Will 2008 finally be the year?

September 3, 2010 – | View Comments

With less than two weeks until Penn State takes on Youngstown State, the mixing and matching of the spring and summer is starting to die down. The starting lineup and rotation is mostly set, and we’re taking a look as just how each position stacks …

Read the full story »

Home » Penn State

Will 2008 finally be the year?

Submitted by Charlie on April 15, 2008 – View Comments

Will this finally be the year the Big Ten wins the Commissioner’s Cup awarded to the winner of the Big Ten/ACC challenge.

Penn State will face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Atlanta for the Big Ten/ACC challenge next year.

The Nittany Lions beat the Hokies of Virginia Tech at Bryce Jordan Center this year scoring a point for the Big Ten, but the ACC has won the Commissioners Cup the last 9 times. The last time the Lions and Yellow Jackets faced each other was two seasons ago when the Lions lost a thrilling 77-73 game in Atlanta.

The announced Big Ten/ACC Challenge matchups are as follows:

Home		Away
Virginia Tech		Wisconsin
Purdue		Duke
Illinois		Clemson
Miami		Ohio State
Minnesota		Virginia
Boston College		Iowa
Michigan State*		North Carolina
Wake Forest		Indiana
Maryland		Michigan
Northwestern		Florida State
Georgia Tech		Penn State

*Game will be played at Ford Field (technically a home game for the Spartans)

Here is a recap of last year’s Challenge which the ACC won, 8-3. Numbers in the brackets are the final conference standings of the teams at the end of last season. Basically, the ACC managed to win all the games they should have, in addition to pulling off 3 upsets; Florida State over Minnesota, Duke over Wisconsin, and Clemson over Purdue.

Home		Away
(8) Iowa	47	*(7) Wake Forest	56
*(3) Indiana	83	(9) Georgia Tech	79
*(8) Florida State	75	(6) Minnesota	61
*(10) Virginia	94	(11) Northwestern	52
*(2) Duke	82	(1) Wisconsin	58
*(3) Clemson	61	(2) Purdue	58
*(4) Michigan State	81	(11) NC State	58
*(6) Maryland	69	(9) Illinois	61
(10) Michigan	64	*(12) Boston College	77
(5) Ohio State	55	*(1) North Carolina	66
*(7) Penn State	66	(4) Virginia Tech	61

BIG TEN / ACC Challenge by the Numbers:

Since its inception in 1999, the ACC has won all 9 Commissioner’s Cups
In its 9 year history, the home team has won 83% of the matchups (60 of the 83 games played)
The road team has won 28% of the matchups (23 of the 83 games played)
In the 3 neutral site games (Maryland – Wisconsin, Milwaukee 2000), (Iowa – Duke, Chicago 2001), (Duke – Ohio State, Greensboro 2002), the ACC has won twice (Duke in 2001 and 2002) and the Big Ten once (Wisconsin in 2000).
Duke (9-0) and Boston College (2-0) are the only two participants that are still undefeated in the Challenge.