Big Ten Bloggers Roundtable: Week 7

Run Up The Score! hosts the roundtable for Week 7.

1. We’re halfway through the season. Practically the entire national media has declared that the Big Ten is having a down year. Is this cyclical, or is the conference actually becoming less and less relevant? What is your team doing to enhance or destroy the conference’s reputation?

I think so many people are down on the Big Ten for a couple of reasons. The first does have to do with it being a cyclical thing. So many teams in college football now are climbing the rankings unexpectedly. Couple that with the countless number of upsets we see each week and there is a reason the Big Ten doesn't get as much love. Other teams simply are getting the spotlight on them, and the Big Ten just hasn't as much recently as an entire conference.

That leads me into my next point. Another reason the Big Ten isn't highly rated by many in conference-by-conference rankings has to do with the style of football played. In the SEC, for example, you will get a hard fought game from every team in the conference in a smashmouth, in your face kind of way. In the Big Ten, though, it's always the same teams that are on top and the same ones on the bottom. Although Illinois is the exception so far this season, you don't see teams from top to bottom that all could really beat each other. That's why the SEC is the best conference. Every team can compete with every other team. Some win more than others, but you've got to love the competitiveness.

Getting to the last part of the question, Michigan hasn't helped the reputation of the Big Ten at all. Two words: Appalachian State. That game alone put the Big Ten a few steps back. Getting blown out by Oregon a week later didn't help either, but it is the kind of thing that does give the Big Ten a bad reputation. The reason for those losses directly correlates with the boring style of play many teams do have in this conference. Michigan's offense is plain and if it weren't for Mike Hart would have trouble even moving the ball. Then on defense, despite having this same problem for years, the Wolverines still can't defend the spread. That style of play is bad for the conference in general because it is boring and ineffective in many cases.

2. Illinois is winning football games. Football games! Illinois! How much longer will we have to put up with this crap?

I'm hoping the answer to this is only another week as Michigan heads to Champaign on October 20th. Hopefully then the Illini will have their winning streak snapped. It is surprising to me that Illinois is winning like this. Their only loss was to Missouri, who is a highly ranked team, and Illinois pushed the Tigers to the limit. I've always thought that Ron Zook could recruit but not coach, but he is showing some things to make me reevaluate that statement. The players he's recruited are very talented, so you've got to give him that.

For Illinois, I'm not completely sold on them just yet, but we'll see after a few more weeks. If the Illini survive the next few games without any trip ups, then they could be in the discussion for a big time bowl game and even a conference title. Like I said though, let's keep an open mind for a few more weeks.

3. I’m a man! I’m 32! For you, fair Big Ten Blogger, where does the line get drawn when, as Sunday Morning QB eloquently states, “second-guessing the split-second decisions of college kids under extreme physical duress”? Hypothetically speaking, would you settle for saying that your underwhelming quarterback “simply isn’t performing well and needs to be replaced”, or would you call him “a functional retard that is one drool cup shy of riding the short bus to practice”?

The line is a very thin one. For a columnist that has his/her articles published in a mainstream form of the media, then he/she has to be careful. In a public forum that columns are published in, criticizing a player can be uncalled for, especially when "he said, she said" types of rumors are included in the article. On a blog, things are different for obvious reasons. When a person reads a newspaper they expect professionalism. On a blog, though, people should expect to read what fans have to say, positive or negative.

On the topic of if it's fair to criticize college athletes, I'd say again that there is a very thin line. A player should know going into the situation that they're putting themselves in a public position that will include ridicule, fair or unfair. That is just something that goes along with the game. Although players are just trying their best, college football has become so passionate in some places that that isn't even good enough. I would say to any player or coach that criticism should be expected as it is apart of football, whether it be college or pro.

4. Finally, a quick two-part question. Which player or players on your team have you been pleasantly surprised with this season, and what is the most important game remaining on your schedule?

The player that has surprised me the most is Adrian Arrington. Back in the Week 1 Big Ten Bloggers Roundtable I said that I thought Arrington would have a breakout year, but I didn't expect it to come like this. The reason that Arrington does stick out so much is because Mario Manningham has played poorly. It didn't seem like he was playing his hardest earlier on in the year, and after getting suspended against EMU his stock dropped even more. Hopefully that will be a wake-up call, but if it isn't, at least Arrington is there to step in and be Chad Henne's go-to target.

The most important game left on the schedule is the next one. I know, I know, that sounds very cliche and is something a coach would say, but for Michigan it's true. You really can't look down the road too much as the next game could make or break your season. That is especially true with Purdue this coming Saturday. A win and Michigan can build more confidence and gain more momentum for the homestretch. A loss, though, and Michigan may end up struggling to make it to a bowl game. That alone shows that every game matters for the Maize and Blue this year.