Livin’ B1G: The Advertisement Edition


The Big Ten had its share of promoters this past weekend, most of them centering around the team from Ann Arbor. We break the rest of them down in this edition of Livin’ B1G.


A good friend of mine from Michigan State currently lives in Ann Arbor and works as a professor at Michigan. He has something like five advanced degrees. He’s smarter than me. He’s smarter than you.

And, apparently, he’s much smarter than those who run Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Ann Arbor. One has to wonder what they expected when deciding to give customers a discount percentage matching the Wolverines’ margin of victory when they faced Rutgers on Saturday night. The only thing smart about the promotion was the decision to cap it at 50 percent.

Michigan rolled to a 78-0 win – the largest margin of victory in Big Ten history – meaning Ruth’s Chris is giving every customer half off their meal (excluding alcohol) from Sunday through Thursday. Naturally, this Facebook post went viral following the game, and the restaurant is completely booked for reservations.

ruthschrist

 

That’s a lot of discounted expensive steaks. And that wasn’t the only bit of promotion being done around the Big Ten this weekend.

… I posted a series of #sadtweets you can go read through while Michigan State was getting manhandled by BYU on Saturday. Tyler O’Conner got bench for Damion Terry, who then threw an interception. The defense couldn’t stop BYU’s running game and the Spartans fell, 31-14. Bye bye, season.

But hey, at least Michigan State is doing its part to help the Detroit Lions sell some tickets! Former Spartans quarterback Kirk Cousins visits Ford Field with the Washington Redskins on Oct. 23, and the Lions are offering special discounts for Michigan State alumni, students and faculty.

msu-lions

 

Is this really what the Lions have resorted to? Michigan State might need to begin focusing on its own all-out promotion to sell tickets at Spartan Stadium with the team now sitting at 2-3.

… In a bit of self-promotion, last week I wrote that Michigan – not Ohio State – is the best team in the Big Ten, for which I caught plenty of flack from Buckeyes fans. They used concrete evidence like the fact that Michigan “barely” beat Wisconsin while Ohio State beat Rutgers 58-0. Well, the Wolverines didn’t let the Scarlet Knights get a first down until late in the fourth quarter and out-gained them 600-39 while winning by 20 more points. Take that, Brutus.

Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh also promoted Jabrill Peppers for the Heisman Trophy after Peppers rushed for two touchdowns, had a 63-yard run, took back a punt to the house that was called back for a penalty and added two tackles on defense against Rutgers.

I’ll always give some love to the fantastic video team here at Campus Insiders, and they put together a highlight reel of that performance. Peppers took notice and gave CI a little love of his own:

You’re welcome, Jabrill.

… Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett ran for 137 yards and a touchdown during the Buckeyes’ 38-17 win over Indiana on Saturday. His stat line throwing the ball was far less impressive – 9-of-21, 93 yards, one touchdown, one interception.

That was enough for Hoosiers coach Kevin Wilson to tout Barrett as the best quarterback in the nation.

“My opinion, from afar, I think that’s the best quarterback in college ball,” Wilson said at his postgame press conference. “Some of these (other quarterbacks) got some stats. I’m not saying it because he’s in our league. I’m not a homer.”

I am, and I still don’t think Barrett stacks up with a guy like DeShaun Watson, but that’s just me.

… And because I’m a Big Ten homer, I’m going to talk up the conference as much as possible after it placed four teams in the top 10 during the regular season for the first time since 1960. Want to know how good the Big Ten is? Wisconsin (No. 8) and Nebraska (No. 10) moved up in the poll without even playing. Boom.

Obviously, my pick for the biggest game this weekend is Saturday night, when the Buckeyes travel to Madison to face the Badgers. It’ll be the third time this season that the Big Ten has had a matchup of top-11 teams, and Wisconsin has been involved in all of them.

MORE: Big Ten Football Rankings – Week 7