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You can almost imagine Bret Bielema getting up at one point and calling his buddies, saying, “Y’all know, we haven’t had a night out hollerin’ at the moon and raisin’ hell in awhile. What do y’all say we grab a case, our shotguns, and head to the watering hole first tonight?”
Bielema gave Ohio State another one of his patented jabs yesterday, criticizing their schedule and trumpeting his because …
1. It’s self-serving, so duh.
2. It’s just who Bielema is.
Never mind that Ohio State was 10-1 against teams with winning records last season. Never mind that Bielema has mostly been a whipping post for OSU every time he’s played against them (1-5).
Buckeye Nation should take no offense, one, because with a playoff system, everything comes out in the wash anyway, and two, anyone using poll rankings to prop up an argument is either being intellectually dishonest on purpose or is inebriated. Not to mention doing it after week one.
What are polls anyway at this time of year, other than filler for argument? They’re not worth used toilet paper. About 10 teams stepped out of the box and played tough games last week, and we’re just assuming those are tough games based on … preseason rankings.
Mississippi State finds their way in the poll throttling by Southern Miss … while Northwestern, who beat previously ranked Stanford and by all accounts put up one of the top 5-7 wins of Week One … is nowhere to be found in said 5 to 7 range. Poll voters vote with the reasoning of a toddler getting pissed when you won’t give them Skittles for dinner.
Right now, Bielema’s conference just happens to be getting the benefit of the doubt in said toddler’s logic.
Bielema propping up his conference is to be expected, especially by him. If the people who matter are silly enough to buy the oceanfront property in the Sahara that he’s selling, you may as well go for it. Bielema is the guy at the bar telling all the girls he’s a med student, when really, he never went to college, just to see if they buy the line.
OSU’s schedule is plenty tough enough to get them in, and besides, last the world let OSU and their “weak schedule” loose, they just drummed everyone with a third string quarterback and hoisted the trophy. They owe no justification to anyone. Not only that, they’ll get in if they run the table or suffer only one loss and win the conference, probably.
If Bielema is lucky, he can meet them there and try to up that record to 2-5. This is just one of those things we see every season. I’m not sure poking the bear is a great idea … defending champs always can use a little extra kick in the shorts to ward of complacency … but when you don’t actually have to play them all season, that’s not your issue if you’re Bielema.
Well done is better than well said, and with the playoff implemented, finally, in college football, you’re forced to be well done to win it all.
Then again, for Bielema, in the mean time … said … well or not … will have to do for a few ruffled feathers. There will be more hollering at the moon before it’s all over, but eventually, come closing time, you’ll have to finally fight.
