Michigan 21 at Ohio State (-4) 26

Matt – Ohio State (W)

Tim – Michigan (L)

Craig – Ohio State (W)

Corey – Ohio State (W)

Stanford (-2) 35 at UCLA 17

Matt – UCLA (L)

Tim – Stanford (W)

Craig – Stanford (W)

Corey – Stanford (W)

Florida 37 at Florida State (-6) 26

Matt – Florida State (L)

Tim – Florida (W)

Craig – Florida State (L)

Corey – Florida State (L)

Notre Dame (-6) 22 at USC 13

Matt- Notre Dame (W)

Tim – USC (L)

Craig – Notre Dame (W)

Corey – Notre Dame (W)

Oregon (-10) 48 at Oregon State 24

Matt – Oregon (W)

Tim – Oregon (W)

Craig – Oregon (W)

Corey – Oregon State (L)

This week we’ve got 3 official conference championship games, and 1 de facto championship game…and a Big 12 game because we needed a fifth. All point spreads are from Monday night.

Tim – BOO EXPANSION!

I fully understand being pro-active in the race to 16 teams among the super-conferences. Well, I actually don’t fully understand it but I realize that it’s happening. That’s why, when the Big Ten announced plans to add Nebraska a few year ago, I was totally on board. While slightly outside of the Big Ten footprint, adding a program/university like Nebraska would immediately strengthen the conference from an athletic and educational standpoint. Nebraska brings a history and fan base to the conference that not many schools can.

Fast forward to November 20, 2012.

In the last few days, the Big Ten has announced plans to add Rutgers and Maryland to the conference, and they are planning on building east coast offices, which hints that further expansion is imminent, and that we know which direction to expect it in. Let me be fully clear here, I don’t mind the expansion, but from a conference standpoint, were Rutgers and Maryland the best options available?

Geography: While being on the eastern edge of the conference hasn’t been ideal, Penn State is within 800 miles of every other school, minus Nebraska. The commute from Happy Valley is less than 500 miles to three of the most prominent Big Ten schools (Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State). The trip from Rutgers to Ohio State, second closest in the conference, is 515 miles. A fan from Nebraska, hoping to make the trip to Rutgers is in for a 1,288 mile, 22 hour drive. Maryland to Nebraska? 1,206 miles. The addition all but alienates one of the best fan-bases in the conference. Nebraska fans travel well, as do Wisconsin fans, but how many times are they going to drive 20 hours to see New Jersey? And without looking, I’m confident that their aren’t many direct flights from Lincoln to Newark. I’m aware that fans and alumni aren’t centrally located at the universities from which they hail, but it’s a good point of reference.

Quality over Quantity?: This was the promise from Delany in the past when asked about further expansion. This week, he chose cable subscribers overs quality. Rutgers has an all-time record of 626-605-42 and they have a bowl record of 5-2 all time with zero national championships. minus one from 1869 that wikipedia says they claim. Better or worse, Maryland has an 11-11-2 bowl record with 611 all time wins. The two teams combined are 3-57-1 all time against Penn State. It’s very possible that these additions will cost Penn State games against Michigan and Nebraska, current crossover opponents.

Better Options: I won’t pretend to know what the Big Ten looks for, academically, when searching for new members. I also know that the money, not the academics, are the bottom line. If the Big Ten was willing to expand geographically, which they apparently were, the options really open up. The ACC appears to be crumbling, which puts schools like Virginia Tech, Miami, Clemson and Florida State at a crossroads. Even Duke and UNC bring something to the table, if not necessarily football dominance. Louisville and Pitt make sense, geographically, Iowa State would add a convenient opponent for the western border schools. Even Missouri and West Virginia would have made sense, if the Big Ten had moved quicker. Instead, the conference has added Blah and Meh, effective in 2014.

In the end, I just don’t think the conference got any better or more competitive at anything. Making a move just to make a move doesn’t strike me as the best course of action. Unless this was an initial move, built to later entice a bigger target, I see both additions as misses. In fairness, I also resist change in most facets of life.

Mauti’s 12 tackle performance, which included 2 tackles for loss and a big 4th quarter sack, was good enough to earn Defensive Player of the Week honors from the league.  Coming off a season ending ACL injury last season, Mauti has leads Penn State with 33 tackles on the season, which puts him third in the Big 10.  This is the linebacker’s 2nd Big 10 weekly honor, the first coming in the 2010 Northwestern game, which never took place.  After writing last week that Mauti has been very impressive in the early season, it’s great to see his play recognized.

Redshirt freshman Deion Barnes recorded his 3rd sack, and 2nd forced fumble of the season, as part of his 5 tackle performance en route to collection the Big 10 Freshman of the Week award, which he shares with Indiana QB Nate Sudfield.  Barne’s 3 sacks place him in a 2nd place tie in the Big 10, and the 2 forced fumbles tie for 1st.  Barnes appears well on his way to making last week’s proclamation a reality.

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