What I Learned In ACC-Big Ten School

I was right; it could have been worse than my 7-4 ACC prediction. Unfortunately I did not get the chance to watch any of Tuesday’s action in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, but after picking up as much as possible via osmosis and the Internet, here’s what I know after three days of basketball:

-- Illinois might not be a tournament team. The Illini are not going to beat Missouri, because Missouri beat Maryland by 14, and they’re not going to beat Arizona, because they’re flat-out not that good. All of this means that come tourney time, Illinois’ best non-conference win is going to be Oklahoma State.

-- This is really a shame, because outside of Michigan State, the Big Ten is just not very good this year. Wisconsin is not as good as advertised, Ohio State is not as good as advertised, even Indiana looked beatable at home.

-- And those were the teams that were supposed to be good. In the second division, Purdue might surprise some people this year, but Iowa is beatable, Michigan and Minnesota are NIT teams at best, Penn State is as forgettable as always and Northwestern is horrible even by Northwestern standards.

-- Michigan State, on the other hand, can play with anyone they’d care to.

-- Brian Randle, who has enough talent that he should have been showing up in big games his whole career, should REALLY start showing up now that he’s a senior.

-- Thad Matta is only a genius when he’s coaching a 7-footer. (But we knew that after reading my preview.)

-- It was awfully nice of Jay Bilas, a former ACC player, to offer an insightful and well-reasoned defense of the Big Ten during a halftime report. He made the point that the ACC has won every challenge only because they’re stronger at the bottom of the conference. In terms of tourney performance, as he pointed out, the Big Ten has been on par with the ACC in recent years.

-- On that note, the ACC didn’t really start dominating the challenge until the conference grew to 12 teams – the first couple events, with two Big Ten teams sitting out, went down to the wire, with the ACC winning 5-4. Now the ACC sits a team and they blow us out. It’s not that their top is a little stronger than our top and their bottom is better than our bottom -- their top is a little stronger than our top, and their middle is way stronger than our bottom!

-- That being the case, maybe there should be a rule that conferences can only have 10 teams. If you have 10 teams and someone leaves for a better conference, you have to pick up a team from another conference and they have to pick up, I don’t know, a crappy independent or something. But if you have fewer than 10 teams, you can’t be a conference. And if you have more than 10 teams, you have to show Minnesota the door.

-- Mostly, though, I know that I was right. I correctly called 8 of the 11 games, and I practically told you that I expected to miss two of the three that I missed. Let’s face it – if you were calling games you wouldn’t have had the stones to pick all of 9 ACC teams either!

Achilles' Heel Hurts His Ankle

Hey, Cedric, don’t let the door slam that gimpy ankle on your way out.

Yes, my favorite target of ire, BEARS running back Cedric Benson, is out for the season, undone by an ankle injury at the end of a 21-yeard run against the Broncos on Sunday. His 3.4 yards per carry this year will now be replaced by Adrian Peterson’s 3.6 yards per carry.

Coach Lovie Smith had an interesting take on the situation: “He went out on a good run.” In context, he would have you believe that he was talking about Benson’s two-game stretch in which he compiled more than seven dozen yards against Seattle and started with 47 on eight carries against Denver.

Still, I find the choice of words intriguing. Benson literally went out on one good run, and perhaps that’s the best thing you can say about his career.

See, here’s what a healthy Cedric Benson brings to the table: He’s not particularly fast, he doesn’t really break tackles, he has problems catching screen passes in the open field, and he seems to be afraid of throwing blocks. Exactly why was this guy ever an NFL running back? (Better question, if that’s what it takes, how did I miss my calling?)

Although it would suck to have to wake up every morning and look in the mirror to the realization that you’re not even the best Adrian Peterson in your own division, right now I’m not sure there’s much of a dropoff for the BEARS using their A-Pete as the primary running back. It’s not just his higher yards per carry: He has shown heart all year long, and particularly in his key touchdown run on Sunday.

And because I went to Holy Cross High School, as did Garrett Wolfe many years later, I’m a big-time Wolfe backer as the backup.

Still, in a way Benson’s injury is sad. That way is that it means the BEARS have wasted yet another first-round draft pick on a running back who flamed out. Cedric “3 Yards And A Cloud Of Dust” Benson now joins Rashaan “Doobie” Salaam and Curtis “I Would Prefer Not To” Enis.

And that brings us to next year’s draft and/or free agent signings. Let’s see, the BEARS need …

-- A running back (Sorry, Adrian Peterson, you’re not exactly Adrian Peterson, if you know what I mean)
-- A quarterback (I would not be opposed to Donovan McNabb)
-- A marquee wide receiver (Bernard Berrian has been the target of far too many passes that have been intercepted)
-- Replacements for the aging offensive line
-- Depth in the defensive secondary
-- A linebacker good enough to complement Brian Urlacher, if Lance Briggs leaves

And if there weren’t so many other glaring needs, I wouldn’t mind solidifying the tight end position. In other words, thanks to Benson's insistence on being the primary running back, the BEARS are now set only at kick returner, middle linebacker, place kicker, maybe punter, and, if everyone stays healthy, defensive line.

Well, Ced, you got your wish. And the fans got ours: Anyone else.

BEARS 37, Denver 34, OT: That Was Unexpected

“Miracle” doesn’t really cover it.

“Oh, you lucky bastards” is much more accurate.

True, the BEARS overtime win against Denver on Sunday was pretty impressive, coming as it did with the BEARS down two touchdowns with slightly more than 5 minutes left. But let’s not forget that for 54 minutes this was a picture of a franchise imploding on itself.

The team struggled on offense, rolling up a meager 160 yards through three quarters -- at which point Devin Hester had more kick return yards, including his two touchdowns. I really hope this isn’t a sign that the offense actually misses Cedric Bensen, who injured his ankle in the second quarter and didn’t return.

The team struggled on defense, giving up four touchdowns and also allowing more than 400 yards for the second straight week. Of course, most of that was in the third quarter, and if you take that away the defense was mostly solid (although Adam Archuleta was made to look like a 5-foot-10 untalented stiff several times, including the Broncos’ first touchdown). But the defense’s failure to play four quarters is a nagging theme this year, as much as the multiple injuries and the quarterback-go-round.

Even the game-tying touchdown was a struggle. The drive was kept alive by a cheap penalty on a fourth down, and Bernard Berrian had to make a marvelous diving catch on another fourth down for the score.

Penalties and a Rex Grossman fumble held the BEARS to a mere three points off of two Denver turnovers – and wiped out an athletic touchdown catch by Greg Olson. Even 2007 BEARS MVP Hester got into the act, fumbling in the first quarter on a very ill-advised attempt to field a bouncing punt.

Of course, he would be forgiven, thanks to his mesmerizing kick returns, twice tying the game in the third. Hester gets harder and harder to believe with every seemingly effortless touchdown. As a side note, it was fun to watch former BEARS punting goat Todd Sauerbrun wipe himself out trying unsuccessfully to stop Hester on each of his scores.

While those returns kept the BEARS in the game for a while, it was another special teams play that turned the tide, that being Charles Tillman’s blocked punt with 7:14 left and the BEARS down by two touchdowns. Four plays later, Adrian Peterson – showing a level of heart Bensen has never had – gut-checked the ball through a pile of tacklers into the end zone, and made the comeback possible.

The rest is denouement. The BEARS won the overtime coin toss, the first play was a 39-yard pass from Rex Grossman to Dwight Clark that brought the BEARS to the brink of field goal range, and a few plays later Robbie Gould cemented it. (Thanks in part to that chunk of yards, Grossman ended the day with decent numbers, but I still spent most of the day wishing he was Jay Cutler.)

So after all this, the BEARS are somehow still relevant to the playoff race. And a win next week over the Giants, who looked terrible today, suddenly seems realistic. That flicker of hope isn’t extinguished yet.

This Feels Like March Madness, Alright

Someone once told me that the definition of "insanity" is "to keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

Maybe I need to get some happy pills, because I keep looking forward to the ACC-Big Ten Challenge even though my beloved Big Ten has yet to win one heading into this week's ninth installment. Technically, though, I'm not expecting the Big Ten to prevail in this year's event, either.

At least this year we can't blame the schedule. Looking at it on paper before the season, most people probably would have have rated this fairly evenly balanced. That was before Ohio State showed some weakness, which shifted the balance of power too far to the ACC .

MONDAY
Wake Forest at Iowa, 6 p.m., ESPN2: Wake Forest has beaten a bunch of nobodies by a lot. Iowa also beat a bunch of nobodies by a lot, then lost to two mid-majors on South Padre Island. I'm giving the Hawkeyes a slight edge at home. Iowa.

TUESDAY
Georgia Tech at Indiana, 6 p.m., ESPN: Sure, Indiana slipped up on the road against Xavier. Tech has slipped up against the likes of N.C.-Greensboro, a school so obscure it has its location in its very name and I still don't know where it is. Indiana.

Northwestern at Virginia, 6 p.m., ESPNU: Northwestern had to dumpster-dive all the way down to Division III to get its only win of the year. At least the Big Ten is sacrificing the Wildcats on the road, which maximizes our winnable home games. Virginia.

Minnesota at Florida State, 6:30 p.m., ESPN2: Florida State is its normal inconsistent self. But while I'm willing to believe Tubby Smith will improve the Minnesota program, I need to see it first. Florida State.

Wisconsin at Duke, 8 p.m., ESPN: Another one that thankfully burns up an ACC home court. Wisconsin wasn't going to beat this Duke team anywhere on earth -- or probably anywhere else in the universe, for that matter. Duke.

Purdue at Clemson, 8:30 p.m., ESPN2: Purdue may be capable of pulling off upsets this year, but Clemson has been blowing people off the court. Clemson.

WEDNESDAY
N.C. State at Michigan State, 6 p.m., ESPN: Michigan State is probably the best team in the Big Ten. North Carolina State is not the best of the ACC. Michigan State.

Boston College at Michigan, 6 p.m., ESPNU: Michigan's got problems. Boston College.

Illinois at Maryland, 6:30 p.m., ESPN2: Wow, this one might be the toughest to call even if I wasn't biased. If Illinois plays as well as they did in the Maui Invitational, they could win this game. I don't know if that's enough for me to believe that they will, but since this is probably Illinois' last best shot at a quality non-conference win, I have to find a way. Illinois.

North Carolina at Ohio State, 8 p.m., ESPN: In fairness to the schedule-makers, this probably looked like a win for the Big Ten when the games were scheduled; the national runner-up should win at home against anybody. But it turns out Thad Matta is only a genius when he's coaching 7-footers. North Carolina.

Virginia Tech at Penn State, 8:30 p.m., ESPN2: This one is also a tough call. Va Tech has two unimpressive wins and two losses to ranked teams, which tells me nothing. Penn State has one or two bad losses. State College is a tough place to play, but I've given too many slight edges to the Big Ten already. Virginia Tech.

SUMMARY

So there you have it, the ACC takes it 7 games to 4. It could be worse; I'm not 100 percent convinced about Illinois and Iowa.

As I mentioned earlier, if Ohio State were going in the win column, all of the sudden this thing looks to be up for grabs. Minnesota could definitely pull off the upset -- and may even be favored to win -- and Penn State over Va Tech would only be a minor upset. But in real life, all three of those games go to the ACC, as does the Challenge title, again. Anybody got a connection for some happy pills?

Sports Notes, 11/25/07

-- I THINK that Missouri beating Kansas last night was the best thing that could have happened to Ohio State. But then again, who the hell knows?

-- They certainly don’t deserve it, but the BEARS can climb back into legitimate playoff contention with a win today against the Denver Broncos.

-- Apparently some people in the media are upset that Brian Urlacher has turned to giving terse answers at press conferences. Of note: After the Seattle loss, he said the defense's problem was "too many yards" and he said of Rex Grossman, "He did well." News flash, guys: Urlacher did not get a multimillion-dollar contract for his oratory skills.

-- And besides, he was right on both counts.

-- But the team that really needs the BEARS to start winning again is the Bulls. If the BEARS start to fade off of people’s radar, someone is going to notice that the Bulls can’t even beat the Knicks.

-- The Maui Invitational should give Illinois fans hope for a tourney berth. Arizona State and Oklahoma State may not be world-beaters, but Illinois whupped them both, and there’s no shame in losing to Duke. This team could go 1-2 in its upcoming games with traditional tourney teams Maryland, Arizona and Missouri and still be in line for a spot in March.

-- Don’t look now – I know I haven’t – but the Blackhawks are actually above .500, in second place in the Central division and currently in playoff position, albeit smack-dab in the middle of a big bunch of teams.

-- Hey, former BEARS quarterback and current Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, you can’t let your college quarterback go back into a game with a high likelihood of a concussion. You couldn’t do it even if you were 10-0; you REALLY can’t do it when you’re 3-7.

Lloyd Carr, We Hardly Deigned To Know Ye

Are there actually Michigan alums out there who are pretending to be sad to see Lloyd Carr go?

Don’t get me wrong; they should be. The guy won a national championship, fer cryin’ out loud. But for the fans to have us believe they feel bad about Carr resigning is laughable. Wolverine Nation’s relationship with this guy was always tepid at best.

Now, I personally don’t care one way or another what happens to Carr, but when I look at the numbers I’m pretty sure Michigan just doesn’t know how to appreciate what it has.

In 13 years at Michigan, Carr (121-40 overall, 81-23 Big Ten) never once had a losing season; he won five Big Ten titles, including two outright titles; he won 10 or more games six times; and he lost four or more games only five times.

Now let’s take a peek at the stats for Hayden Fry and Barry Alvarez, who were beloved at Iowa and worshiped at Wisconsin, respectively. Fry (143-89-6, 96-61-5), in 20 years at Iowa, had five losing seasons; won three Big Ten titles, one of them outright; won 10 games only twice; and lost four or more games (the apparent benchmark of failure at Michigan) 14 times. Alvarez (118-73-4, 65-60-3), in 16 years, had five losing seasons; won three Big Ten titles, one of them outright; won 10 or more games four times; and lost four or more games 10 times.

For these bodies of work, Alvarez got a statue in Madison. Fry got a freaking sitcom loosely based on him. Yet Carr, with far superior numbers, got the shaft because Michigan fans have always wanted more.

Granted, Fry and Alvarez took over losing programs and naturally would be allowed some early failure. But each was forgiven descents into mediocrity after establishing winning programs, because of their successes, which were nowhere near the level of Carr’s. And the Michigan fan base kept holding him to a higher standard year after year.

Truth be told, Carr was on thin ice right from his introductory press conference, when he joked about getting rid of those ridiculous helmets and the humorless alums got their meticulously ironed undies in a bunch.

There was a brief honeymoon when he won the Associated Press national title in 1997, but it lasted about as long as a Britney Spears marriage. When he eventually struggled against arch-nemesis Ohio State, going 1-6 the last seven years and losing the last four games in a row (which, incidentally, got progressively more hilarious each year), the fans got antsy, no matter what they claim now that he’s gone.

So the arrogant Michigan fans think they have a birthright to a Big Ten title, a win over Ohio State and a shot at the national title every single year, and they demand as much from their coach, and when he resigns after failing to live up to those unrealistic standards the obnoxious hypocrites pretend they’re sorry to see him go. Where do I begin explaining why everyone hates Michigan so much?

My contempt may be short-lived, though, as Michigan has failed to learn from a lesson that played out just down the road in South Bend. In 1996, fans at fellow powerhouse Notre Dame were growing weary of a coach who had won a national championship less than 10 years previously, and Lou Holtz announced his retirement. That program has been auguring its way into irrelevance ever since.

Here’s hoping Michigan will find out the hard way just how good Lloyd Carr really was.

Seahawks 30, BEARS 23: Just In Time For Thanksgiving, This Turkey's Cooked

So, it’s not just Rex Grossman that the BEARS need. It’s also a healthy defense.

The depleted secondary got torched for 322 net passing yards on Sunday as the Seahawks’ Matt Hasselback moved the ball at will. The defense gave up 425 yards overall, making it a little too easy for the Seahawks to overcome the BEARS’ early 10-0 lead.

Grossman actually had a decent day, going 24 of 37 for 266 yards and no interceptions. He did lose a fumble late in the fourth quarter with the BEARS driving at midfield for a potential game-tying touchdown.

But on the other hand, he led the BEARS to 23 points, which should be enough for this team to win. Last year, there were only four regular-season games in which the BEARS gave up more than 23 points – and a couple of those were due to TD returns of Grossman interceptions, so in truth it was extremely rare for Grossman to be asked to hang more than 23 on the board last year.

Now, the BEARS are truly faced with the prospect of having to win all of their remaining games to have any shot at the playoffs. It won’t be easy, as there are no gimmies in that bunch, starting with a home game against an Denver team that had been inconsistent this year but is looking like it’s figured itself out with convincing wins the last two weeks.

In other news, it was interesting to see Brian Urlacher take his uncanny sixth sense for the ball to a new level. In the third quarter, he forced a Hasselback fumble, then ran back to the pile that was trying to fall on it and stood waiting for two full seconds in front of the exact spot it would eventually squirt out of. That was impressive.

But Cedric Benson continues to disappoint. After getting 43 yards (and a touchdown) on his very first carry, he still failed to compile 100 overall. Granted, he only got 10 more chances, but maybe he only got 10 chances because he wasn’t doing anything with most of them.

Sports Notes, 11/18/07

-- The Seahawks may be diminished this year. But if the BEARS want people to start thinking about them as a playoff contender again, they would do well to win today's matchup of the last two NFC champions.

-- I don’t care what their record is. For the Clippers to lose by 20 at home to a Bulls team that just doesn’t seem to care proves that they will always be the Clippers.

-- From the file of “Still Basking In The Glow Of Defeating No. 1,” the best headline I’ve seen on the Illinois-Ohio State game was “Shut the Bucks Up.” That was from the cradle of my own writing talent, The Daily Illini.

-- (For the record, that still doesn’t beat “In Like a Lion, Out Like Illini,” my headline for the Danville Commercial-News on the 1995 season opener, which Illinois lost to Michigan 38-14 after Lou Tepper jawed all summer about how he was going to beat UM.)

-- Of course, the basketball team had to scratch their way back from a halftime deficit to eke out a 2-point win against a Hawaii basketball team that may not average many more points per game than the football team, but hey, a win is a win.

-- Confidential to former Chicagoan Phil J. in Los Angeles: See, if you’re going to say something like that, you’d better make damn sure it’s actually funny to even have a chance of getting away with it.

BEARS 17, Raiders 6: Turns Out We Do Need Grossman

It was just like BEARS fans had wanted all season long. The backup came storming in off the bench and pulled his team ahead to victory.

Except it wasn’t quite what the fans wanted, because they wanted it to happen when Brian Griese was the backup. Instead, when Griese was injured in the second quarter of Sunday’s game, Grossman reclaimed his old job and, with the BEARS trailing 6-3 in the fourth quarter, threw a bomb to Bernard Berrian that put them up for good.

What gives me hope more than a win over the pitiful Raiders is the specter of the return of Good Rex. Griese had a better record than Grossman as a starter this year (2-2 vs. 1-3), but he was not going to take this team to the playoffs.

After all, he had three interceptions in each game against the Lions, often throwing into heavy coverage in the second game. And had the BEARS bothered to beat the Lions just once, they would currently have the same 5-4 record and would be in the thick of the playoff race.

Furthermore, were it not for two minutes of brilliance against the Eagles, Griese would have the same 1-3 record as Grossman.

There’s never been a doubt that Good Rex was better than Griese. But the conventional wisdom also held that Griese was better than Bad Rex, at least until Griese got the starting job. Now, it’s an open question, but also a moot one, because this team does not make the playoffs unless they get seven Good Rex starts in a row.

Illinois 28, No. 1 Ohio State 21: Dude, WTF?!?

Now, I know if I post a blog article about my beloved Illini upsetting No. 1 Ohio State, everyone who’s reading closely will accuse me of only posting when my teams do something good. But since I really do that anyway, and since I can count on no hands how many of you are reading me closely (or at all), it doesn’t bother me that much.

I myself am still in shock. I have watched the Illini live several times this year, and while it’s apparent that they are improving each week, I had no idea they were at this level yet.

In fact, I was so certain that Illinois would lose that I watched the game with a Buckeye friend of mine specifically because, despite being a avid Ohio State fan, she never gets into the whole fan rivalry scene, so I figured I could watch how closely Illinois could measure up with someone who would be benevolent in victory. If I had any inkling Illinois, a 15-point underdog, could actually pull off the upset, I never would have dragged her out.

This has been a tremendous year of vindication for Ron Zook after all the close misses in last year’s 2-10 train wreck. It all culminated on Saturday with a very disciplined performance. His quarterback won the game with his arm and his feet, his offense didn’t turn the ball. Heck, the whole team had exactly one penalty in 60 minutes. Clearly, Zook can do more than recruit.

If someone had told me before this season that Illinois would be 8-3, 5-2 right now, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. There would have been no worries about who handed us the losses or how those games could have had the Illini in the Big Ten title chase, so I will not focus on those things now. After all, this team is still young and improving, and we can expect more from them next year. This year, the Illini have performed beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.

Bupkis for the Buckeyes

All that said, Ohio State is in a serious load of trouble in their attempt to get back in the title game. The Buckeyes fell only to the No. 7 spot in the BCS standings, which shouldn’t be an insurmountable obstacle, but the way things will play out, they will actually need Oregon and LSU to both lose another game.

Here’s why: Three of the teams ahead of Ohio State are in the same conference. Kansas and Missouri still have to play, and the winner will likely play Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game. All of this means one of those teams is likely to stay ahead of OSU.

There are a lot of ways Ohio State could climb ahead of West Virginia, but Oregon and LSU are unlikely to drop out of their spots unless they lose. With the Big 12 winner in line ahead of OSU, only one of the top two dropping out of the picture is not enough.

Now, I’m not convinced Ohio State is necessarily worse than Oregon and LSU. The Tigers’ one loss was to Kentucky, which has a resume very similar to Illinois’, and Oregon lost to California, which arguably looks weaker right now, although Cal was 5-0 when the Ducks beat them.

But the reality is that Oregon and LSU are locked into the top spots for now. And that just shows you how unforgiving college football is – lose one game at any time to anybody, and nothing is guaranteed.

I'm Back, Bitches

So, you thought that my blog was as dead as Dollar Bill Wirtz. I can’t blame you; I did too. I never meant to stop posting; it’s just that I was down to about two readers, and I had to focus on stuff that actually had a chance to make me money.

I do regret that I was down for so long, and I know I passed on many big stories, not the least of which is the Cubs in the playoffs. (Upshot: I’m a lot more surprised by how many fans actually expected the Cubs to win that series than I am by the Diamondbacks’ sweep.)

And I had a ton of good lines that I had to pass up, too. “Cedric Benson has the loudest three-yard-per-carry average in NFL history” … “Cedric Benson says he’ll block Shaun Phillips ‘any time, anywhere’ -- how about ‘on the field, last Sunday’ ” … “Cedric Benson wants to make us forget Thomas Jones, but he hasn’t even made me forget Anthony Thomas” … “If Cedric Benson wants to be a feature back in the NFL, he might consider catching a flippin’ screen pass every now and again” …

Come to think of it, I really don’t like Cedric Benson.

But enough about him. This is a blog for all of Chicago sports, and now that it’s Big Ten basketball season, it’s time to get it under way again (at least for the next week or so). Stop by and enjoy!