Hawks Spinning Themselves Deeper Into Hole

There he is, whirling into the revolving door on the Blackhawks’ head coach’s office, ol’ Spin-O-Rama himself.

I don’t want to hate this pick. I really, really don’t. And of course I wish him all the luck, and hope he makes the Hawks a contender. But I just can’t get behind the choice of Denis Savard as the new Blackhawks head coach, starting with tonight’s game against Dallas.

Savard is, after all, an icon, his signature spin move good for 473 career goals. He was the face of Blackhawks hockey in the 1980s, as much as Stan Mikita was in the 1960s, Tony Esposito in the 1970s, and Jeremy Roenick and Chris Chelios in the 1990s. He even returned to play with those guys, and has been in the Hawks’ organization since retiring in 1997.

And that is exactly the problem. Among Bill Wirtz’ many, many faults as owner of the Chicago Blackhawks is that he is far too loyal to his guys. Former player and Hawks assistant Savard is replacing former player and Hawks minor-league coach Trent Yawney, who replaced former player Brian Sutter, who was one coach removed from a guy who seems to have held every front office position in Hawkdom, Bob Pulford.

I want all of these guys to win. Heck, I want Wirtz to buy them the players to win with. But simply changing the seating order isn’t going to get it done, and this move feels like that’s exactly what Wirtz has done, as he has many times before.

So now we wish Savard well, hoping for the kind of magic he seemed to display on skates, fearing that we will have to watch yet another Blackhawk legend’s legacy tarnished by Wirtz’ horrendous mismangement. Savvy, a cheer and a tear go out for you tonight.

Patriots 17, BEARS 13: I Guess I Didn't Miss Much

OK, this one’s going to be brief. I was fighting a cold all weekend, and for much of the BEARS game I could have gotten flagged for unintentional napping.

But I saw the important stuff. And nothing was bigger than the BEARS’ last play from scrimmage. After the marauding defense went out and got the ball back on a forced fumble with 1:52 left, Rex Grossman – throwing off his back foot – heaved his third interception of the day. (It was his fourth turnover overall, although I’m not sure his fumble in the second quarter was his fault or the result of a bad snap.)

At any rate, Grossman is clearly the key to the BEARS’ success at this point. The defense is championship caliber, so the BEARS will go only so far as Rex Grossman can take them.

Still, I’m not worried about a loss to the Patriots. The BEARS still hold a two-game lead on the rest of the conference with five to play. They also hold the tie-breaker right now over everyone else in the conference, although if the BEARS did lose two more and the Saints (6-1 vs. NFC) won out, I’m pretty sure the Saints would win the tie-breaker because at that point the BEARS would have two conference losses. But with a schedule of Minnesota at home, at St. Louis, Tampa Bay at home, at Detroit, and Green Bay at home, the BEARS should be favored by at least a touchdown the rest of the way.

My Illini Weekend

For a team that has little talent, even less size and virtually no offense, Illinois sure doesn’t look like it should be 7-0 right now.

But playing on gutty defense, Bruce Weber’s boys are undefeated and the champions of the inaugural Chicago Invitational Challenge, in which they had to actually get past a real team – Bradley – to claim the championship Saturday night. Illinois won 75-71 in a state bragging rights game.

The Braves, with their quickness and sharp 3-point shooting, made it difficult, as the Illini went down by double digits in the first half for the second straight night. Not that the Illini made it any easier on themselves – they missed their first six free throws of the game and went 1 for 8 overall from the line in the first half. Along the way they missed the front end of two one-and-one’s, meaning they left behind nine potential points at the line.

But, for the second straight night, Illinois used a couple timely late-first-half baskets to crawl within shouting distance, finishing the first half down 38-32. And, for the second straight night, the defense took over in the second half. In fact, Bradley’s 71 points were the lowest total for the Braves this year, and it would have been even lower if not for two garbage-time 3-pointers.

Shaun Pruitt had a nice game for Illinois, pounding the low post for 16 points (one of which came on a free throw he missed so badly that it banked in) and nine rebounds. Warren Carter quietly led the team with 17 points, and Chester Frazier, who is clearly the floor leader at least until Jamar Smith returns full-time, scored 10 in the second half.

Smith came off the bench Saturday for his first minutes since spraining his ankle in the season opener, firing up the Illini-friendly crowd in the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates. (Although this was theoretically a home game for Bradley, there was enough blaze orange in the arena to scare all the Asian poachers out of rural Wisconsin.) He scored 14 points in limited minutes and showed flashes of the talent level Illinois will need to compete against better competition in the Big Ten.

Make no mistake, though, Bradley is a quality win. This was a Sweet Sixteen team a year ago and look like they’re tournament-quality again this year. Bradley is clearly the best team Illinois has faced this year, at least until Maryland destroys them by 20 on Tuesday night. (See below for my thoughts on this matchup.)

Bottom line is, if Illinois plays all 40 minutes of every Big Ten game with the intensity they showed at their best points Saturday night, this team will overcome its shortcomings enough to do alright in the Big Ten – maybe to the tune of 10-6 or 11-5. Just get used to seeing a lot of ugly scores like 63-51.

On Friday night, as part of the same tournament, Illinois scratched and clawed its way back from a 16-point first-half deficit, finally pulling ahead with 1:20 to go and hanging on for a 51-49 win. In that game, however, the thrill of the Illini accomplishment was greatly diminished by the fact that they had to do it against a bunch of mouth-breathing hillbillies from Miami of Ohio.

While Miami deserves credit for the staunch defense they played throughout the game, the real story of the first half was Illinois’ lackadasical defense and inability to rebound. Miami repeatedly penetrated the lane en route to a 58.3 shooting percentage in the first half, in which they led by double digits most of the way.

Illinois tightened the screws in the second half, allowing only 16 points and gobbling up rebounds so that Miami typically got only one shot per possession. Of course, it’s easier to rebound when you’re not allowing 58.3 percent shooting. And Miami still won the battle of the boards for the game, 32-26.

Big Ten-ACC Ripoff

Once again, the Big Ten-ACC “Challenge” starting tomorrow night has been set up in such a way that the Big Ten cannot possibly win. As usual, the ACC is given at least a slight advantage in almost every game. In typical fashion, we have games that could be competitive at a neutral site (Indiana at Duke, Ohio State at North Carolina, Michigan State at Boston College) being played at the home of the ACC team, and we have home games for the Big Ten (Maryland at Illinois, Miami at Northwestern, Clemson at Minnesota) in which the Big Ten team couldn’t win if the games were played in Jim Delany’s driveway with the commissioner himself calling fouls.

The only Big Ten teams that I expect to be favored in their games are Wisconsin vs. Florida State and Michigan at North Carolina State, with a huge maybe for Purdue at home against Virginia. If I’m right, three chalks out of 11 games shows you how much of a joke the scheduling is. I understand there’s going to be some sacrificial lambs given the quality gap between the two leagues, but how about putting some of those games at ACC sites so the Big Ten gets a couple competitive games in its house?

I fully expect the Big Ten to lose overall, again, for the eighth time in the eight years of this challenge, and once again the ACC bias at ESPN will have ruined would could be a very entertaining and enlightening event.

Sports Notes, 11/26/06

-- Tony Romo sure has made a mess out of my prediction in this space that the Cowboys will finish 5-11 under his stewardship. What a jerk.

-- Since I reported on the Blackhawks’ mini win-type streak, they lost their next three games, scoring one goal in each. I told you not to look!

-- Are the Bulls NBA champions yet?

-- Don’t look now, but former Illini Deron Williams is leading the Utah Jazz to the best record in the NBA. Williams has 18 points and 9.3 assists per game, with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.2 to 1, and in his team-leading 36 minutes a game he is no doubt playing the kind of stifling defense Illinois fans knew and loved. Utah has ridden an eight-game winning streak to a 12-1 record. So don’t look. DON’T LOOK!

-- Looks like Notre Dame woke up the echoes of Bob Davie.

-- I hope you didn’t have the under in the Purdue at Hawaii football game Saturday night, in which the number was a tantalizingly high 74.5. The score at halftime was Rainbows 17, Boilers 0; after three quarters it was Hawaii 20-14. Here’s today’s lesson in It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over: Fifteen minutes and six touchdowns later, the final score was 42-35 Hawaii, for a total of 77 points.

-- Some more tidbits from the South Pacific: The scoring plays in the fourth quarter alone went for a total of 121 yards; Purdue rolled up 472 yards of offense and Hawaii (653) beat them by nearly 200; there were 63 complete passes (30 for Purdue, 33 for Hawaii), and there were 138 plays from scrimmage. It almost makes me wish that game had been on TV.

-- Did anybody know Chicago has a professional indoor soccer team? Well, we do. It’s called the Storm, and it plays at the new Sears Center in Hoffman Estates. That’s about as interesting as this item gets.

-- Driscoll Catholic High School won its sixth straight state football championship with a 4A win on Friday. Yep, another Catholic football dynasty in Illinois (see Joliet Catholic and Mt. Carmel). There’s something about 12 years of Catholic education that makes a young lad just want to punish people.

Reader Request Hour: College Football Playoff

I got a request from a loyal reader humbly asking if we might discuss a college football playoff in this space, even though he wondered if it’s a bit out of scope.

Well, I’m not so sure it’s out of scope. After all, this year it directly effects the Big Ten, which is clearly in the scope of this blog. And he did ask nicely. And besides, I’m trying to heavily encourage reader interaction right now, so we’re talking about college football playoffs!

First of all, I’m convinced that there will one day be a more extensive playoff system in college football. It’s the only major sport that doesn’t have one, but more importantly, there’s too much money to be made to pass it up.

I say “more extensive” because we actually have a playoff in place already in college football. The top two teams in the country, as picked by the BCS system, play a one-game playoff to determine the national champion. And almost every year, the many teams who deem themselves third whine endlessly about it.

It’s safe to predict that if the NCAA implements a four-team playoff, several self-appointed No. 5’s will whine about it; with an eight-team playoff, a glut of No. 9’s will whine; et cetera, et cetera. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself how a seemingly perfect (in terms of fairness and exponential symmetry) 64-team NCAA basketball field somehow got a 65th team awkwardly shoehorned in.

Granted, in many years the complaints from No. 3 are legitimate. The BCS system is fatally flawed. But a larger playoff won’t fix the underlying problem of picking the teams that belong.

I would advocate a ranking formula based mostly on a team’s number of losses, its opponents’ winning percentage, and its opponents’ opponents’ winning percentages, maybe in a roughly 25-50-25 ratio. (You could tinker with the formula, applying it retroactively for maybe 10 years until you got a ratio that gave you the championship game a majority of fans wanted to see each year.) This system would reward teams for playing, and beating, championship-caliber teams in the regular season, and we’d get de facto playoff games during the year. (It would also prevent two teams from staking claims to the Nos. 1 and 2 spots largely because, for example, they beat up on a horrible Big Ten conference all year long. But I think I might have blogged on that topic already.)

Once the rankings are fixed, a larger playoff system has certain advantages. For one thing, you could play the games in December and solve two of the big problems facing college football right now: the schedule creep well past Jan. 1, and the weeks-long layoff for between a team’s last regular-season game and its bowl game.

That said, I see no reason that college football needs to expand its playoffs just to be like other sports. One of the great things about sports is that while they all encompass certain core elements (direct competition, physical ability, strategy, etc.), these elements manifest themselves differently in each sport. This allows fans within the greater sporting community to gravitate toward one or two favorites while still enjoying their colleagues’ favorite sports. Me personally, for spectator sports I get into the NFL and college basketball, and for participant sports I like to play tennis because it’s the most perfectly designed of all sports and volleyball because there’s a lot of women in bikinis in volleyball. The point is, the unmerciful way in which college football picks its champion is befitting of an unmerciful sport. Trust me, you wouldn’t enjoy the games as much if you knew it didn’t matter if your team lost.

BEARS 10, Jets 0: Screw Soriano; It’s Football Season

You know what’s even more difficult to do while staying awake than watching that BEARS game today? That would be writing about it.

I got to the end of that game and felt like I was still waiting for it to begin. There were no statements, no season-defining moments, just a sprinking of pivotal plays, and they all happened to go the BEARS’ way.

One of them came on the Jets’ most impressive drive, when the went 70 yards between the first and second quarters. It ended with Brian Urlacher, supposedly the league’s second-most-overrated player, intercepting the truly overrated Chad Pennington in the end zone. Another was when the Jets tried to catch the BEARS sleeping with an onside kick to start the second half; the BEARS recovered and drove for a field goal. Another came when Mark Bradley made a defender slip and scampered untouched for roughly 50 yards of what went into the books as a 57-yard touchdown pass.

Were it not for those plays, we easily could have seen a 7-0 BEARS loss.

Incidentally, I would not include the Thomas Jones non-fumble toward the end of the first half on the list of pivotal plays. Sure, the outcome went the BEARS’ way, but the replay clearly showed that Jones’ knee was down. So it’s not like the BEARS were helped by a bad call.

Jones, by the way, had his best game this season, with 121 rushing yards on 23 carries. He had more combined yards against San Francisco, but 121 is his high mark for rushing.

And the bottom line is, it doesn’t matter how they beat the Jets. We’re in the part of the BEARS schedule that everybody agrees is the toughest. For these three weeks all that counts is wins and losses, not statements, and the BEARS are 2 for 2 in the W department. I don’t know that they’re going to beat the Patriots next week the way they played today, but considering that every NFC team except the Giants now has at least four losses, the BEARS No. 1 playoff seed is in no danger.

The Big News of the Day

Chicago sports fans had a rare non-BEARS big story on Sunday, with a hot rumor that the Cubs will sign All-Star Alfonso Soriano. With an average of 35 home runs per 162 games, he would join sluggers Aramis Ramirez (30 per 162) and Derrek Lee (28) in the lineup.

Considering that earlier this year he was ready to walk away from the Nationals because he wasn’t being used at second base, the signing would be a little curious in light of the three-year, $13 million contract given to Mark DeRosa last week. Of course, the Cubs do need a left fielder, where Soriano played for the Nationals. Then again, some would argue the Cubs still need an everyday second baseman, too.

Sports Notes, 11/19/06 (formerly KotH notes)

Before we begin, my sincere condolences go out to all the Michigan faithful on the loss of Bo Schembechler. No matter what you think of the program he built, I can imagine what it would be like for Illini fans to lose Lou Henson, and I can empathize. My sentiments go out in particular to Pam, who graciously took her share of abuse in the KotH notes that spawned this site, and Lori, who is never the Michigan fan I’m trying to piss off. For you two, here’s hoping there’s a maize and blue heaven somewhere.

But life and blogs go on. So now we turn to the silly stuff …

-- It turns out Aramis Ramirez is worth $14.6 million a year. To break that down into chunks of money the rest of us can understand, that's $486,666 for every home run, $140,385 for every RBI, or roughly 17 cents for every disinterested stare.

-- The Cubs also resigned Kerry Wood for a spot in the bullpen and, among many other personnel moves, acquired Neal Cotts from the Sox. Cubs fans, we may have lived to see the day that Kerry Wood will come on in relief of Neal Cotts. To steal a line from the great columnist Bernie Lincicome (who originally said this about Bo Jackson), try to think of Kerry Wood's career as half-full instead of half-empty.

-- We almost found out how thin the Illinois basketball team is on Wednesday night. Something called Jackson State built early leads of 10-0 and 18-4 on a depleted Illinois team, which was missing Jamar Smith and Brian Randle to injury and Rich McBride to a suspension. Perhaps scarier still, JSU was still leading by 10 late in the first half. Illinois, now 3-0, ended up winning by 21, but any time you’re struggling with a State that’s not even a state, the state of your program is in a precarious state.

-- Don’t look now, but the Blackhawks have eight points in their last five games, including a shootout win Friday night at the home of the mighty Anaheim Ducks, who confused us all by taking the captial-M Mighty out of their name the year they became lower-case-m mighty. The streak includes two other wins and two shootout losses, and the first-ever shutout for rookie-ish backup goalie Brian Boucher (rhymes with “douche, eh” – must be a French-Canadian thing).

-- OK, so Boucher’s actually from Rhode Island. But I wasn’t going to pass up that line.

-- If I’m going to pick on him, I should also note that Boucher’s goals-against average is a commendable 2.87, almost half a goal lower than Nikolai Khabibulin’s 3.27. Boucher’s record is only 1-7-2 versus Khabi … Hobby … the other guy’s 5-2-0, but Boucher shouldn’t be held accountable for his team’s inability to score.

-- Lastly, I need YOU to NAME THIS SITE! “Kevin’s Chicago Sports Blog” was a placeholder from the beginning. Now that I’ve mostly got the template whipped into the shape I want (except that I still need an email link on here somewhere), I can turn my attention to giving this monster a proper name. I guess I could call it Sweet Home Sports, so that the name will be the same as the URL, but that would be too easy. Add your thoughts by clicking on “comments”, or just email me using the handy email link located at … oh, never mind.

Big Day in the Big Ten

Big Ten fans have been waiting for this day all season long. It’s always been a heated rivalry, but now it’s for the ultimate position within the conference. That’s right. It’s almost time for …

Illinois at Northwestern.

OK, so the ultimate position this one will determine is last place, not first. And the only Big Ten fans waiting for this one are fans who grew up in Chicago and went to Illinois. And that’s only if we expand the definition of “waiting for” to mean “recognize somewhere in the backs of our minds that we actually could attend, but we won’t because it’s probably going to be chilly out, and besides, Michigan-Ohio State is on that day.”

Because that’s what we’re all really here to read about. Michigan-Ohio State, always a hate fest, is now essentially a semifinal game for the national championship. (Anyone who does want to see a preview of Illinois-Northwestern, click in the right rail on “Illinois vs. Northwestern: The Toilet Bowl”. The rest of you – OK, so that’s ALL of you – just keep reading.)

There are reasons to believe on both sides. Michigan has more quality wins: over Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Penn State; OSU didn’t play the Badgers and can only boast good wins over Texas and Penn State. On the other hand, OSU beat each of the common opponents in the Big Ten more handily than did Michigan, sometimes on the order of a couple touchdowns. On yet a third, hypothetical hand, the Big Ten this year is so horrendously crappy that if going undefeated against this conference merits a spot in the title game, the same reward should be just as automatic for Rutgers if the Scarlet Knights go undefeated in the only-marginally-more-crappy Big East, so that doesn’t really prove anything.

But now we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s stick to the game at hand.

It will pit strength against strength, as Ohio State’s offense and Michigan’s defense are the best units on each team. Ohio State, with Heisman Trophy front-runner Troy Smith at quarterback, is averaging nearly 36 points a game – and that’s including the inexplicable 17-point aberration against woeful Illinois.

Michigan has not given up a touchdown in three of its last four games, the trend broken only by a letdown against a competitive Ball State team. But the strength of its defense is against the run. And Troy Smith can pass. And he has, in both of his meetings with Michigan: 541 yards total, 300 of them last year in Ann Arbor, good for two wins.

Furthermore, with nine lost fumbles and four interceptions all year long, it’s unlikely Ohio State will cough up anywhere close to the five turnovers that Michigan rode to its biggest win, over Notre Dame. With Ohio State taking care of the ball, don’t bet on Michigan shutting the door to the end zone in this contest.

The game will be won, though, on the other side of the ball – not because Ohio State’s defense is necessarily better than Michigan’s, but because their defense is better than Michigan’s offense. While the Buckeye offense gets the spotlight, the defense leads the nation in fewest points allowed. OSU has given up more than 10 points only twice, and the Buckeyes gave up only seven to a Texas team that regularly scores 30 and broke the 50-point barrier four times this year.

Some of that credit must be given to an offense that doesn’t turn the ball over, so Michigan’s D appears to be more talented despite giving up more points. But it doesn’t matter which is more talented – what matters is whether OSU’s defense is talented enough to get the job done. They’re facing a Michigan offense that has sputtered at times this year, mostly while receiver Mario Manningham was injured, but this offense still isn’t potent enough to put up big numbers on a solid D.

Take Ohio State and lay the 7 points, and in a defensive struggle look for the under (40.5) to prevail. Final score: Ohio State 23, Michigan 13.

Am I biased? Of course I’m biased! After all, I did go to any Big Ten school besides Michigan. But my being biased doesn’t mean Ohio State won’t win. And to show the Michigan peeps that I’m not all about hating, I will go on record saying that “Ann Arbor is a Whore” is the dumbest slogan in the entire history of mockery. It didn’t make sense when those front-row girls at Wisconsin put it on their T-shirts, and it doesn’t make sense now.

I also had some thoughts about a potential rematch in the national title game. I rambled on so much about it that I made it a separate post. You can scroll down or click in the right rail on “Rematch? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Rematch!” I guess that more or less gave away how I feel about it.

Rematch? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Rematch!

There’s been a lot of talk for the last month or so – mainly from Michigan fans who sense that they’re going to lose on Saturday – that Ohio State and Michigan should meet again for the national collegiate football championship. I’m going to explore this controversy in two parts: whether it should happen, and whether it will happen.

Should: There is no way in the darkest recesses of hell that the loser of this game deserves to be in the national championship. The loser will have failed to win the Big Ten in a down year for the Big Ten. Are you telling me that Florida, Arkansas, LSU and Auburn would have more than one loss if they had played either Michigan’s or Ohio State’s schedule? Unlikely. Somebody could still come out of the SEC torture chamber with only one loss, and they would deserve to be in the discussion.

Besides, Florida-Arkansas as the likely SEC championship isn’t the only semifinal-caliber game left on the schedule. USC and Notre Dame, currently ranked No. 3 and 5 in the BCS, hook up on Nov. 25. What if Michigan beats OSU and Notre Dame beats USC? Then we have two teams in the country whose only loss is to No. 1 Michigan, and Notre Dame (vs. Georgia Tech, Penn State and USC) would have one more quality win than Ohio State. You can’t tell me a Michigan-OSU rematch is more appropriate than Michigan-Notre Dame. Even if Michigan and ND don’t both win, I would want to see whoever wins those two games square off more than I would want another OSU-Michigan game.

Finally, we have to talk about Rutgers. If they run the table, they’ll have quality wins over Louisville and West Virginia. That’s a little thin, but then again, in terms of common opponents, they beat Illinois a lot worse than Ohio State did and they might yet beat Cincinatti worse than OSU did. If Rutgers goes undefeated and does not have a higher BCS number than a team with one loss dragging down its score, it will be because the human pollsters ranked them lower than the computers did. And that will be because the human pollsters will be unable to admit the mistake they made by not ranking Rutgers in the beginning of the season. In essence, Rutgers would be denied a shot at the title because nobody thought they could earn one, even if they do.

To clarify, I do not think Rutgers is the second best team in the country, and I’ll be rooting big-time for West Virginia to clear up this whole part of the mess on Dec. 2. But if Rutgers wins out and doesn’t play for the national championship, they way it will happen will be yet another travesty in a very flawed BCS system.

Bottom line, though, has nothing to do with the other teams that might deserve a shot. College football is the most unforgiving of all the sports when it comes to deciding a champion. Basketball teams can lose 10-12 games and still get an at-large bid to the NCAA tourney; the NBA and NHL occasionally let teams sneak into the playoffs with sub-.500 records. Without commenting on which is right or wrong, college football doesn’t do things that way. I say win your conference or get no shot at the title, and if you don’t like it, you’re playing the wrong sport.

Will: Here’s where it gets interesting. I, like many people, think a rematch is a lot more likely if Michigan wins than if Ohio State does.

The problem – and I say this as a longtime journalist myself – is the arrogance of the sportswriters. Voters in the AP poll will not allow themselves to rank a team in the same position after a loss as they did before. Therefore, many voters will justify (in their own minds) swapping Michigan and OSU if the Wolverines win, because OSU drops at least one notch, but they will not be able to bring themselves to keep Michigan in the No. 2 spot if the Buckeyes win.

This is illogical and arguably unfair, as a No. 2 team by definition is not expected to beat a No. 1 team. But I’ve seen how these guys think, and it ain’t pretty. And Michigan and Ohio State both might be just strong enough in other areas of the BCS to come out 1 and 2 in the standings if the human polls put them there. (And just for the record, I have even less faith in the coaches' poll than the AP poll. I've just never been a football coach.)

It’s mostly a moot point, though. USC, Notre Dame, Florida and possibly even Arkansas all have high enough BCS rankings to put themselves in the No. 2 spot by winning out, regardless of where the pollsters put them. Even Rutgers could land in the No. 2 spot by winning out, but the Knights would almost certainly need help from the voters. At any rate, someone has to win every game that’s played, so the chances of one of those teams passing Michigan or Ohio State are pretty good. The most likely title game I see is Ohio State vs. Flordia, and you know, it’s hard for me to argue with that matchup.

On the other hand, the rematch could still happen regardless of what happens Saturday because the loser will have an advantage, and a very silly one at that, of not playing again. Many of the other contenders play into December, with tough games left on their schedule. Michigan might lose to OSU, drop all the way to No. 5 or 6, and then float back up to No. 2 without a win if everyone ahead of them loses. Again, this is because of the inanity of sportswriters voting according to who won or lost most recently instead of who they really think the best teams are. So if we do see a rematch, it will be yet another travesty of the BCS system, and not just because there shouldn’t be a rematch.

Illinois vs. Northwestern: The Toilet Bowl

First, it should be noted that Illini Nation has already turned the calendar to the “Basketball Season” page and stapled it open right there. And Northwestern fans have gone back to, like, the library, or wherever it is Northwestern fans go.

As far as football goes, it’s been a disappointing season for both teams. But there’s one last game on the schedule, so I guess they’d better play it. Here’s what’s most likely to happen …

Illinois comes out confident and easily rolls to a 17-3 lead after the first quarter. The Illini fans almost allow themselves a momentary sigh of relief, but in the time it takes to inhale, Illinois turns over the ball on its next eight possessions and Northwestern is suddenly in command at 55-17. Then Illinois’ Pierre Thomas, in his last collegiate game, goes positively ape-scat and brings the Illini roaring back in the second half. Six touchdowns later, Illinois is holding a 59-55 lead with time winding down and Northwestern looks like it will again have to live with the ignomy of giving up the biggest comeback in NCAA history, besting its own record set just this year.

Then, after an entire game of running triple reverses, halfback option passes, fumblerooskies and other bizarre trick plays, Ron Zook suddenly turns conservative and fails to get a first down to milk the clock. Forced to punt from deep in its own end with just over a minute left, the Illini rugby-style punter misfires so badly that the ball actually flies backward, out of the end zone, for a Northwestern safety. It’s now 59-57, with Northwestern getting the ball back. Although the Wildcats have no timeouts left, they manage to move the ball at will, picking up first downs and stopping the clock with sideline passes, mostly because the dumbstruck Illinois defensive backs are wandering around aimlessly and scratching their heads in wonderment of what’s going on around them.

With four seconds left, Northwestern lines up for a 52-yard field goal. The snap is made. The kick is up. It travels a direct path toward the center of the uprights. It hits the top of its trajectory and begins to turn downward well before it reaches its destination. It appears that it will fall just short, when a friendly gust off of Lake Michigan shoots through Ryan Field and pushes the ball just over the crossbar. For the third time this season, Illinois is beat on a last-second field goal as Northwestern wins, 60 to 59!!

OK, so maybe it won’t come down quite like that. But remember that Illinois is favored, so it’s safe to bet the mortgage on Northwestern.

BEARS 38, Giants 20: A Playoff-Quality Win

Is it just me, or did Eli Manning look like the quarterback the Giants were hoping Rex Grossman would be?

Now, those of you who know me, know that I’m neutral at best on the subject of Rex Grossman. Heck, I’m the instigator who dreamt up the Brian Griese pool, with people betting on when No. 14 would supplant Rex as the starter. Still, fair is fair, and Grossman had a line worthy of respect: 18 for 30 for 246 yards, with three touchdowns and one interception.

It’s not his best line ever, and he certainly started out shaky, missing four of his first five passes and throwing an interception that led to a 1-yard touchdown and a 7-0 Giants lead, most of which he did while throwing off his back foot. Then again, he also led a key 74-yard touchdown drive late in the first half despite being beset by false start penalties. Grossman was 5 for 7 for 65 yards on the drive, hitting Mark Bradley – a guy me and my buddies at the bar had never heard of – for the TD.

This mattered because it brought the BEARS within three at halftime, and showed that the BEARS offense could fight back after being shut down by the Giants’ D for most of the first half. And this came in a game that was worth more than a game: With the win, the BEARS hold a two-game lead for home field advantage through the playoffs, with head-to-head wins against two of the three teams tied for second. Had they lost, it would have been a two-way tie with the Giants, and the Giants would have held the tiebreaker.

Bottom line is, Grossman’s stats, coming on the road against a playoff-caliber team, justify the front office’s love for him. It’s why I have to give him my player of the game honors.

Manning, on the other hand, spent most of his day being battered by BEARS defenders and looking dejected afterward. He turned the ball over three times, twice on interceptions and once on a fumble (something BEARS fans have gotten a little too used to seeing Grossman do lately). He looked impressive on the Giants’ third-quarter drive that cut the lead to 24-20, but rarely outside of that drive.

To their credit, the BEARS answered that score in what is becoming the new typical BEARS fashion. All season long, this team has excelled at taking a small lead and very quickly turning it into a commanding lead with opportunistic plays. (Just ask the Seahawks, Bills and 49ers if you don’t believe me.) Usually, this takes the form of takeaways, with long returns or a long pass on the first play from scrimmage to set up quick touchdown drives. Against the Giants, however, it was something a little different – Devin Hester’s 108-yard return of a 52-yard field goal attempt that fell short.

Watching the game live, I noticed Hester hesitate before running the ball out. I assumed he was waiting to see if he would get a wall, and would have taken a knee otherwise. I read this morning, however, that the Giants were already walking off the field after the miss, and he was simply giving them a couple extra steps toward the sideline before taking off the other way. I’d love to hear what Giants Nation’s reaction to that one was – can’t imagine such a mental mistake would play well in NYC!

The BEARS answered a lot of questions on Sunday night against the Giants, and they showed they will have to be reckoned with in the playoffs. Given the lead they have over the rest of the conference and how well they typically play at home, this team is rightfully the favorite to represent the NFC on Feb. 4.

Everything You Never Wanted To Know About Illinois' Season Opener

Don’t look now, Illinois basketball fans, but the Illini are not ranked in either preseason Top 25. Illinois picked up a measly 31 votes in the AP poll, which is exactly 100 fewer than Southern Illinois, and 52 votes in the coaches’ poll.

The good news is that Illinois opens Nov. 13 with Austin Peay and doesn’t have anything that will resemble a challenge until Game 6 against Miami of Ohio.

As for the opener, Austin Peay is the architect of one of the biggest embarrassments in Illinois history. Longtime Illinois fans (read: old people like me) will remember that the 14-seed Governors upset the 3-seed Illini in the first round of the 1987 NCAA tournament, 68-67.

Illinois got a small measure of revenge early in the next season, steam-rollering the Governors 100-62. Those are the only two games Illinois and Austin Peay have played. And since a fair number of current players probably weren’t even born yet in 1987, and certainly all of them weren’t old enough to be paying attention (poor things missed the whole Raising Arizona phenomenon entirely), I don’t see much bad blood in this meeting. Just a 35-point Illinois win.

Austin Peay, of course, is also the architect of one of the greatest crowd chants in organized sporting history. In the early 1970s Austin Peay had an All-America named James Williams, nicknamed “the Fly”. In reference to this particular player, Governors fans would chant “The Fly is open – Let’s Go Peay!” And that never stops being funny to me.

And While We're Talking Illini ...

Forty-two points, Ron Zook? Your lone bright spot in this latest train wreck of an Illinois football season was supposed to be that the defense is at least competent and you gave up 42 points to freaking Purdue?

I don't know all the details -- I had to do a showing Saturday afternoon, and when I came back to my car half an hour later I learned that the score changed from 23-14 Illinois to 42-23 Purdue -- but I understand several of Purdue's touchdown came on short drives following turnovers. Still, that hardly excuses the coaching staff. It's not like "Hey, in fairness, we DO have a buttload of turnovers" has ever been a valid defense.

Ron Zook is 4-18 at Illinois. This is unacceptable, even by the standards of horrible horrible Illinois football. Zook must go. I don't care that he's only had two years to prove himself. I don't care if it takes time to build a program. I don't care if it's unreasonable to expect a magical, immediate turnaround under a new coach: I want it anyway. After eight years of suffering through Ron Turner, I just have no more patience for rebuilding years in Champaign.

Bottom line is this: 10 years later, it turns out we actually would have been better off with Lou Tepper running the show this whole time. Ron Zook must go!

Miami 31, BEARS 13: An unexpected result.

Well, that was definitely disappointing.

I wasn’t expecting the BEARS to really run the table – in fact, I said as much when Mike Brown went down. But I didn’t expect the extra loss to come against a team like Miami, a team that came in 1-6 and lost to a Green Bay team the BEARS shut out in Lambeau. And I didn’t expect it to come at home, where the BEARS had won their previous four games this season by 27, 31, 33, and 31 points.

I’d like to say there’s no reason for the dominating BEARS defense not to shut out a team that in seven previous games had scored more 17 points just once. But unfortunately, there is a reason. There’s just no excuse. The reason is six turnovers – which led to all 31 Miami points, despite a mostly valiant effort on defense, and there’s simply no excuse for that. (For all you young punt returners out there, a 31-13 embarrassment at home is the reason your coach always tells you not to even try to field anything inside the 10-yard line.)

And why does it always have to be Miami that ruins a BEARS undefeated season? And why do they always have to do it with a running back no one has ever heard of before or will again running wild all over a normally stalwart defense? In 1985 it was Lorenzo Hampton; this year it was Ronnie Brown with 157 yards in 29 tries for a face-slapping 5.4 average.

Speaking of running, the BEARS seemed to do it quite well at times. Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson finished with modest numbers, but they both broke decent gains several times in the second quarter. I don't understand why the team went away from that strategy, especially as they were well within striking distance most of the second half.

But there’s much more at stake here than an undefeated season. This game completely changes the NFC playoff picture.

The BEARS had been the heavy favorite to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl not just because they were undefeated, but because their two-game lead over the rest of the conference gave them the inside track to home-field advantage, where it seemed they couldn’t possibly lose. Now, they have a one-game lead with their next game at the home of their closest competitor, the New York Giants.

With the Saints also sitting at 6-2, one game behind the 7-1 BEARS, a loss on Sunday could conceivably drop the BEARS all the way from No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, to No. 3 seed and no bye in the first playoff weekend. And don’t look now, but the 5-3 Seahawks have a fairly soft schedule the rest of the way.

I still believe the BEARS will be the No. 1 seed in the NFC when all is said and done. The Giants have too tough of a schedule; the Saints, Seahawks and Falcons all are too prone to taking a silly loss somewhere along the way. Thus, the BEARS should have the best overall record in the conference even if they lose at the Giants and at the Patriots, the two games remaining in which they are likely to be underdogs. But a stupid loss to a terrible team in which the BEARS flat-out beat themselves will make it much more difficult.

A Blackhawks Entry, In Case Anyone's Interested

If you’re wondering why it took me so long to develop this post on the Blackhawks offense, well, maybe I was simply trying to emulate the Blackhawks offense.

Yes, it was many days ago that I pledged to finally watch a Hawks games in full this year and report back on the scoring woes. At that point, the Hawks had gone scoreless for 10 straight periods. The streak continued through the first period against the Islanders on Tuesday night, and into the second, so that by the time the Hawks lucked into a goal on an odly bouncing puck, just over 240 minutes – the equivalent of four whole games – had passed since the last tally.

And in the interim, the Hawks lost again, to the Red Wings, as they did to the Islanders, bringing the losing streak to seven and the team’s record to 4-9.

Lack of offense is a major reason. From what I saw on Tuesday night, the problem is pretty simple to diagnose: Nothing develops on offense because there is no activity. No movement without the puck, no forechecking, very little passing, very little shooting, no one (except Tuomo Ruutu) going to the net, and a whole lot of hesitation.

In fact, the hesitation led directly to an Islanders goal in Tuesday's game. The Hawks won a face-off in the New York end in the second period, and the puck came to Brent Seabrook. He clearly thought about passing it foreward, but stopped for a second, and then passed it laterally. But the hesitation gave Viktor Kozlov a chance to shoot the gap, which he did, stealing the puck and streaking down the ice for an unassisted breakaway goal.

It’s easy to say that was just another straw in a 5-2 loss, but since the score was 3-2 for almost all of the third period, one goal actually meant quite a lot.

I did not see Thursday night’s loss to the Red Wings, because the game was in Chicago and I didn’t have time to run down to the United Center or to drive to Detroit where it was most likely televised, so I don’t know if the offense looked similarly impotent. Judging by the one goal overall and the one shot in the second period, though, it’s safe to say that it was.

KotH Week 9 Notes

-- Illinois turned in an impressive performance yesterday, making Ohio State work for its 17-10 victory the whole way through the game. Still, the moral victory felt a little empty – not just because the Illinois program is so starved for wins, but also because it felt like Illinois might have won if the game had been, say, 75 minutes instead of 60. Watching Illinois in the second half (which, incidentally, it won 10-0) was like watching a racehorse who normally runs a mile try to compete in a six-furlong race: By the time it got itself in position to make a run, the finish line was too close already.

-- Oh yeah, and don’t look now, but 17 is the fewest points anyone has given up to Ohio State this year, and 7 is the lowest margin of victory Ohio State has had this year.

-- We could argue all day about whether the 2006 BEARS have earned comparisons to the 1985 BEARS yet. But I’ll tell you this: Exacting some small measure of revenge on Miami will help them pull even in some people’s hearts.

-- Lesson learned from John L. Smith: If you’re going to be a punk, you’d darn well better win.

-- Indiana and its bowl hopes came crashing back to earth yesterday thanks to a 63-26 thumpering by Minnesota. This is the same Minnesota team that hadn’t yet won a Big Ten game in five tries. And the same Indiana team that came back from 15 down to beat Illinois on a last-second field goal, and which went on to beat Iowa the next week with another last-second field goal. And the same Illinois team that was coming off a surprising (at the time) 23-20 upset of Michigan State when it lost to Indiana. And the same Iowa team that beat Illinois and Purdue but gave Northwestern its first conference win of the year this weekend. And the same Northwestern team that was winless in part because it gave up the biggest comeback in NCAA history to that very downtrodden Michigan State team. And the same Michigan State team that fired its dirty-pool-teaching punk of a coach for not beating anybody but Northwestern. Maybe, just maybe, the Big Ten just isn’t that good.

-- I’m going to stand by my 5-11 prediction for how the Cowboys finish under Tony Romo. At least until they win their sixth game. Which, well, should be any day now.

-- Why is Ben Roesthlisberger still playing? Forget about injuries and off-field idoicy; Charlie Batch is just a better quarterback right now. And I’m not saying that because of Charlie Batch.

-- Just saw a report that Sammy Sosa, sitting on 588 home runs, wants to come back to reach the 600 milestone. Smart money says he has as much chance of hitting 12 more big-league home runs in his life as I do. That said, though, I always thought it was cool that after losing the HR title to Mark McGwire in two straight 60-plus seasons, Sosa caught Big Mac -- by two -- on the all-time list.

Dr. Skiles and Mr. Bulls

So, the Bulls followed up their dominating, 42-point win over the defending NBA champions with a clunker in Orlando. As effortlessly competent as they looked in Miami on Tuesday night, that’s how inept they were on Wednesday.

In Miami, the Bulls built a lead with strong defense, efficient offense and solid fundamentals all the way around. In Orlando, they fell behind by 15 early and essentially stayed there the rest of the game, occasionally showing flashes of their previous night brilliance to cut the lead to around 10, but then giving it right back again.

It seems that what we’ve learned from this experience is what we always knew: You can’t tell anything about an NBA team after two games. The season is too long, the adjustments too easy to make. Remember that the 2004-2005 Bulls that returned the franchise to the playoffs after a six-year absense started out on a nine-game losing streak.

That feat was accomplished thanks largely to the coaching of Scott Skiles, who was also responsible for the big win in the opener. This team is clearly well-coached: Not only did they play strong defense and fundamentals against Miami, but they also stayed calm with the lead and gradually built it even bigger to assure the outcome, whereas a poorly coached team tends to start celebrating too early, finds itself in a close game, and doesn’t have the mental strength to hang on.

When a team is as well-coached as this one, nights like Orlando tend to be a blip instead of the start of a trend. And in fairness, a lot of teams, even good one, struggle on the second night of back-to-back games. When the back end comes against a team so fresh it hasn’t even played a game yet, you can expect a struggle. I wouldn’t worry too much – overall, the predictions of a very satisfying season for the Bulls are still fair.