First game is Sept 2nd
32 days away.
HOF GAME this week in the NFL
2015 MMA BETTING CHAMP
31 Days now...........TICK.......TOCK
Big Ten getting a title game finally. Now thier season wont end is November
CHICAGO -- Commissioner Jim Delany expects the Big Ten to hold a championship game next season, when Nebraska joins and brings the league to 12 members.
He also said teams will likely play nine conference games instead of eight in the future to help preserve rivalries.
"I think there's a real consensus among our athletic directors to do that," Delany said Monday at the league's football media days. "How quickly we can do that? We can't do that in the next year or two. I'm hopeful we can make some progress for years three, four. Hopefully, it's not three or four, but it could be depending on the contractual commitments."
The timetable for the championship game is sooner.
Delany expects there to be one next season, although he's not sure where it would be played and if the site would rotate. He also wants to sell naming rights to the game.
Delany said he's spoken to representatives from potential host sites and Chicago is in the running. But he's not sure he'll have time in the next four months to make visits. The conference could choose one for the first game and then tour venues in the spring.
"I just think that selection, the philosophy, the economics around a championship venue may require more focused energy than we have right at this moment," Delany said.
Luring Nebraska from the Big 12 and adding one of college football's traditional powers put the Big Ten in position to add what figures to be a lucrative championship game to the schedule. It also created some issues.
The conference now has to figure out how to align into two six-team divisions while maintaining long-standing rivalries, like Michigan-Ohio State. Delany hopes to have that resolved in the next 30 to 45 days.
While geography will be considered, it's not the top priority. Competitive balance and rivalries trump that.
"I don't know that we'll be able to preserve every trophy game or every rivalry game, but I can tell you that we're going to go through great lengths to make sure the traditions and the rivalries are respected," Delany said. "I've seen other expansions where you expand your conference, you don't increase the number of games and play each other less."
Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne said "there's a framework there that's pretty good" for the division alignment, although nothing's been decided.
With the championship game, it's possible teams could meet twice and even in consecutive games. That could mean, for example, back-to-back games for Michigan against Ohio State.
Wolverines coach Rich Rodriguez has no problem with that. At the moment, they play on the final week and Rodriguez would like to continue that "just from a tradition standpoint."
The most important thing is they meet, period, whether they wind up in the same division or not.
Further expansion remains a possibility, although Delany said the Big Ten "is not actively involved" at the moment. He said the league will probably decide in December whether to look into it again.
If it does, Penn State coach Joe Paterno hopes the conference looks east.
"It would help us particularly in the recruiting, the television and all those kinds of things, that are pluses that you get when you expand as we have with Nebraska," he said.
And he was in favor of adding the Cornhuskers, calling it "a good move for the Big Ten."
Penn State played them every year from 1979-83 when Osborne was their coach, but Paterno's history against Nebraska goes back even farther.
"I coached, actually, as an assistant coach long before -- not long before, but before even Bob Devaney or Tom did, when Bill Glassford was coaching out there," Paterno said. "They beat us out there and they had a great running back by -- I think [Bobby] Reynolds was his name, one of the best backs in the country."
He was looking forward to seeing Osborne and got a chance to pose for a picture with him and Delany.
For all the talk about maintaining traditions and rivalries, some coaches were looking forward to creating a new one with Nebraska.
Iowa's Kirk Ferentz called it "a home run" and "a great thing for the conference."
Wisconsin's Bret Bielema approached the league about playing Nebraska in the season finale every year and likes the idea of a conference championship game.
"I don't know where it's going to go," he said. "But for me personally I think it would be a very exciting thing."
Ohio State all the way 2010
lol not
2015 MMA BETTING CHAMP
2015 MMA BETTING CHAMP
29 Days now...........TICK.......TOCK
Defending national champion Alabama is No. 1 atop the USA Today preseason coaches poll.
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Boise State will begin the season ranked No. 5. The Broncos, like Alabama, finished last season 14-0. They beat TCU in the Fiesta Bowl.
The Crimson Tide got 55 of 59 possible first place votes. The other four went to Ohio State, which is No. 2 in the newspaper's ranking.
Florida is third, followed by Texas, which lost to Alabama in the BCS title game in January.
Virginia Tech was sixth, followed by TCU, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa to round out the top 10.
Nos. 11-15 are Oregon, Wisconsin, Miami, Penn State and Pittsburgh. They were followed by LSU, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Arkansas and Florida State, which will be without Bobby Bowden as coach for the first time in 35 years.
Georgia is No. 21, Oregon State No. 22, Auburn No. 23 and Utah and West Virginia tied for No. 24.
The coaches poll is part of the BCS formula used to determine its national champion.
First off, no Temple? WTF is that about? LOL
Second, that Boise/Va Tech game will probably decide who Boise is playing in their bowl game. If they beat Tech, they will run the table. They have like 21/22 starters back from an undefeated team.
Boise all the way
2015 MMA BETTING CHAMP
27 Days now...........TICK.......TOCK
Let us check in with the MAC, to see what happened at media days and find out how the start of fall practice is going.
Preseason favorite: Temple was selected to win the East, while Northern Illinois was picked to win the West.
News and notes: Though the conference media gathering was several weeks ago, it is still worth pointing out that BCS chief Bill Hancock stopped by and held a news conference. He unleashed this gem of a quote: “You MAC schools, you athletes, you are this close to making it in. Don’t forget that.” Gee, thanks for the pep talk.
As a quick reminder, no MAC school has made it into a BCS game. No MAC school has ever come close. Of course, it is Hancock’s job to tout the wonders of the BCS, and yes, it is conceivable for a MAC school to make it in. But how close is a MAC school? For one, there are none ranked in the coaches’ preseason Top 25. For another, one would have to go undefeated. And for another, one would have to trump the non-AQ teams standing ahead of them.
New QB faces: Central Michigan and Western Michigan go into the season without two of the more recognizable faces in the MAC: quarterbacks Dan LeFevour and Tim Hiller. All-MAC QB Tyler Sheehan is also gone from Bowling Green. LeFevour re-wrote a number of MAC, NCAA and school records at Central Michigan, becoming the first player in NCAA history to pass for 12,000 yards and rush for 2,500. Ryan Radcliff, a sophomore, has emerged as the front-runner to replace LeFevour.
But now that fall practice is underway, there is an open competition. Among the others in the mix: junior Derek Rifenbury, redshirt freshman A.J. Westendorp, true freshman Kyle Smith and junior college transfer Brandon Fricke. Radcliff is the only quarterback on the roster who has attempted a pass in a game for the Chips.
Meanwhile at Western Michigan, Alex Carder won the job in the spring to replace Hiller, who set school records for career passing yards and total offense. Carder is a much more vocal leader, so look for some differences when watching the Broncos play this season.
More QBs: There are several other QB battles to watch this fall in the MAC. At Ohio, coach Frank Solich said after the spring the job was wide open between Phil Bates, Boo Jackson and Tyler Tettleton. Jackson had the starting job last season before sustaining a shoulder injury that also kept him out during the spring. Bates, a transfer from Iowa State, sat out last season because of NCAA transfer rules and played very well in the spring with Jackson sidelined.
At Buffalo, the competition to replace the departed Zach Maynard is ongoing between Jerry Davis and Alex Dennison. Davis and Dennison are splitting the reps during practice as they learn the new spread offense, and new coach Jeff Quinn hasn’t ruled out playing both of them.
At Bowling Green, redshirt freshman Matt Schilz is listed ahead of Kellen Pagel in the competition to replace Sheehan.
At Toledo, sophomore Austin Dantin and junior Morgan Williams are competing to take over the starting job from Aaron Opelt. Dantin served as the backup last season. Side note on Toledo -- coach Tim Beckman is going to move into the dorms with his players during fall practice, carrying on the tradition he started last season.
Originally Posted by IWS Zak
Buckeyes #2
2015 MMA BETTING CHAMP
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