Purdue129

I'm having the same problem.

My thoughts exactly. I just see Leinart and Bush splitting votes and people shying away from Peterson b/c of him being a Freshman, which would give it to White.

oh, i know... my original thought was focusing on Turner's lack of recruiting

I'd vote Peterson because like Krush said, he carried them in their toughest games, but I bet White gets it again. Is Alex Smith going to be in NYC for the presentation? Asking, b/c ESPN makes it seem like it's only the 2 USC guys and 2 OU guys.

you mean Marvin? and Grammatica got waived about a week or so ago if I remember right.

Greasy, what do you know about Selwyn Lymon? He finally committed to Purdue earlier this week. I know he's one of the top WR in the country, but wondered if you knew anything more since he's another FW guy.

When I said nothing I meant in regards to this recruiting class, which minus RaShard, isn't much.

Other than RaShard, Zook has his work cut out for him recruiting-wise heading into next season. Turner left him next to nothing. I think after Zook shows what he can do coaching next season, Illini recruiting will really turn around.

Great pick up for Illinois. This will show just how good of a recruiter he is. Recruiting for a program that is rebuilding is going to be a lot tougher than recruiting at UF. Regardless, he should make things should be interesting the next of years. Now IU just needs to figure out how to turn things around, they're getting out-recruited by Ball State. As for the Big 10 being weak right now, I think the bowl games will be a pretty good measure of where the conference stands.

With Rivers' contract and lack of NFL experience, they'd get a lot more from Brees. There's talk they'll franchise him and then trade him.

This has been an enjoyable game to watch so far. It's nice to see that Chandler is playing really well for once.

I don't believe the 'lower your academic standards' theory. They've never had a problem in the past recruiting VERY good players w/the standards in place. I think there are other issues there when it comes to recruiting.

I completely agree with those saying he should be given a chance with his players, not Davie's. Bob Davie left that place in shambles. Willingham was just starting to pick recruiting back up.

I could have sworn they've used that Final Jeopardy question before.

Yeah, I'm only 6-7 months removed from Purdue and I already find my 'hatred' for IU and ND lessening. I grew up a ND fan, so now I usually just cheer against them when they play Purdue. People like greasywheels, who actually look at their school objectively make it easier to like IU.

I saw something about Illinois and Zook on one of the Rivals.com boards but didn't think the guy was serious at all. Interesting.

I agree. Someone's bound to mention him though.

I'm not asking you to give a s*** about Purdue. I even said Purdue wasn't the issue, but you seem to be stuck on them. You're entitled to your opinion, but I think most people would agree that a victory in the challenge would go a long way for the Big Ten.

I'm sure Zook's name will be thrown out there too.

I bought this too. Brought back some good memories from the days at the Odeum. The only thing I know I want is a Tivo. No ideas other than that.

That's too bad. He's always come across as a classy guy. I too thought he'd at least be given one more year. Their recruiting was starting to improve again and Quinn's going to be a good QB. I hear Lou Holtz in unemployed.

care to address anything i said in my longer post??

It's different when you're trying to gain respect for the conference as a whole, especially when they're playing on the ACC-biased ESPN. I am the last person that would have ever expected Purdue to be as close as they were last night, but that's not the point. Here and in real life, Illini fans say that their team doesn't get the respect it deserves. One way that can be changed is by the Big 10 out playing the ACC on national TV. I'd venture to guess that most people would say the ACC is the best conference in the nation, so what better way to make your team/conference look good than by beating the majority of their teams? A number of Big 10 teams are not going to get that many national tv games this year, so if they get beat soundly this week, it's not going to look good for the conference. When teams like U of I and MSU destroy a team during conference play, it'll look better if that team was able to beat an ACC team this week. I'm not saying that you should root for them all the time, but in some situations it makes sense. Can you honestly say you weren't hoping the Twins would at least look good against the Yanks the last two years? If the Twins do well or even beat a team like the Yankees in the playoffs, it helps the Central Division not look so bad.

Well don't expect the Illini to get any more respect if the rest of the conference is easily beaten on national tv. Is it just me or are there a handful or so of U of I fans on here that really shed a bad light on the Illini fanbase in general?

It'd make sense, he'd be close to home too. I've heard Green Bay's name thrown out there also.