Once upon a time, college football teams played 11 games each season, eight against conference opponents and three against non-conference foes. But with the extra revenue made available by scheduling non-conference games, those days are long gone.
Every team in the Big Ten this season plays at least 12 games. Two teams, Ohio State and Wisconsin, play 13. The extra non-conference games, in combination with the fact that the Big Ten actually contains an odd number of teams — 11, to be exact — forces every team to take a bye week. It is every coach’s favorite, and least favorite, week.
“I think in terms of preparation, it gives you two weeks to prepare where your opponent only has one,” said Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr. “I think it’s an advantage from a standpoint [that] it allows you to recuperate from anything you may have suffered in a previous game.”
Yet rest and recuperation might not be to your advantage if momentum is swinging your way. The bye week also gives other teams the opportunity to figure out your team if you’ve been successful.
“If you do have some momentum, it’s possible [for byes] to stop the momentum,” said Indiana head coach Gerry DiNardo. “If you have a thin team, I’m always concerned about losing the speed of the game during that two weeks.”
Those concerns may have played out for Wisconsin, who lost 34-31 to Penn State Saturday after a bye week. The Badgers had made it through their non-conference schedule 5-0.
“At the time (before the bye), we were playing well, and you don’t want to lose the rhythm that you have,” Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez said. “It’s hard to put my finger on it right now to say whether [the bye] helped or hindered, but it probably didn’t hurt as much as the people we were playing did a better job preparing for us.”
Perhaps the value of the bye lies in when it occurs. Most coaches seem to want it during the meat of their schedule.
“I thought it was a good time for us [to have a bye] when we went into the meat of our Big Ten schedule,” Michigan State’s Bobby Williams said. “First, we had one Big Ten game under our belts, and second, we got a win that took us into the bye week.”
But another coach’s view might be skewed when his team has an unfavorable bye week. For instance, Iowa’s bye follows the last game of the regular season.
“[Byes] are hard to deal with,” said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz.
Nonetheless, byes will always be prevalent in the Big Ten as long as teams are willing to schedule extra non-conference games to make more money.
“When you’re a school like ours that sponsors 35 sports, we need every income dollar we can, so to add that extra home game was a real plus for our institution,” said Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel.
Instant replay
Following the 1998 season, the NFL decided to reinstate instant replay amid a growing tide of resentment by coaches against officials, who were seen as too human for their own good. A similar situation has arisen in college football, and Big Ten coaches are starting to wonder if replay is a possibility.
“I was initially one of the guys that was against [review],” said Purdue head coach Joe Tiller. “However, I do feel that the Big Ten is a conference that could afford the equipment needed to install replay. I think it would help everybody and eliminate some of the post-game debates.”
Traditionalists such as Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, however, believe human error is part of the game and that when an official makes a call, it should stand as it is. Of course, that doesn’t mean coaches can’t give officials a piece of their mind, as Paterno did after chasing one down after Penn State’s loss to Iowa two weeks ago to let him know what he felt.
“You get some that go your way, and you get some that don’t go your way,” he said. “You have to live with bad calls by officials, but as long as they’re hustling and in a good position to make the calls, fine.”
