Washington Post - Big Ten overlords

[ZuluWarrior]

This articles title and tweet samples (especially the last one) is Falcon Priceless:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/ear ... -overlord/" target="_blank

This shirt is getting a lot of play too!

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootbal ... o-prove-it" target="_blank

[kdog27]

I like the Big Ten power ranking one.

[Falconfreak90]

Me too...good stuff!

[bgsufalcon24]

Those shirts are going to be selling like hotcakes...I'm going to have to get myself one when I get to BG for homecoming in 2 weeks.

This is a very unique accomplishment and should be celebrated as such. Even if this season were to somehow turn south from here (cough2008cough) nobody can take away us beating two B1G schools in the same season. What I find most incredible is that this isn't unprecedented for BGSU, that we did this just 12 years ago, albeit that was a little different because our second such win came in a bowl.

I will say this much...since the turn of the millennium, no team in the MAC comes close to Bowling Green in terms of beating P5 opponents. Nobody.

Missouri x2
Northwestern x2
Kansas
Purdue x2
Minnesota
Pittsburgh
Indiana
Maryland

That's 11 wins against P5 schools in 15 seasons. Without doing the research, I can't imagine anyone else in the MAC is even close to that. I'm guessing Toledo is probably the closest pursuer.

[doughash]

Ok I did the research for you and here is how they stack up:

BG-11
NIU-10
Toledo-9
Ball St-5
WMU-5
CMU-4
Miami-4
Ohio-4
Akron-3
Kent-1
Buffalo-1
EMU-0

[Falconwriter]

Those shirts are going to be selling like hotcakes...I'm going to have to get myself one when I get to BG for homecoming in 2 weeks.

This is a very unique accomplishment and should be celebrated as such. Even if this season were to somehow turn south from here (cough2008cough) nobody can take away us beating two B1G schools in the same season. What I find most incredible is that this isn't unprecedented for BGSU, that we did this just 12 years ago, albeit that was a little different because our second such win came in a bowl.

I will say this much...since the turn of the millennium, no team in the MAC comes close to Bowling Green in terms of beating P5 opponents. Nobody.

Missouri x2
Northwestern x2
Kansas
Purdue x2
Minnesota
Pittsburgh
Indiana
Maryland

That's 11 wins against P5 schools in 15 seasons. Without doing the research, I can't imagine anyone else in the MAC is even close to that. I'm guessing Toledo is probably the closest pursuer.

Not surprised that NIU and scUT are right behind. They've both had very good programs for longer than BG has in its current incarnation. I do believe scUT beat two P5 teams this season as well (Arkansas and Iowa State). The MAC has shown well in out of conference action this year, even when they've lost. It foretells a tough, tough conference ahead, in my opinion.

[jpfalcon09]

Those shirts are going to be selling like hotcakes...I'm going to have to get myself one when I get to BG for homecoming in 2 weeks.

This is a very unique accomplishment and should be celebrated as such. Even if this season were to somehow turn south from here (cough2008cough) nobody can take away us beating two B1G schools in the same season. What I find most incredible is that this isn't unprecedented for BGSU, that we did this just 12 years ago, albeit that was a little different because our second such win came in a bowl.

I will say this much...since the turn of the millennium, no team in the MAC comes close to Bowling Green in terms of beating P5 opponents. Nobody.

Missouri x2
Northwestern x2
Kansas
Purdue x2
Minnesota
Pittsburgh
Indiana
Maryland

That's 11 wins against P5 schools in 15 seasons. Without doing the research, I can't imagine anyone else in the MAC is even close to that. I'm guessing Toledo is probably the closest pursuer.

Not surprised that NIU and scUT are right behind. They've both had very good programs for longer than BG has in its current incarnation. I do believe scUT beat two P5 teams this season as well (Arkansas and Iowa State). The MAC has shown well in out of conference action this year, even when they've lost. It foretells a tough, tough conference ahead, in my opinion.

Agreed, the MAC may be the deepest it's ever been and no one will be able to sleep on any team during conference play. Should be some interesting matchups beginning this week.

[bgsufalcon24]

Ok I did the research for you and here is how they stack up:

BG-11
NIU-10
Toledo-9
Ball St-5
WMU-5
CMU-4
Miami-4
Ohio-4
Akron-3
Kent-1
Buffalo-1
EMU-0

Very impressive work Doughash. That probably took a good chunk of time to sift through.

I guess I kind of overlooked Northern Illinois. They've had such a solid program in recent years that I don't know why I didn't expect them to have a bunch of these type of wins. Toledo being up there of course is expected as aside from a few lean years in the late 2000s they've been very consistently good over the period. The distribution on the rest of the list really isn't surprising given the overall success rate of the conference since 2000...if there's any surprises it's probably that Ohio and Central Michigan haven't put up more Ws against P5 teams. I think at least 3 of Ball State's wins came against Indiana, who they seem to play a lot. Them and WMU ranking ahead of OU and CMU is a bit surprising given their overall lack of success in the last 15 years (excluding BSU's undefeated regular season in 2008). I'm guessing Miami's Ws came mostly before Big Ben left campus as they've been mostly awful since then outside of a few flash in the pan years.

[MarkL]

For the first few years under Pete Lembo, Ball State was a big team killer. They beat Indiana a couple of times, South Florida, and UVA. Then all the big players graduated and the floor fell out from under Lembo. No doubt he's a good coach and there is a resurgence coming soon.

[Schadenfreude]

The MAC has shown well in out of conference action this year, even when they've lost. It foretells a tough, tough conference ahead, in my opinion.

True this.

[Siborg]

Ok I did the research for you and here is how they stack up:

BG-11
NIU-10
Toledo-9
Ball St-5
WMU-5
CMU-4
Miami-4
Ohio-4
Akron-3
Kent-1
Buffalo-1
EMU-0

Very impressive work Doughash. That probably took a good chunk of time to sift through.

I guess I kind of overlooked Northern Illinois. They've had such a solid program in recent years that I don't know why I didn't expect them to have a bunch of these type of wins. Toledo being up there of course is expected as aside from a few lean years in the late 2000s they've been very consistently good over the period. The distribution on the rest of the list really isn't surprising given the overall success rate of the conference since 2000...if there's any surprises it's probably that Ohio and Central Michigan haven't put up more Ws against P5 teams. I think at least 3 of Ball State's wins came against Indiana, who they seem to play a lot. Them and WMU ranking ahead of OU and CMU is a bit surprising given their overall lack of success in the last 15 years (excluding BSU's undefeated regular season in 2008). I'm guessing Miami's Ws came mostly before Big Ben left campus as they've been mostly awful since then outside of a few flash in the pan years.

The counts depend on what the definition of P5 we use. Which years were some teams considered P5? Big East teams like Temple, Cincy, UConn etc.... but the top teams BG, NIU and Toledo would still be the same 3 with the most wins.

[Falconfreak90]

I am keeping an eye on CMU in the West....they played tough against OK State and took Sparty into the 4th the other day. This is the best the MAC has looked, IMO, since that magical year of 2003. We are earning respect this year.

[FormerFreddie]

The counts depend on what the definition of P5 we use. Which years were some teams considered P5? Big East teams like Temple, Cincy, UConn etc.... but the top teams BG, NIU and Toledo would still be the same 3 with the most wins.

I remember that BG used to tout wins over Temple, then a Big East member, in 2001 and 2004 as wins over "BCS AQ" schools. I guess with the Big East's demise came the term "P5". (In 2005 they were Independent and in 2007 they were an affiliate MAC member.)

[bgsufalcon24]

I am keeping an eye on CMU in the West....they played tough against OK State and took Sparty into the 4th the other day. This is the best the MAC has looked, IMO, since that magical year of 2003. We are earning respect this year.

When you think about it...Saturday could've been the best day the conference has ever had. As it was it was a day of missed opportunities...some really close opportunities:

Bowling Green beat Purdue
Akron beat Louisiana Lafayette
Toledo beat Arkansas State

Northern Illinois lost to Boston College by 3
Ohio lost to Minnesota by 3
Buffalo lost to Nevada by 3
Ball State lost to Northwestern by 5
Kent State lost to Marshall in OT

That's 5 games, 3 against P5 opponents, and 2 against very solid G5 opponents, that the MAC could've won. Imagine if NIU, Ohio, Buffalo, BSU, and KSU had finished and the MAC would've won 8 games this weekend, 4 against P5. Crap, the entire country would be talking about us on all the shows, outside of maybe the first segment where they discuss the top teams in the nation.

So yeah, point taken...the MAC has a lot of talent up and down the board this season. Really there's only three completely noncompetitive teams this year, and those are Eastern Michigan, Massachusetts, and Miami, only one of which we get to play. (sidebar - to the MAC scheduling office taking away our game vs Miami)

[Schadenfreude]

When you think about it...Saturday could've been the best day the conference has ever had. As it was it was a day of missed opportunities...some really close opportunities:

Bowling Green beat Purdue
Akron beat Louisiana Lafayette
Toledo beat Arkansas State

Northern Illinois lost to Boston College by 3
Ohio lost to Minnesota by 3
Buffalo lost to Nevada by 3
Ball State lost to Northwestern by 5
Kent State lost to Marshall in OT

That's 5 games, 3 against P5 opponents, and 2 against very solid G5 opponents, that the MAC could've won. Imagine if NIU, Ohio, Buffalo, BSU, and KSU had finished and the MAC would've won 8 games this weekend, 4 against P5.

Here is what the MAC did on Sept. 20, 2003:

Marshall 27, No. 6 Kansas State 20
Toledo 35, No. 9 Pittsburgh 31
Northern Illinois 19, No. 21 Alabama 16
Miami 41, Colorado State 21
Akron 65, Howard 7
No. 5 Ohio State 24, Bowling Green 17
Syracuse 38, Central Florida 14
Penn State 32, Kent State 10
Connecticut 38, Buffalo 7
Navy 39, Eastern Michigan 7

The MAC turned more heads on Sept. 20, 2003. But the conference probably has more depth today than back then.