FiveThirtyEight: ‘The Big Ten Is A Big Slog’
The Big Ten has long been known for its plodding pace — one article as far back as 1993 labeled the conference’s games “boring” — but this season has accentuated those tendencies. The 23 matchups between Big Ten teams this season have averaged 48 total points, the lowest of any league and more than 6 points per game lower than the next Power Five conference, the SEC. In fact, it would be the lowest single-season combined scoring average for any league since the SEC’s 47.3 in 2015.
"As far back as 1993"! ?
October 17th, 2019 at 1:53 PM ^
Ah yes, I remember in 2015 when everyone said how boring and terrible the SEC was.
October 17th, 2019 at 2:18 PM ^
Yeah, my B1G takeaway was that despite the SEC mythology, it's actually often an SEC slog.
It seems like all that hyperspace football is actually against the powder puffs that they schedule more of than anyone else.
October 17th, 2019 at 2:24 PM ^
Texas, Oregon & Notre Dame all lost to SEC schools already this year.
October 17th, 2019 at 2:39 PM ^
FAR BE IT from a source as sophisticated as the 538 blog to fail to disaggregate the SEC's clobberations of the likes of Troy and Liberty from its inter-conference tilts (S. Carolina 20, Geogia 17)!
There is almost always an agenda over there, and often it's petty.
October 19th, 2019 at 12:41 AM ^
Not for nothing, but nobody in the SEC has played Liberty. Rutgers plays them late in the year and will surely lose
October 17th, 2019 at 2:45 PM ^
Was just looking at Les Miles' record at LSU. He was involved in 28 games in his career at LSU where both teams scored 21 points or less in regulation. Most of those being conference games. That's over two games per season.
Now, Miles was criticized for his offense, but alot of those games were against Alabama, Florida and Auburn who were some of the other powers in the SEC during that time.
That said, offense in the Big Ten is tough to watch unless you're Ohio St.
October 17th, 2019 at 4:00 PM ^
Thinking of 2015 and 2016 makes me sad. I thought we were on our way to the top
October 17th, 2019 at 1:54 PM ^
Did we need a bunch of data to tell us this?
October 17th, 2019 at 3:19 PM ^
Nope, but I still blame this guy.....
October 17th, 2019 at 4:07 PM ^
What is the source of this Delany meme? I've always wondered.
October 17th, 2019 at 6:38 PM ^
It's cut from Louie, I believe.
October 17th, 2019 at 4:07 PM ^
(There is an echo in here...)
October 17th, 2019 at 3:40 PM ^
Oh, I dunno. We're not THAT slow...
October 17th, 2019 at 3:57 PM ^
After that play, every Tom, Dick, and Harry that scored from more than 40 yards out did the 'crossing the tape' sprinters finish. Pep set the trend!
October 17th, 2019 at 1:55 PM ^
Very interesting.
October 17th, 2019 at 2:00 PM ^
#stuckinmolasses is the new #Speedinspace
October 17th, 2019 at 2:01 PM ^
Go watch basketball. They don't play much defense there. But even if they do, there is enough scoring to make up the difference.
October 17th, 2019 at 2:18 PM ^
Big Ten hoops rocks. Lots of good coaching in the league hopefully including our new staff.
October 17th, 2019 at 4:08 PM ^
Actually Big Ten basketball also tends to be low-scoring and defensive.
October 17th, 2019 at 2:25 PM ^
Do they ever consider it’s because of very good defense in the conference
October 17th, 2019 at 4:01 PM ^
I wish that was why.
October 18th, 2019 at 1:49 PM ^
Yes they said in the article that the conference has teams that play ruthless defense.
October 17th, 2019 at 2:26 PM ^
I love the big ten. don't care about the SEC
October 17th, 2019 at 2:29 PM ^
Didn’t realize five 38 even existed anymore...
October 17th, 2019 at 2:39 PM ^
Wait till next year around this time. They’ll be everywhere.
October 17th, 2019 at 5:18 PM ^
Hmmm, pretty sure they are very popular but I admit I don't have any data or research to back that up. Nate Silver is well-known on twitter
October 17th, 2019 at 2:43 PM ^
Where's Barney??
October 17th, 2019 at 2:47 PM ^
Rutger?
October 17th, 2019 at 6:35 PM ^
Regardless of Barney's absence, if those 14 dinosaurs represent the 14 teams of the B1G, then 12 of the schools appear to be represented by mouth-breathers.
October 17th, 2019 at 5:25 PM ^
Barney is...
Still trying to track down the Bag Men for Bama, and Clemson.
GIT"EM BARNEY!
October 17th, 2019 at 6:31 PM ^
... with help from Goober and Gomer, "CITIZENS ARREST!!! CITIZENS ARREST!!!
October 17th, 2019 at 2:36 PM ^
And how many years before that was Michigan & OSU known for their "3 yards and a cloud of dust"?
But Fielding Yost invented the Hurry Up offense, and his disciples brought big time football to the south, so there!
October 17th, 2019 at 2:52 PM ^
Just makes the transition seem more worth it, no matter how ugly it's looked for far.
And realistically they knew in '07 but they should've known in '05.
Of course, I'm glad Harbaugh didn't hold out on manball; as soon as I saw Saban put in Tua in the championship game that if Alabama is giving up manball than no need for UofM to continue to try.
October 17th, 2019 at 3:04 PM ^
Well the B1G is 12-5 over the last two years in bowl games so yeah, whatever dude.
October 17th, 2019 at 3:32 PM ^
With Michigan being responsible for 40% of those losses......
October 17th, 2019 at 3:08 PM ^
Who cares?
October 17th, 2019 at 3:30 PM ^
The Big Ten, as a whole, just isn't very good this year. Or at the very least, its top-heavy.
You've got OSU and Wisconsin as the two very obvious heavyweights, then PSU, who is good but you really don't know how good. Michigan looks like an underachiever, MSU is falling apart, Iowa isn't looking very capable on offense anymore, and Nebraska, optimistically, looks like its still 2-3 years away from being anything special. Minnesota is ranked but you know they're not as good as their ranking suggests they are. And then the rest of the conference is what it is: flaming hot garbage.
October 17th, 2019 at 3:43 PM ^
The big ten is AT WORST the second best conference this season. That’s pretty good.
October 17th, 2019 at 4:25 PM ^
Hey, don't discount that NC Frost has under his belt though!
October 17th, 2019 at 5:05 PM ^
“Top heavy,” just like every other conference.
October 17th, 2019 at 5:22 PM ^
I'd include MSU in that "flaming hot garbage" and it's not because of the rivalry, it's just recognizing what they are this year.
October 17th, 2019 at 3:31 PM ^
Yeah, having good defenses really sucks ass!
October 17th, 2019 at 4:41 PM ^
So when the SEC does it, it's just amazing defense. But when the Big Ten does it, it's slow, plodding, and boring?
Get out of here.
October 17th, 2019 at 5:21 PM ^
+1,000,000
October 17th, 2019 at 4:54 PM ^
Call me crazy, but I like good defensive football.
A well fought 21-17 game is just as entertaining to me (if not more) as a 67-65 shootout.
I'm not so sure points scored can be reliably used as a direct metric for "boring".
October 17th, 2019 at 5:20 PM ^
Couldn't agree more...
For some reason I also correlate this to maturity level, when I was a kid all I wanted to see was points being scored... now that I'm in my 40's I enjoy watching the D on the field MUCH more than I do the O; then again, that could have to do with our struggles.
October 18th, 2019 at 8:51 AM ^
To me it is more "boring" knowing that every drive is going to result in points.