And then there was one...

So we managed to fall further behind in the Coaches Poll. Last week we received 4 votes (presumably four spots at 25), and after an off week we dropped to just one. (Who cares I know but run with me on this one.) Now Paterno doesn't vote as the old man has been around long enough to realize it's a waist of time. My guess for the vote is Tressel, he is trying to boost his SOS as it will no doubt be an issue now that they are sitting one upset away from a second straight birth in the Mythical National Championship game. Nothing is public until the final vote so he has nothing to lose.




This all goes back to the insanity that is the Big Ten. There moronic rule about games being over before Thanksgiving is both a joke and a sham. It is a joke in the sense that the rule is amazingly outdated. It was created back when teams played 8 games and the game of football was still, well, a game. It is now one of the biggest businesses in the nation and public perception of your university can earn or lose you millions of dollars. The first year Penn State went to the Rose Bowl, the administration said that applications almost doubled...they went right back down to their normal levels the next year when PSU was not granted such a large national stage. Teams now play 12 games, no bye weeks are alloted for B10 teams, meaning players play banged up all season with no time to rest...and this is a rule that is suppose to 'protect' the players.

But in reality all it does is protect the cash cow that is the OSU-Michigan game. It is the most hyped up game every year, and while I am well aware that these two schools draw bigger audiences than the rest of the league (outside of PSU from time to time), it is not the job of the Big Ten to shamelessly promote the game at the expense of the other 9 members. They refuse to listen to the concerns of the players and coaches of the rest to continue to garnish the OSU-UM game, a game that has become the most one-sided 'rivalry' in the entire league.

Now this really goes back to how we need to leave this stupid league. Ya, I said it. We will never be anything but the third most important team, even when we win the stupid thing. We will continue to get no press in the North East and a declining amount in the Midwest with the stupid BTN. We will continue to lose in-state recruits to teams like Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame because we the league and TV contracts mean we aren't even the most viewed team in our own state. We will continue to lose our pipelines into New Jersey, New York, and DC because even our crap games are now dish-only in those states, and our big games are second to the Big East or ACC matchup of the week.

Now I understand that going from 4 points to 1 is trivial, and it really doesn't matter in the least. And the fact that we are getting 1 point in the poll means be have some serious issues. But what happens when we get this thing fixed? When we are part of a clustfuck of one loss teams and we watch the SEC, or ACC or even Big12 champ jump us two weeks after the UM-OSU game signifies the end of the Big Ten season? What happens when we aren't Ohio State and don't get d*ck suck treatment? When we are left out of a MNC shot because of this league?

We need out of this repressing league, we can no longer be held down by their idiotic rules, their stepchild treatment of us, we must demand freedom! Freedom I say! (or at least membership in the Big East).