Rankings Through December 4, 2011 & Post

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Accepting the Challenge

Made for TV events can be a dicey proposition. LeBron James can attest to that. But every year, elite teams put their early season momentum on the line so ESPN can fill time between Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night NFL Countdown, NFL Live, NFL32, NFL Kickoff and This Week in Uniform Rules Violations.

Four of the Big Six Conferences spent last week beating up each other, first in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, and then in the SEC-Big East Challenge. These matchups serve several purposes:

• Gain some exposure for the participating teams to raise their profiles at the national level.
• Make viewers aware of Dick’s Sporting Goods.
• And, most importantly, elevate the intensity of competition to prepare for conference play.

As mentioned in one of our previous posts, many of the high-profile teams take it easy the first couple weeks and load their schedules with cupcakes to keep a zero in the loss column. But jumping immediately from chumps to legitimate challenges can be a jarring transition—one that could cost a team a conference loss or two. That’s where these interleague events come in.

For the Big Ten, participation didn’t seem to be a terribly intelligent move for the first decade or so, as the group from the Midwest was on the short end of the first 10 meetings. But this year’s 8-4 decision in favor of the Big Ten was its third straight challenge win. Unfortunately, that strong performance was only enough to put the league third in our initial conference power rankings, which will no doubt cause Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany to completely reconsider the value of participating.

The Big East, on the other hand, benefitted from its own 8-4 victory, proving that some of the early season panic surrounding the conference’s slow start (but certainly not from us) was a tad premature. Although if you were to play devil’s advocate, you could point out that a basketball-heavy conference should easily handle one that’s slightly more concerned with gridiron goings-on.

So, with the debate over conference supremacy settled thanks to the good folks at Dick’s Sporting Goods, where every season starts apparently, let’s take a look at the aftermath and see who was hurt and who was helped in this week’s rankings:

Helped:

• Louisville (#31 to #2).
• Alabama (#33 to #9).
• Ohio State (#23 to #13).
• Minnesota (#60 to #25).

Hurt:

• Purdue (#15 to #51).
• Northwestern (#9 to #42).
• Duke (#6 to #7).

Our Game of the Week

#2 Ohio State (6-0) at #13 Kansas (5-2)

2:15 p.m. (Central Time) Saturday, Dec. 10

Phog Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, KS

Already with two losses to top 10 teams, the host Jayhawks will try to avoid the trifecta against the Buckeyes, who are happily taking up residence on the other end of that spectrum with two wins over teams in the top 10. And if Ohio State gets out of cattle country with a victory, it’ll likely be because of its front line.

All of the Buckeyes’ top three scorers stand taller than 6-6, including player of the year candidate Jared Sullinger (19.1 ppg, 10.3 rpg). Kansas counters with its own All-American, Tyshawn Taylor (17.4 ppg), and a scoring effort focused slightly more toward the perimeter. And while shooters typically find the bottom of the net easier to locate at home, that might not be enough to fend off an Ohio State team that shoots better than 50% from the field while matching the Jayhawks at 33% from three-point range.

We’re anticipating Ohio State’s defense wreaking havoc and forcing Kansas into an above-average number of turnovers, while keeping the Jayhawks off the free-throw line. And due to the size advantage, the Buckeyes will enjoy a comfortable rebounding advantage, propelling them to a 73-64 road win.