David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

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.

Comments Welcome

Southern Teams Got Religion: It’s Football.

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

What happened to the Big Ten ─ the best conference in America in the 1950’s and early 1960’s ─ is that teams from the south long ago integrated their teams with black players. Then, too, population shifts with more Americans living in the south and west produced greater numbers of high school football players. And warm weather allows players to be outside practicing throughout the year.

In places like the deep south and Texas there’s a zeal and commitment about football that helps fuel the success of college teams from those areas. The Big Ten likes to boast about its history, but in the SEC teams are making history.

The SEC produces monster players and coaches. A lot of college coaches will tell you the most difficult high school player to recruit is a stud defensive lineman like Nick Fairley who helped Auburn to last season’s national championship. The south’s football factory specializes in guys like Fairley and South Carolina freshman defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. And the old factory turned out a monster quarterback in 6-5, 248-pound wonderman Cam Newton, the QB on last year’s Auburn team.

Two coaches with Big Ten ties will be on the sidelines when Alabama and LSU play tomorrow. Don’t hold your breath that either Alabama’s Nick Saban or LSU’s Les Miles have any plans to come back to the Midwest. Saban, who once was head coach at Michigan State, left the NFL to coach at tradition-rich Alabama and Miles reportedly turned down Michigan to stay at LSU where he’s won one national title (Saban has championships at both LSU and Alabama). Miles was once an assistant coach at Michigan.

The SEC coaching roster also includes the “old ball coach,” Steve Spurrier. He has a national trophy in his cabinet, too, winning one at Florida before going to the NFL and then landing at South Carolina.

The 12 Big Ten head coaches have a total of three national championship trophies in their awards vaults. But Penn State’s Joe Paterno, 84, won all three before his school joined the Big Ten.

So what can the Big Ten do to improve its football product? Well, don’t count too much on improvement. The league is likely to ride along on a scale that from year to year has it weighing in as somewhere between the second best conference and the fourth or fifth.

You can dream about Big Ten programs spending more money on their programs attempting to overtake the SEC, or at least be entrenched at No. 2 among conferences. More cash might attract even better coaches and produce better teams, but Big Ten programs know they are already in a football arms races and are trying to preserve some fiscal balance to maintain a long list of other men’s and women’s sports.

League teams could lower their admission standards and recruiting values to attract talented players with academic and behavioral issues. Not likely, though, since there is only so far schools will go in recruiting problem children.

More realistically what may give the Big Ten football product a boost is growing momentum among schools across the country to improve academic performance and make eligibility more demanding. It seems possible that this measure could cause more of a talent drain on some conferences than on the Big Ten.

Maybe one day we can confidently chant: “We’re No. 2! We’re No. 2!”

Comments Welcome

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.

Comments Welcome