Two Big Ten Games: From the Sublime to the Ridiculous -ly stupid

Big Ten season is getting down to crunch time, and Saturday saw two wild games indicative of this:  NU vs. Minnesota, and Wisconsin at Michigan State.

The first game – the sublime – was NU at #20 Minnesota.  A tight game, with NU rolling out to an early lead behind back-up QB Kafka and his 217 yards rushing, the Gophers caught up, and the game was headed to over time, tied at 17.  Except for one thing:  with Minnesota having the ball about 60+ yards out, and the clock down to about 24 seconds left in regulation, the Gophers decided to try and get into field goal position instead of playing for OT.  They threw downfield; the ball was picked off, and returned all the way back for a Wildcat touchdown.  Game over, 24-17 Northwestern.  This win puts NU at 7-2 overall, 3-2 in the Big Ten, and in fine position for a late December, possibly New Year’s Day bowl game.

The second game – the ridiculous – was Wisconsin versus Michigan State.  With the Badgers up late in the 4th (having been up the whole game), Michigan State got the ball back and drove down, with around 14 seconds to go on the clock, behind by 2, fourth down, and into position to kick an emergency/mayday 44-yeard field goal, without benefit of a time-out to get their kicking team on the field.  They had to scramble and rush.

They got their squad on the field and with time ticking down the kicker tried to get his team aligned to get the snap and kick the ball before the clock ran out.  And then…then…then Wisconsin Head Coach Brett Bielsma pulled the dumbest move in the history of Wisconsin football and called a time-out.  Attaboy, Brett!

You see, there’s this asinine theory in the ranks of college and pro coaching that if you call a time out, you ice the other team’s kicker.  Well, not only does that rarely work, but in this specific case it didn’t ice the Spartans, it gave the Spartans ample time to relax, re-group, get their kicking team into place, and get it right.  Then, to pile ignorance onto stupidity, Bielsma called a SECOND time out.  I guess he wanted to be sure that the Spartans were adequately prepared for the soon-to-be-coming victory dance.

And what do you think happened when play resumed?  Yeah, you guessed it.  RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE UPRIGHTS!!!!  And MSU came from behind with no time left on the clock and won the game, 25-24.

I said earlier in the year that I thought that Bielsma was on thin ice after losing 4 in a row and navigating the Badgers from 8th nationally to the bottom of the Big Ten.  Now, I think this guy should be canned before the end of the season.  He is too young and too stupid to be left in charge of a major sports team.

A Cubs and Northwestern fan, Joe Moag is a major sports junkie, and although he still runs, he hasn't been able to dunk anything more than a donut for decades.

Comments

[JD]

Congrats to your Northwestern Wildcats! That was a great finish!