{"id":1431,"date":"2015-01-02T10:52:25","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T17:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/?p=1431"},"modified":"2015-01-02T10:52:25","modified_gmt":"2015-01-02T17:52:25","slug":"buckeyes-big-ten-bowling-them-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/football\/1431\/buckeyes-big-ten-bowling-them-over","title":{"rendered":"Buckeyes, Big Ten bowling them over"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mich,<\/a>Credit where it\u2019s due: Since we never hesitate to point out the Big Ten\u2019s troubles, let\u2019s just say the league is having a banner bowl season.<\/p>\n

And then, let\u2019s say it again: Kudoes to the Big Ten for having an outstanding bowl season.<\/p>\n

Ohio State\u2019s 42-35 win over Alabama is a signature win for the ages, regardless of what happens in the title game vs. Oregon.<\/p>\n

For years, I have said, “There\u2019s Saban and Urban\u2014and everybody else,\u2019\u2019 when it comes to college football coaching.<\/p>\n

I would only amend that to, “There\u2019s Urban and Saban\u2014and everybody else.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

All due respect to Jim Harbaugh, an outstanding hire. He\u2019s a Michigan man. He\u2019s fiery. And what he\u2019s done with San Diego, Stanford and the 49ers is brilliant. But he\u2019ll need to accomplish some things to join that twosome.<\/p>\n

Do not be fooled by the Big Ten\u2019s modest 5-4 record in its first nine bowl games. The four losses (by Illinois, Minnesota, Maryland and Nebraska) are minor in comparison to the accomplishments.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially true because all 10 Big Ten bowl teams were underdogs.<\/p>\n

Not only did Ohio State drain the color from the Crimson Tide, who were banged up on defense and outsmarted on offense. Wisconsin atoned for its ridiculous 59-0 loss to the Buckeyes by beating Auburn 34-31 in overtime. That\u2019s a really good pair of wins over an elite SEC tandem that seemingly are perennial national championship contenders.<\/p>\n

And Michigan State, down 41-21 in the fourth quarter, rallied for a 42-41 win over very accomplished Baylor, which handed TCU its only loss.<\/p>\n

The only Big Ten blemish? Men\u2019s basketball, which looked like it might be on the verge of big things after cruising in the ACC\/Big Ten Challenge, now looks wobby.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s a thought for another day. The Big Ten deserves time to bask in the way its football teams rang in the New Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Credit where it\u2019s due: Since we never hesitate to point out the Big Ten\u2019s troubles, let\u2019s just say the league… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":1433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[202,334],"tags":[977359,977360,977361,152900],"class_list":["post-1431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-commentary","tag-ohio-state","tag-urban-meyer","tag-nick-saban","tag-jim-harbaugh"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2015\/01\/Mich-Ohio-St1315.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1431"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1436,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions\/1436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}