IT’S ABOUT TIME TO BE WRONG: BIG TEN PREVIEW

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I’m getting Pickin’ On the Big Ten fired up for another year of deep sarcasm and invariably-wrong predictions. College football will be upon us sooner than you think. In that spirit, let’s go in-depth into the best football conference in America, the mighty Big Ten.

LAST YEAR: GOOD TO THE LAST DROP

The league’s bowl record in ‘03 was dismal, with only Iowa, Minnesota, and Ohio State notching wins. Still, Iowa’s Robert Gallery won the Outland Trophy, with Wolverine Chris Perry winning the Doak Walker Award and Buckeye B.J. Sander winning the Ray Guy Will Never Get Into the Hall of Fame Award.

No head coaches were fired after the season, though two probably should have been: Joe Paterno and Illinois’ Ron Turner. I know it upsets the Penn State faithful, but the evidence is all over the place that JoePa just doesn’t have “it” anymore. I’m a Hawkeye fan and I know what it’s like when your beloved coach who brought you every good thing you’ve ever had sticks around a season or two too long. Suck it up, Nits–you could wind up with the next Kirk Ferentz or Urban Meyer. Thank the guy, hand him the gold watch, and everybody get on with the rest of their lives.

Turner, on the other hand, was positively snakebit last season. Injuries and inexperience combined to make the Illini go 0-for-Division-1A. While it’s nice that the Illinois administration is giving Turner a chance to rebuild (he did have them in the Sugar Bowl a couple years back, you know), it’s certain that the heat is on and another losing season will have resumes flooding into Champaign-Urbana.
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THE DREAM IS STILL ALIVE

We’re one step closer, folks . . . Krzyzewski’s been offered the Lakers job.

I’VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU . . .

. . . Omaha really is the new Seattle.