Big Ten no Longer Number 1

As college basketball has proven before and continues to prove, being number 1 means you aren't safe. Michigan State took down the number 1 team, Kentucky, and took over as number 1. But, in this year's Big Ten ACC Challenge, North Carolina upset the Spartans at home, causing them to fall from their spot on the throne.

On Monday the 9th the new polls will come out, and the Wildcats of Arizona should take over as number 1. This would also bump Ohio State up the the number 2 spot in the country. If Arizona were to lose then the Buckeyes would be able to take the number one spot in the country, giving the Big Ten the throne back. This is assuming Ohio State keeps on winning.

Ohio State's upcoming games should not be too difficult, and they begin Big Ten play at Purdue on December 31st. Ohio State will need Arizona to lose, and their schedule should not be too difficult for the next few weeks before conference play begins. Michigan, however, will have the opportunity to beat the Wildcats, being a Big Ten team bringing down a number 1 to be replaced by another Big Ten team. But, as it currently stands, Arizona of the Pac-12 will take over as number 1.

Arizona players have propelled their team to a potential number 1 spot in the current basketball standings (Screenshot/ Colton Byers).

And the Challenge Ends in...

A tie! Another tie between the two conferences means that the Big Ten can claim winners because, in a tie, the last winners claim the win. Last year was also a tie, but in 2011 the Big Ten took home the victory 8-4. This year's results were 6-6 and the winners for the Big Ten were as follows:

Ohio State
Wisconsin
Iowa
Minnesota
Purdue and
Nebraska.

Winning for the ACC was:

North Carolina
Duke
Syracuse
Georgia Tech
Pitt and
NC State.

The most disappointing game for the Big Ten was the victory of North Carolina over Michigan State. Spartans were sitting tall at number 1 in the country, until North Carolina exposed every one of Sparty's weaknesses. Playing on their home court, the Spartans didn't play like the Spartans. If this would have been a typical dominating North Carolina team, Michigan State would have walked off the court with a much higher deficit than 14.

The most exciting (but not impressive) win for the Big Ten was Ohio State's win over Maryland. Maryland is a good team, but they are no Syracuse. The game, though, was a Sam "Slam" Thompson highlight reel. Thompson soared over the Terrapins for four alley oops. He attempted two more but were halted by either bad passes or good defense. In fact, Thompson's high flying offense propelled him to 3 highlights on Sportscenter's top ten plays. By the end of the game Ohio State was able to lift themselves up to a 76-60 win over Maryland.

Sam Thompson soaring over Maryland defenders on a fast break. Number 3 on the top ten plays. (Screenshot/ Colton Byers).

The Big Ten ACC Challenge Begins

The 2013 Big Ten ACC basketball challenge has begun, and so far the ACC is winning 4-2.

This is the 15th installment of the annual challenge, where teams from each conference match up and play in representation of their conference. The ACC took control the first ten years, starting out at an impressive 10-0 as a conference. The Big Ten then won the next 3, and last year's was a tie, leaving the overall standings at 10-3-1 in favor of the ACC.

This year the standings stand at 4-2 in favor of the ACC. Ohio State tips off with Maryland on December 4th, and has a good chance at becoming the 3rd win for the Big Ten. Michigan State also plays that night, tipping off with North Carolina. With these two wins the challenge could be brought back to a  tie, and it would be up for the remainder of the Big Ten teams to bring it home for the conference.

The iconic logo shown during the challenge (Screenshot/ Colton Byers).

Number One Falls Early, Big Ten Takes Over

College basketball has started, and if the past has proven anything, it's that being Number One early means nothing. Number One teams will fall all season long, because that's why we love college basketball.

Kentucky began the season at Number One, and it did not take long for them to fall. Who did they fall to? None other than The Big Ten's very own Michigan State, who took over as the new Number One.

Michigan State took care of Kentucky, defeating them by the slim margin of 4 in their 78-74 victory. To this day Michigan State has yet to lose, and has proven that they belong (for now) in the throne of Number One.

With returning starter, Adreian Payne, the Spartans will have very little trouble continuing to win this season. However, the field won't be a walk-through with the way the Big Ten is stacked in basketball once again.

The Spartans play North Carolina on December the 4th then have some should be easy games until beginning the Big Ten play after Christmas.

They open up Big Ten play with Indiana who, though unranked, will not be an easy game. Indiana did not go down without a fight against 4th ranked Syracuse, keeping pace with them in most of the first half.

The biggest game early on in the season will be when Ohio State comes to East Lansing to challenge the Spartans and their undefeated records. That game should be one for the ages, but only time will tell.

Sparty doing his job to pump up the Michigan State crowd in Kentucky in the early season showdown between #1 and #2 (Screenshot/ Colton Byers).

Scalpers .. Are They Good or Bad?

You can't talk about sports without talking about ticket scalping. It is a major part of any sport from the college level up, and sometimes even at the high school level. Ticket scalping is when people buy tickets from a particular venue at face value, then turn and sell those tickets for a profit on the street.

One key thing to determine if you're going to decide if they are bad or not is who they hurt. Ticket scalpers are usually the first people in line to get the good tickets for face value. A lot of these scalpers do this for a living. This means that the people working other jobs may not be able to take time off to get tickets directly from the venue.

They don't lose, though, because they can still get the tickets from the scalpers, just not at the best price. The people that do lose are the people who can't get out of work to get in line for face value tickets, and also can't afford to pay the scalper's price for the tickets.

The scalpers benefit by making money off of the tickets (and even attending the game themselves if they save themselves tickets), and the venue benefits because all the tickets are being bought for the price that they are selling them for.

So far it would appear as there as very few losers! Well, listen to my most recent interaction with ticket scalpers.

For the historical Indiana vs. Ohio State football game (historical because of Ohio State beating the University's longest win streak record) I bought tickets from the third scalper that I spoke to. The first one offered me two tickets in the A deck (lowest deck to the field) that were in the endzone for $100 each. The second had upper B seats for $150 each. The last scalper offered me two tickets in section 23B (home side, middle deck, midfield) in row 4 for $120. My friend and I decided that those were the best seats we were offered and took the deal.

As it would turn out, those seats were not what we got. The seats were 22B. So they were at the 20 yard line rather than 50, they were visitor side, and the scoreboard was blocked from view. If we had been paying more attention, Shay and I could have turned those down in favor of the lower seats for $20 cheaper.  We got ripped off.

I will say, though, that generally scalpers are very upfront and honest about what they have and are willing to negotiate a reasonable price with me. It just goes to show that you have to be careful which ones you buy from.

This is how Shay and I got ripped off by a scalper in Columbus (Photo/ Colton Byers).

Wildcats continue to disappoint

It's October 5th, 2013, and Prime time college football is in the air. It's late night in Evanston, Illinois, the rain and storms have rolled through, and Ohio State has come to town. After one half of play the Wildcats are winning 20-13 and ready to shock the nation. Ohio State turned things around in the second half, though, and bulldozed their way to a 40-30 win behind Carlos Hyde.

It's week 11 now, and the Wildcats have just lost to the Michigan Wolverines. Along with every other Big Ten team they have played. Their record sits at 3-6 (0-6) and nobody is feeling the hurt quite like the Wildcats and their fans.

So the question is: what happened?

Well, the healthiest the Wildcats have been all season was the night of the heartbreaking loss the the Buckeyes. Since then the Wildcats have been plagued by injuries of many key players all season. In fact, Teddy Greenstein, a Tribune reporter, said that Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald "could have saved time Monday by naming the healthy Wildcats." Coming in to the game against Michigan the Wildcats were out 13 key players, and seven were very limited. The list of key injuries included tailbacks Venric Mark, Stephen Buckley (indefinitely), Warren Long, Treyvon Green and Mike Trumpy, receiver Tony Jones, defensive linemen Tyler Scott, Will Hampton, Sean McEvilly and Dean Lowry, defensive backs Nick VanHoose and Jimmy Hall and linebacker Collin Ellis.

Without injuries like these plaguing the Wildcats all season it's easy to say that they would have a much more impressive resume, and it is possible they could have had another shot at the Buckeyes in the Big Ten Championship Game.We will never get the chance to find out this season, though.

Better luck to the Wildcats next year.

Photo Colton Byers

I'm Going To Say It .. Alabama is NOT #1

Yeah, I went there. And 'ya know what? Somebody needed to! The talk surrounding the Big Ten this season is about how poor it is this year. This is very unfortunate for all the Big Ten fans out there, but for Ohio State fans it's even worse.

 Ohio State, with the nation's LONGEST active winning streak at 22 wins in a row, is getting zero recognition as a national title contender. Why is that? Well, simply put, Ohio State plays nobody. 

Now, I'm not here to argue that Ohio State has had a tough schedule because, let's be honest, they haven't. However, to exclude Ohio State from the national title race because of strength of schedule would be to imply that Alabama and Florida State have tough schedules. Hogwash.

In fact, let's look at Alabama, the "unstoppable" and "toughest" team in the country, and their "oh so tough" schedule.

After ten weeks of college football, Alabama's SEC opponents have a combined record of 35-35. They are 12-30 in conference play, and Alabama's biggest wins were against LSU and Texas A&M. I'm shaking in my boots.

Like I said before, I'm not arguing that Ohio State has a tough schedule. Their Big Ten opponents boast a combined 28-32, and 11-25 in Big Ten play. Ohio State's best win was against Wisconsin. So, Ohio State does have a weak schedule.

But can we PLEASE stop pretending that Alabama plays a hard schedule?

You've had as much to drink as this 'Bama fan if you think their schedule is that difficult (Photo MorgueFile)

Can Fans Destroy a Program's Reputation?

Hello and welcome back to the Big Ten Blow-Up! Since we have been gone there have been a lot of interesting Big Ten Games to watch, one of the best being the upset over the Wolverines by the Nittany Lions in four overtimes.

One week before that there was a game that came very close to an upset, and that was the shootout in Chicago. The Ohio State Buckeyes traveled up North through Chicago to the small town of Evanston, IL, to face off with the Northwestern University Wildcats, and I had the opportunity to attend.

60 rows up from the 50 yard line and surrounded by Wildcat fans, I watched as the Wildcats spent the majority of the game in the lead, holding Ohio State's offense to field goals and marching right down the field to score themselves. This continued throughout the first half, and going into halftime the score was: Northwestern 20 - Ohio State 13.

In terms of discipline, both teams did very well in the first half, with zero penalties for zero yards for both teams. This kept fans around us very calm, other than when Northwestern was scoring.

When the second half began, though, something flipped. The first penalty happened when the Northwestern kicker kicked the ball out of bounds. This is not a penalty that can be argued very often. It is stated clearly in the rule book, and it is very easy for an official to see, so people don't often gripe.

The Northwestern fans, however, decided it was the refs fault for the penalty, and began to complain about the officiating of the game, but not for long. As the game continued, though, the griping became worse and worse.

By the start of the fourth quarter the score was 23-20 in favor of the Nittany Lions. As the game became closer and the atmosphere more intense, fans began to complain often, even blaming Ohio State coaches for the calls made by the officials.

By the end of the game, a couple of the fans directed their comments towards my friend Derrick and I, who had been quiet for the entire game. The sportsmanship of most of those around us began to drop drastically, and were immediately blaming the Buckeyes and their fans for the turning points of the game.

This got me thinking. Before the game had started I had the utmost respect for the Nittany Lions and their program. I had never thought anything bad about the program or the fans. By the end of the game I had very different feelings. I wanted nothing more than for the Buckeyes to put up 100 points on them and shut the fans up around us.

The actions of the fans around us made me resent Northwestern. I could have spent the rest of the season rooting them on, cheering for a match-up between the two teams in the Big Ten Championship. Now, however, I could care less if they win again or not.

The actions of just a few fans made me dislike the team on the field. Can you imagine what an entire fan base could do to an organization?

                                 Here is a look at where Derrick and I sat for the showdown.
                                                                 (Photo Colton Byers)

Is Anybody REALLY #1?

One thing that will always be certain: no college basketball team is safe in any game of the year. College basketball constantly brings hard-fought wins and Cinderella story upsets. So far this season all we've learned is that there may not be a #1 team in college basketball. This week in college basketball the #1 ranked Hoosiers fell to the unranked Fighting Illini on a last second layup by #42, Tyler Griffey. Last week it was the Wolverines at the top falling to Indiana, and the week before Duke falling to Miami.

That's not all folks! The week before the Duke upset Louisville fell to Syracuse, and before that Duke (at the #1 spot again) lost to North Carolina State (don't worry, though, they got revenge this week). So this week the #2 team has the chance of taking over as #1. Too bad they just fell to an unranked Arkansas! So the moral of the story: no team is safe.

(Photo MorgueFile)

The most upsetting loss in the Big Ten this week? #10 Ohio State falling to #3 Michigan in OT. This game was hard fought by both teams, and one of the most exciting games of the season thus far. Both teams battled back and forth all game, but Michigan made the most plays towards the end. Tim Hardaway Junior was the most influential player of the second half, hitting 5 straight three point shots.

Ohio State never gave up, however, matching Michigan point for point all the way up to the last buzzer in the second half. Despite both teams ability to score all game, neither team scored more than 5 points in the 5 minute overtime period. With a lead of 1, Michigan was fouled by Ohio State and had the bonus of two free throws. The first one was made, and the second missed. Then with less than 10 seconds left in the game, Aaron Craft took the ball coast-to-coast. As he got down in the paint he had two defenders to beat. Through a lot of contact (and no foul call) Craft managed to get a shot attempt up, but missed.

Michigan managed to hang on to the game, avenging their first loss of the season delivered by Ohio State on January 16th. Either way, if Michigan ends up as the new #1 team I wouldn't count on it lasting very long. Their next game features the Badgers of Wisconsin, with Michigan State following them, and we've already seen that no team is safe in college basketball.

As for Ohio State, the Indiana Hoosiers are coming to the Schottenstein Center to try to make up for the upset against Illinois. Either way, it'll be an exciting "Journey to the Tourney."

Hello and Welcome!

Welcome to The Big Ten Blowup! If you are like me you have an interest in all things Big Ten, but you may not have a major news channel like the Big Ten Network to make everything available to you. Well worry no more, because I'm here to put it all on one screen for you, week by week! As a college student in Defiance, Ohio, I always enjoy to follow any and all news Big Ten, however SportsCenter does not always cover all of the inside news. Although I didn't always watch every game growing up, my favorite hobby as a youngster was to play out the biggest match ups on the PlayStation 2 (especially the OSU vs. Michigan game). Due to my love for the Buckeyes, there will be some bias towards their sports programs. However, comments and feedback are welcomed and encouraged! And yes, that does include you, Michigan fans...

 Although I may not be an expert on the topic, especially with some of the minor sports programs, my passion for sports gives me a basic understanding of what is going on. You can expect a week by week update of the biggest and best news, scores, and highlights from all sports and schools in the Big Ten. I look forward to sharing my knowledge with you in the future!

A look at the Pregame warm-ups before the first Ohio State football game under new head coach, Urban Meyer.

(Photo Colton Byers)

Until next time!