Alamo Bowl Happenings

In a game that was the most lobsided point spread this bowl season (Mizzou -12.5), the Northwestern Wildcats are currently holding their own against Chase Daniel and Missouri. I was flying back to the West Coast yesterday, and didn't get a chance to do an Alamo Bowl Preview post...so I'll just direct you to Lake The Posts, an excellent blog dedicated to Northwestern Football.


LTP does an excellent job previewing the game and giving you some of the key matchups. Although, he did predict the Cats to lose this one.


As for the actual game that is happening as I type, the Cats are bringing the wood. Bowl Season in CFB (....hold on...RIDICULOUS TOUCHDOWN CATCH BY ROSS LANE FOR NORTHWESTERN...it's under review but should be held up. This thing is tailor made for Sportscenter....back now.) Bowl Season in CFB is where we finally get to see if these video game Big 12 offenses are legit. And watching this game, Northwestern seems to be proving that Missouri at the least is not. The Cats are flying to the ball on defense and laying some wood with every hit. They seem to be one step ahead of the Tigers and are giving the receivers no room for YAC yards.


Clearly, Pat Fitzgerald has his team fired up and mentally ready to play this game. About the only thing that has gone wrong to this point is a costly pick thrown by Bacher in the 3rd Quarter and a botched punt (supposed to be kicked out of bounds but wasn't) that Maclin took to the house. Other than that, the Cats are outplaying the Tigers in every respect and this is a great game to be watching. About the only thing I could use right now is that terribly awesome sound effect that NU plays at their home games.

Champs Sports Bowl Preview: My 100% Chance of Hating the Tomahawk Chop

Wisconsin kicks off the Big Televen bowl season today vs Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl. For those of you familiar with the Seminoles from their days as college football's national enemy #1 and/or Atlanta Braves you will know that one thing will happen every time they play, regardless of how much they suck...they will play that stupid Tomahawk Chop chant non-stop. I'm currently driving in a car on my way to a downtown Chicago Badger bar with my brothers and the Teradactyl, and I'm already preparing for the tomahawk chant to be the death of me this afternoon. If you want to get wasted today, take a drink every time you hear that played. And be prepared to drink about 35 beers.

All the analysts can talk about leading up to this game is the power vs. speed matchup...which has been the theme of every Wisconsin bowl game since I can remember. And call me a homer, but it is a tired argument. Speed isn't what kills the Badgers, and they have shown in their previous bowl games that it isn't that big of a factor. Auburn twice, Arkansas, and Tennessee all had speed advantages over the Badgers...and only once (1st Auburn game) did UW have trouble with the speed.

To me, the key to this game is the wide receivers and defensive backs. FSU will be looking to exploit the significant height advantage that their receivers have, especially in the red zone. Technique and positioning will be critical for the badger corners throughout the game, and that consistency has been an issue throughout this season. As for the UW receivers, this game needs to be their coming out party. They've quietly but surely have progressed greatly this season, and I think the opportunity to have a breakout game will be there for them today. FSU will be loading up the box with at least 8 guys today, and on obvious passing downs they will be keying on the TE's. Tight Ends are featured in UW's offense and have been a problem for the Noles all season. Look for them to be a focus for FSU, opening up potentially great matchups for the Badger receivers on the outside.

At the end of the day, expect both teams to try and do what they do best early on. Both defenses will be, or should be, bringing pressure on quarterbacks that haven't shown great ability to handle it yet. Both offenses will try to control the clock on the ground, and big plays will probably be the difference. We all know what that means...the tomahawk chop chant. As the final second ticks off, I predict that good ol' ON WISCONSIN will be playing loud and proud throughout Orlando. PJ Hill and that sexy John Clay will do enough to overcome the decided home field advantage the noles will have...and MY BOYS! Gilreath and Toon will make at least 3 big plays to get Bielema's record against coaches over 80 to 2-2.

Watching the Heisman

So I'm sitting here on a Saturday night watching the trophy ceremony for a college football award that used to mean something...the Heisman ceremony. I say used to because this trophy is officially a joke. Not only do they invite only 3 people this year, but they don't have any seniors at the ceremony. Absolutely terrible. I'm all for an underclassman winning the award, but it almost makes this thing a joke. It used to be an award that was given to someone who earned it not just over a season, but a career. And not a career putting up video game statistics against weak defenses (**cough*big12*cough**). Players earned it through performances in big games, leadership on and off the field, and an unrelenting competitiveness that made that person indispensable to his team. This year...it's a joke.

One year ago, there was genuine concern that a sophomore could win the award and what that would do to the integrity of it. Obviously, Tim Tebow deserved that award and put up ridiculous numbers to back up his performance. My problem comes directly after that happened. Almost immediately, the talk started of a repeat and the consensus was that if he didn't top his 2007 numbers...he couldn't win it again. Then the Big12 turned into a joke of a defensive conference, and all of a sudden players in a BCS conference were putting up huge numbers. They are Heisman locks right? Wrong.

If one player in that conference was putting up such huge numbers, then he clearly would deserve to win it. But in the Big12, at least 3 players (McCoy, Bradford, and Harrell) put up video game numbers...and a majority of the offenses were running up yardage totals. In a sense, you were the odd man out if you weren't putting up stats in that conference, rather than standing out for those stats.

If you can't tell by now, I don't think McCoy or Bradford should get the Heisman. But it's not all about their stats not being legit. It's just that, a certain player did something that none of the others did, he did this.... (feel free to skip to the 2:15 mark)


You don't see that leadership in many people...and you don't see that type of pledge get backed up as well as Tebow backed it up. The man dominated. He showed leadership and exceptional ability that was not matched this season. He deserves the Heisman...again.

F*** it Dude...Let's Go Bowlin'

A quick link to update you on the Big Ten Bowl plans for this Holiday season. Look for analysis later tonight/throughout the week as we dive into each and every Big Televen matchup...

Rose Bowl: Penn State vs. USC

Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State vs. Texas

Capital One Bowl: Michigan State vs. Georgia

Outback Bowl: Iowa vs. South Carolina

Alamo Bowl: Northwestern vs. Missouri

Champs Sports Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Florida State

Insight Bowl: Minnesota vs. Kansas

A few quick notes...the Big Ten did not fulfill all of its bowl relationships, as 7 teams were bowl eligible but 2 were selected for the BCS games...as expected, Iowa jumped ahead of Northwestern in the bowl selection process even though they had a worse record and won head-to-head...we should find out how the Big Ten stacks up against the two best conferences in the country this year, as BT teams play 3 games against the Big 12 and 2 against the hated SEC...Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, and Indiana all suck.

MAILBAG: Thoughts on BigTen Bball...No Thanks.

First, let me just say that Ross Gellar is an F&BT Mailbag All-Star. He consistently shares his thoughts on what he wants to see in the blog, and occasionally, will write an email funny enough to be posted in it's entirety. Here is his latest query in the mailbag...

Ross Writes:
Dude, good stuff with the Minnesota bathroom incident. Brings new meaning to the TDT mantra, "Gopher deez nuts".
I was wondering when the 'ol First and Big Ten blog was going to switch from the grid iron to the hardwood? Just change the graphic on top and go crazy. Clearly there's enough to write about in the basketball world right now...Indiana is playing with the equivalent of Edina's JV team...Wisconsin has a player named Keaton and he's actually not that terrible...the ACC owned us for the 10th year straight...Northwestern's "Princeton offense" and high school gym deserve serious mockery...all 12 of Iowa's black students are on the basketball team...there's some good stuff out there.

That Iowa line is good stuff that's hard to top, so I just went and posted the whole thing. Rest assured F&BT fans, we probably won't be delving into the world of college basektball all that often, as this is a football blog. With that said, we will take notice of the happenings on the hardwood, because, after all...we are normal human beings/sports fanatics. We even have an offer out to a new writer to give us a weekly post about the Big Televen basketball scene...so stay tuned.

In the meantime, look for some season review articles, lots of linking laziness, bowl previews, a full documentation of WildHawks bowl trip with the Hawkeyes, and a hefty amount of recruiting analysis.

UPDATE: Metrodome Sex Cougar Won't Let Story Go Away

As WildHawks so graciously informed us last week, a 38-year-old married cougar and a 26-year-old with a girlfriend sent the metrodome out with a "bang" at the Iowa v. Minnesota game a few weeks ago. As funny as the story was at the time, it's taken on a life of its own since then. Seriously, this story is like Mike Gundy press conferences on YouTube...it's a gift that keeps on giving.

Highlights include:

• Ironic Newspaper Headlines..."Dome Incident..." It's almost too easy.
• MySpace photos of the culprits hitting the internet (courtesy of SportsbyBrooks)
• One woman fired from their job as an administrator at an assisted living center.
• Allegations of a drug being slipped in a drink, without any...you know...details to back it up.
• And, one cougar who can't stop pumping out quotes to keep the story alive.

"I don't know who this man is. I just found out his name in the paper"

"I don't deny that it did happened, because, obviously, there are police reports"

"Everybody thinks something was slipped into my drink....Right, and that's what my lawyer and I are working on."

There's really only two people missing from this story, the guy having sex and the cop that found them. The guy hasn't spoken about it yet, but SbB has an idea where he may be...

Meanwhile, we haven’t yet heard from our hero, Ross Walsh. He’s probably too busy wading through the high-five processional outside his house.

As for the cop, well, the police spokesman in Minneapolis offered this little nugget regarding the woman-as-a-victim theory...

"All I can say is the actions went on for some period of time with many witnesses on hand and no one reported either party was objecting."

Touche, sir.

'Who is Leonard Taylor?'

I really had a hard time deciding to post about this or not, because it is certainly not too much of a laughing matter for Mr. Taylor and his family...but this conversation with Fuzz pretty much put it over the top...

Fuzz: Who's Leonard Taylor?
Buckingham: Ahh...former Wisconsin defensive back in the late nineties.
F: Slash...
B: Slash crazy former player who wants to kill Barry Alvarez...
F: ...and Maria Sharapova?
B: Yep, and Maria Sharapova.
F: I mean, talk about going off the deep end. The guy just threatened to kill two of your favorite people on earth, how you feelin' about that?


Well, I'm feeling like this...that's about the only time you'll ever hear "Barry Alvarez" and "Maria Sharapova" in the same sentence. All it took was someone going 100% bat-shit crazy to make it happen! Also, feeling sorry for Leonard Taylor, who apparently has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and stopped taking his meds a few months ago. When you think about it, that would be the only explanation for leaving 29 messages on Alvarez's voicemail last week....allegedly....and threatening to not only kill King Barry, but conveniently letting Barry know that he wanted to marry/kill Maria Sharapova and her family. Allegedly.


Threatening Barry is one thing (I'm confident in his ability to defend himself because he's a badass), but I WILL NOT put up with you threatening MY GIRL! Maria! No one messes with my top 5 celebrities and gets away with it.

Click on the comments to see my current Top 5 Celebs...