MVN: Most Valuable Network

One of my favorite parts of the early college basketball season is the Big Ten/ACC challenge.  In a time where most schools are content with loading up their non-conference schedules with cupcakes to make the 20-win plateau more attainable, the schools from those two conferences take it upon themselves to find quality opponents.  While it usually doesn't work out in favor of the Big Ten, at least they're trying.

There's been some talk about that concept being carried over into the realm of football, but the pigskin version would be the Big Ten/SEC challenge.  Following back-to-back dismantlings of Ohio State by SEC teams in the National Championship game, you won't find many people who think the slowpokes from the Midwest could be competitive in such a series, but it's still an interesting idea.  Jim Polzin from the blog Badger Beat recently broke down the hypothetical series game-by-game,  matching teams up based on where they sat in the standings (Penn State/Alabama, Ohio State/Florida, Minnesota/Georgia, etc.).  By his estimation, the SEC would win the series this year, 8-3.  Ouch.  I might change a few of his predictions here and there (I'd go with Michigan State over LSU and Arkansas over Michigan), but I get a similar gloomy fate for the Big Ten.  Feel free to comment with your own predictions on how something like that would go this year.

Now, onto some news and notes from around the Big Ten as we head into the final month of play...

Michigan
Rich Rodriguez thinks his team is 2-6 because they lack mental toughness and tend to lose focus and intensity as the game goes on.  I can't say that I blame the Wolverines -- if my team didn't have a quarterback on the roster capable of completing a pass, running the ball, or just staying out of his own way, I'd probably get frustrated and disinterested by the third quarter, too.  The Wolverines need to win out to make it to a bowl game -- it's too bad they can't play Wisconsin a few more times.

Minnesota
The Golden Gophers are 7-1, and a lot of their success has to do with their ability to take the ball away and score off those turnovers.  Minnesota's #1 in the country in both turnovers and turnover margin, and have scored 92 points following those turnovers.  Ted Roof deserves recognition as one of the best coordinators in the country after turning last year's horrific defensive unit into one of the best in the Big Ten.  This week, the Gophers get to feast on a hobbled Northwestern team that won't have Tyrell Sutton and will have quarterback C.J. Bacher playing on one good leg.  Add in the fact that it'll be the Gophers' homecoming game, and you can bet that it'll be louder in the Metrodome than it's been for a Gophers game in a long time.

Northwestern
As mentioned above, star runningback Tyrell Sutton will miss this week's game against Minnesota -- and the rest of the games on Northwestern's schedule -- after undergoing wrist surgery earlier this week.  It's the second year in a row that Sutton has suffered a significant injury (he missed five full games last year with an ankle injury and parts of a couple others), which means the undersized senior is likely going to see his draft stock fall next spring.  According to Dan Pompei of the Chicago Tribune, Sutton had a chance to be a 4th or 5th round pick if he was able to stay healthy and prove that he's a durable back.  Now that he's hurt again, Pompei says that scouts think he'll slip into the 6th or 7th round.