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Big Ten Football Glory Continues to Fade

Posted on November 4, 2011December 28, 2011 by David Shama

Big Ten Conference football long ago gave up its claim to playing the best college football in the land, but its slump in 2011 is newsworthy.

The league’s highest ranked team in the BCS standings is Nebraska at No. 10. There’s not one undefeated team among the 12 Big Ten schools. No one is betting his or her IRA account on the Big Ten having a team in the national championship game next January.

Don’t look for Big Ten players to come even close to hoarding the post-season college football individual awards that recognize player of the year and best performers at various positions. Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson was the league’s glamour guy earlier in the fall but he’s fading fast in the Heisman Trophy race.

And don’t expect search firms to park outside the offices of league coaches after the season trying to woo them to other football programs across the country. The Big Ten football coaching scene is short on star power, although Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz is among the top paid coaches in the nation and Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald ranks with the best 40 and under coaches.

What’s the problem with the Big Ten? Let’s start with the reality that the mighty Ohio State program has slipped because of tattoo-gate. And Michigan, college football’s winningest program, is trying to recover from three seasons under coach Rich Rodriguez.

Ohio State and Michigan were once national powers but not in 2011. Conference newcomer Nebraska boosts the league’s resume and adds a program serious about football, but these aren’t the Cornhuskers that Tom Osborne had winning national championships.

The Big Ten simply doesn’t have enough programs that are both capable and want to compete at the highest level of college football. Southeastern Conference teams have won the last five BCS national titles. The best college football every fall is played in the SEC and Big Ten fans can only drool in anticipation of Saturday’s game of the year showdown between No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama.

Big Ten teams have won two national championships in the last 30 years. During that time conference teams have only won 11 Rose Bowls. There have been five players from Big Ten schools who won the Heisman Trophy, and a few head coaches who have won various national coach of the year awards.

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Worth Noting

Posted on November 4, 2011November 27, 2011 by David Shama

Among teams generating attention this week in the high school football playoffs is Wayzata. The Trojans, who play Osseo at home tonight in a Class 5A semifinals section playoff game, started the season having to replace 10 starters on offense, but have “surprised” coach Brad Anderson with an undefeated record, 9-0.

Among the wins was a 9-0 victory over Eden Prairie, the only loss of the year for the Eagles. Fans can’t help anticipating a possible Prep Bowl rematch later in the month. Anderson said “we gave them some wrinkles” last time but he expects Eden Prairie coach Mike Grant to make adjustments if the teams play again.

Even if Wayzata wins tonight by containing what Anderson describes as an “explosive” Osseo offense, the coach probably won’t be ready to say this is his best team. The 2008 state champion Trojans averaged almost 48 points per game. “This team is not as talented but you judge a team by what they have accomplished,” he said.

Ron Stolski, the all-time Minnesota high school leader in coaching wins with 337, has Brainerd back in the playoffs. The Warriors, 7-3, play Moorhead, 5-5, tomorrow in St. Cloud. Stolski has five sophomore starters.

The 2-6 Vikings, with a bye this week, have lost five of their six games by seven points or less. The only one-sided loss was 39-10 to Chicago.

Adrian Peterson has only caught 16 passes in eight games, probably not enough receptions to maximize the team’s offense, although the defense dictates play selection. With eight more regular season games remaining, Peterson is first in NFL rushing with 798 yards. If he finishes with 1,600 yards it will be the second best total of his five-year NFL career.

Wide receiver Percy Harvin leads the Vikings in pass receptions (31) and receiving yards (334). Among running backs with 10 or more carries, he’s averaging a team best 9.4 yards per carry.

Included in the players who have made a favorable impression of late on Gophers coach Jerry Kill is wide receiver Devin Crawford–Tufts, a true freshman from Edina. Tufts has caught six passes for 132 yards, averaging 26.4 yards per reception. Kill has noted the 18-year-old’s willingness to learn.

“Well, he’s been a young man that has come in and ─ I mean, he’s done a heck of a job,” Kill said. “I mean, it’s like anything when he came in and he was like a baby deer, just learning how to do things. …”

Injured Gophers who won’t play in tomorrow’s game at Michigan State: Brendan Beal, Josh Campion, Jimmy Gjere, Eric Jacques, Marcus Jones and Troy Stoudermire.

An ESPN2 segment on Gophers football legend Bruce Smith is scheduled to air on Sunday about 9 a.m. Minneapolis time. The segment will be part of the “Outside the Lines” program.

Dick Jonckowski, starting his 26^th season as the Gophers basketball public address announcer, recalled it was 25 years ago this month that he emceed an event honoring cowboy film star Roy Rogers. The event at the Minnesota Horse and Hunt Club celebrated Rogers’ 75^th birthday. When Rogers’ signature song “Happy Trails” was played, he started crying, Jonckowski said.

FSN has coverage of the Gophers-North Dakota hockey game tonight while the Big Ten Network televises tomorrow evening. The Gophers are off to a 4-0 WCHA start in part because of the goal scoring of freshman Kyle Rau. He and sophomore Erik Haula lead the team in goals with seven each.

The Twins will hold their seventh annual Diamond Awards Dinner on Thursday, January 26 at Target Field.

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Gophers Recruiting? Let’s Be Honest.

Posted on November 2, 2011November 27, 2011 by David Shama

Rivals.com ranks the Gophers 2012 football recruiting class last in the Big Ten. Is that a precursor of more losing seasons in Dinkytown? Well, that depends on whether your beer stein is half empty or half full.

Rivals lists 22 verbal commitments for the Gophers and only six of those players had offers from other BCS schools, according to local Rivals expert Zach Johnson. “They have a lot of solid commitments right now, but no one I think on paper that would excite a lot of people,” he told Sports Headliners.

The Gophers have nearly a full recruiting class already and more commitments than 10 other Big Ten schools, according to the Rivals website. That means there’s not much remaining potential for the Gophers to bolster their rankings by Rivals and others who evaluate college recruiting.

But Johnson, whose byline is seen on GopherIllustrated.com, pointed out that because many of the Gophers recruits committed early they didn’t position themselves to collect multiple offers from BCS schools. Mankato West quarterback Phil Nelson is an example of a player who could certainly have had more than the one offer from Minnesota. “I would want to count a kid like that,” Johnson said.

What Gophers fans can count on with Kill and his staff is a recruiting approach that won’t shoot for the moon trying to lure high profile four and five-star prospects. Kill and his assistants will trust their evaluation skills to identify talent they can develop into Big Ten winners.

“That’s what he’s going to have to do to build this program because right now ─ with the current status of the program ─ you’re not going to be able to lure in a lot of four-star recruits that have offers from the top teams in BCS conferences,” Johnson said.

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