Now that the regular season is halfway completed many Big Ten coaches have begun evaluating the conference’s experiment with instant replay.
In 32 games where replay was in place, there have been 20 stoppages in play and nine calls have been overturned.
While all the Big Ten coaches say they are still in favor of instant replay, many have varying levels of enthusiasm for the system.
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said he was never a huge proponent for introducing instant replay to the college game.
“Like anything else when you first do it, you see there’s some shortcomings in it,” he said. “Like we all said going into the year, we were going to take a good look at it and see if it made a real positive difference. I don’t know if we’ve seen that.”
The Buckeyes had two negative experiences with instant replay two weeks ago against Wisconsin. In both instances, the replay official affirmed that the call on the field was incorrect but did not overturn the play because of an inadvertent whistle. In college football once the whistle is blown, the play is dead.
“I thought that was a little snag,” Tressel said. “The time shouldn’t have been taken, and the emotion shouldn’t have been taken in and out of the game with the replay system if indeed it was going to be superceded on the field with an inadvertent whistle.”
Purdue coach Joe Tiller and the Boilermakers had two game stoppages last week in their loss against Wisconsin. Only one of the reviews went in Purdue’s favor.
“I don’t evaluate instant replay in terms of whether or not the ruling is favorable for you or against you,” Tiller said. “I view it in terms of ‘Is it making things right with the game?’ In our opinion, it is, so I support it 100 percent.”
WHERE’S THE LOVE?
Let the Bowl Championship Series controversy begin.
Only three Big Ten teams are ranked in the BCS top 25, while media voters have four of the conference’s teams in their top 25.
Iowa is ranked 25th in the AP poll but is not ranked in the BCS. The Hawkeyes soundly defeated then-No. 25 Ohio State last week and are on a two-game winning streak, but find themselves unranked while other possibly undeserving schools are on the list.
Alabama-Birmingham, a member of Conference USA, is ranked 24th in the BCS, even though the Blazers haven’t defeated a single team in the top 25 and aren’t currently ranked in the top 25 of either the coaches’ or AP poll.
“The computers don’t know that they don’t know,” Tiller said. “I’m not a big computer guy anyway, so I don’t put too much stock in those things.”
Of the Big Ten teams ranked in the BCS top 25, all were given lower computer rankings than they currently hold in the human polls.
The BCS poll factors the media poll, coaches’ poll and six computer rankings into its formula, with all receiving equal weight this season.
No. 6 Wisconsin holds the same ranking in the media poll and BCS poll, but the computers had the Badgers ranked eighth, behind Utah and Tennessee. No. 12 Purdue and No. 13 Michigan were ranked 15th and 16th by the computers.
“Certainly it’s disappointing,” Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. “I don’t know, and I don’t understand it.”
BUCKEYE WOES
Tressel said Tuesday he pulled starting quarterback Justin Zwick from last week’s loss at Iowa because of a shoulder injury, not ineffective play.
Zwick is listed as “day to day” this week, and Tressel did not rule him out as the starter against Indiana on Saturday.
Sophomore Troy Smith took over for Zwick in the second half, throwing for 76 yards and one touchdown on 8-of-12 passing.
Before his exit, Zwick was struggling for the third consecutive week, throwing for 74 yards and committing two turnovers.
Reach Zach Silka at [email protected].
Power Poll: Basketball edition
1. Wisconsin (7-0): Using the matchup zone effectively
2. Michigan (6-1): Diaper dandies carrying the load
3. Purdue (5-1): Orton had a Chris Webber moment
4. Minnesota (5-2): Got upset by a mid-major
5. Iowa: (4-2): Season is on the bubble
6. Michigan State (4-3): Spartans are in the “Izzone”
7. NU (3-3): Missing Jitim, not Jason
8. Ohio State (3-3): Playing like its hoopsters
9. Penn State (2-4): Just wants an NIT appearance
10. Indiana (2-4): DiNardo is no Mike Davis
11. Illinois (2-5): Needs a point guard
Soundbite: “I didn’t run up the score last week.” — Minnesota coach Glen Mason.
Who’s Counting:
5. Number of turnovers Purdue quarterback and Heisman candidate Kyle Orton has committed in the last two games after committing none in the season’s first four games.
1. Wisconsin (7-0): Using the matchup zone effectively
2. Michigan (6-1): Diaper dandies carrying the load
3. Purdue (5-1): Orton had a Chris Webber moment
4. Minnesota (5-2): Got upset by a mid-major
5. Iowa (4-2): Season is on the bubble
6. Michigan State (4-3): Spartans are in the “Izzone”
7. NU (3-3): Missing Jitim, not Jason
8. Ohio State (3-3): Playing like its hoopsters
9. Penn State (2-4): Just wants an NIT appearance
10. Indiana (2-4): DiNardo is no Mike Davis
11. Illinois (2-5): Needs a point guard
5
Number of turnovers Purdue quarterback and Heisman candidate Kyle Orton has committed in the last two games after committing none in the season’s first four.
RUSHING CAR YDS AVG YPG
Maroney, Minnesota 130 869 6.7 124.1
Herron, NU 136 672 4.9 112.0
Barber, Minnesota 119 642 5.4 107.0
Thomas, Illinois 69 505 7.3 84.2
Hart, Michigan 114 496 4.4 82.7
passing att cp yds TD RTG
Orton, Purdue 172 119 1642 18 181.6
Cupito, Minnesota 116 60 1051 8 148.9
Henne, Michigan 184 116 1424 11 140.2
Tate, Iowa 131 86 1010 6 136.4
Beutjer, Illinois 118 72 770 5 129.8
RECEIVING REC YDS AVG YPG
Edwards, Michigan 50 763 15.3 127.2
Stubblefield, Purdue 35 568 16.2 113.6
Roby, Indiana 34 592 17.4 98.7
Holmes, Ohio State 29 464 16.0 92.8
Philmore, NU 45 533 11.8 88.8
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS YDS YPG
Orton, Purdue 205 1704 340.8
Basanez, NU 291 1736 289.3
Henne, Michigan 214 1357 226.2
Stanton, Michigan State 168 1087 217.4
LoVecchio, Indiana 201 1184 197.3
scoring GMS PTS PPG
Stubblefield, Purdue 5 66 13.2
Herron, NU 6 54 9.0
Edwards, Michigan 6 48 8.0
Barber III, Minnesota 6 48 8.0
Stanton, Michigan State 5 30 6.0
