They’re back! College-themed race helmets!
Previously on the site we have shared a look at auto racing helmets honoring the Oregon Ducks and Alabama Crimson Tide. Today we were made aware of an Indiana Hoosiers inspired helmet being worn by driver Kraig Kinser. Indiana may be a basketball school but we will give Kinser a thumbs up here for emulating the look of Indiana’s football helmet, straight down to the face mask. That is just cool.
Video compilation of Hoosiers in winter conditioning
Yesterday we took a look in to defending Big 12 and Fiesta Bowl champion Oklahoma State practices and witnessed team tug of war and flipping tires and more. Today we look at a team on the opposite end of the spectrum, as the Indiana Hoosiers are hoping to start building some sort of winning tradition.
Not really much to it, but it’s football and that’s more than enough to be worth watching in our book. We’ll give Indiana extra points for the Batman sounding theme building a crescendo throughout the duration of the video.
HT: Football Scoop
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Maryland’s runway disaster results in win
I don’t want to kick some programs when they’re down, so the Miami Hurricanes will be excused from this ranking for the time being. Although I will say they were considered for allowing those crash-test dummy Maryland state flag uniforms to mess with them in the rain Monday night. Anyway, on with this week’s powerless rankings.
1. Louisiana Lafayette Rajin Cajuns: the powerless rankings begin with Louisiana-Lafayette, who allowed more points than any other FBS program in week one. The Ragin’ Cajuns allowed Oklahoma State to drop 61 points on them, consisting of seven touchdowns. The Cowboys passed for 458 yards in the game (second most passing yards allowed in week one, ahead of Washington vs. FCS Eastern Washington) and 208 yards on the ground (ranking Louisiana-Lafayette 97th in the FBS). This sets up our first true pillow-fight of the season, when Louisiana-Lafayette travels to Kent State in week two.
2. Memphis Tigers: You get credit for losing to a quality opponent (Mississippi State) but being down 31-7 at the half at home is laughable. Mississippi State put up 645 yards of offense in a record breaking night for Dan Mullen’s team. That’s a whole lot of yards. this could be another painful week for the Tigers of Memphis, but there is nothing new to see here.
3. TCU Defense: the big question for TCU was supposed to be the offense, without Andy Dalton under center. Baylor has some playmakers on offense, captained by Robert Griffin III, but TCU was scorched for 50 points for the first time ince allowing BYU to score 50 on them in 2005 (and TCU won that game). I don’t expect this to happen too often, and if TCU doesn’t give up more than 30 points the rest of the season I would not be surprised. Consider this a wake up call.
4. Maryland Uniforms: Uhhh, we thought they were bad before. Then they broke these out…
Give them credit though. Maryland pulled out a win against the Miami Hurricanes. Randy Edsall’s dream job is off to a good start. Maryland gets a couple weeks to cook up another surprise uniform before taking on West Virginia on the pivotal September 17 for the ACC.
5. Kent State Golden Flashes : I’ll give you that you were going up against one of the top defenses in the nation, but even against such a superior opponent (Alabama) on the road, you have to manage more than zero yards of rushing. If not, make sure you head home without going in the red in rushing yardage. Kent State rushed for negative nine yards of rushing against Alabama. Nothing golden or flashy about that performance.
6. New Mexico Football: New Mexico State hosted Ohio from the MAC and were steamrolled 44-24. Forget about running the football. New Mexico State had six (6!!!) rushing yards against the Bobcats on 23 attempts (kind of looks good next to Kent State). New Mexico, on the other hand, rushed for 150 yards but were unable to score a ton of points against Colorado State at home. The Rams handed the Lobos a season opening loss by a 14-10 decision. Next up? A road trip to play the Arkansas Razorbacks.
7. Indiana Hoosiers: Hoosiers lost to Ball State. I know that I should not expect much from Indiana until their big time quarterback recruit steps foot on campus, but I did expect the Kevin Wilson era to start with a victory on the road against in-state opponent Ball State. The MAC is celebrating a win against the Big Ten, and it’s all your fault Hoosiers!
8. SMU Mustangs: Way to leave me hanging Mustangs. I spoke highly optimistically of you in my Crystal Ball Run upset alert for week one and you just didn’t keep up with texas A&M. Remember, Texas A&M is being cast as the bad guy by some in the state of Texas. You’re supposed to put up a fight! Any time June Jones has to bench Kyle Padron early in a game, it’s not good news. I still feel SMU can make a run in Conference USA, but they have a long way to go before matching up with Houston.
9. Duke Blue Devils: If you are from a BCS AQ conference and you lose to an FCS squad, albeit one of the better ones, you earn an automatic spot on the list. Really, Duke should have already been on this list. Duke lost to Richmond form the powerful CAA from the FCS ranks. Good win for the Spiders. ACC teams picked up five wins against FCS programs, including wins over William & Mary (Virginia) and James Madison (North Carolina) from the CAA.
10. Mother Nature: Weather delays are supposed to be for baseball, not football. Hope you got everything out of your system because we have some pretty big games coming up and I don’t want you to play a role in any of them!
Previous Rankings
Week 1
Get used to the color red
The colors we most associate with December are red and green, but this December we will only be seeing red in the Big Ten championship game if my predictions come true. As you will see from my Legends Division and Leaders Division predictions on Examiner.com today I am looking for a Wisconsin vs. Nebraska Big Ten championship game this season.
And how fitting is it that Wisconsin will be Nebraska’s first Big Ten opponent? The Cornhuskers will travel to Madison and get an explosive introduction to the Big Ten. Nebraska hosts Ohio State the following week and will play road games at Michigan and Penn State, homes to the two largest stadiums in the conference and country.
Are the Huskers tough enough for this? We will find out. I think so.
For archival purposes, here are my division predictions as well as pick for most valuable player in the Big Ten. Click the links for further discussion on my thoughts.
Chicago Tribune Silver Football (Big Ten MVP)
Dan Persa, Northwestern
Stephen Prather from Coaches By The Numbers breaks it down
Is Bret Bielema the best coach in the Big Ten? What about Kirk Ferentz? Photo source: Getty Images
Last week I was pleased to introduce a new guest to the podcast when Stephen Prather from the new website Coaches By The Numbers stopped by to discuss the ACC coaches. I loved having him on and hearing how he and the rest of the staff analyze the coaches in the conference, so I decided to invite him back to discuss the Big Ten coaches.
While the Big Ten has five of the coaches in Coaches By The Numbers’ Top 50, there is a level of uncertainty entering the 2011 season. Will Joe Paterno retire or not and which way could Penn State turn in the future? What exactly is Luke Fickell going to do in his head coaching debut on an interim basis at Ohio State? How hot is the seat for Ron Zook at Illinois? How quickly can Brady Hoke turn things around at Michigan? Can Mark Dantonio repeat Michigan State’s success form a season ago? And how does Bo Pelini get his team to adjust to life in a new conference, when the expectations are already pointing toward an appearance in the Big Ten championship game?
Whew. This is going to be a fun season of Big Ten football it would seem.
As I did last week with my ACC coaches ranking, I decided to share my own Big Ten coaches rankings along with the posting of this podcast.
1. Bret Bielema, Wisconsin (49-16 overall) -If I’m starting a program right now and have to choose one Big Ten coach to lead it, Bielema is my guy.
2. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa (101-81) -Sometimes gets overlooked, although I’m not quite sure why. Has done a remarkable job with the Hawkeyes.
3. Bo Pelini, Nebraska (30-12) – Two straight Big 12 championship game appearances do not happen by accident. Now let’s see how he does in the Big Ten, entering as a division favorite right from the start.
4. Joe Paterno, Penn State (401-135-3) – No doubt Paterno is the most iconic of the coaches in this group, and his longevity should be commended. Would love to see one more great team cached by Paterno before his time is done.
5. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern (33-29) -Big fan of Fitzgerald, but win-less in bowl games (0-3). Would be interested to see what he could do elsewhere if given an opportunity he is interested in. One of the class acts in the country.
6. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State (51-36) – Last year was a great year and a great story for Dantonio and the Spartans. Had Michigan State played better (competitively) in the Capital One Bowl against Alabama, I would have no problem listing him higher right now. Let’s see if he can keep the Spartans going from start to finish in 2011.
7. Brady Hoke, Michigan (47-50) – Tremendous potential to move up quickly in this ranking, and plenty of optimism after the Rich Rodriguez era. Let’s see how he uses Denard Robinson and if the defense improves.
8. Jerry Kill, Minnesota (127-73) – Kill has plenty of reasons to like him, as Prather explains in the podcast, but he has plenty of work to do before Minnesota can start booking a trip for a postseason bowl game. If the Golden Gophers start winning a couple of games, I will consider moving him up a spot.
9. Danny Hope, Purdue (44-34) – It’s not easy coaching football at Purdue when you are in the same conference as Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Wisconsin, and now Nebraska. Never mind the fact that Purdue is in the same state as Notre Dame.
10. Ron Zook, Illinois (51-59) – Looking like the final year for the Zooker in Champaigne. For now we’ll keep him just above the first-time head coaches in the conference.
11. Kevin Wilson, Indiana (0-0) – Wilson is making his head coaching debut and has been grooming for a head coaching opportunity for years after serving as an assistant at Miami, Oklahoma and Northwestern. He’ll have to start at the bottom, much like Indiana, and work his way up here.
12. Luke Fickell, Ohio State (0-0) – No offense to him, but he’s the new kid on the block and full of unknown potential.
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