Building the best Big Ten Program (SIAP)
Sorry if already posted. Interesting article about picking the best of the Big Ten in different football areas (AD, Fans, Mascot, etc).
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/16599/building-the-best-big-te…
September 27th, 2010 at 5:22 PM ^
Yes Northwestern has a nice journalism schools but overall? No.
http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-ran…
Umich #15
Northwestern #26
September 27th, 2010 at 5:28 PM ^
Take that with a grain of salt. We've seen about 5 different university rankings in the past couple of months and Michigan isn't always ranked ahead of Northwestern.
September 27th, 2010 at 5:30 PM ^
Those are biased in favor of factors like # of international students. UM is well-known as a magnet for international students, so it ranks very highly there. Northwestern, with it's much smaller student body, obviously suffers there.
September 27th, 2010 at 5:34 PM ^
Also Rittenberg is an NU grad.
September 27th, 2010 at 6:30 PM ^
NW is generally considered a better overall school than Michigan.
September 27th, 2010 at 8:38 PM ^
Those rankings are based largely on research and grad programs, and I think it's implied that Rittenberg means undergraduate academics (which makes sense, since the campus life at most big universities is driven by the undergrads). With the exception of engineering, Northwestern is more highly regarded for undergraduate studies than U-M.
September 27th, 2010 at 9:28 PM ^
People who have gone to both schools seem to agree. We can't beat their teacher-student ratios.
September 27th, 2010 at 5:29 PM ^
Academics: I'd give the nod to Northwestern, but only barely over Michigan.
AD: I agree with the choice for Dave Brandon. Heck, I would've given it to Bill Martin, too.
City: I've only been to 7 Big Ten towns, and Madison isn't one of them. Based on that, I'd have to give the nod to Ann Arbor (over Bloomington, Champaign, Evanston, Cbus, Minneapolis, and EL).
Coach: Based on recent results AND future outlook, I grudgingly agree with Tressel. He has the results, MNC games notwithstanding.
Facilities: I'm not too familiar with the facilities as such, but I've always heard great things about OSU's and Michigan's facilities, especially after the recent "upgrades" at UM. I can't argue with his pick of OSU, though.
Fans: Penn State? I guess they're coordinated and loud. Bunch of pricks, though.
Game Day Atmosphere: I've only been to away games at 3 different schools, so can't really comment (Champaign, EL, Evanston). No argument with his choice of Happy Valley.
Mascot: Sparty wins this almost by default since they banned Chief Illiniwek.
Stadium: No arguments here, given that Michigan could still use some work in terms of being consistently loud. When we're loud, we're deafening. But too many breaks in the action, so to speak.
Strength Program: Barwis has wolves. 'Nuff said.
September 27th, 2010 at 5:37 PM ^
I think Brutus was the pick until the OU Bobcat took him to the turf.
September 27th, 2010 at 5:53 PM ^
How dare you take Sparty over the drum.
September 27th, 2010 at 6:48 PM ^
that damn drum
OR
danny hope
OR
WAH! WAH! boiler up! WAH! WAH! boiler up
September 27th, 2010 at 10:24 PM ^
I hate Danny Hope more.
September 27th, 2010 at 6:07 PM ^
The game is in the process of passing Tressel by. While he has gotten the best results since he has been at OSU, I will take RR over Tressel in this era of football. Whether it is this year or next year, RR will "crack the code" against Tressel. And when he does, a new streak will start.
September 27th, 2010 at 6:10 PM ^
In what way has the game passed Tressel? The streak of Big 10 titles, the great recruiting classes, or the pantsing of an elite future offense in last year's Rose Bowl? Sorry, they're kings until someone pushes them off the mountain.
September 27th, 2010 at 8:22 PM ^
I agree completely. I'd take the guy who is under .500 in the conference against the guy who has won the conference 5 straight years (going on 6). I mean, this year Tressel might win a national championship and set a record for consecutive 10+ win seasons, but he's clearly on a downward slide.
On a more sane topic, I'd actually take Madison over AA, but it's close. Madison is just so beautiful with all the lakes nearby. Camp Randall can't touch Beaver Stadium in terms of being a hostile environment, though.
September 28th, 2010 at 1:16 AM ^
I think Tressel deserves his respect while at the same time being reasonable enough to acknowledge that there are absolute warts on that program (see Clarett, Maurice etc. etc.). Saban's no different, nor Jimmy Johnson or Dennis Erickson in his day. Anyway, I think the previous commentator was trying to indicate something closer to the current rising within the Michigan program. On offense at least this is absolutely a program at an elite level nationally and I will expect it to continue to gash Big Ten defenses. On defense we are currently a mid level MAC team.
I'll give Tressel his due; you don't win that much because you're a bad coach. That said, the Rich Rodriguez future looks very bright indeed in AA. This can only make for better M/tUofOSU games with greater significance and that's a good thing.
I look forward to November.
September 28th, 2010 at 6:38 AM ^
I actually think you've nailed it, although I have one point on which to quibble:
...etc. etc).
Yes? Go on? Or are you just going to keep trying to hang your hat on something that happened almost a decade ago, and has been (exhaustively, repeatedly) documented as "not something for which Jim Tressel was responsible."
September 28th, 2010 at 7:34 AM ^
AJ Hawk ($$ advances)
Doug Worthington DUI in the Cadillac Escalade (part of the JT free car program)
Troy Smith free spaghetti dinners
Sweater Vest great exit from YSU and them getting the NCAA Sanctions ($$ and cars sound familiar)
ETC,ETC. that took a good 3 sec on Google.
September 28th, 2010 at 12:32 PM ^
AJ Hawk ($$ advances)
Uh, sure.
Doug Worthington DUI in the Cadillac Escalade (part of the JT free car program)
DUI? Sure. Escalade? No. You're thinking of Grady (who played for...Michigan).
Troy Smith free spaghetti dinners
Are you implying that Troy Smith got food from meals on wheels? You could at least reference the thing he actually did (money from booster), and for which he was punished.
The rest of the Youngstown bullshit is exactly that: bullshit. It's been repeated here for years by the lower-intelligence Michigan posters who wander over from Scout. Nothing to do with Tressel (or, perhaps more accurately, exactly as much to do with Tressel as the document loss at WVU had to do with RR).
September 28th, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^
You run a clean program, disreguard everything I said. please continue racking up the secondary violations and peddle your ass over to Eleven Warriors.
Gradys folks have cash hence his car.
And of course T. Smith got penilized, he got caught. $500 doller meal on wheels.
September 27th, 2010 at 9:03 PM ^
While I hope your theory is true, until it's proven, I would not broadcast it.
September 27th, 2010 at 6:31 PM ^
is actually a great college town. Very similar to Ann Arbor. Been to other campuses. AA and Madison are easily the top two in the Big Ten.
September 27th, 2010 at 5:37 PM ^
the hell does SIAP mean
September 27th, 2010 at 5:38 PM ^
acronym.
September 27th, 2010 at 7:31 PM ^
Gotcha, sorry about that I didn't see it clarified earlier today.
So I guess my question should have been "the hell does SIAP mean (SIAP)"
September 27th, 2010 at 5:41 PM ^
It was used and clarified once already today, so that's why you're seeing it again. Acronyms have a tendency to go up in usage after being clarified.
September 27th, 2010 at 5:53 PM ^
NTTAWWT
September 28th, 2010 at 7:36 AM ^
Not "Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific"
September 27th, 2010 at 6:08 PM ^
that is SO something an axe-wielding Homer Simpson would say...
September 27th, 2010 at 5:55 PM ^
Shouldn't the campus be a part of it. I've been to quite a few college towns and no campus has even come close to UM
September 27th, 2010 at 7:04 PM ^
Does it bother anyone that our student section isn't very intimidating or original? Why can't we get the same for football as hockey?
September 27th, 2010 at 9:28 PM ^
The funny thing is that Penn State was not always Penn State.
It didn't really get intimidating on a national Death Valley eltie-level until recently. That happened because of 3 main things:
- the building of the upper decks which trapped and echoed the noise,
- regular night games,
- the White Out, which gave the students an identity.
In short, it is something that can be created. Perhaps even at wine and cheese Michigan.