Linkbacker U gets the most bang for its buck

Adjusted for inflation, like Brutus Buckeye's head... It turns out that Penn State has a better football winning percentage than Ohio State over the last five seasons. Wait, what is that? No way. You must be lying. Nope. Brett McMurphy over at Fanhouse broke down, in rather fantastic fashion, how much dough each BCS conference team spends on its football program.

Turns out, the Nittany Lions have actually the best win percentages in the Big Ten over opponents that have spent more money (.466), and less money (.891) than Penn State. You see, that's the catch here: Ohio State isn't out-spent by anyone, and thus doesn't have any record at all against programs in that category. So there! [sticks out tongue]

School	Expenses (in millions)
1. Ohio State	$32.30
2. Iowa	$26.90
3. Wisconsin	$22.71
4. Penn State	$19.13
5. Michigan	$18.03
6. Michigan State	$15.86
7. Northwestern	$15.71
8. Purdue	$12.66
9. Indiana	$11.84
10. Illinois	$10.49
11. Minnesota	$9.25

Penn State came in fourth in the Big Ten as you can see in the chart, along with McMurphy's thoughts on his findings.

"My two cents: Looking for a reason Minnesota has only one victory against Ohio State since 1981? How about the fact Ohio State's football budget is 3½ times greater than Minnesota's. There's certainly nothing golden about the Gophers' Big Ten worst budget. Not so coincidentally, their last winning league record came in 2003. But, hey, it could be worse: they could be Indiana. The Hoosiers haven't had a winning league record since 1993. Penn State's budget ranks as only the league's fourth-highest, but the Nittany Lions' 29 league wins since 2005 are second only to Ohio State. Iowa's budget ranks third nationally, but the Hawkeyes haven't won the league title since a co-championship with Michigan in 2004. Big Ten's best bang for the buck: Penn State. Most financially irresponsible: Iowa."

So to all those folks out there complaining about rising ticket prices, you're getting the best on-field product in the entire conference, for the amount you're paying. No other team does more with the money it invests into its football program.

But that's not all. Penn State pulls in a hefty $42.63 million in football revenue per year. That's good enough for No. 1 in the Big Ten, and fourth nationally, only behind Texas, Florida, and Georgia. The Buckeyes are No. 10 nationally with $35.89 million, while Michigan is right behind at No. 11.

Maryland, My Maryland (and potential OOC opponent?)... With all the news yesterday about Syracuse, I came to wonder, "Is this going to be a theme from now on?" As in, will Penn State make a point now of scheduling higher-profile BCS teams for future non-conference schedules. Granted, Nebraska coming to the Big Ten left a big hole in the 2013-14 schedule, when the Huskers were originally set to play Penn State. But what about other teams that have been rumored to have spoken with Tim Curley?

I am actually ashamed that I missed this article way back in 2008. Maybe it was the whole Big Ten title thing going on at the time. But it seems like Penn State and Maryland were in talks for a series.

"Friedgen said he wants to play Penn State, but the schools have been unable to agree on games. He said Penn State had proposed a deal in which the Nittany Lions would get two home games to Maryland's one.

But Penn State athletics spokesman Jeff Nelson said yesterday, "We have had discussions with Maryland about playing but have not asked for a two-for-one at any time in those discussions."

One way to break a stalemate, Maryland officials said, might be to schedule a game at a neutral site. That would be a simpler negotiation than deciding how to set up a home-and-home series."

Now that Penn State has shown a willingness to schedule neutral site games, and will already have tested out FedEx Field, the idea of a series with Maryland doesn't sound so implausible.

Of course, there's the bickering factor. No one has heard a thing about this series renewal since 2008. And with both sides leaving the negotiating table in seemingly bitter fashion, this could be a dead issue. But never say never, especially now that Old Man Curley is feeling feistier these days when it comes to scheduling football opponents.

The sweetest kind of payback... CBS's Dennis Dodd never really collects my interest enough to go any deeper into his writing than a quick scan. But he does offer up an interesting Big Ten expansion conspiracy theory good enough for even a hardcore conspira-theorist. We all remember Jim Delany's tongue-in-cheek letter about how the Big Ten wouldn't sacrifice its academic standards to win football games--a clear shot across the SEC's bow. Dodd suggests conference expansion is just a big step forward in Delany's war with SEC commish Mike Slive:

"We all know that expansion is about money and market share and television, but could it have an ulterior motive? Consider the Rose Bowl's place in a world of 16-team super conferences. With an expanded Pac-10 and Big Ten, the Rose would be partners with 32 of the biggest and best football programs in the country, almost 27 percent of Division I-A. That list would include USC, Ohio State, Michigan, Texas and Oklahoma.

In that scenario, the possibility of national titles being monopolized by the Pac-10 and Big Ten suddenly goes up. The possibility of a mere 16-team SEC becoming marginalized also goes up. That's a long way to go for payback by Delany but it's worth contemplating."

Oh, that's so juicy, it's almost good enough for a Daytime Emmy nomination.

Et Cetera... Nebraska fans won't go lightly, says CN... Stewart Mandel thinks Evan Royster could, possibly, maybe make some Heisman noise in 2010... Phil Grosz updates us with all the inside info ($)... Syracuse series reactions are always fun, so check out the utter schizo-ness on the BSD comments thread... and NWO has some neat photos of inside the New Meadowlands Stadium

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