Michigan Monday: BIG Labor Day Pains

The Big Ten had the best basketball conference in the land and the Wolverines ended up playing for the National Championship.   The Big Ten is not the strongest football conference this year but could have another team in the BCS National Championship?  If you listen to the media, they think OSU could make it easily.  I have my doubts as the B1G Ten didn't exactly have the greatest of 1st weeks.

Here is how everyone did:

Bad First Impressions

1. Purdue - got blown out by Cincinnati in the Queen City.   Oops!
2. Iowa -  Got beat by Northern Illinois at home (they were in the Orange Bowl last year)
3. Nebraska - Beat Wyoming by a field goal in Lincoln.  
4. MSU - Struggled with WMU at home most of the night and beat them by 13 points
5. Ohio State beat Buffalo by 20 points, they were a yard and a bad snap away from a 10 point game with about 7 minutes to go.

Jury is still out:

1. Indiana put up 73 points on Larry Bird
2. Minnesota put up 51 against UNLV
3. Wisconsin shut out UMASS (Mike Cox made the Giants 53 man roster)
4. Michigan beat CMU by 50 points

Good First Impressions:

1. Northwestern beat CAL by two touchdowns but did give up 30 points in the win.
2. Illinois beat Western Illinois - any win is a good win for this program right now
3. Penn State beat Syracuse - Any time PSU wins a game with that limited roster that is a solid win.  Mostly beating a BCS team in the Meadowlands.

Side Note:  Rutgers lost to Fresno State and Maryland beat Florida International. 


We had a few big names struggle in week one, 4 blow outs, 2 losses and 3 decent wins.   This is not the statement the Big Ten was hoping to make week 1.   Next week the Wolverines will be holding the flag for the entire conference when ND comes to town.