Getting a jump start on next week’s college football TV schedule and point spread post because I don’t want to have to worry about it tomorrow night. Peyton v Brady will have my attention.

Anyway, the schedule is not filled with marquee matchups (Ohio State-Michigan is the headliner, if that tells you anything) but certainly could still be a pivotal week in the overall landscape of the season if any of the top teams stumble.

All will be favored by double digits though, so don’t hold your breath.

NCAA College Football Week 12 Spreads & TV Schedule: Marquee Games

Kansas at Texas

• Kansas-Texas Date: Saturday, November 21st
• Kansas-Texas Kickoff Time: 8:00 ET
• Kansas-Texas TV: ABC
• Kansas-Texas Spread: Texas -28

Ohio State at Michigan

• Ohio State-Michigan Date: Saturday, November 21st
• Ohio State-Michigan Kickoff Time: 12:00 ET
• Ohio State-Michigan TV: ABC
• Ohio State-Michigan Spread: Ohio State -12.5

Purdue at Indiana

• Purdue-Indiana Date: Saturday, November 21st
• Purdue-Indiana Kickoff Time: 3:30 ET
• Purdue-Indiana TV: Big Ten Network
• Purdue-Indiana Spread: Purdue -3.5

LSU at Ole Miss

• LSU-Ole Miss Date: Saturday, November 21st
• LSU-Ole Miss Kickoff Time: 3:30 ET
• LSU-Ole Miss TV: CBS
• LSU-Ole Miss Spread: Ole Miss -3.5

Kansas State at Nebraska

• Kansas State-Nebraska Date: Saturday, November 21st
• Kansas State-Nebraska Kickoff Time: 7:45 ET
• Kansas State-Nebraska TV: ESPN
• Kansas State-Nebraska Spread: Nebraska -16.5

California at Stanford

• Cal-Stanford Date: Saturday, November 21st
• Cal-Stanford Kickoff Time: 9:30 ET
• Cal-Stanford TV: Versus
• Cal-Stanford Spread: Stanford -7

As usual, all point spread listings are as of Sunday night (or perhaps Monday morning) and certainly are subject to fluctuation throughout the week. I include them here simply for your own entertainment purposes, but here are links to where you can find updated information:

• college football odds
• college football picks

Below is the college football TV schedule and point spreads listing for every game on the Week 10 college football schedule, the majority of which takes place on Saturday, November 21st. Hat tips to this college football tv schedule and this college football tv schedule for helping me put this post together.

Enjoy Week 12 everyone.

College Football TV Schedule and Point Spreads - Week of Saturday, November 21st (Week 12)

Date	Game	Time	TV	Point Spread	Tickets
Wed. 11/18	Buffalo at Miami	6:00	ESPNU	BUF -3	Get Tickets
Wed. 11/18	Central Michigan at Ball State	8:00	ESPN2	CMU -16.5	Get Tickets
Thurs. 11/19	Colorado at Oklahoma State	7:30	ESPN	OKST -16.5	Get Tickets
Fri. 11/20	Akron at Bowling Green	5:30	ESPNU	BGSU -12.5	Get Tickets
Fri. 11/20	Eastern Michigan at Toledo	7:00	TBA	TOL -19.5	Get Tickets
Fri. 11/20	Boise State at Utah State	9:30	ESPN2	BSU -24	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Memphis at Houston	12:00	CSS	HOU -23.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Duke at Miami	12:00	ESPNU	UM -19.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Louisville at South Florida	12:00	ESPN-GP	USF -12	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Maryland at Florida State	12:00	Raycom/ESPN-GP	FSU -19	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Minnesota at Iowa	12:00	ESPN	IOWA -9.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	North Carolina at Boston College	12:00	ESPN2	BC -3	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Ohio State at Michigan	12:00	ABC	OSU -12.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Mississippi State at Arkansas	12:00	SEC Network	ARK -10.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Chattanooga at Alabama	12:21	SEC Network	NL	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	FIU at Florida	12:30	ESPN-GP	UF -43.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Oklahoma at Texas Tech	12:30	FSN	OU -6.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Kent State at Temple	1:00	TBA	TEM -13	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Northern Illinois at Ohio	2:00	TBA	OHIO -1.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Tulane at Central Florida	2:00	BHSN	UCF -19.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Iowa State at Missouri	2:00	TBA	MISS -13.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	TCU at Wyoming	2:00	MTN	TCU -31.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Connecticut at Notre Dame	2:30	NBC	ND -10.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	UTEP at Rice	3:30	TBA	UTEP -6.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Rutgers at Syracuse	3:30	ESPN360	RUT -8	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Air Force at BYU	3:30	CBSC	BYU -10	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	LSU at Ole Miss	3:30	CBS	MISS -3.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	NC State at Virginia Tech	3:30	ESPNU	VT -21	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Penn State at Michigan State	3:30	ESPN/ABC	PSU -3	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Purdue at Indiana	3:30	Big Ten Network	PUR -3.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	UAB at East Carolina	3:30	MASN	ECU -10	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Virginia at Clemson	3:30	ABC/ESPN	CLEM -20.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Wisconsin at Northwestern	3:30	Big Ten Network	WIS -7	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Baylor at Texas A&M	3:30	TBA	TAM -7.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Army at North Texas	4:00	KTXA	UNT -1.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Arizona State at UCLA	4:00	FSN	UCLA -4.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	San Diego State at Utah	4:00	Versus	UTAH -18	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Florida Atlantic at Troy	4:15	ESPN-GP	TROY -16.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	SMU at Marshall	4:30	TBA	MAR -3.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Arkansas State at Midd. Tenn. State	4:30	ESPN-GP	MTSU -11.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Oregon State at Washington State	4:00	TBA	ORST -32.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Louisiana Tech at Fresno State	5:00	TBA	FSU -10.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Colorado State at New Mexico	5:00	MTN	CSU -4	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Vanderbilt at Tennessee	7:00	ESPNU	UT -17	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Louisiana-Monroe at Louisiana-Lafayette	7:00	TBA	ULM -3	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Tulsa at Southern Miss	7:30	CBSC	USM -7.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Kansas State at Nebraska	7:45	ESPN	NEB -16.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Kentucky at Georgia	7:45	ESPN2	UGA -8.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Kansas at Texas	8:00	ABC	TEX -28	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Oregon at Arizona	8:00	ABC	ORE -6	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Hawaii at San Jose State	8:00	TBA	HAW -3	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	California at Stanford	9:30	Versus	STAN -7	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/21	Nevada at New Mexico State	10:30	ESPNU	NEV -31.5	Get Tickets

The college football Week 11 TV schedule and point spreads, for the week of Saturday, November 14th, have been posted!

Follow the link to view the college football TV schedule and point spreads for the week of November 14th.

—————

The plot is beginning to thicken, as they say, now that the calendar has turned to November.

Florida, Texas, and Alabama still appear to be the class of college football, with people still wondering exactly how good teams like Iowa, Boise State, and TCU really are.

And then there are the Oregons — teams written off because of an early season loss that have rebounded — who are charging up the top 25 and looking to play spoiler, if not outright BCS party crasher.

Let’s look ahead to Week 10 and the tv schedule and point spreads for Saturday, November 7th. LSU-Alabama is obviously the biggest game on the schedule, but there are some other ones that you’ll want to keep your eye on as well.

Below, we’ve provided everything you need to know about the upcoming college football Saturday (November 7th). The TV schedule and points spreads are below, with a few of the most important games highlighted before we get to the game-by-game rundown.

College Football Week 10 Spreads & TV Schedule: Marquee Games

Virginia Tech at East Carolina

• Virginia Tech-East Carolina Date: Thursday, November 5th
• Virginia Tech-East Carolina Kickoff Time: 7:30 ET
• Virginia Tech-East Carolina TV: ESPN
• Virginia Tech-East Carolina Spread:

Northwestern at Iowa

• Northwestern-Iowa Date: Saturday, November 7th
• Northwestern-Iowa Kickoff Time: 12:00 ET
• Northwestern-Iowa TV: ESPN
• Northwestern-Iowa Spread:

Navy at Notre Dame

• Navy-Notre Dame Date: Saturday, November 7th
• Navy-Notre Dame Kickoff Time: 2:30 ET
• Navy-Notre Dame TV: NBC
• Navy-Notre Dame Spread:

LSU at Alabama

• LSU-Alabama Date: Saturday, November 7th
• LSU-Alabama Kickoff Time: 3:30 ET
• LSU-Alabama TV: CBS
• LSU-Alabama Spread:

Ohio State at Penn State

• Ohio State-Penn State Date: Saturday, November 7th
• Ohio State-Penn State Kickoff Time: 3:30 ET
• Ohio State-Penn State TV: ABC
• Ohio State-Penn State Spread:

Vanderbilt at Florida

• Vanderbilt-Florida Date: Saturday, November 7th
• Vanderbilt-Florida Kickoff Time: 7:15 ET
• Vanderbilt-Florida TV: ESPNU
• Vanderbilt-Florida Spread:

As usual, all point spread listings are as of Sunday night (or perhaps Monday morning) and certainly are subject to fluctuation throughout the week. I include them here simply for your own entertainment purposes, but here are links to where you can find updated information:

(Note: Uncharacteristically, the point spreads were not available as I prepared this post Sunday evening. I will check back later tonight or update this post in the morning.)

• college football odds
• college football picks

Below is the college football TV schedule and point spreads listing for every game on the Week 10 college football schedule, the majority of which takes place on Saturday, November 7th. Hat tips to this college football tv schedule and this college football tv schedule for helping me put this post together.

Enjoy Week 10 everyone.

College Football TV Schedule and Point Spreads - Week of Saturday, November 7th (Week 10)

Date	Game	Time	TV	Point Spread	Tickets
Tues. 11/3	Bowling Green at Buffalo	7:00	ESPN2	BUF -3.5	Get Tickets
Thurs. 11/5	Virginia Tech at East Carolina	7:30	ESPN	VT -12	Get Tickets
Thurs. 11/5	Miami (OH) at Temple	7:30	ESPN360	TEM -13.5	Get Tickets
Thurs. 11/5	Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois	7:30	ESPNU	NIU -21	Get Tickets
Fri. 11/6	Boise State at Louisiana Tech	8:00	ESPN	BSU -20.5	Get Tickets
	Note: The following four games will be played on Saturday but times have not yet been confirmed.
Sat. 11/7	Connecticut at Cincinnati	TBA		NL	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Oklahoma State at Iowa State	TBA		OSU -7.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Oklahoma at Nebraska	TBA		OU -6	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Florida State at Clemson	TBA		CLEM -8	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Virginia at Miami (FL)	12:00	Raycom	UM -13	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	UCF at Texas	12:00	FSN	NL	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Northwestern at Iowa	12:00	ESPN	IOWA -17.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Syracuse at Pittsburgh	12:00	ESPNU	PITT -19	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Louisville at West Virginia	12:00	ESPN-GP	WVU -19.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Wisconsin at Indiana	12:00	Big 10 Network	WIS -11	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Western Michigan at Michigan State	12:00	Big 10 Network	MSU -18	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Purdue at Michigan	12:00	Big 10 Network	MICH -3.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Illinois at Minnesota	12:00	Big 10 Network	MINN -6	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	South Carolina at Arkansas	12:21	SEC Network	ARK -5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Kansas at Kansas State	12:30	Versus	KU -2.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Maryland at NC State	1:00	TBA	NCST -7.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Tennessee Tech at Georgia	1:00	ESPN-GP	NL	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Eastern Kentucky at Kentucky	1:00	ESPN-GP	NL	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Furman at Auburn	1:30	ESPN-GP	NL	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Texas A&M at Colorado	1:30	FCS Central	TAM -5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Baylor at Missouri	2:00	TBA	MIZZ -16	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Florida Atlantic at UAB	2:00	TBA	UAB -5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	BYU at Wyoming	2:00	MTN	BYU -13	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Navy at Notre Dame	2:30	NBC	NL	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Duke at North Carolina	3:00	ESPN360	UNC -7.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Rice at SMU	3:00	TWC Metro Sports	SMU -18	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Oregon at Stanford	3:30	FSN	ORE -5.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Ohio State at Penn State	3:30	ABC	PSU -3.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Wake Forest at Georgia Tech	3:30	TBA	GT -15	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Washington State at Arizona	3:30	FCS Pacific	ARIZ -31	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Washington at UCLA	3:30	FSPT	UCLA -4	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Army at Air Force	3:30	CBSC	AFU -17	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Kent State at Akron	3:30	FSOH	KSU -3	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	UTEP at Tulane	3:30	FCS Atlantic	UTEP -7	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	LSU at Alabama	3:30	CBS	ALA -8.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	TCU at San Diego State	4:00	Versus	TCU -24	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Louisiana-Monroe at North Texas	4:00	TBA	LMU -1	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Florida International at Middle Tennessee State	4:30	ESPN-GP	MTST -13.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Troy at Western Kentucky	5:00	TBA	TROY -24	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	New Mexico at Utah	6:00	MTN	UTAH -27	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Oregon State at California	7:00	FSN	CAL -6	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Louisiana-Lafayette at Arkansas State	7:00	ESPN-GP	ARST -11.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Memphis at Tennessee	7:00	ESPN	UT -26	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Vanderbilt at Florida	7:15	ESPN or ESPN2	UF -32.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Houston at Tulsa	7:30	CBSC	HOU -2.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Northern Arizona at Mississippi	7:30	ESPN-GP	NL	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	USC at Arizona State	8:00	ABC	USC -11.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Colorado State at UNLV	10:00	MTN	CSU -1.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Utah State at Hawaii	10:05	PPV	UTST -3	Get Tickets
Sat. 11/7	Fresno State at Idaho	10:30	ESPNU	FRES -6.5	Get Tickets
Sun. 11/8	Nevada at San Jose State	8:30	ESPN	NEV -13.5	Get Tickets

The college football Week 11 TV schedule and point spreads, for the week of Saturday, November 14th, have been posted!

Follow the link to view the college football TV schedule and point spreads for the week of November 14th.

—————

It’s time to look ahead to this Saturday with this weekend’s college football TV schedule and point spreads.

The majority of this weekend’s games will be played on October 31st, which is, of course, Halloweeen. With top teams like Florida, Iowa, and Texas all being favored by nine points or more, their fans are certainly hoping that Saturday does not turn out to be a night of terror.

As usual, all point spread listings are as of Sunday night and certainly are subject to fluctuation throughout the week. I include them here simply for your own entertainment purposes, but here are links to where you can find updated information:

• college football odds
• college football picks

Below is the college football TV schedule and point spreads listing for every game on the Week 8 college football schedule, the majority of which takes place on Saturday, October 31st. Hat tips to this college football tv schedule and this college football tv schedule for helping me put this post together.

Enjoy Week 9 everyone.

College Football TV Schedule and Point Spreads - Week of Saturday, October 31st (Week 9)

Date	Game	Time	TV	Point Spread	Tickets
Tue. 10/27	East Carolina at Memphis	8:00	ESPN2	ECU -4.5	Get Tickets
Thurs. 10/29	North Carolina at Virginia Tech	7:30	ESPN	VT -16.5	Get Tickets
Fri. 10/30	West Virginia at South Florida	8:00	ESPN2	WVU -3.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Cinncinnati at Syracuse	12:00	ESPNU	CIN -14.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Indiana at Iowa	12:00	ESPN	IOWA -17	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	New Mexico State at Ohio State	12:00	Big 10 Network	OSU -39.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Purdue at Wisconsin	12:00	ESPN2	WIS -7	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	North Carolina State at Florida State	12:00	RAYCOM	FSU -7.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Rutgers at Connecticut	12:00	ESPN-GP	CONN -8	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Ohio at Ball State	12:00		OHIO -7.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Louisana- Lafayette at Florida International	12:00		FIU -3.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Akron at Northern Illinois	12:00	ESPN-GP	NIU -10	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Mississippi at Auburn	12:21	ESPN-GP	MISS -4	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Nebraska at Baylor	12:30	VERSUS	NEB -12.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Southern Miss at Houston	12:30		HOU -7	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Missouri at Colorado	1:00	FSN	MISS -4	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Coastal Carolina at Clemson	1:30			Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Southern Methodist at Tulsa	1:30		TULS -17	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Western Michigan at Kent State	2:00		WMU -1	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	San Jose State at Boise State	2:00		BSU -34	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Western Kentucky at North Texas	3:00		UNT -10	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	UAB at UTEP	3:00		UTEP -6.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Georgia at Florida	3:00	CBS	UF -16	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Miami (FL) at Wake Forest	3:30	ABC	UM -7	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Kansas at Texas Tech	3:30	ABC	TTU -7	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Arkansas State at Louisville	3:30	ESPN-GP	LOU -4.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	California at Arizona State	3:30	ABC	CAL -6.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Central Michigan at Boston College	3:30	ESPNU	BC -4.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Toledo at Miami (OH)	3:30		TOL -6	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Iowa State at Texas A&M	3:30		TAM -7	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Duke at Virginia	3:30		UVA -7	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Michigan at Illinois	3:30	ESPN2 or ABC	MICH -7.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Temple at Navy	3:30	CBSC	NAVY -7	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	UNLV at TCU	3:30	VERSUS	TCU -33	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	UCLA at Oregon State	4:00	FSNW	-9	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Air Force at Colorado State	4:00	MTN	AFU -3.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Middle Tennessee State at Florida Atlantic	4:00		FAU -1.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Hawaii at Nevada	4:00			Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Penn State at Northwestern	4:05	ESPN	PSU -14	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Louisana Tech at Idaho	4:30		ID -3.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Utah State at Fresno State	5:00		FRES -15.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Kansas State at Oklahoma	5:00	FSN	OU -24.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Eastern Michigan at Arkansas	7:00	ESPNU	ARK -36.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Mississippi State at Kentucky	7:00	FSS	UK -3.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Louisana- Monroe at Troy	7:00		TROY -17	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Georgia Tech at Vanderbilt	7:30	ESPN-GP	GT -13.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	New Mexico at San Diego State	7:30	CBSC	SDSU -17	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Washington State at Notre Dame (in San Antonio)	7:30	NBC	ND -29	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	South Carolina at Tennessee	7:45	ESPN	UT -5.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Texas at Oklahoma State	8:00	ABC or ESPN2	TEX -9	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	USC at Oregon	8:00	ABC or ESPN	USC -3.5	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Tulane at LSU	8:00	ESPN-GP	LSU -34	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Wyoming at Utah	8:00	MTN	UTAH -16	Get Tickets
Sat. 10/31	Michigan State at Minnesota	8:00	Big 10 Network	MSU -6.5	Get Tickets
Sun. 11/1	Marshall at UCF	8:15	ESPN	UCF -4.5	Get Tickets

Not sure what all of these horrific and disgusting experiences have in common? They are all things I would rather do than watch Big Ten Football today.

Just take a look at these quick-hit facts about the Big Ten football schedule for November 1, 2008:

– The only two good teams in the conference, Penn State and Ohio State, are both off today.

– The most important game in terms of the standings is Northwestern at #17 Minnesota.

– The least important game involves Michigan, as the Wolverines and Purdue have a combined 1-7 record in Big Ten play.

– Indiana is actually taking a step up in competition this weekend by playing a non-conference game…against a MAC team, Central Michigan. Seriously. The Chippewas are 6-2 overall and 5-0 in the MAC. It is not a ridiculous question to ask if they are the best team in the state of Michigan. Michigan State would probably beat them behind Javon Ringer, but does anyone think Michigan would beat them? Right — just like they beat Toledo.

– Iowa and Illinois somehow tricked ABC into broadcasting their game. Truth be told, this game could be exciting to watch. Iowa has an exciting running back, Illinois has Juice Williams, and there is always the joy of watching Ron Zook pace around the field appearing to be in a perpetual state of confusion.

– Wisconsin and Michigan State are playing. Do you care?

I grew up around Big Ten football and have always enjoyed watching the typical noon game on ESPN. And there always seemed to be at least one important game being played on any given Saturday. But in a season where there are really only two teams in the entire conference worth watching, and neither of them is playing this weekend, it makes it pretty difficult to get excited about Big Ten football today.

KVB is a defensive Ohio State fan and likes to defend the Big Ten against attacks on the conference’s credibility, so he will probably post some hippie-infused, I-miss-Woody-and-Bo bullcrap that means nothing in the era of three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-bust appearances by Big Ten teams in BCS title games, and bowl games in general.

Big Ten football has been down for awhile now, and I officially submit this Saturday for consideration as the low point of Big Ten gridiron competition this decade.

[tags]big ten football, ncaa football, college football[/tags]

But as I scrolled down, I saw something interesting. The phrase “fire bret bielema” had driven two visits; meaning that, most likely, some drunk buffoon in Madison watched Wisconsin get trashed by Iowa today and then typed “fire bret bielema” into Google and landed on my previous post that paid homage to the biggest losers in college football last weekend. More importantly, it means that at least some Badger fans have decided that one bad month of football should spell the end of a pretty good start to the Bret Bielema era so far. Look at the numbers coming into the season:

• 21-5 overall record, 12-4 in the Big Ten
• Two straight bowl appearances, winning the Capital One Bowl in 1996
• Consistently in the top 10, occasionally breaking into the Top 5

As a Tennessee fan, numbers like these look pretty good. And when Wisconsin jumped out to a 4-0 record before beginning Big Ten play, Brett Bielema sat at 25-5 through his first 30 games as a head coach. That is an outstanding winning percentage of 83.3%. Even with four straight losses, Bielema is 25-9, a winning percentage of 73.5%.

Could firing Bret Bielema really be a reasonable topic of thought and conversation for Badger Nation?

Well, look at the losses. The Badgers had the Michigan game in hand, and inexplicably allowed the Wolverines back into the game, which they subsequently stole away in the final minutes. The next week, Wisconsin played valiantly against Ohio State in Madison but lost 20-17. These two losses seemed to take the wind out of the Wisconsin sails. Over the last two Saturdays, Bret Bielema and the BADgers have been outscored 86-23 by Penn State and Iowa. They either didn’t show up or are much less talented than in previous years.

And perhaps therein lies the problem.

We have seen over and over in college sports a highly successful or legendary coach retire, only to see his successor post great records over his first few seasons using the players the previous coach recruited. In college football, think Larry Coker at Miami. The Hurricanes continued to dominate while Butch Davis’ recruits were at the U. Once they had all moved on to the NFL, Coker was unable to similarly stock the cupboard. For a basketball example, look no further than the Mike Davis era after Bob Knight retired. Davis took highly recruited players like Jared Jeffries, Dane Fife, and AJ Moye to an NCAA title game — seeming to be the perfect antidone to Knight’s bombastic coaching style, but reaping the results of Knight’s ability to teach and (at least back then) recruit.

But what happened to Coker and Davis after a few years? They failed…gradually but, ultimately, miserably. And both programs are still picking up the pieces.

Are these past four games the beginning of the demise for Wisconsin? And if so, should Wisconsin cut its losses now and bring in an experienced or successful up-and-coming coach to stop the bleeding?

I can’t answer that. I don’t really follow Wisconsin enough and, admittedly, have not watched them play. Perhaps some of you Badger fans can chime in with comments. Does this year’s team look less talented? Has the level of play, discipline, and strategic decision-making diminished substantially since Barry Alvarez left the sidelines and became the Athletic Director? I would be interested to know the answers from people who are informed.

Because the reality is this: if the answers to the questions I just posed are “yes” then the leadership of Wisconsin’s athletic department should act swiftly. If Bielema is in over his head, if he is great guy but just a glorified coordinator or position coach (like Mike Davis was), and if he can’t effectively bring talent to Madison, then this four game slide will be the beginning of a trend and not just a hiccup. I’ve seen it happen too often, and seen athletic departments wait way too long to pull the trigger for change when all of the symptoms of current and future mediocrity are present.

Unfortunately, it looks like Indiana might have done that with Bill Lynch in the aftermatch of Terry Hoeppner’s tragic death and the Hoosiers’ exciting run to a bowl game last year. The problem is that, while Lynch coached under Terry Hoeppner, he was an assistant for a reason. He is a solid tactical coach and teacher, but perhaps not the charismatic leader and program steward that a successful college football program needs.

When someone is miscast in a role, as these last four games have shown that Bret Bielema may be, it requires acute foresight from the leadership above to make a decision in the best interest of the school. Patience may be a virtue, but so is judgment. The ideal, obviously, is to combine both; to give coaches enough time to prove themselves, but not to run a program into the ground if they can’t.

I don’t think it’s time for Bret Bielema fired, but it certainly is time for the Barry Alvarez and the Badger athletic department to be vigilantly on point. If Bielema is not the guy, he could unwittingly lead the erosion of the tradition that Barry Alvarez built up. This happened at Indiana, it happened at Miami, and Wisconsin has not built-in immunity to it happened to them.

Not every school can be like Michigan State in basketball, where Jud Heathcote handed over the reins to Tom Izzo and the program maintained or arguably even jumped up a level.

I guess the way I’d feel if I was a Wisconsin fan is that it’s still a little bit early to be doing Google searches on firing Bret Bielema, or creating www.firebretbielema.com, but I can certainly understand and relate to your frustration.

[tags]wisconsin badgers, college football, ncaa football, bret bielema[/tags]