Hansel
August 3rd, 2006, 08:33 AM
But even before another conference season of Big Ten Football kicks off on September 23 (brace yourself for Indiana @ Illinois in early October), all 11 squads have 4 non-conference games against the best (Texas), the decent (Northern Illinois), and the worst (Indiana State) from the rest of college football.
That being said, let’s take an early look at the 10 best match-ups from the Big
Ten non-conference slate as well as a few that can be categorized as Instant Laughers:
The Worst of the Worst
North Dakota State @ Minnesota: NDSU went 7-4 in the obscure Great West conference in I-AA. Good thing the smug Glen Mason and his Gophers loaded their non-conference with heavy hitters.
Buffalo @ Wisconsin: The Bulls went 1-10 last year and Badger coach Bret Bielema obviously didn’t want his team overworked early, which is probably why this will be Wisconsin’s much anticipated season finale.
Idaho @ Michigan State: What better way to boost Spartan morale than opening up against a squad who plays their football and basketball games in the same building. Idaho won just 2 games a season ago.
Western Illinois @ Wisconsin: Where exactly is Western? Urbana? Normal? DeKalb? Carbondale? Doesn’t even matter. Madison will be their home of horrors on this day.
Indiana State @ Purdue: Question—which was higher, the number of ISU wins last year or the number of TD’s Kyle Orton threw for the Boilermakers? Answer—PUSH (0). Indiana State went a comical 0-11 last year and expect Joe Tiller’s bunch to let out some frustration from a down 2005 campaign.
http://sports.wnur.org/analysts/garcia0803062.htm
That being said, let’s take an early look at the 10 best match-ups from the Big
Ten non-conference slate as well as a few that can be categorized as Instant Laughers:
The Worst of the Worst
North Dakota State @ Minnesota: NDSU went 7-4 in the obscure Great West conference in I-AA. Good thing the smug Glen Mason and his Gophers loaded their non-conference with heavy hitters.
Buffalo @ Wisconsin: The Bulls went 1-10 last year and Badger coach Bret Bielema obviously didn’t want his team overworked early, which is probably why this will be Wisconsin’s much anticipated season finale.
Idaho @ Michigan State: What better way to boost Spartan morale than opening up against a squad who plays their football and basketball games in the same building. Idaho won just 2 games a season ago.
Western Illinois @ Wisconsin: Where exactly is Western? Urbana? Normal? DeKalb? Carbondale? Doesn’t even matter. Madison will be their home of horrors on this day.
Indiana State @ Purdue: Question—which was higher, the number of ISU wins last year or the number of TD’s Kyle Orton threw for the Boilermakers? Answer—PUSH (0). Indiana State went a comical 0-11 last year and expect Joe Tiller’s bunch to let out some frustration from a down 2005 campaign.
http://sports.wnur.org/analysts/garcia0803062.htm