Iowa vs. Michigan tonite ending in a 0-0 draw is testiment to strength of Iowa's squad. Looks like they are in the league. Michigan's depth and use of bench kept their team fresh, and Iowa matched them. This will be a great showdown when they get back together in the tournament. Minnesota win is impressive comeback. Just looking at stats and reading Bob's review, Wisconsin isn't using their bench, and MN took advantage..
Thanks for the reports from Bloomington and Ann Arbor. Sounds like the Illini were fortunate to pick up the win. Friday 9/28 Illinois 2 Indiana 1 Iowa 0 Michigan 0 Michigan State 2 Nebraska 1 Purdue 1 Northwestern 0
This is my annual post about how crappy the B1G conference site is (VERY crappy for those keeping score at home, which I guess is people on this site). They really should hire a competent 14 year old to fix it. What good is it seeing standings when you can't click through and see who each team has left to play?
It's not good. I always go to the nc-soccer site, where you can sort by conference, click through to standings, and see each team's schedule. http://nc-soccer.com/wsoccer/2012/conferences#bigten
Sounds like Minnesota put up a great fight in State College this afternoon, losing to Penn State 4-3. Taylor Uhl scored a goal and had a hand in the other two...deflecting a cross off a PSU defender for an own goal and assisting on Thyken's goal. Definitely didn't expect them to score 3 on Penn State, Maya Hayes had a field day though, as expected. Next up is Iowa.
Pretty interesting day of soccer yesterday...lots of overtime and ties. Sunday 9/30 Illinois 1 Purdue 1 OT Indiana 1 Northwestern 0 Iowa 0 Michigan State 0 OT Michigan 2 Nebraska 1 Penn State 4 Minnesota 3 Wisconsin 0 Ohio State 0 OT Standings through 9/30 Penn State 5-0-0 15pts Michigan 4-0-1 13pts Illinois 3-1-1 10pts Iowa 2-1-2 8pts Michigan State 2-2-1 7pts Ohio State 2-2-1 7pts Purdue 2-2-1 7pts Minnesota 2-3-0 6pts Nebraska 2-3-0 6pts Wisconsin 1-3-1 4pts Indiana 1-4-0 3pts Northwestern 0-5-0 0pts Illinois had more and better scoring chances against Purdue, but gave up an early goal and couldn't finish their chances late, so they settle for a tie. Iowa plays Michigan and Michigan State to scoreless ties on the weekend. Minnesota has three losses in the Big Ten, all by one goal. By contrast, all three of Illinois' wins are by one goal. Michigan takes care of business vs. Nebraska to stay within striking distance of Penn State at the top. What stood out to everyone else?
Michigan State is hitting the top 64 ranking by TopDrawerSoccer.com today. They have a huge schedule ahead of them and don't think they will sustain. I think that Minnesota should show better. What is going on this year with Purdue...can anyone comment. They just don't seem to be htting the news radar, but are starting to show.
What stands out to me is how close things are in the Big10. Not a single game was won by more than a goal this weekend. And now there are six teams within two points of each other. A win for a team at the bottom of that pile could see them go from 8th/9th clear up to 4th. In the context of all these close games, that could mean a single goal gets you a huge lift up the table.
MSU has been on Top Drawer's list for a while now...they don't look very hard at strength of schedule. Agreed about Minnesota, but you wonder about a team that has so many near-misses. The trick is keeping their confidence up. As for Purdue, they're a solid side. Their back line has a lot of experience and they play pretty well together. They don't have much size, especially in the midfield, which can hurt them on 50/50 balls. Hadley Stuart has good pace up top, and Alex Hairston is very physical. It was Stuart's hustle to keep a ball in play in the corner that set up Hairston's goal yesterday. I think they're a little better than they have been the last two years, but not sure if they can move up the table from where they are right now. Their two wins are over Northwestern and Nebraska, with losses to Iowa and Michigan State. The tie, of course is from yesterday vs Illinois.
FYI, here are the Big 10 Adjusted RPI ranks for games through 9/30: RankTeam 2Penn State 26Michigan 30Wisconsin 31Illinois 36Ohio State 38Iowa 48Minnesota 61Michigan State 62Purdue 84Northwestern 94Indiana 106Nebraska None of these has a poor enough ranking to be out of the realm for possibly making the NCAA Tournament.
Thanks, Chris. Here's this week's blog entry: http://www.illinihq.com/blogs/molines-musings/2012-10/can-illini-soccer-keep-sparty-down.html
Thursday's game: Illinois 3 Michigan State 2 Friday's game: Nebraska 3 Wisconsin 2 OT Who would have thought that at this point in the Big Ten season Nebraska would be at .500 (3-3) while Wisconsin would be near the bottom (1-4-1)?
Standings through 10/5 Code: [table]team|record|points \Penn State|5-0-0|15 \Michigan|4-0-1|13 \Illinois|4-1-1|13 \Nebraska|3-3-0|9 \Iowa|2-1-2|8 \Ohio State|2-2-1|7 \Purdue|2-2-1|7 \Michigan State|2-3-1|7 \Minnesota|2-3-0|6 \Wisconsin|1-4-1|4 \Indiana|1-4-0|3 \Northwestern|0-5-0|0 [/table]
I'm no code expert, but thought I followed the instructions I saw in another post. If anyone can tell me where I went wrong and/or clean that up, it would be much appreciated.
There is nothing wrong with what you did except you enclosed it in the [ code] bbs function, which just shows what you type exactly without acting on it. Here is your typing with just the [ table] bbs code. teamrecordpoints Penn State5-0-015 Michigan4-0-113 Illinois4-1-113 Nebraska3-3-09 Iowa2-1-28 Ohio State2-2-17 Purdue2-2-17 Michigan State2-3-17 Minnesota2-3-06 Wisconsin1-4-14 Indiana1-4-03 Northwestern0-5-00
Now that Mayme Conroy has "arrived" Nebraska will be a tough out. Fantastic striker, she tore her ACL a couple of years ago and I wonder if she's just now getting her confidence back. The Big Ten is loaded with great, young forwards.
Here's an attempt at looking at standings and who the teams have left to play. After today's game, I'll repost. Let me know if you see anything incorrect...a little back and forth to websites to get this. Team Record Pct. Pts. Left to Play Penn State 5-0-0 1 15 IN-NE-IO-MI-MI.S-PUR Michigan 5-0-1 0.917 16 MI.S-PUR-OH-PA-IL Illinois 4-1-1 0.75 13 MN-WI-NW-NE-MI Iowa 2-1-2 0.6 8 MN-PA-OH-NE-NW-WI Ohio State 2-2-1 0.5 7 PUR-IO-NE-MI-MI.S-IN Purdue 2-2-1 0.5 7 OH-IN-MI-WI-MN-PA Nebraska 3-3-0 0.5 9 PA-OH-IO-IL-MN Michigan State 2-3-1 0.417 6 MI-IN-PA-OH-NW Minnesota 2-3-0 0.4 6 IO-IL-NW-IN-PUR-NE Wisconsin 1-4-1 0.25 4 IL-IN-PUR-NW-IO Indiana 1-4-0 0.2 3 PA-PUR-MI.S-MN-WI-OH Northwestern 0-6-0 0 0 WI-MN-IL-IO-MI.S
Let me try this, since I too don't know how to keep my chart lines hanging over from excel to this site. This just shows the team listed in current standings, their record, and teams left to play. Team Record Left to Play Penn State 5-0-0 IN-NE-IO-MI-MI.S-PUR Michigan 5-0-1 MI.S-PUR-OH-PA-IL Illinois 4-1-1 MN-WI-NW-NE-MI Iowa 2-1-2 MN-PA-OH-NE-NW-WI Ohio State 2-2-1 PUR-IO-NE-MI-MI.S-IN Purdue 2-2-1 OH-IN-MI-WI-MN-PA Nebraska 3-3-0 PA-OH-IO-IL-MN Michigan State 2-3-1 MI-IN-PA-OH-NW Minnesota 2-3-0 IO-IL-NW-IN-PUR-NE Wisconsin 1-4-1 IL-IN-PUR-NW-IO Indiana 1-4-0 PA-PUR-MI.S-MN-WI-OH Northwestern 0-6-0 WI-MN-IL-IO-MI.S
Maybe just a little early, but I'll predict Big Ten Tournament teams: (do you agree?) Solid Bets: Penn State (They could go perfect record, but can see Michigan giving them a little trouble.) Michigan (Polished with use of their squad across their roster.) Illinois (Vanessa is unstoppable, and has a team that works with this.) Nebraska (They have rugged defense and key offensive player unstoppable.) Indiana (Host, but they are picking up some steam.) Next three spots - toss ups: Minnesota (Huge work rate.) Iowa (Took their time to build their season..came in under the radar.) Michigan State (Started messy, but getting things going.) Ohio State (Struggling on offense, but stay in the game.) Purdue (needed some time to get their roster organized, but now together.) Needing a prayer: Wisconsin (Starting lineup is not working, rarely sub) Northwestern (Building their program with new coach..we'll cut them a break this year.)
Minnesota and Iowa tied 0-0. Let me rant again for a second, I HATE OVERTIME. The entire point of overtime in sports is to determine a winner when regulation isn't enough. If we're going to allow ties, why play overtime during the regular season? The quality of play diminishes drastically. Anyway, Minnesota owned this game, but Iowa's defense was organized and their keeper played a gem. Uhl and Phillips both had a few fantastic shots on frame that the she saved seemingly out of nowhere. I think Minnesota outshot Iowa 29-7 but only managed to put 8 on goal. Iowa couldn't figure out Minnesota's offsides trap...9 offsides, most I've ever seen in a game. They had some nice counterattacks though this afternoon to keep the Gophers on their toes. Entertaining game despite the 0-0 score.
"Solid Bets: Penn State (They could go perfect record, but can see Michigan giving them a little trouble.) Michigan (Polished with use of their squad across their roster.) Illinois (Vanessa is unstoppable, and has a team that works with this.) Nebraska (They have rugged defense and key offensive player unstoppable.) Indiana (Host, but they are picking up some steam.)" by soccerwoowoo I read, and I think it was on the Purdue website, that the host team is not an automatic bid anymore. Can anyone confirm that?
Updated Chart of Standings and teams left to play. Things could change dramitically with a couple wins in the last half of the standings. Will be interesting over the next couple weeks. Even WI and IN could jump up with a couple wins. Team Record Left to Play Penn State 6-0-0 NE-IO-MI-MI.S-PUR Michigan 5-0-1 MI.S-PUR-OH-PA-IL Illinois 4-1-1 MN-WI-NW-NE-MI Nebraska 3-3-0 PA-OH-IO-IL-MN Ohio State 3-2-1 IO-NE-MI-MI.S-IN Iowa 2-1-3 PA-OH-NE-NW-WI Purdue 2-3-1 IN-MI-WI-MN-PA Michigan State 2-3-1 MI-IN-PA-OH-NW Minnesota 2-3-1 IL-NW-IN-PUR-NE Wisconsin 1-4-1 IL-IN-PUR-NW-IO Indiana 1-5-0 PUR-MI.S-MN-WI-OH Northwestern 0-6-0 WI-MN-IL-IO-MI.S
Hey woowoo - I really appreciate your schedule updates, so please don't see this nit-pick as unappreciative (at least it's not meant that way). How about using standard abbreviations? (i.e. MSU for Michigan State, OSU for Ohio State, not abbreviating Iowa, etc.) I think it'd be easier to follow your very helpful chart. . . Playoff implications: Penn State 6-0-0 is in, and could run the table Michigan 5-0-1 nice record, but still faces OSU/PSU/Illinois so will probably drop some Illinois 4-1-1 looks like a good bet for the #2 seed Nebraska 3-3-0 can they stay over .500? probably not Ohio State 3-2-1 in pretty good shape for 3rd/4th Iowa 2-1-3 must beat Wisconsin & Northwestern and need a point someplace else Purdue 2-3-1 if 5-5-1 makes the tournament, Purdue is sitting pretty Michigan State 2-3-1 tough run in makes a move up the standings unlikely Minnesota 2-3-1 could close with 4 wins in 5 . . . which might put them 5th/6th? Wisconsin 1-4-1 still likely to finish right around .500 in league Indiana 1-5-0 probably asking too much, but they could catch MSU Northwestern 0-6-0 they'll spoil someone's chances before the year is over . . .
Team Record Left to Play Penn State 6-0-0 Nebraska-Iowa-Michigan-MSU-Purdue Michigan 5-0-1 MSU-Purdue-OSU-Penn State-Illinois Illinois 4-1-1 Minnesota-Wisconsin-Northwestern-Nebraska-Michigan Nebraska 3-3-0 Penn State-OSU-Iowa-Illinois-Minnesota Ohio State 3-2-1 Iowa-Nebraska-Michigan-MSU-Indiana Iowa 2-1-3 Penn State-OSU-Nebraska-Northwestern-Wisconsin Purdue 2-3-1 Indiana-Michigan-Wisconsin-Minnesota-Penn State Michigan State 2-3-1 Michigan-Indiana-Penn State-OSU-Northwestern Minnesota 2-3-1 Illinois-Northwestern-Indiana-Purdue-Nebraska Wisconsin 1-4-1 Illinois-Indiana-Purdue-Northwestern-Iowa Indiana 1-5-0 Purdue-MSU-Minnesota-Wisconsin-OSU Northwestern 0-6-0 Wisconsin-Minnesota-Illinois-Iowa-MSU Thanks...agreed.