Live blog: Relive the Big Ten title game

this game is for third place in the Big Ten!

Play by the rules and its amazing what types of trophies your school might play for.

Wow is that an empty stadium.

Was John Simon booed?

What the heck is the score?

So much for Nebraska destroying wisky. I’m not even a wisky fan, but I picked them to win based on their stats. Nebraskas defense is bad against the run, and that’s wisky’s main offensive weapon.

I bet Pelini makes the defense walk back to Lincoln.

Yep Wisky blew NEB out last year in Madison, blew a 20 pt lead to them in Lincoln this year, and now they are totally blowing them out. Wis owns NEB plain and simple. hey herman, it’s for first place in the big ten and the rose bowl.

Welcome to the Big Ten Nebraska

So much for blackshirt defense? Go hawks.

Throughout the season, the Big Ten has been nationally mocked for its performance on the football field this season. I didn’t buy into in that garbage since the Big Ten had two or three teams in Ohio State, Nebraska, and Michigan that were among the top fifteen teams or so in the country. However, I have now had enough. Tonight was an embarrassment for the conference. I thought that Nebraska’s defense had really turned the corner in recent weeks and that Nebraska deserved its #12 ranking. I was wrong about that. Nebraska played some of the worst defense tonight that I have ever seen. That defense reminds me only of the defense that was played by Baylor and Washington in last season’s Alamo Bowl. It was as if they weren’t even trying. If the Cornhuskers had played undefeated Ohio State in the championship game instead of Wisconsin with a defense that awful, Braxton Miller and the Buckeyes would have scored way more than the 63 that they did against Nebraska during the regular season matchup in Columbus. The Buckeyes probably would have eclipsed 90 points. It’s such a shame that the Big Ten will be sending a team to the Rose Bowl that has five losses, finished third in its own division, is and probably will be unranked in the BCS standings, and owes a debt of thanks and gratitude to Columbus tattoo and car dealers and a serial child molester for creating domino effects that led to postseason ineligibility for its division rivals. Badger fans should be sending their roses to those individuals. I have seen Stanford multiple times this season. I watched them play Oregon and Notre Dame. If the Stanford Cardinal show up to play as I suspect that they will, this Rose Bowl could get ugly very quickly. Big Ten teams will be lucky to win one or two bowl games this season. The Rose Bowl between Stanford and Wisconsin has all the makings of the Oklahoma-Connecticut Fiesta Bowl from a few years ago. Michigan, Nebraska, and Northwestern will all likely have to face SEC teams. If one of those three teams win, the conference would be fortunate. Because Ohio State and Penn State are on probation, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Purdue will all be playing in bowl games that are two slots higher than usual. Going forward, the conference should consider altering its rule regarding division champions that are on probation. If a division champion is on probation, the highest-ranked team in the conference that is not on probation and that is not a division champion should replace that ineligible team. If that had been the case this season, two deserving and ranked teams, Nebraska and Michigan, would have played for the championship, and the matchup would not have made a mockery of the conference and its championship game. I don’t have a good feeling about my beloved conference going into bowl games this season. At least the Big Ten is dominant in sports like men’s basketball and women’s volleyball so there is something positive to be glad about.

aroz, it’s not Wisconsin’s fault like you said. The problem was all week NEB fans were talking smack and saying how they wish they could play OSU or PSU instead. Whoops. Michigan went 8-4 with their best win vs NW. Yikes. GA is gonna tear them apart. Don’t sleep on Wisconsin vs Stanford. Everyone thought Oregon was gonna tear them apart last year and it came down to the final seconds. Wisconsin was in every game this year. It’s gonna be a great Rose Bowl.

Also Aroz, you would have rather seen NEB vs Michigan? Are you crazy? Now if NEB would have won 70-34 I would have seen your point, but since it was the other way around, your point makes no sense. NEB got pounded by a 3rd place team. Michigan has beaten no one this year, why do they deserve anything?

I most would have wanted to Nebraska vs. Ohio State since those were the two best teams in the conference during the regular season. However, since that couldn’t become a reality, I would have much rather seen one of the conference’s other top four teams, Michigan or Northwestern, play in the title game. Wisconsin’s win last night doesn’t take away the fact that they were the sixth-best team in the conference that lost five games and easily could have lost a couple more against teams like Northern Iowa and Utah State. Michigan and Northwestern had much stronger resumes and were far more deserving. As for the Rose Bowl matchup, I have seen Stanford play, and that team is the anti-Nebraska. Stanford boasts one of the top defenses in the country. Oregon was held to fourteen points. Notre Dame was held to twenty points. Wisconsin will be lucky to eclipse twenty points if Stanford’s defense comes to play. Stanford’s offense should be able to put up way more than twenty points. Stepfan Taylor is one of the top running backs in the country, and he will be going up against a defense that has had issues tackling and playing in big games over the last couple of years. If you saw Taylor Martinez’s first touchdown yesterday, you know what I mean. Kevin Hogan has shown that he is the real deal at quarterback, and Stanford has two or three of the top tight ends in the country that can burn a defense deep. Wisconsin scored 13, 14, and 21 points against Michigan State, Ohio State, and Penn State, respectively. Those are the three best defenses that the Badgers have faced, and Stanford’s defense is probably better than all of three of those. The bowl matchups that will be revealed tonight probably won’t be favorable in any way to the Big Ten.

Well aroz, maybe NEB should have beaten Wis then, nobody wanted to see a rematch of NEB-M

The fact of the matter is that Michigan and Northwestern deserved to play in that game more than Wisconsin. I’m not disputing the result. I watched that horrific game on FOX that embarrassed the conference with my own two eyes. Just look at records and resumes. Those leave little doubt that the team that won last night’s game didn’t even belong in that game in the first place. In my record book, the 2012 Big Ten championship will have an asterisk next to it since the team that won the championship game wasn’t even among the top five teams in the conference, let alone the top two teams in its own division. Even including that game in the resumes, it’s still hard to make a case that Wisconsin has been one of the five best teams in the conference this season when one evaluates results and body of work. To avoid something like this that nationally embarrasses the conference from ever happening again, the Big Ten needs to alter some of its guidelines. I was merely using Michigan as an example of what my proposed altered guidelines would have produced. I understand that you are a Michigan State homer. I hope that the Spartans have success too. However, either Michigan or Northwestern was the second-best Big Ten team not on probation at the end of the regular season. The way that the Big Ten set up its conference championship shafted two very deserving teams from having a chance to play for it on the field.

All I know is everyone is saying Wis had no right to be there, maybe it was Neb who didn’t?

Based on the game as it actually ended up being played, you may be right. However, when you look at how teams performed over the course of the season, especially the conference season, the order in which the teams not on probation actually deserved to play in that game was Nebraska, Michigan, Northwestern, Wisconsin, etc., in that order.

Why does everyone say Wisconsin didn’t deserve to be there? they knew before the season even started they were a lock for the game. everything they put on film was a set up for the game last night as you all saw. did you want them to forfeit instead of play? “Nah we don’t belong here, we’ll just stay home.” Complain about Nebraska embarrassing the B1G since they lost by 40 to a team the “5th best team in the B1G.” Complaing about Pryor and Tressel. Complain about Sandusky. Not Wisconsin’s fault. Badgers lost at oregon state by 3, michigan state, ohio state, and penn state in OT. and nebraska by 3 on the road with a freshman quarterback making his second start. Figure it out..

Aroz that’s completely irrational. Who did Northwestern beat? Who did Michigan beat? neither of them played Wisconsin and both lost to Nebraska. You’re saying Michigan’s 4 losses are less embarrassing that Wisconsin’s 5 losses? The B1G is just BAD. No kidding Ohio State is the best team, everyone in the country knows that but they couldn’t be there obviously. You have no valid argument

Why don’t you take look at who Michigan actually lost to? The Wolverines lost to the top two teams in the country and the Big Ten’s two division champions. Only one of those two losses was a blowout. Their two big wins came against Michigan State and Northwestern. Why don’t you take a look at who Northwestern lost to? The Wildcats lost to the #16 team in the country, the #18 team in the country, and an 8-4 team that probably would be ranked if not for NCAA sanctions. All three of those losses were close, heartbreaking losses. Their three biggest wins came against Big East co-champion Syracuse, eight-win SEC team Vanderbilt, and Michigan State. Now who did Wisconsin lose to? The Badgers lost to the #13 team in the country, the #16 team in the country, and two teams that would probably be ranked if not for NCAA sanctions. However, they lost to a .500 team in Michigan State that both Michigan and Northwestern were able to beat. Their only significant win came against the #22 team in the country in a game that they definitely should have lost. Here are some more numbers. During the regular season, Michigan defeated five teams that are bowl-eligible or would have been bowl-eligible if not for NCAA sanctions. Northwestern beat four such teams. Wisconsin only beat three such teams. All of the losses by those three teams came against such teams. I don’t know what kind of skewed garbage you’re looking at. The numbers and resumes say it all. I encourage you to take a look at the three links below before you call my posts “completely irrational”.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/_/id/130/michigan-wolverines
http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/_/id/77/northwestern-wildcats
http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/_/id/275/wisconsin-badgers

Actually I’m just sorry that you wasted your life looking up all of those stats. You act like Michigan and Northwestern are head and shoulders above Wisconsin and Wisconsin being there was just an embarrassment. There is the slightest of difference between those three teams resumes! Wisconsin’s only bad loss was to Michigan State after their starting QB who was playing great broke his collarbone. Keep complaining, I’m sure eventually it will take away the blowout win in the B1G championship and 3 straight Rose Bowls lol.

With such a weak comeback, you must be conceding. Obviously, the official record book will list Wisconsin as the 2012 Big Ten champion. I don’t dispute that fact and the result of the championship game. However, when someone looks at the 2012 standings years from now, I’m nearly certain that a big asterisk will come to mind. Most everyone with ties to the Big Ten knows deep down that the conference crowning its sixth-place team as champion is an absolute joke. Iowa finished sixth in 2011, Penn State finished sixth in 2010, Michigan State finished sixth in 2009, and Minnesota finished sixth in 2008. Maybe that will get your head out of the sand and give you some objective perspective. My argument all along has been that the Big Ten needs to fix the flaws that have recently been exposed regarding how the conference selects the two teams for its championship game. Those flaws are worse right now than whatever flaws have recently been exposed with the BCS. (Remember that the BCS didn’t choose Wisconsin. The Big Ten sent Wisconsin to the BCS. That all goes back to the conference.) This has gotten to the point where I just hope that Stanford puts an absolute beatdown on Wisconsin since that might be enough to get the attention of the conference’s administration so that they can correct this flaw going forward. Wisconsin might as well become the sacrificial lamb. Besides, who knows what will happen now with Bret Bielema supposedly off to Arkansas? In the end, teams are ultimately defined by their record. You can dispute the cut-and-dry resumes that I presented to you, but the fact that Michigan was 8-4 (6-2), Northwestern was 9-3 (5-3), and Wisconsin was 7-5 (4-4) is indisputable. You can keep trying to justify yourself all you want. Just be aware that what you have been saying has been digging a deeper and deeper hole.