such poor hitting per OPS+? Or why does Purdue have so many outstanding hitters per OPS+, although their record does not show it? The first reason explains why I added wOBA, to measure how good an overall offensive player is minus the park adjustment. The second reason is the park adjustment, a hitter that plays for Purdue and slugs .500 is more valuable than a hitter that plays for Michigan and slugs the same amount due to Purdue being a pitcher’s park and Michigan a hitter’s park. On the flip side, pitching will be affected conversely. Michigan pitching is more valuable than Purdue pitching in terms of park adjustments.

Here are the Top 5 hitters in the Big Ten by each statistic:

The Top 5 Big Ten hitters according to wOBA:

1. Jake Adams, Iowa .485
2. Pat McInerney, Illinois .429
3. Matt Lloyd, Indiana .426
4. Jack Yalowitz, Illinois .423
5. Marty Costes, Maryland .420

The Top 5 Big Ten hitters according to OPS+:

1. Jake Adams, Iowa 206
2. Evan Warden, Purdue 182
3. Matt Lloyd, Indiana 180
4. Bryce Bonner, Purdue 175
5. Jacson McGowan, Purdue 172

In short, Jake Adams is REALLY good. As OPS+ states, he is 106% better than league average and nearly has a .500 wOBA, which is unremarkable! Jakey is going places, that’s for sure.

Moving on to the pitching. Like hitting, I added in another statistic to go along with FIP-. ERA-, which is a given player’s earned run average, adjusted for his team’s park factor. The ERA- calculation is just like the FIP-, except by replacing the FIP to ERA. The formula: 100*((ERA+(ERA-ERA(Park Factor/100))/lgERA. The league ERA is 4.19. To be qualified for ERA- and FIP-, a pitcher must pitch at least one inning per team game played. Ohio State played 56 games this season, so for an Ohio State pitcher to be qualified for the calculation, he must have pitched at least 56 during the season.

Here are the ERA- and FIP- calculations for each team. League FIP is 4.22 and league ERA is 4.19. Both FIP- and ERA- league average is 100. Anything below is above league average, anything above is below league average.

Take Nick Gallagher, for example. He posted a 2.59 ERA. Plug it into the equation, with a 95 park factor and the 4.19 lgERA, 100*((2.59+(2.59-2.59(95/100))/4.19 which comes out to be 65, 35 percent better than league average.

What I like about having both FIP- and ERA- together is how much a defense/luck factors to the pitcher’s performance. FIP measures a pitcher’s three true outcomes, walks/hit by pitches, strikeouts, and home runs. Combining FIP with ERA allows to determine whether a pitcher was lucky or unlucky based upon the three true outcomes. A pitcher with a higher FIP- than ERA- is considered lucky and vice versa. Here are some examples of lucky pitchers:

1. Walter Borkovich, Michigan State
   1. FIP-: 98
   2. ERA-: 56
2. Cal Krueger, Indiana
   1. FIP-: 102
   2. ERA-: 69
3. Lucas Gilbreath, Minnesota
   1. FIP-:86
   2. ERA-: 60

Some examples of unlucky pitchers (FIP- lower than ERA-):

1. Cole Bellair, Illinois
   1. FIP-: 138
   2. ERA-: 171
2. Ryan Feltner, Ohio State
   1. FIP-: 99
   2. ERA-: 145
3. Justin Hagenman, Penn State
   1. FIP-: 92
   2. ERA-: 117

Now, the Top 5 pitchers in FIP- and ERA-:

FIP-:

1. Alec Rennard, Michigan 49
2. Michael Hendrickson, Michigan 54
3. Oliver Jaskie, Michigan 55
4. Sal Biasi, Penn State 63
5. Matt Waldron, Nebraska 64

ERA-:

1. Brian Shaffer, Maryland 43
2. Walter Borkovich, Michigan State 56
3. Oliver Jaskie, Michigan 58
4. Lucas Gilbreath, Minnesota 60
5. Derek Burkamper, Nebraska 60

The three guys atop the FIP- leaderboard are all from Michigan, because each player posted a FIP under 3.30 and played in the most hitter-friendly park in the Big Ten. A notable pitcher to look out for is Brian Shaffer of the Maryland Terrapins. He ranked 6^th in the FIP- leaderboard and is 1^st in the ERA- leaderboard.

With the Big Ten Tournament ahead of us, fans can have a better understanding of how well a pitcher or batter does compared to the rest of their league. Jake Adams is the top hitter in the Big Ten and Brian Shaffer is one of the top pitchers in the Big Ten. Lucky for us, they will more than likely square off on Wednesday at 12:30 PM CDT as 4th seeded Maryland takes on 5th seeded Iowa.

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#1: Leonard Fournette (LSU)- Pete Wheeler 

Leonard Fournette wowed us all with his amazing rushing title in 2015. His speed and ability to maneuver around blockers should not and will not go unnoticed by teams this year. His 6.5 YPC is an amazing tool for teams to have. 1st down carries for chunk yardage are omni-important if a team is looking to come out on top. Well, LeonardFournette reminds me of a young man from the video game named Pete Wheeler. A dominant running back with lightning-quick speed and moves that can turn heads and break ankles, Wheeler is the best running back in the game. His legs churn and churn for every yard he can muster. He gives his team his all, and I’m all but certain Leonard Fournette will do the same.

#2: Malik Hooker (OSU)- Lisa Crockett

Easy, the top-ranked safety according to CBS.com has to be paired with the best safety in Backyard Football. With 7 interceptions (including one against Clemson in the CFP Semi-Final), Malik Hooker is a shark in the deep blue ocean

that is the Secondary. His decision-making, as well as his vision of the field, makes him a looming threat. Instinctual and hard-hitting, Hooker will make any defensive coordinator sweat a little less. As I begin to write about his comparison, my heart beats a little faster, my hair starts to stand on end, my legs begin to tremble. Lisa “show me the money” Crockett is not just a force to be reckoned with. She is THE force. Offenses have reported punting on first down. Only as to not further her already tremendous power. Every step she takes is an earthquake in the neighborhood. Every time she breathes, a tornado begins to whirl in the skies above. Malik Hooker is a great safety, but making a comparison to Lisa “dead or alive” Crockett is foolish, to say the least.

#3 C.J. Beathard (Iowa)- Tony Delvecchio

 Two guys that are all about heart and have cannon arms. C.J. and Tony are truly two guys cut from the same cloth. C.J. is an Iowa boy who just loves to play football. His 2015 campaign at Iowa was nothing short of Magical. With 17 touchdowns and only 5 INT’s, it was the best season for a quarterback in recent Iowa memory. His ability to find the open receiver well outside the pocket. 57% of the time, in fact. He is also a team leader in the locker room and on the field. Just like his counterpart, Tony. Tony is one of the better Quarterbacks in the game. His speed isn’t his greatest strength, but it is made up for in accuracy and power of his arm. Tony doesn’t take too kindly to rowdy teammates. He runs a well-disciplined team with only the coolest kids on the block.

#4 Jabrill Peppers (Michigan)- Pablo Sanchez

Jack of all trades. Swiss Army Knife. Superman. All of these descriptors can apply to Jabrill Peppers and Pablo Sanchez. Jabrill Peppers was a Wolverine who could do it all. Cover, Rush, Run, Return, Catch, Pass, Block, And much much more, he was a fiend on the field. His greatest asset is his speed. The ability to dart around the field and make plays is undoubtedly one of the best a player can have. Peppers also leaves it all on the field. The way he makes hits reminds me of Jadeveon Clowney on the Houston Texans. But Peppers has the body of a safety. Which brings me to the franchise staple of all the “Backyard” games. Pablo Sanchez. With great all-around potential, Sanchez is an essential part to any team. He can do it all. It’s just up to the player to mold him into a more refined version of himself. He needs direction. Needs a leader. Give him a path and he will follow, with all of his production following close behind.

From the Backyard to the Big Stage

These young men are about to embark on a journey very few make it on. Their skills, work ethic, and support brought them to the NFL Draft. And they all have something different to prove. Whether it is bringing your eventual team a Lombardi Trophy, or an MVP plaque in their trophy case, each person has their goals. But one thing that these players and those in our virtual world have in common is that they need guidance. They’ve had great coaching in their schools, but the coaching staffs will need to take these players to that next level. And just like in Backyard Football, the kids cannot do it themselves.

The post Comparing the 2017 NFL Draft Class to 2002 Backyard Football Players appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Senior Thomas Gilman succeeded in all three meets opening the Penn State and Ohio State meets with wins. Gilman is currently ranked as the top collegiate wrestler in the Big Ten and overall.
Other wrestlers who performed well last Friday were Michael Kemerer and Sammy Brooks who both came away from the mat with wins along with Steven Holloway who got his first Big Ten win after using two takedowns to beat his opponent 6-1. Fans can expect to see continuing success from the redshirt freshman as his career at Iowa takes off.

After a tough loss in the second tiebreaker against Penn on Jan. 20, Brandon Sorensen redeemed himself, producing his opponent, Micah Jordan’s first loss of the season. Sorensen was quoted on hawkeyesports.com saying “It’s nice to be on the other side, but here’s the thing, you’re getting talked to the same way. Win or lose that, you’re getting talked to the same way. That’s not how we want it done.”

Coach Tom Brands, also quoted by hawkeyesports.com, said “bonus points are big. They can be the difference in a dual like this and they will be the difference in March. We ironed some things out but there is still work to do.”

Friday, Feb. 3, the Hawkeyes are set to compete against the Big Ten 12th ranked Wisconsin Badgers at 7 p.m. in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

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Starting with the 2015 Big Ten Champs, the Michigan State Spartans possibly have the biggest loss to overcome. On the offensive side, the Spartans lost three-year starter Connor Cook, who graduated this spring. In 2015, Cook completed 229 of 408 passes for 3,131 yards, 24 TD’s and only 7 interceptions. In his career at MSU, Cook threw for 9,194 yards and 71 touchdowns, breaking Kirk Cousins’ records as best in Michigan State’s history at the position. At the moment, senior Tyler O’Connor looks to be the presumptive starter at QB for 2016. O’Connor came in against Ohio State last season where he threw 7-12 for 89 yards and a TD.
Continuing in the East, Ohio State will have to overcome the loss of running back Ezekiel Elliott if they want to make a run at the B1G Championship. In the 2016 NFL Draft, Elliott went fourth overall to the Dallas Cowboys. In Zeke’s junior year in 2015, he rushed for 23 TD’s and 1,821 yards on 289 carries, averaging 6.3 yards per carry. He also averaged 7.6 yards per catch on 27 receptions for 206 yards. The presumptive starter for 2016 would be senior Bri’onte Dunn, but he’s only had 287 rushing attempts in his career under Ezekiel Elliott, and according to head coach Urban Meyer, Dunn and freshman Mike Weber are “neck and neck” to take the position in the fall.

On to the East, the Iowa Hawkeyes will look to return to the Big Ten Championship in 2016 after losing to MSU by three points last season. The Hawkeyes’ biggest loss coming off the 2015 season will be three-year starting WR Tevaun Smith, who graduated this spring. Smith finished the 2015 season with 563 yards on 32 receptions, and finished his career at Iowa with exactly 1,500 yards on 102 receptions. Iowa will look to replace Tevaun with seniors Matt VandeBerg and Riley McCarron, as well as sophomore Jerminic Smith.

Finishing in the East, the Wisconsin Badgers will look to replace WR Alex Erickson if they hope to battle through a tough season and get back to the B1G Championship Game after losing to Ohio State in 2014. Erickson finished the 2015 season with 978 yards on 77 receptions, averaging 12.7 yards per catch. He finished his career with the Badgers with 1,887 yards and six TD’s. Wisconsin will look to senior Robert Wheelwright and junior Jazz Peavy to pick up the slack in Erickson’s absence.

Only time will tell if these key losses will prevent one of the four power house Big Ten teams from returning to the conference championship. Although replacing a star player is always difficult, a truly great team will manage the transition from one skill player to the next in their pursuit of success.

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Despite some bright spots, the struggles continued for Fran McCaffrey and company as they welcomed one of the hottest teams in the Big Ten into Carver-Hawkeye Arena.When all was said and done, the Badgers (18-10, 10-5) escaped Iowa City with a 67-59 win over the Hawkeyes (20-7, 11-4)

This is Wisconsin’s third win against a top ten team this season. The other two came against fourth ranked Michigan State at home back on January 17^th and at second ranked Maryland back on February 14^th.

It is the first time since 1955 that the Badgers have two road wins against a top ten team. Wisconsin now has won nine of their last ten games, and they have another impressive win to add to their resume come Selection Sunday.

For Iowa, the issues that plagued them during their swoon has been the productivity of the bench and their team perimeter defense.

The bench only contributed four points compared to the starters 55. Dom Uhl and Nicholas Baer were the two players for Iowa who played more than five minutes off the bench.

For how good the bench played earlier in the season and extended leads instead of holding on for dear life until the starters got back, this has become a major concern for Fran McCaffery and the Iowa coaching staff.

Three of Iowa’s five starters played over 33 minutes, including 34 minutes from both Adam Woodbury and Anthony Clemmons. Woodbury set a new career-high with 18 rebounds, 10 of them on the offensive end, to go along with six points.

Peter Jok paced Iowa with 21 points with 17 of those coming in the first half. The starters combined to shoot 16-47 from the field, which is just a shade over 34%. Iowa missed a lot of open layups and had a lot of second and third opportunities on numerous possessions due to an 18-7 advantage on the offensive glass.

Anthony Clemmons and Jarrod Uthoff were the other two Hawkeyes in double figures with 13 and 11 respectively.

“We got good shot attempts,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said.

“We just got a little hesitant at times. Woody did a nice job of going back and getting us some extra opportunities, and Pete just got tired.”

Iowa had 14 turnovers as a team, which McCaffery said was way too much for his team.

Outside of the first couple minutes, the game was played at Wisconsin’s pace. They like to slow the pace of games down and not let teams get out in transition.

At the end of the day, teams that make timely shots and gets solid, all-around production usually wins their fair share of games. That is the difference between Iowa and Wisconsin right now.

The Hawkeyes now have a few days to prepare for their next game on Sunday afternoon at Ohio State. The Buckeyes, who are coming off an 81-62 loss at home to Michigan State, are 10-6 in the conference and a game and a half behind Iowa in the standings.

“We’ve got a great season going. It’s not time to cave in and throw the towel in. We’ve got more season to play,” Adam Woodbury said.

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“Dynasty” is term loosely tossed around to describe successful teams after championship runs. In most modern sports, the talent pool has proven too deep to have a classic, 20^th-century, dynasty such as the 50s Yankees, 60s Celtics or 90s Cowboys. Those squads dominated and left little question as to which team was the best in their respective eras. While that same scenario may not exist in all major United States sports, we can garner at least a debate.

In this piece we will dive into the top dynasties since the first season post-2000 started of each major sport between the college and professional levels and decide which recent squad has had dominated its respective sport the most. There are rules that will be followed.

1. There will be a qualified team picked out of each individual sport before jumping to a final debate on who is the king of kings.
2. One team must be chosen out of each major sport – college football, men’s/women’s basketball, baseball, wrestling, volleyball, MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL.
3. Seasons that are currently in progress (2014-15 college hoops, NBA, NHL) are not included. For example, Kentucky’s current undefeated record in college hoops cannot be applied to their opportunity to be considered college basketball’s top dynasty on the men’s side.
4. Dynasty is a term used far too often. Are the Seahawks a dynasty because of how great their defense is in the past two years? No, because Seattle struggled through a lot of down seasons beforehand. In this piece, a dynasty will be defined as “Dominating a respective sport, while simultaneously competing for championships to the tune of being the greatest team in the discussed era.”
5. A team must consistently be in championship contention, but in order to be a dynasty in this span – a team must have won at least a single title.
6. I cannot compare teams between sports, as that will happen in the follow up article, where I will rank the selections from each league.

Let the games begin.

NBA

The NBA has always had a lack of parity.  We may no longer be limited to just the Lakers and Celtics, but the situation is still heavily lopsided.

Starting in the 2000-01 season, just three out of 14 Western Conference champions haven’t been named either the Los Angeles Lakers or the San Antonio Spurs. The Dallas Mavericks made two Finals appearances, and the Oklahoma City Thunder briefly showed up before being ousted in five by the LeBron James-led Miami Heat.

The Eastern Conference has been more diverse, but less successful. Seven teams (Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Detroit, Miami, Cleveland, Boston, and Orlando) have won the conference, but just three (Detroit, Miami, Boston) have managed to end the postseason with a victory.

The Heat have an impressive five title appearances and three championships to make a case for a potential top-NBA dynasty in the last 14 seasons. However, they fall well short of the Western Conference rivals from California and Texas.

The Spurs have a cumulative regular season record of 804-328 (.710), a postseason tally of 129-80 (.617), and four championships in five appearances since 2000. Their worst record in that span is 50-32 in 2009, and yet they still made it to the Western Conference Semifinals. Gregg Popovich has led this team to being easily the most consistent of all NBA squads in this era.

Los Angeles, albeit currently in its lowest moment in franchise history, also has an argument to be the representative for professional hoops. While their 690-442 (.610) overall regular season mark is well below San Antonio’s, their post season record of 108-66 trumps the Spurs. In six Finals appearances, the Lakers have taken home four titles – equal to the Spurs. If the 1999-2000 season and the first third of the Shaq-Kobe three-peat were included, my final decision may not have been…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs, led by a long-time coach and familiar players, have (somehow quietly) been one of the most consistent teams in all of American athletics. Their YMCA-style of play may not captivate casual audiences with oohs and awes, but their record says all that is needed. The Lakers have missed the playoffs as many times (two) as the Spurs have missed the second round. The ability to avoid down years is what makes the difference. San Antonio and Los Angeles have the same highs, but the Spurs have yet to hit a low this century.

Honorable mention: Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat

NFL

Baltimore, New England, Pittsburgh and the New York Giants have all won multiple titles since Super Bowl XXXV, thus obviously deserving of recognition in this analysis. Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Green Bay and Seattle will also be included as to compare all Super Bowl victors.

Looking based simply off of this, the answer is penciled in. Let’s engrave it in stone with this next chart. I gave every team a point total for each category – the top team receiving nine points and the bottom receiving one – (regular season win percentage, total postseason wins, postseason win percentage, division titles and Super Bowls). The point total depended on where a team finished in each respective section.

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: New England Patriots. New England swept the board in each measurable category. It’s hard to tell if they’re farther ahead of the pack than Tampa Bay is behind. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have created a dynasty and are two absurd catches from having six Super Bowls in this span, including the Brady-Randy Moss 2007 combination that was the best team in NFL history to not win it all.

NHL

The NHL has experienced more parity than its professional counterparts this century. Ten teams have won a Stanley Cup in the last 13 occurrences (plus the 2005 lockout season). The Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche have all taken home one championship, while the Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings all have a pair of titles. To avoid confusion in the following chart, the NHL did away with ties during this span and therefore the records will be Win-Loss-Overtime Losses-Ties.

  We have seven categories (Stanley Cups, playoff appearances, playoff series victories, postseason wins, postseason win percentage and regular season win percentage and points). The best team in each category will receive 10 points and the worst will pick up just one. In order to put a stronger emphasis on advancing in the postseason, playoff series victories will count as a point for each accumulated. This should counteract disciplining teams for advancing on to tougher rounds just to be swept.

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Detroit Red Wings. Outside of postseason win percentage, Detroit swept the board since 2000. Its 17 postseason series victories is even more impressive when factoring in the lockout season and the fact that no other franchise has more than a dozen. Despite parity among Stanley Cup victors, Detroit has easily been the most consistently dominant in all of professional hockey. Not much of an argument can be made for any other squad from this chart, and therefore none are honorable mention worthy.

Men’s college basketball:

After a relatively easy start, we reach what might be the most complicated of all sports we list. College basketball is about as random as they come (see odds of making a perfect bracket). Of course, Kentucky seems like an obvious choice after winning a national title in 2013-14 and going undefeated so far in 2014-15 (void). Don’t let fresh tastes discount distant memories.

Recent impressions can’t influence this decision, but the Wildcats have enough beyond that to make a pretty decisive statement. A 369-124 overall record is tough to argue with. What’s even harder? Twelve NCAA Tournament appearances, eight Sweet Sixteens, three Final Fours and a 1-1 record in the championship. Take away the two seasons Billy Gillispie coached Kentucky to a 40-27 overall record with zero NCAA Tournament victories and an NIT berth, and the Wildcats may blow the competition out of the water.

One team has been so remarkably consistent in its conference that it’s impossible to leave off this list: The Kansas Jayhawks.

After transitioning from a Hall of Fame coach, Kansas found a fate much simpler than Kentucky. Bill Self took over Roy Williams’ squad and didn’t miss a beat.

Williams’ last three seasons resulted in a 42-6 conference record that was overshadowed by a Sweet Sixteen, Final Four and a championship appearance. Since? Self has given the Jayhawks a 325-69 mark with a 151-31 stretch in the Big 12.

Self’s initial tournament resume left much to be desired with two first round exits sandwiched between a pair of Elite Eight showings. That turned around quickly with Kansas’ lone national title during this span in 2008.

Kansas boasts similar marks to Kentucky, with one extra championship loss thrown in, and its down years were first round exits over being completely left out.

So how about ex-Jayhawk coach Williams’ new squad – North Carolina? The Tar Heels have two national titles and another Final Four on their record and they may not even be the best dynasty in their own state.

Recent 1,000 game winner Mike Kryzewski’s Duke Blue Devils are.

Duke has a pair of national titles, has appeared in the tournament in each covered year, and has lost in their opening matchup just three times. Their conference dominance may not be as high as a team such as Kansas, but the competition is relatively stellar each season.

The Blue Devils hold an absurd 412-87 (.826) record in this span. So it has to be them, right?111

Let’s head over to Big Ten country where Tom Izzo is standing by for a quick lecture on postseason play. Michigan State, although missing its 1999-2000 national championship by just one season, has made nine Sweet Sixteens, five Elite Eights, four Final Fours, and has won one title. They haven’t missed the tournament a single time, and have been eliminated before the Round of 32 just four times.

What about UConn’s three title runs? Florida’s star-studded squads? Kentucky’s heated-rival Louisville? We need a way to rank these teams accordingly as to put all bias aside and assign an overall score. Postseason play in college basketball has always taken precedence over any other measurement of success. Here is the scoring chart to decide the top NCAA Tournament team since 2001’s tournament when solely considering those whom have a title to their name in this span:

Round of 64 loss: 0 points
Round of 32 loss: 1 point
Sweet 16 loss: 2 points
Elite Eight loss: 4 points
Final Four Loss: 8 points
Championship loss: 12 points
Championship: 16 points

NCAA Tournament champions results since 2000-01 March Madness: Kansas 68, UConn 67, Duke 59, North Carolina 56, Florida 55, Kentucky 55, Michigan State 51, Louisville 44, Syracuse 37, Maryland 30.

Shockingly, outside of its three titles runs, UConn only scored 19 points on this scale. The Huskies fell just a point shy of claiming this all important statistic in pushing forward to choosing men’s college hoops’ most dominant dynasty of the 21^st century. Despite just one title, consistency overcame roller coaster levels of postseason success and your winner is…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Kansas Jayhawks. Not only has Kansas (almost surprisingly) performed as the top overall team in March Madness, but it also has the most eye-popping accomplishment. I’m going to type this out to make it even more drastic: Kansas has won at least a share of (ahem) back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back regular season Big 12 championships. That’s 10. Read that out loud and you’re likely to need to catch your breath. This isn’t Kansas playing in the Summit League or intramural athletics – this is a major conference with a tough road to the top every season. Ten?! In a row? And just for the record, it’s also 12 of 13, but who’s counting? The Huskies have a legitimate argument when it comes to this discussion due to three incredible runs to the championship, but Kansas has been a more consistently feared team. Welcome to a new postseason tournament, Jayhawks. Let’s see who else is joining you.

Honorable mention: Duke, UConn

Women’s College Basketball

I went from one of the more difficult sports to choose to what might be the easiest. UConn women’s hoops is out of this world. Seven championships since the turn of the century. Average margin of victory in those title-winning contests? 15.4 points. That’s 15 points better than the second best team in the country. Talk about a talent gap. I can’t put into words how unbelievably incredible the Huskies’ overall record has been, so I’ll leave two simple numbers on its own.

486-38.

That’s a .927 winning percentage.

I could play myself in checkers and not win 93 percent of the time.

Connecticut has missed out on the Sweet Sixteen in this span only…well, they haven’t. And just once were they limited to that. On top of the Sweet Sixteen and seven titles, the Huskies have made two Elite Eight appearances along with four Final Fours. Therefore, your clear cut winner without any hesitation is…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Connecticut Huskies.

College Wrestling

If the 70s, 80s and 90s were included, this wouldn’t even be a competition. The Iowa Hawkeyes took home 20 titles from 1975-2000. Despite those all being out of the picture, Iowa is still in contention for the 21^st century title post-Dan Gable. The Hawkeyes have three titles to their name, which comes shy of Penn State and Oklahoma State, who put together four each. With the overall team title competition so close, our answer comes from individual championships. The Nittany Lions have nine, Hawkeyes 13 and Cowboys 18.

Oklahoma State’s 2005 season was the best of the era, fielding five individual champions in 10 weight classes, and scoring 153 points – best since the 1997 Hawkeyes scored 170. Therefore the winner is…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Cowboys are tied for the lead in titles, have the best overall team of the era and can claim having the most individual titles. They may be fortunate to wrestle outside the Big Ten, but national titles don’t lie.

Honorable Mention: Iowa Hawkeyes, Penn State Nittany Lions

MLB

Four teams have won multiple titles since 2000 – the Red Sox (three), Giants (three), Yankees (two) and Cardinals (two) – to give a clear starting point when trying to declare the top 21^st century dynasty of professional baseball.

It’s clearly visible that this is a dead heat. You know the drill. In order to decide, I assigned a point total to each stat category. The top finisher in each category – World Series victories, division titles, regular season winning percentage, playoff appearances, total playoff wins and postseason playoff winning percentage – receives four points, followed by three for second place and so on. I also gave teams an extra point for each playoff series they won. The final tally came out as followed:

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: St. Louis Cardinals. Any fan of one the final four teams can state a statistic on how their team deserved to be the one represented. New York dominated the AL East. Boston and San Francisco won a third World Series and were more efficient in the postseason when they did make it. None of that jumped out the way this did:

The Cardinals took the cake with 16 postseason series victories.

That’s out of this world consistent. The Yankees came close, carried by consistently owning the division crown, whereas the two teams that take advantage of playoff appearances the most, Boston and San Francisco, found themselves looking up.

Honorable Mention: Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants

College Volleyball

Some of these don’t take much time. Penn State has six championships, including two 38-0 seasons. USC, Stanford, Nebraska, Texas and UCLA have had strong programs, but none have approached the dominance by the Nittany Lions. Let’s just get to the point. Without a hint of doubt, your winner is…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Penn State Nittany Lions.

College Baseball

Unlike most of the other sports in the discussion, the full 2000 season is included since it began post-millennium. Texas, South Carolina and Oregon State all have a pair of titles, with nobody else claiming more than one. Naturally, only those three are in consideration. However, the Beavers have only made four CWS appearances compared to six for South Carolina and eight for Texas. Typically that would lead one to believe that the answer is obviously the Longhorns.

Take a look at overall winning percentage: Texas is 661-294 (.664) in this millennium, lagging considerably behind the Gamecocks at 713-289 (.712). So what do we value? Winning more regular season games against what is typically stronger competition, or taking overall postseason play? The latter carries more weight. Here is how each team fared in NCAA Tournament play with its overall statistics tallied at the bottom.

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Texas Longhorns. In what ended up being the closest contest of any sport so far, Texas prevailed because of one statistic: CWS appearances. South Carolina may hold a relatively significant advantage in regular season record and have a slim lead in postseason record, but they couldn’t get the job done in enough Super Regionals. One could argue that Texas’ lows were below South Carolina’s, but they consistently made the trip to Omaha and that familiarity with getting to the final eight put them over the edge.

College Football

Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, and Florida all have multiple FBS championships to their names, while Appalachian State and North Dakota State have dominated the FCS level well enough to be included in the discussion. USC vacated one of its two national championships and will not be considered. As we’ve come to find out, tables can be really useful when measuring statistics of multiple teams. Unfortunately, college football has more variables than most so let’s compare like it is 2000 (and we’re using WordPad).

Alabama: The Crimson Tide are the only team in this span with three FBS national title victories. Their overall record takes a hit because of 21 vacated wins, but stands at 116-57, including a 6-5 bowl mark – which is also hindered by one vacated victory and two seasons in which ‘Bama was ineligible for the postseason. They have garnered three SEC titles and five SEC West crowns – most of which have come under Nick Saban. The pre-Saban era was somewhat dark for Alabama, which had a (now shocking) 3-8 season in 2000. The loss of 21 victories could really come back to bite the team that is likely the first one on everybody’s college football power shortlist.

Florida: Florida boasts two national titles (thanks, Tebow) complemented by a 137-56 overall record. If Alabama had kept its wins, Florida would be one game ahead in the loss column and tied with the Tide for overall victories. In bowl play, Florida has a lackadaisical 7-6 mark. They have picked up three SEC Titles and have headed the SEC East four times.

LSU: Consistency in a more than tough conference is what could separate LSU from the group. Like every team on this list besides Alabama, the Tigers have a pair of national championships. Their overall record of 151-45 is only topped by Ohio State. They’ve won nine bowl games compared to six losses and have not missed out on the postseason. They’ve picked up four conference titles and five SEC West titles along the way to top both Florida and Alabama in those areas.

Ohio State: Surprised to see a Big Ten team here? You shouldn’t be. Despite a negative stigma built around the conference in recent years, Ohio State has been among the most dominant teams lately. The Buckeyes’ 157-36 overall record is hard to argue with. An 8-7 bowl record with a few postseason embarrassments could be improved on. What really couldn’t be is a sensational seven conference titles – which reasonably would be eight if not for a postseason ban on a 12-0 squad in 2012. The Buckeyes may not have the numbers to claim best of this century now, but with Urban Meyer pulling the strings, it might not be too long until they do.

North Dakota State: If we were only talking about the last four years, the Bison would breeze through the competition. Their 63-3 record with four national titles is, well, absurd. Before that? North Dakota State swiftly comes back to Earth with a more reasonable, but still strong, 74-40 mark. Did you already do the math? That’s an overall record of 137-43

…and I should probably mention they have a 20-2 postseason record.

20 wins. Two losses.

The Bison made the move from Division II to FCS in this time period and were ineligible for postseason play in multiple 10-1 seasons, otherwise they very well could have added to that title total. Which, quite frankly, is a little scary. One thing that isn’t as scary is this game. And this one in the same season. Sometimes you find things while researching that you wish you never did. Those qualify.

Appalachian State: While the Bison were fiddling around with moving up from Division II, another squad was busy winning national championships and knocking off the winningest-program in FBS history. That was the Mountaineers of Appalachian State. Their record of 131-52 is a modest amount below North Dakota State’s. It isn’t the regular season that separates these two FCS programs. The Mountaineers postseason mark, despite a three-peat from 2005-2007, is 19-8, considerably worse than the Bison’s…let me say it again…20-2.

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: North Dakota State Bison. I get it. Strength of schedule for the Bison isn’t anywhere near what Ohio State, let alone Alabama, Florida and LSU, face on a week-to-week basis. Their national titles are much less publicized and viewed. They don’t have NFL prospects filling up the first round. They weren’t even in the FCS for part of this era. There are a lot of reasons not to pick them.

Go ahead, write an article on why LSU’s consistency in the SEC makes them the best dynasty of this century, or why Alabama’s three titles set it apart, or how Ohio State’s conference dominance make them the frontrunner. They all have strong cases to disprove my choice.

To me, these issues have to be made relative, not directly compared. Of course North Dakota State doesn’t have to play the LSU defense, the Tim Tebow offense or Nick Saban’s game plan on an annual basis, but they ought to be held to the standards of their competition, not of a league above them. North Dakota State has simply dominated about as much as a modern college football team can in this span. 137-43 in the regular season? Incredible – just as incredible as the others on this list, especially considering transition seasons. That doesn’t set them apart.

A .909 winning percentage in the postseason will. When the Bison play the best competition, they don’t just compete – they absolutely own everyone. Alabama doesn’t. Florida doesn’t. LSU and Ohio State don’t. They’re all tremendous teams, but have not set themselves apart at any part this century the way the Bison have.

Conclusion

The aforementioned follow-up article will now include the St. Louis Cardinals, San Antonio Spurs, New England Patriots, Detroit Red Wings, Kansas Jayhawks men’s hoops, UConn Huskies women’s basketball, Oklahoma State wrestling, Penn State volleyball, Texas baseball and North Dakota State football. Those ten dominant teams will be ranked to determine an ultimate “dynasty of the 21^st century.”

Be sure to check out Night Stuff on KRUI at the stroke of midnight Wednesday mornings as we discuss topics such as this, other sporting news and a few outrageous topics mixed in with a phone always ready to hear your takes. Did you like the article or happen to disagree with some of the choices? Tweet @TheMainStevent or @KRUISports to share your opinion.

The post The 21st Century’s Best Dynasty appeared first on KRUI Radio.

This year, it was the Big 12 co-champions Baylor and TCU that got snubbed big time. Both arguably deserved to make the field of four more than Ohio State. With only four spots, one major conference will have its champion not in the playoffs and that doesn’t take into fact if conference independent Notre Dame is great or if two teams from a single conference are in the top four. During the 2011 season, Southeastern Conference rivals LSU and Alabama finished the regular season #1 and #2, so it is possible that two teams from one conference could make the playoffs with only four spots.

The eight team field this past season would have been #1 Alabama vs. #8 Michigan State, #2 Oregon vs. #7 Mississippi State, #3 Florida State vs. #6 TCU, and #4 Ohio State vs. #5 Baylor. This eight-team field would have been incredible to watch, and who’s to say Ohio State would have actually won the championship if it were eight teams.

The problem with the BCS was the two “best” teams in the country were determined by a combination of human polls and computer rankings. Many years, it was thought the two “best” teams playing in the BCS championship were not actually the two “best” teams. Despite the CFP (College Football Playoff) Selection committee – comprised of Athletic Directors, former coaches, and former players – is a better alternative to the BCS, there is still the possibility for major error.

By the playoff only having four teams, there is still a high probability that the best team won’t be selected into the playoff. That may be the case since not every power conference champion makes the field and teams in smaller conferences such as Boise State or Marshall have virtually no shot at being at least fourth in the rankings.

My idea for increasing competiveness and a better overall playoff is to increase the field to eight teams. The champions from the power 5 conferences (SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, and Pac 12) would have each of their champions clinch a berth in the playoffs. Regarding the remaining three spots, one would go to the top ranked non-power 5 conference team (Mountain West, Sun Belt, Conference USA, American Athletic, and MAC) and the final two spots would be for at large teams.

This system would give teams with one or even two losses the opportunity to compete for a chance to play in the playoffs. Basically, it will eliminate the TCU and Baylor controversy for future years. When determining the playoff field, there shouldn’t be that much controversy of who gets in and who doesn’t.

Increase Competitiveness

The competitiveness in my opinion would increase with a larger playoff field. The reason for this is because with more playoff slots, there are opportunities for more teams to compete for a spot in the playoffs. Whereas with the four team field, teams are eliminated from the playoff hunt when they have as few as 1-2 losses. In the case of Michigan State, they had two losses, but they were at the hands of two very good teams that ultimately played in the college football championship. With regard to smaller schools such as Boise State, it is pretty much one loss and they’re out of contention. Boise State loss a road game week one against Ole Miss and lost at Air Force in their fifth game. Ole Miss finished the season 9-4 and Air Force had an even better record at 10-3. After losing their second game, they won nine straight games to close out the season including beating Pac 12 South champion Arizona.

For the people who think a two loss smaller school shouldn’t make it, that’s fine. However, what about an 11-0 Marshall team. Marshall went into week 14 11-0, but their ranking was 24^th. Even though Marshall didn’t finish undefeated, it’s safe to say they wouldn’t have climbed twenty spots to make the playoffs. Having an increased playoff with a berth for conference champions in the major conferences, the best smaller school would clinch, and two additional at large spots, would leave the doors open for many teams after losing a game or two. The chance to make the playoffs shouldn’t be over after one loss for any team.

Rivalries Will Still Be Competitive

If there are any Alabama or Auburn fans that saw this article, gave it a chance, and then read it until this point, continuing to read will bear good news. Do not worry; rivalry games will not be affected by an eight-team playoff. Most notably, the Alabama vs. Auburn rivalry. There is speculation that this year if there was an eight team playoff, Alabama wouldn’t have tried to win that rivalry game. This would have been the case since Alabama was ranked so high, win or lose it would have still made the playoffs. However, a solution to that problem is that the four higher seeds (#1-4) could host the first round on their campuses. Having that plan in place would have teams playing competitively the entire regular season. Similar to how one loss could remove a team from making the four team playoff, one loss would remove a team from hosting the first round on their campus’.

Season Wouldn’t Be Extended 

The college football bowl season as we know it is about three weeks long. It began this past year on December 20^th, and finished January 4^th (The actual football championship was January 12^th, but I’m referring to the final actual bowl game). Within that period of time, there were three Saturdays. My idea is that the three rounds of the eight team playoff would be played during those three Saturdays. The round of eight would take place the first Saturday, the final four the second Saturday, and the first Saturday of January would be the national championship.

Health Of Players

To ensure the health of the players, I think there are two solutions. One of them is to increase the amount of scholarship players a team can have. When asked about the possibility of an eight team playoff on the Dan Patrick Show, Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer responded, “”You can’t. You better give us 110 scholarships then, because you’re down. I can’t speak for Oregon, I can speak for Ohio State. That when they added — When they had 85 scholarships there were 12 games. Now there’s 15. And the last three they added aren’t against smaller — they’re heavyweight prizefights. You just can’t do it.” Increasing the number of scholarship players to 110 is a great idea; so collegiate athletes don’t have to play as many as 16 games in a single season.

Another solution on top of increasing scholarships is to lessen the regular season by one game. I think having the regular season be 11 games instead of 12 would not only ensure the health of players, but also, increase competitiveness. Each team would have eight conference games and three non-conference games.

Bowl Games Will Still Be Relevant

It’s only eight teams making the playoffs, not the entire top 25. There will still be plenty of great teams that don’t make the playoffs, take for instance this year. Despite eight teams making the playoffs, teams like Kansas State, Missouri, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, and Arizona would all be eligible for big bowl games. Not only will the level of bowl games remain high, but with an increased playoff field, there will be more exciting and thrilling games for college football fans.

Conclusion 

All in all, the eight-team playoff will make college football better and give the fans what they deserve. With regards to TCU and Baylor, there shouldn’t be that much controversy about who was more deserving of making the playoffs. Limiting the playoffs to four teams creates a reality that the best team in college football may not be selected into the playoffs.

Having only four spots doesn’t guarantee every major conference champion a spot, makes it virtually impossible for a smaller school like Boise State or Marshall to make it, and eliminates teams with as little as 1-2 losses from competing to make the playoffs. The current four team playoff system had a lot of controversy this past year, and it’s not going away. The eight team playoff would be perfect for college football.

The post College Football Playoff Needs Eight Teams appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The Hawkeyes ultimately responded the call and will leave Champaign with a 30-14 victory over the Illinois Fighting Illini this afternoon.

Jake Rudock had a nice game after struggling last weekend against Minnesota completing 14 of his 21 attempted passes for 210 yards and 2 touchdowns. His counterpart, CJ Beathard came in about midway through the fourth quarter and threw an outstanding touchdown pass to Damond Powell in the corner of the end zone to give Iowa the eventual 30-14 final score.

Offensively, the Hawkeyes put forth their best effort of the season in total offense, as well as rushing yards. Iowa amassed 587 yards of total offense, with 304 of those yards coming on the ground.

Coach Kirk Ferentz was proud of his team after getting a season saving victory.

“We just needed to win today,” Ferentz said in his press conference. “The yardage is not that important.”

Mark Weisman had the best game of his senior season to this point with 134 yards on 23 carries. After the game, Weisman talked about the success of the running back corps as a whole.

“Seeing that 300-yard rushing number was really cool,” Weisman said. “We just took it one play at a time, not looking forward or looking back.” “It is a credit to the guys up front for doing all the dirty work,” he added.

Another senior who stepped up big for Iowa was tight end Ray Hamilton. Hamilton is not known as a pass catching tight end, but for more of a blocking tight end. He ended up catch four passes for twenty yards, but the big kicker was the two touchdowns that he hauled in from quarterback Jake Rudock. Those were the first touchdowns as an Iowa Hawkeye for Hamilton.

He talked about the collective effort of the tight end group, which also saw fellow tight end Jake Duzey catch 3 passes for 110 yards including a 53-yard connection from Rudock to the junior tight end.

“I have gotten a hard time in the past about not having any touchdowns,” Hamilton said when asked how if his teammates have given him some playful jabs throughout his time at Iowa. “We just continue to work together as a group, and we are happy for each other,” he added when asked about his teammate Jake Duzey and the day he had. We just have to keep swinging and keep the foot on the gas pedal, nothing else matters.”

Despite the success of the offense, Iowa struggled in the first half finding the end zone and converting on fourth down. Iowa was among one of the best teams in the country converting on fourth downs, but went 0 for 3 on fourth down conversions Saturday afternoon.

Defensively, it was a bounce back game for a unit that was blown of Minneapolis to the tune of 51 points. The Hawkeye defense only allowed 235 yards of total offense to the Fighting Illini.

The defense got the first points on the board for Iowa after Illinois quarterback Wes Lunt was flagged for intentional grounding in the end zone, which resulted in a safety and an early 2-0 lead for Iowa.

John Lowdermilk and Nate Meier led the Iowa defense with seven tackles apiece, Greg Mabin and Jordan Lomax each had six tackles, and Josey Jewell and Quinton Alston tallied five tackles. The defense desperately needed this game to get back some confidence leading up to the last two games of the season.

Iowa still somewhat controls their destiny in the Big Ten West. With Minnesota’s loss to Ohio State earlier today, the winner of the Nebraska-Wisconsin game will take over sole possession of first place in the division. That sets up well for Iowa, as Wisconsin and Nebraska are the two remaining teams on Iowa’s schedule.

“We have some things we need to work on,” Ferentz said about preparation for the next two weeks. “We’re playing two excellent opponents.”

Minnesota plays Nebraska and Wisconsin the two weeks of the season, so if Iowa wins out and Minnesota loses at least one of those games the Hawkeyes would be heading to Indianapolis the first weekend of December to play in the Big Ten title game presumably against Ohio State.

The start time for the game at Kinnick Stadium between Iowa and Wisconsin has yet to be announced. We will have the game on 89.7 KRUI. Jeremy Meyer and Blake Jorgenson will have the call next Saturday, so be sure to listen to the battle between the Hawkeyes and Badgers next Saturday.

The post Weisman, Hamilton lead Hawkeyes past Fighting Illini appeared first on KRUI Radio.

EAST:

Michigan State (6-1, 3-0): After an early season loss to Oregon, Sparty has won their last five games, but they haven’t made it easy.  On October 4, they led Nebraska 27-3 in the 4th quarter but had to get a late interception to hold on for a 27-22 win.  They struggled in a 45-31 win against Big Ten doormat Purdue, and struggled for one half against lowly Indiana.  While Michigan State is winning games, they need to improve if they want to get back into the playoff conversation.

Ohio State (5-1, 2-0): Ohio State got off to a rough start, as they barely squeaked by Navy in the opening and suffered Urban Meyer’s first home loss at Ohio State in week 2 against Virginia Tech.  Since then, however the Buckeyes have been firing on all cylinders and are averaging a whopping 56 points in the four games since.  Ohio State’s offense, led by redshirt freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett, appears to be finding its stride at the right time with a trip to East Lansing looming on November 8.

Maryland (5-2, 2-1): Big Ten newcomer Maryland may be one of the hardest teams to figure out.  They have a good offense, led by quarterback C.J. Brown and dynamic play-making receiver Stefon Diggs, however the defense still has some questions.  Maryland did show some mental toughness, scoring 38 of the next 45 points after falling behind 14-0 vs Iowa this past week.  Maryland’s schedule gets considerably tougher as they travel to Penn State and Wisconsin for their next two games, followed by a visit from Michigan State.  The key for the Terps will be the health of C.J. Brown, who has been knocked out of four games this season.

Rutgers (5-2, 1-2): Rutgers is another team that varies from week-to-week. After a hard fought victory over Michigan on October 5, Rutgers turned back around and got crushed by Ohio State in Columbus this past weekend.  Gary Nova is very hot and cold as a quarterback, and the offense  as a whole is inconsistent.  Rutgers might have the toughest remaining schedule of any Big Ten team, as they still have to play Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Maryland.

Michigan (3-4, 1-2): Where to begin with this Michigan team.  Brady Hoke’s team is coming off a bye and will be hosting Michigan State this week.  They got a huge win two weeks ago against Penn State, possibly saving Brady Hoke’s job for the time being.  However, this team is still a mess.  The offense is a complete disaster–the offensive line can’t block anybody and Devin Gardner still turns the ball over too much–and the defense is inconsistent.  It really doesn’t seem like Brady Hoke will be in Ann Arbor much longer, as the losses will continue to pile up unless something changes drastically.

Penn State (4-2, 1-2): Penn State looked like a dark horse team at the beginning of the season, even getting their bowl ban lifted.  However, their flaws were exposed in a 29-6 loss to Northwestern where they were dominated in every phase of the game.  After a bye week, they came back and lost to lowly Michigan. It doesn’t get any easier as Penn State hosts red-hot Ohio State this week.  A once promising season has faded into mediocrity for Penn State.

Indiana (3-4, 0-3): Indiana’s problem this season is the same problem they’ve had for years.  Their offense can score and be as explosive as any, but their defense remains a huge issue.  After a stunning victory at Missouri on September 20, Indiana proceeded to get destroyed at home by Maryland.  Tevin Coleman might be the best running back in the nation, but now that quarterback Nate Sudfeld is out for the season and a suspect defense, it’s hard to imagine Indiana getting many more wins.

WEST:

Minnesota (6-1, 3-0): Don’t look now, but Minnesota is first in the Big Ten.  Jerry Kill’s team has gotten off to a great start, thanks to a favorable schedule, and great defense.  After dominating Michigan three weeks ago, Minnesota was able to squeak by Northwestern and Purdue the past two weeks.  The offense for the Gophers is very one-dimensional as Mitch Leidner is more of a threat running the ball than he is passing, but David Cobb is another one of the many great running backs in the Big Ten.  However, Minnesota’s last four games are brutal, as they play Iowa, Ohio State, Nebraska, and Wisconsin to end their season.

Nebraska (6-1, 2-1): Nebraska is probably the best team in the Big Ten West. They had a great comeback fall short against Michigan State, but bounced back and dominated Northwestern in a 38-17 victory. They are led by All-American candidate Ameer Abdullah at running back and Tommy Armstrong is becoming a very dangerous dual-threat quarterback.  After many calls for head coach Bo Pelini to be fired after last season, this team has responded and clearly look to be the best team in the Big Ten West.

Iowa (5-2, 2-1): It has been a very up and down season for the Hawkeyes.  There was a quarterback controversy between Jake Rudock and C.J. Beathard for a couple weeks, and the offense has been inconsistent for most of the year.  While the Hawks are 5-2, a frustrating loss to Iowa State early in the season and shaky play in a lot of their other games have been cause for concern for Iowa fans.  Iowa has some big games coming up, starting in two weeks at Minnesota in a game that will be crucial for determining the division.

Northwestern (3-4, 2-2): Northwestern has had a very strange season.  They played exceptionally poorly in their first three games, losing two of them, Northwestern responded with a shocking 29-6 domination against Penn State and then beat Wisconsin the following week at home.  Unlike typical Northwestern teams, the defense is the strong part of the team and the offense has been ineffective for the most part with Trevor Siemian at the helm.

Wisconsin (4-2, 1-1): Wisconsin has been the same team for years now.  They have arguably the best running back in the nation with Melvin Gordon, however their offense is still largely ineffective thanks to a non-existent passing game.  Tanner McEvoy struggled early in the season, and was benched in their loss against Northwestern.  He was replaced by last year’s starter Joel Stave, who hasn’t been much better.  The running game of Melvin Gordon and Corey Clement is great, but Wisconsin won’t be doing anything until they have some semblance of a passing game.

Purdue (3-5, 1-3): Purdue has taken some strides in recent weeks.  Austin Appleby led the team to their first Big Ten victory in the Darrell Hazell era on October 4th at Illinois, and they hung in there against Michigan State and were winning for most of the game this past weekend against Minnesota, but lost 39-38.  Purdue likely won’t be going bowling this year, but things are looking up for the Boilermakers.

Illinois (3-4, 0-3): Illinois football is an absolute fiasco.  In the Ron Zook era, it was always the offense that couldn’t seem to get it done, and now that the offense is finally rolling, the defense can’t stop anybody.  Illinois is easily the worst team in the Big Ten, and it’s not even close.  Tim Beckman is 1-18 in his career in Big Ten play, and will almost certainly be fired after this season, if not before.

The first 6-8 games are upon us and this much is clear from the Big Ten.  There are three contenders (Michigan State, Ohio State, Nebraska), three terrible teams (Indiana, Purdue, Illinois), and then everybody else. With some of the biggest match-ups yet to be played, the Big Ten will be entertaining from now until December.

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