Big Ten Roundtable of Bloggers: Week Seven

By Adam Kiefaber

Every week this season a fellow Big Ten blogging site will host the Big Ten Bloggers roundtable of questions.

This week Run Up The Score!, which is a Penn State blog, will be the host of the seventh Big Ten roundtable of the season. Buckeye Lane will play host the week of the Wisconsin at Ohio State game (September 29th through the November 3rd).

Go to Run Up the Score’s questions to find links of what other Big Ten Bloggers are saying.

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?

After the performance of the Big Ten teams in last year’s bowl season, the media has been ripping the quality of the Big Ten. To make matters worse, then the preseason favorite (Michigan) to win the Big Ten lost to Appalachian State in the first week of the season. Personally, I don’t think the Big Ten is down from last year, however I believe the conference could be better. Last year, the conference was top heavy with Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin. Overall, I think the conference is more competitive. Illinois, Indiana and Purdue are much better. I still believe Penn State and Wisconsin are better teams this year as opposed to last, but the rest of the Big Ten is catching up. While I think the Big Ten could be better, it is truly underrated in 2007.

Ohio State isn’t doing much to enhance or destroy conference’s reputation. The Buckeyes did beat up on Washington on the road and that team played USC down to the wire. The Buckeyes have some challenging Big Ten games to end the season. The last four weeks include a visit to Happy Valley (Penn State), versus Wisconsin and Illinois at home and then an always exciting road game with Michigan. If the Buckeyes win or lose any of those it won’t do much for the Big Ten. It depends how the conference does in the bowl season.

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

Illinois is on the rise. Hopefully, it will help out the conference’s reputation.

Its only loss came to Missouri (34-40) in the first week of the season. The last two weeks, Illinois has defeated two top-25 teams over then-ranked No. 21 Penn State and then-ranked No. 5 Wisconsin. Currently, the Illini are sitting atop the Big Ten standings, tied with OSU at 3-0 - Michigan is the only other undefeated team in Big Ten play.

The rest of schedule isn’t that challenging, but they have two really tough games (Michigan, at Ohio State). This week, Illinois should be able to beat Iowa on the road, then has a tough game against Michigan (but at home), should be able to handle a tricky Ball State team, then they have Minnesota on the road, followed by No. 3 Ohio State and wrap up their season against their rival Northwestern.

I think the Illini will be able to go 4-2 to finish out their season at 9-3, which is amazing.

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”?

This is America!

We are allowed to call players on your team bad names for making mistakes. As soon as they graduate high school, then it is fair game.

It doesn’t matter how old you are or your skill level. If someone is blowing the game then you shouldn’t hold yourself back.

For example, I couldn’t kick a football 20 yards if you placed it on a tee, but if your kicker misses a 50-yard field goal with the game on the line than you better let obscenities fly.

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?

Freshman cornerback Chimdi Chekwa was played extremely well. Defensive tackle was a question mark this season. Doug Worthington, Todd Denlinger and Cameron Heyward have been solid. Even though everyone knew wide receiver Brian Robiskie was a solid player, he has become a superstar this year. I really like true freshman Brandon Saine. Of course, I have to mention quarterback Todd Boeckman, who was exceeded expectations.

Every game in the last four weeks should be challenging - October 27 @ Penn State, November 3 vs. No. 19 Wisconsin, November 10 vs. No. 18 Illinois and November 17 @ Michigan.