Northwestern - Absolutely No Chance In B10 Championship Game

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WinOneThisCentury

Well-Known Member
This is really the worst possible scenario for Northwestern. Ohio State playing for a chance in the playoff. When you consider how nationally devastating it would be for the B10 to have an 8-4 Northwestern team win the B10 Title, it leaves me to believe this is stacked against them and they have no chance.

If they get any calls, I'll be really surprised. Holding is the big equalizer in officiating. How a crew calls a game truly influences the outcome...just remember Purdue when we had a chance to salt that game away. Two holding calls out of nowhere...the first two all day against either team.

When everyone in the B10 office is praying Northwestern wets the bed...they aren't going to allow an officiating crew to give them any benefit. There is way too much on the line...money...reputation...etc.
 
I'd love to say that but earlier in the year I think I said that Northwestern had no chance to win the West and yet here we are with Northwestern winning the West. If Ohio State can put up a clunker against a team like Purdue then they are more than capable of putting up a clunker against Northwestern.

But I agree that nobody in the B10 office wants Northwestern to win and I'm sure that includes Rose Bowl officials and whomever has the broadcast rights. But if officiating winds up being why Ohio State wins then that's going to look horrible. I'd like to think the B10 still has some integrity, having officials throw a game sounds like something the SEC would pull.
 
Barring a turnover meltdown, I think OSU wins this by 30. When they focus, given their talent, they can play with anyone. Their oops games were all ones where they were perhaps looking ahead a bit. Not this time. NW will get hit by a freight train in Indy. And I might actually enjoy it, since I'm not a fan of Fitz getting success in our division.
 
ssckelley said:
I'd love to say that but earlier in the year I think I said that Northwestern had no chance to win the West and yet here we are with Northwestern winning the West. If Ohio State can put up a clunker against a team like Purdue then they are more than capable of putting up a clunker against Northwestern.

But I agree that nobody in the B10 office wants Northwestern to win and I'm sure that includes Rose Bowl officials and whomever has the broadcast rights. But if officiating winds up being why Ohio State wins then that's going to look horrible. I'd like to think the B10 still has some integrity, having officials throw a game sounds like something the SEC would pull.
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I'm not saying they will throw the game or do anything obvious. I am saying it will be called consistently the way that Ohio State benefits. Here's what I mean...NW won't get away with holding OSU receivers or impeding them. It will be called consistently tight in that regard. Benefit: OSU. Northwestern got away with alot of grabbing against Iowa...especially in their OL. That ain't happening.

These aren't egregious things...but they will benefit OSU. It doesn't hurt that I would like to see Fitz get hammered and have calls go against them. I still remember the phantom holding call against Iowa in 2009 that ruined a perfect season. Wegher scored the winning touchdown and it got called back...replay showed it was a ridiculous call.

I will say most of the weird officiating happens in the non-conference when you have a B12 crew officiating an Iowa - Iowa State game in Kinnick or something. I've seen favorable spots, non-calls, that help the conference team. It happens.
 
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WinOneThisCentury said:
This is really the worst possible scenario for Northwestern. Ohio State playing for a chance in the playoff. When you consider how nationally devastating it would be for the B10 to have an 8-4 Northwestern team win the B10 Title, it leaves me to believe this is stacked against them and they have no chance.

If they get any calls, I'll be really surprised. Holding is the big equalizer in officiating. How a crew calls a game truly influences the outcome...just remember Purdue when we had a chance to salt that game away. Two holding calls out of nowhere...the first two all day against either team.

When everyone in the B10 office is praying Northwestern wets the bed...they aren't going to allow an officiating crew to give them any benefit. There is way too much on the line...money...reputation...etc.
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Typically NW (and Iowa) are the least penalized teams in the B1G and OSU is always one of the most penalized. I have not seen the numbers for 2018 but I assume that trend has continued. I agree with you on the holding calls being where they could neutralize NW without making it too obvious, especially if it is still close in the second half.
 
Ohio st should win by at least a couple of scores but I would not be surprised if they make it somewhat of a game.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
I'm not saying they will throw the game or do anything obvious. I am saying it will be called consistently the way that Ohio State benefits. Here's what I mean...NW won't get away with holding OSU receivers or impeding them. It will be called consistently tight in that regard. Benefit: OSU. Northwestern got away with alot of grabbing against Iowa...especially in their OL. That ain't happening.

These aren't egregious things...but they will benefit OSU. It doesn't hurt that I would like to see Fitz get hammered and have calls go against them. I still remember the phantom holding call against Iowa in 2009 that ruined a perfect season. Wegher scored the winning touchdown and it got called back...replay showed it was a ridiculous call.

I will say most of the weird officiating happens in the non-conference when you have a B12 crew officiating an Iowa - Iowa State game in Kinnick or something. I've seen favorable spots, non-calls, that help the conference team. It happens.
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jNW holds a lot, their Oline, their coverage guys, and even the Mich coaches this year told the refs to watch their DLine for holding and guess what Jimmy Harbaugh got at least one holding call and a jNW defensive lineman.

It is not paying off an officiating crew to tell them to call it good and tight and this benefits OSU. Osu has way more playmakers on both sides of the ball and if they are not being held in whatever context of plays it will help them put pressure on Thorsen, help their receivers get open, etc
 
OSU just a week ago barely survived in OT against MD. OSU defense is not that great.

If MD can score 51 points against OSU, NW has a chance.
 
I have no clue. If it is the OSU team that showed up against Michigan, then NW has no chance. If it is the OSU team that has showed up the other 11 weeks then NW has a good chance. It is all up to Urb and pushing the right buttons.
 
HawksMN said:
This is the right answer. None of you should want OSU in this game. I'd rather have no representative from the conf. in the playoff than them.
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If Urban makes an exit in the off-season I’d love to see his last game getting crushed by big brother Saban. If he somehow shits the bed against Northwestern he gets an easy win the Outback/Citrus bowl.
 
I don’t think OSU has much of a chance of making the playoff.

1) There are four teams better than that team.

2) PSU was punished for their coverup.
OSU will be too.
 
I've got no problem hoping the underdog wins this game. Its better for the Hawks that Wisky didn't win the conference, and Purdue might lose their coach even if they won the division or not. Either way if the Hawks lose the division its probably best that NW wins it.
 
I dont usually put a whole lot in comparing scores but Iowa's 63-0 blasting of the Illini one week before jNW at home barely beats the Illini by 8 points still frustrates me and makes me think Iowa is 14-24 points better than jNW.

I dont know who played for jNw , not sure if they played all their starters or whatever but the box score indicated that most starters were in and you know Fitzy did not want to lose this last game especially against the in state rival.
 
I think people are underestimating jNW’s ability to ugly up a game. They won’t win, but I think they’ll cover the 14 pt spread.
 
Two ugly losses in two consecutive years has cost OSUx a chance at the playoffs. TFB.

I'll be rooting for NU to win just because I despise OSUx so much.

Oh, and when the B1G gets shut out of the playoffs for the second consecutive year, you're going to see Delaney make a dash to the committee to expand to eight teams. Count on it.
 
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