Hello, football fans, and welcome to the 24-hour APC Open Thread! Many thanks to Kevin for allowing this silliness.

There are other Open Threads around SBN. Feel free to drop by any of them.

Battle Red Blog, home of the AFC South Eternal Threads. Very welcoming group of people, with quite the mix of Colts, Texans, and the occasional Jags fan. Disgust for the Titans is extremely welcome.

Niners Nation, home of the San Francisco 49ers...

Pride of Detroit Community Open Threads. Division Rivals the Detroit Lions may be, BUT their fanbase is a good group of people. Respect them, and they should respect you. (of course, arodgb may heavily disagree in this regard)

Bleeding Green Nation's OTs.

A bit new to the game, but still there: Revenge of the Birds OTs

Gang Green Nation Threads About Nothing: Wait...doesn't that sound like a certain SHOW About Nothing?

Canal Street Chronicles, getting in on the OT action as well

Cool Kids Club, on The Phinsider. Really, they got things started with OTs. Their threads come and go, and will usually disappear into the night as though they never were after a certain point.

Rules of the thread:

NO POLITICS

NO RELIGION

NO THREATS

NO NAME-CALLING OTHER POSTERS ON THIS BLOG. There w ill be other people who stop by this thread. Yes, this is a Packersblog.Please refrain from trolling others, even virulent fans of rival teams. If you want a trash-talk thread (like the one we had in the Super Bowl), I can make one.

Absolutely NO SAYING YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST

Since we've had a little...issue...with people posting NSFW pictures, please keep in mind that some people might well read this thread at work. If you're going to post a picture that might be considered Not Safe For Work in any way, shape, or form, post a link to it instead of embedding it in the comment. That way, nobody gets in trouble.

Please remember that any time you spend on the APCOT's is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and these won't be cluttering APC as much.

With those rules in mind, have fun.

Continue reading this post »

Hello, football fans, and welcome to the 24-hour APC Open Thread! Many thanks to Kevin for allowing this silliness.

There are other Open Threads around SBN. Feel free to drop by any of them.

Battle Red Blog, home of the AFC South Eternal Threads. Very welcoming group of people, with quite the mix of Colts, Texans, and the occasional Jags fan. Disgust for the Titans is extremely welcome.

Niners Nation, home of the San Francisco 49ers...

Pride of Detroit Community Open Threads. Division Rivals the Detroit Lions may be, BUT their fanbase is a good group of people. Respect them, and they should respect you. (of course, arodgb may heavily disagree in this regard)

Bleeding Green Nation's OTs.

A bit new to the game, but still there: Revenge of the Birds OTs

Gang Green Nation Threads About Nothing: Wait...doesn't that sound like a certain SHOW About Nothing?

Canal Street Chronicles, getting in on the OT action as well

Cool Kids Club, on The Phinsider. Really, they got things started with OTs. Their threads come and go, and will usually disappear into the night as though they never were after a certain point.

Rules of the thread:

NO POLITICS

NO RELIGION

NO THREATS

NO NAME-CALLING OTHER POSTERS ON THIS BLOG. There w ill be other people who stop by this thread. Yes, this is a Packersblog.Please refrain from trolling others, even virulent fans of rival teams. If you want a trash-talk thread (like the one we had in the Super Bowl), I can make one.

Absolutely NO SAYING YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST

Since we've had a little...issue...with people posting NSFW pictures, please keep in mind that some people might well read this thread at work. If you're going to post a picture that might be considered Not Safe For Work in any way, shape, or form, post a link to it instead of embedding it in the comment. That way, nobody gets in trouble.

Please remember that any time you spend on the APCOT's is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and these won't be cluttering APC as much.

With those rules in mind, have fun.

Continue reading this post »

Hello, football fans, and welcome to the 24-hour APC Open Thread! Many thanks to Kevin for allowing this silliness.

There are other Open Threads around SBN. Feel free to drop by any of them.

Battle Red Blog, home of the AFC South Eternal Threads. Very welcoming group of people, with quite the mix of Colts, Texans, and the occasional Jags fan. Disgust for the Titans is extremely welcome.

Niners Nation, home of the San Francisco 49ers...

Pride of Detroit Community Open Threads. Division Rivals the Detroit Lions may be, BUT their fanbase is a good group of people. Respect them, and they should respect you. (of course, arodgb may heavily disagree in this regard)

Bleeding Green Nation's OTs.

A bit new to the game, but still there: Revenge of the Birds OTs

Canal Street Chronicles, getting in on the OT action as well

Rules of the thread:

NO POLITICS

NO RELIGION

NO THREATS

NO NAME-CALLING OTHER POSTERS ON THIS BLOG. There w ill be other people who stop by this thread. Yes, this is a Packers blog.Please refrain from trolling others, even virulent fans of rival teams. If you want a trash-talk thread (like the one we had in the Super Bowl), I can make one.

Absolutely NO SAYING YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST

Since we've had a little...issue...with people posting NSFW pictures, please keep in mind that some people might well read this thread at work. If you're going to post a picture that might be considered Not Safe For Work in any way, shape, or form, post a link to it instead of embedding it in the comment. That way, nobody gets in trouble.

Please remember that any time you spend on the APCOT's is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and these won't be cluttering APC as much.

With those rules in mind, have fun.

Continue reading this post »

Hello, football fans, and welcome to the 24-hour APC Open Thread! Many thanks to Kevin for allowing this silliness.

There are other Open Threads around SBN. Feel free to drop by any of them.

Battle Red Blog, home of the AFC South Eternal Threads. Very welcoming group of people, with quite the mix of Colts, Texans, and the occasional Jags fan. Disgust for the Titans is extremely welcome.

Niners Nation, home of the San Francisco 49ers...

Pride of Detroit Community Open Threads. Division Rivals the Detroit Lions may be, BUT their fanbase is a good group of people. Respect them, and they should respect you. (of course, arodgb may heavily disagree in this regard)

Bleeding Green Nation's OTs.

A bit new to the game, but still there: Revenge of the Birds OTs

Canal Street Chronicles, getting in on the OT action as well

Rules of the thread:

NO POLITICS

NO RELIGION

NO THREATS

NO NAME-CALLING OTHER POSTERS ON THIS BLOG. There w ill be other people who stop by this thread. Yes, this is a Packersblog.Please refrain from trolling others, even virulent fans of rival teams. If you want a trash-talk thread (like the one we had in the Super Bowl), I can make one.

Absolutely NO SAYING YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST

Since we've had a little...issue...with people posting NSFW pictures, please keep in mind that some people might well read this thread at work. If you're going to post a picture that might be considered Not Safe For Work in any way, shape, or form, post a link to it instead of embedding it in the comment. That way, nobody gets in trouble.

Please remember that any time you spend on the APCOT's is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and these won't be cluttering APC as much.

With those rules in mind, have fun.

Continue reading this post »

Atlanta's 2011 season was a success in that they won 10 games, finishing with a winning record for the 4th year in a row. It was a disappointment in that it ended early, in a 24-2 playoff loss to the New York Giants, who eventually went on to win the Super Bowl.

The Falcons saw their season start with a loss, and an ugly one at that. Their opening game against the Chicago Bears was essentially over by the end of the first half, as the Bears romped over the Falcons on offense and defense. Matt Ryan contributed to Atlanta's woes by having an interception and fumble returned for touchdowns, meaning that he scored more points for Chicago's defense than the Falcons scored on offense. It was an embarrassing way to start the season, to be certain, and the Falcons offensive line allowed Chicago to sack Matt Ryan 5 times.

The next week, the Falcons took on the Philadelphia Eagles. The game turned into a fast-paced, wild shootout, with the Falcons coming away the victors against former face of the franchise Michael Vick. The Falcons forced three crucial turnovers by Vick, recovering two fumbles and an interception, and evened their record at 1-1. While Matt Ryan threw for just 195 yards with 2 INTs, he also threw 4 touchdown passes against the Eagles. Atlanta recovered from a 31-21 deficit, knocking out Vick in the process and taking a 35-31 lead which Mike Kafka, in his first game action since graduating Northwestern, couldn't overcome.

The Falcons split their next pair of contests, losing 16-13 to the division rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers (where Ryan again hit the deck repeatedly, getting sacked 4 times and losing a pair of fumbles) and defeating the Seattle Seahawks in yet another shootout (30-28). The game against Green Bay in Week 5 was an opportunity or the Falcons to add a statement win. It was also an opportunity for revenge, as the Falcons had watched their #1 seed evaporate in flames in the divisional playoffs the season before.

Continue reading this post »

The NFC South was an interesting place last season. To start off the season, the New Orleans Saints took on the defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers, a game that went featured a record-breaking kick return and lots and lots of offense. Eventually, the Saints fell 42-34 to the Green Bay offense, starting off 0-1. For their part, theAtlanta Falcons went into Soldier Field. They emerged bruised, battered, and utterly beaten from a 30-12 trouncing at the hands of the Chicago Bears. All-world #1 draft selection Cam Newton took the Carolina Panthers to Arizona and set a rookie record, but the Cardinals spoiled his debut and won 28-21. To round out Week 1, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost 27-20 to the Detroit Lions.

In Week 6, the division race in the NFC South was looking very interesting. Tampa Bay was 3-2 heading into a crucial game with New Orleans, but they were coming off an absolute shellacking at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers. The game got so out of hand that the 49ers felt comfortable putting in backup QB Colin Kaepernick in the 4th Quarter. To boot, Kaepernick led a touchdown drive, the final score in a 48-3 win for San Francisco.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers shook off their Week 1 loss and improved to 4-2. In order to do so, Tampa Bay had defeated New Orleans (26-20). In Week 7, the Buccaneers and traveled abroad to London, where they would take on the Chicago Bears. After falling behind 21-5, the Bucs scored two touchdowns in the 4th Quarter. But a late field goal by the Bears sealed a 24-18 Chicago win. With the loss, the Bucs fell to 4-3, and Josh Freeman took quite a bit of blame for the loss. Hardly helping his case were the 4 INTs Freeman lobbed against the Bears.
After the jump: recaps of the suffering that Tampa Bay underwent over the rest of the year.

Continue reading this post »

Hello, football fans, and welcome to the 24-hour APC Open Thread! Many thanks to Kevin for allowing this silliness.

There are other Open Threads around SBN. Feel free to drop by any of them.

Battle Red Blog, home of the AFC South Eternal Threads. Very welcoming group of people, with quite the mix of Colts, Texans, and the occasional Jags fan. Disgust for the Titans is extremely welcome.

Niners Nation, home of the San Francisco 49ers...

Pride of Detroit Community Open Threads. Division Rivals the Detroit Lions may be, BUT their fanbase is a good group of people. Respect them, and they should respect you. (of course, arodgb may heavily disagree in this regard)

Bleeding Green Nation's OTs.

A bit new to the game, but still there: Revenge of the Birds OTs

Canal Street Chronicles, getting in on the OT action as well

Rules of the thread:

NO POLITICS

NO RELIGION

NO THREATS

NO NAME-CALLING OTHER POSTERS ON THIS BLOG. There w ill be other people who stop by this thread. Yes, this is a Packers blog.Please refrain from trolling others, even virulent fans of rival teams. If you want a trash-talk thread (like the one we had in the Super Bowl), I can make one.

Absolutely NO SAYING YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST

Since we've had a little...issue...with people posting NSFW pictures, please keep in mind that some people might well read this thread at work. If you're going to post a picture that might be considered Not Safe For Work in any way, shape, or form, post a link to it instead of embedding it in the comment. That way, nobody gets in trouble.

Please remember that any time you spend on the APCOT's is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and these won't be cluttering APC as much.

With those rules in mind, have fun.

Continue reading this post »

The second round games of the Big Ten Tournament produced solid early action.

After an early scare from Fran McCaffery's Iowa Hawkeyes, the Michigan St. Spartans offense came roaring to life. Bolstered by 58% field goal shooting, the Spartans scored 93 points and advanced to the tournament semifinals. Draymond Green scored 21 points and recorded yet another double-double with 10 rebounds. Adreian Payne added in 16 more points on 7 of 8 shooting to help the Spartans to the hard-fought W. For the Hawkeyes, Matt Gatens picked a bad time to go cold, shooting just 1 of 6 from the floor and 1 of 4 from beyond the arc. Josh Oglesby, however, picked up the slack and shot 5 of 7 from beyond the arc, finishing with a team-high 20 points.

Paced by Rob Wilson's 30 points, a career-high for the little used senior guard, the Wisconsin Badgers kept even with and eventually knocked off the Indiana Hoosiers, 79-71. Jordan Taylor shot poorly in the first half and for the game, but did enough to give Wisconsin the victory. Jared Berggren had 16 points on 5 of 9 shooting (with 5 made free throws), and Ryan Evans added in 12 of his own. Indiana drove to the free throw line with regularity, but despite three players scoring 17 points (Jordan Hulls, Christian Watford, Cody Zeller), the Hoosiers just didn't get enough out of their offense to win.

Wisconsin will play Michigan State tomorrow in the Tournament Semifinals. The Spartans swept the regular season series with Wisconsin, winning 63-60 (in overtime) and 69-55.

In other news, Derrick Nix has had enough of your basket supports.

Hello, football fans, and welcome to the 24-hour APC Open Thread! Many thanks to Brandon for allowing this silliness.

There are other Open Threads around SBN. Feel free to drop by any of them.

Battle Red Blog, home of the AFC South Eternal Threads. Very welcoming group of people, with quite the mix of Colts, Texans, and the occasional Jags fan. Disgust for the Titans is extremely welcome.

Niners Nation, home of the San Francisco 49ers...

Pride of Detroit Community Open Threads. Division Rivals the Detroit Lions may be, BUT their fanbase is a good group of people. Respect them, and they should respect you. (of course, arodgb may heavily disagree in this regard)

Bleeding Green Nation's OTs.

A bit new to the game, but still there: Revenge of the Birds OTs

Canal Street Chronicles, getting in on the OT action as well

Rules of the thread:

NO POLITICS

NO RELIGION

NO THREATS

NO NAME-CALLING OTHER POSTERS ON THIS BLOG. There w ill be other people who stop by this thread. Yes, this is a Packersblog.Please refrain from trolling others, even virulent fans of rival teams. If you want a trash-talk thread (like the one we had in the Super Bowl), I can make one.

Absolutely NO SAYING YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST

Since we've had a little...issue...with people posting NSFW pictures, please keep in mind that some people might well read this thread at work. If you're going to post a picture that might be considered Not Safe For Work in any way, shape, or form, post a link to it instead of embedding it in the comment. That way, nobody gets in trouble.

Please remember that any time you spend on the APCOT's is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and these won't be cluttering APC as much.

With those rules in mind, have fun.

Continue reading this post »

Just three days after a horrible effort and eventual loss against the Hawkeyes, the Wisconsin Badgers traveled to Columbus to take on the Ohio St. Buckeyes. The Buckeyes had won in the Kohl Center for the first time against Bo Ryan, and were looking for a sweep. On Senior Day a year ago, the Buckeyes had unleashed an incinerating effort from the three point line, winning 93-65.

But instead of a sweep, they got a rude surprise as Wisconsin, which had started off 5-1 on the road in the Big Ten (before losing to MSU and Iowa), refused to die in Columbus. The murderous three-point barrage that had murdered Wisconsin a year ago would not be repeated, and the Buckeyes finished 4 of 11 from that department. Even more damaging were the 9 free throws that the Buckeyes missed on 19 attempts, which kept them from closing out the Badgers and allowed Wisconsin to stay alive. Neither team looked like they would run away with the game. And in the end, neither team did.

Wisconsin simply outlasted the Buckeyes on the road and ruined Ohio State's Senior Day, along with Thad Matta's 7-0 record on Senior Day. Twice before (2006-07 and 2010-11) the Badgers had fallen to the Buckeyes on Senior Day, both times against top-3 opponents. This time, however, they didn't get the job done from the perimeter, and carried by Jared Berggren, the Badgers knocked off a top-10 opponent on the road.

Continue reading this post »

Hello, football fans, and welcome to the 24-hour APC Open Thread! Many thanks to Brandon for allowing this silliness.

There are other Open Threads around SBN. Feel free to drop by any of them.

Battle Red Blog, home of the AFC South Eternal Threads. Very welcoming group of people, with quite the mix of Colts, Texans, and the occasional Jags fan. Disgust for the Titans is extremely welcome.

Niners Nation, home of the San Francisco 49ers...

Pride of Detroit Community Open Threads. Division Rivals the Detroit Lions may be, BUT their fanbase is a good group of people. Respect them, and they should respect you. (of course, arodgb may heavily disagree in this regard)

Bleeding Green Nation's OTs.

A bit new to the game, but still there: Revenge of the Birds OTs

Canal Street Chronicles, getting in on the OT action as well

Rules of the thread:

NO POLITICS

NO RELIGION

NO THREATS

NO NAME-CALLING OTHER POSTERS ON THIS BLOG. There w ill be other people who stop by this thread. Yes, this is a Packersblog.Please refrain from trolling others, even virulent fans of rival teams. If you want a trash-talk thread (like the one we had in the Super Bowl), I can make one.

Absolutely NO SAYING YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST

Since we've had a little...issue...with people posting NSFW pictures, please keep in mind that some people might well read this thread at work. If you're going to post a picture that might be considered Not Safe For Work in any way, shape, or form, post a link to it instead of embedding it in the comment. That way, nobody gets in trouble.

Please remember that any time you spend on the APCOT's is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and these won't be cluttering APC as much.

With those rules in mind, have fun.

Continue reading this post »

Hello, football fans, and welcome to the 24-hour APC Open Thread! Many thanks to Brandon for allowing this silliness.

There are other Open Threads around SBN. Feel free to drop by any of them.

Battle Red Blog, home of the AFC South Eternal Threads. Very welcoming group of people, with quite the mix of Colts, Texans, and the occasional Jags fan. Disgust for the Titans is extremely welcome.

Niners Nation, home of the San Francisco 49ers...

Pride of Detroit Community Open Threads. Division Rivals the Detroit Lions may be, BUT their fanbase is a good group of people. Respect them, and they should respect you. (of course, arodgb may heavily disagree in this regard)

Bleeding Green Nation's OTs.

A bit new to the game, but still there: Revenge of the Birds OTs

Canal Street Chronicles, getting in on the OT action as well

Rules of the thread:

NO POLITICS

NO RELIGION

NO THREATS

NO NAME-CALLING OTHER POSTERS ON THIS BLOG. There w ill be other people who stop by this thread. Yes, this is a Packersblog.Please refrain from trolling others, even virulent fans of rival teams. If you want a trash-talk thread (like the one we had in the Super Bowl), I can make one.

Absolutely NO SAYING YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST

Since we've had a little...issue...with people posting NSFW pictures, please keep in mind that some people might well read this thread at work. If you're going to post a picture that might be considered Not Safe For Work in any way, shape, or form, post a link to it instead of embedding it in the comment. That way, nobody gets in trouble.

Please remember that any time you spend on the APCOT's is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and these won't be cluttering APC as much.

With those rules in mind, have fun.

Continue reading this post »

This Saturday, pre-season favorite Ohio State travels to Madison to take on the Wisconsin Badgers, while Pat Chambers's Penn State team, which has struggled through some pretty vicious growing pains, hits the road for Iowa City to take on Fran McCaffery and the Iowa Hawkeyes. To cap off the night and Indiana-Purdue HATE WEEK, the Hoosiers face the Boilermakers in West Lafayette, looking to stabilize their conference record at 6-6.

On Sunday, Minnesota, 2-4 on the road, travels to Lincoln to take on a not-quite-dead Nebraska team. Michigan concludes their regular season series with Michigan State looking for a 4th consecutive win over the Spartans. Finally, Illinois and Northwestern tip-off during the Super Bowl in Assembly Hall, NU bringing in a 1-5 road record where Illinois is 12-1 at home.

Previews, Predictions and Prognostication After The Jump!

Continue reading this post »

Tuesday night brought in a pair of teams looking to remain well in the Big Ten title hunt. Michigan State, riding a 2-game winning streak powered by the dependable Draymond Green, traveled to Champaign-Urbana to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini. At the end of the night, the Spartans left Illinois with a bitter pill of a 42-41 loss and an injured Draymond Green.

The Wisconsin Badgers, winners of their past 5 games, looked to beat the Penn St. Nittany Lions in the Bryce Jordan Center, where they had lost 56-52 a season before. While they struggled horribly in the first half shooting the ball and trailed by six at the break, the Badgers came out swinging in the second half and knocked off Pat Chambers's squad to improve to 7-3 in the Big Ten, taking 2nd place in the conference heading into a very crucial game with power Ohio State.

Both Illinois and Wisconsin were able to come away with low-scoring wins, in part because of great defense, in part also because of bad shooting. Draymond Green's injury was hardly what MSU needed on a night where they shot a pitiful 24% from the field and 21% from beyond the arc, and the sputtering Spartan offense never truly put the Illini away. While Illinois also shot rather poorly (especially from the free throw line, where they were just 9 of 17 in a game where every miss could haunt them), they never truly fell apart. And as they had done against Ohio State, the Fighting Illini held on to knock off a ranked opponent in Assembly Hall.

Wisconsin entered the game against Penn State with one of the best defenses in the nation, and held the Nittany Lions to 23 points in the first half. Unfortunately for Wisconsin, the first half offense was simply atrocious, and the Badgers had just 17 points of their own. Wisconsin survived a 10-0 run by the Nittany Lions in the first half, and seized the momentum of the game before the half on a Jordan Taylor layup as time expired. In the 2nd half, Bo Ryan's Badgers wrested control of the game from the Nittany Lions early on and endured the best efforts of Tim Frazier until the final buzzer sounded, giving Wisconsin its 7th conference win and 4th on the road.

Continue reading this post »

Hello, football fans, and welcome to the 24-hour APC Open Thread! Many thanks to Brandon for allowing this silliness.

There are other Open Threads around SBN. Feel free to drop by any of them.

Battle Red Blog, home of the AFC South Eternal Threads. Very welcoming group of people, with quite the mix of Colts, Texans, and the occasional Jags fan. Disgust for the Titans is extremely welcome.

Niners Nation, home of the San Francisco 49ers...

Pride of Detroit Community Open Threads. Division Rivals the Detroit Lions may be, BUT their fanbase is a good group of people. Respect them, and they should respect you. (of course, arodgb may heavily disagree in this regard)

Bleeding Green Nation's OTs.

A bit new to the game, but still there: Revenge of the Birds OTs

Canal Street Chronicles, getting in on the OT action as well

Rules of the thread:

NO POLITICS

NO RELIGION

NO THREATS

NO NAME-CALLING OTHER POSTERS ON THIS BLOG. There w ill be other people who stop by this thread. Yes, this is a Packersblog.Please refrain from trolling others, even virulent fans of rival teams. If you want a trash-talk thread (like the one we had in the Super Bowl), I can make one.

Absolutely NO SAYING YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST

Since we've had a little...issue...with people posting NSFW pictures, please keep in mind that some people might well read this thread at work. If you're going to post a picture that might be considered Not Safe For Work in any way, shape, or form, post a link to it instead of embedding it in the comment. That way, nobody gets in trouble.

Please remember that any time you spend on the APCOT's is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and these won't be cluttering APC as much.

With those rules in mind, have fun.

Continue reading this post »

The Indiana Hoosiers had lost three games going into Sunday's matchup with the Penn St. Nittany Lions in Bloomington. Over the course of their three game losing streak, the Hoosiers had turned the ball over 49 times, while generating only 35 assists. If Indiana was going to beat Penn State, they were going to have to solve their turnover woes; as a result of the aforementioned turnover-assist ratio, the Hoosiers had lost games in which they shot 43%, 43%, and 51% from the floor. The problem wasn't shooting; the problem was that the Hoosiers were a turnover machine.

Against Penn State, the Hoosiers had 10 assists and just 9 turnovers. Neither number is especially impressive, but the 9 turnovers is a fairly significant reduction from the 16.3 that Indiana had averaged over its 3-game losing streak, and Indiana's ability to hold on to the ball helped massively against a Penn State team that came in reeling from the news of Joe Paterno's death.

The Wisconsin Badgers had won in 3 of their past 5 trips to Champaign-Urbana, and looked to make it 4 of 6. The 22nd ranked Illinois Fighting Illini were going to be a tough challenge, however, but Wisconsin's defense was up to the task of holding Meyers Leonard and Brandon Paul in check. At the end of the half, the Badgers and Illini were tied up at 26 apiece, but the Leonard-Paul duo had generated all of 4 points between them. The Badgers were unable to truly put the Illini away thanks to multiple missed free throws; the Badgers at one point were 1 of 8 in that department and finished with a 55% success rate at the stripe, well below their season average (71.7). Late in the game, however, the Badgers put the finishing touches on Illinois from the stripe and Jordan Taylor hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final minutes to seal Wisconsin's 67-63 win, their 2nd against a team previously undefeated at home (the other was against Purdue).

To cap off the day, the Northwestern Wildcats traveled to Minneapolis looking to shake off a 20-point loss at Wisconsin, but instead, Bill Carmody's Wildcats managed to fall into an early hole against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Tubby Smith's squad never gave the Wildcats a chance, coasting to a 41-24 halftime lead and an eventual 75-52 win at home.

Continue reading this post »

The 11th ranked Indiana Hoosiers traveled to Lincoln to take on the struggling Nebraska Cornhuskers, looking to end a 2-game losing streak at the hands of Minnesota and Ohio State. Nebraska had lost 5 of its first 6 Big Ten conference games and had lost every game against a ranked opponent prior to today. If one thing was going to foil Indiana on the road, it was turnovers: IU had turned the ball over 15 times against Minnesota (to just 6 assists) and 18 times against Ohio State (to 12 assists).

Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, they simply couldn't avoid turning the ball over, and every mistake proved costly in the long run. While IU shot 51% from the floor, led by 7 at the half, and committed fewer personal fouls than the Huskers, they turned the ball over 16 times. Nebraska took advantage; despite shooting just 37% from the floor and converted just 10 of 30 shots from beyond the arc, the Cornhuskers made Indiana's life nightmarish and recorded 8 steals, coming away with a 70-69 upset.

Under Bo Ryan, Wisconsin has made a habit out of hammering the Northwestern Wildcats when they travel to Madison. The Wildcats, however, stayed very tough throughout the first half and Wisconsin led 34-32 at the break. In the 2nd half, however, Wisconsin practically blasted Northwestern out of the building, outscoring Northwestern 18-6 in the first 6 minutes of the 2nd half. Northwestern converted only one field goal opportunity in the first 5 minutes of the half (their other 4 points coming off of free throws), and Wisconsin never relented, retaining a 10-point lead throughout the half and coasting away to a 20-point victory, 77-57.

Continue reading this post »

The rule of the Big Ten this season is that any team can show up on a given day, and anything is truly possible on a given day. Earlier today, the Northwestern Wildcats ended Michigan State's unbeaten run through the conference and handed the 6th ranked Spartans a stunning 81-74 loss. Iowa, which had somehow won AT Wisconsin and Minnesota, faced a pretty confident Michigan team and proceeded to trounce John Beilein's Wolverines, 75-59.

Statistically, both Michigan and Michigan State had a lot go wrong at a time when Iowa and Northwestern were getting things right. So...Why did both Michigan teams lose?

Well, the Michigan St. Spartans simply missed too many free throws and turned the ball over too many times. On 27 free throw attempts, the Spartans came up empty 10 times. Tom Izzo's Spartans still remained in the game thanks to 50% shooting from beyond the arc and 14 offensive rebounds, along with 46% field goal shooting, but Northwestern would not go away. The Wildcats shot 47% from beyond the arc and 50% from the floor, making 21 of their 29 free throw attempts.

Despite outrebounding Northwestern 39 to 27, the Spartans just couldn't pull off a road win thanks to missed free throws and 42 combined points from John Shurna and Drew Crawford. Davide Curletti added 17 points for the Wildcats, who came away with their first upset win over a ranked opponent this season (The Wildcats lost in their previous 4 opportunities).

Keyon Appling tried his hardest to keep Michigan State afloat, and ultimately led the Spartans in scoring with 17 points. Unfortunately for the Spartans, Appling failed to make any of his shots from 3-point range (going 0 for 5) and was 4 of 13 from the floor on the afternoon. Appling had as many turnovers as he had assists (3), and needed 13 attempts from the free throw line to make it to 17 points (Appling would miss 4 of his 13 free throw attempts).

The ever-dependable Draymon Green ultimately kept Michigan State in the game, as he made 4 of his 5 shots from beyond the arc and finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds, but no other Michigan State player broke double-figures in rebounding or scoring. Branden Dawson and Brandon Wood contributed 18 points between them, and Travis Trice added 7 of his own, but with Appling misfiring and Northwestern shooting 50% from the floor, it simply wasn't enough for the Spartans to come out ahead in Evanston.

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The Wisconsin Badgers were (and still are) in a tight spot in the Big Ten. At 1-3 entering today's game, every game became a must-win for a team that has dropped back-to-back conference games at home to Iowa and Michigan State. A blowout loss to the Michigan Wolverines the next week where almost no shot could fall Wisconsin's way followed.

The Badgers traveled to Mackey Arena to take on the Purdue Boilermakers, where they had won just twice in 39 visits. They got off to a ridiculously hot start, at one point shooting 89% from the field and 83% from beyond the arc. On the defensive end, they suffocated Purdue early, holding the Boilermakers below 20% shooting at the 13-minute mark and limiting Purdue to just 22 first-half points.

Wisconsin took an early 3-2 lead, then stretched it to 6-2 and then 9-2. Wisconsin's furious start, combined with Purdue's dreadful shooting, saw the Badgers take a huge early lead on the Boilers.For the Purdue faithful, the shooting simply could not get any worse, but the Boilermakers missed multiple FTs in the first half, all of which came back to haunt them later on. The Badgers at one point led 22-4 in Mackey, but the Boilermakers wouldn't remain cold all night and rallied to make it 26-14. But the Badgers went to the free throw line twice and doubled up the Boilermakers 30-14, prompting Matt Painter to spend timeouts in the hopes of stymieing Wisconsin's crazy run.

But all good things for Wisconsin eventually came to an end, and the Badgers ended the half going 0 for 8 from beyond the arc after starting off 5 of 6. The Boilermakers managed 8 more points before the break, but they couldn't convert their final shots before the half. Wisconsin went into the half with a 12-point lead.

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Hello, football fans, and welcome to the 24-hour APC Open Thread! Many thanks to Brandon for allowing this silliness.

There are other Open Threads around SBN. Feel free to drop by any of them.

Battle Red Blog, home of the AFC South Eternal Threads. Very welcoming group of people, with quite the mix of Colts, Texans, and the occasional Jags fan. Disgust for the Titans is extremely welcome.

Niners Nation, home of the San Francisco 49ers...

Pride of Detroit Community Open Threads. Division Rivals the Detroit Lions may be, BUT their fanbase is a good group of people. Respect them, and they should respect you. (of course, arodgb may heavily disagree in this regard)

Bleeding Green Nation's OTs.

A bit new to the game, but still there: Revenge of the Birds OTs

Canal Street Chronicles, getting in on the OT action as well

Rules of the thread:

NO POLITICS

NO RELIGION

NO THREATS

NO NAME-CALLING OTHER POSTERS ON THIS BLOG. There w ill be other people who stop by this thread. Yes, this is a Packersblog.Please refrain from trolling others, even virulent fans of rival teams. If you want a trash-talk thread (like the one we had in the Super Bowl), I can make one.

Absolutely NO SAYING YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST

Since we've had a little...issue...with people posting NSFW pictures, please keep in mind that some people might well read this thread at work. If you're going to post a picture that might be considered Not Safe For Work in any way, shape, or form, post a link to it instead of embedding it in the comment. That way, nobody gets in trouble.

Please remember that any time you spend on the APCOT's is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and these won't be cluttering APC as much.

With those rules in mind, have fun.

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In Week 16, the Packers sealed the #1 seed in the NFC Playoffs and home-field advantage through the playoffs with a 35-21 win over the Chicago Bears , which sealed a season sweep of the Bears and moved the Packers to 5-0 in the NFC North. Aaron Rodgers bombed the Chicago secondary for 5 TD passes without an interception,

This was not the first time that a team from the NFC North has started off 5-0 in division play. After all, the Chicago Bears were 5-0 in the NFC North going into Week 17 in 2005, 2006 and 2010.The Minnesota Vikings were 5-0 in the NFC North going into Week 16 of 2009. However, in 2005, the Bears lost 34-10 to the Minnesota Vikings to close out the year (Mike Tice was still fired). The 2006 and 2010 Bears both lost to the Packers in Week 17, while the 2009 Bears knocked off the 2009 Vikings in Week 16.

With a 45-41 win over the Detroit Lions in Week 17, the Packers became the first team to ever sweep the NFC North, adding an exclamation point to their season and extending their win streak over divisional opponents to 8 games (the last loss having come at the hands of the Lions in Week 14 of 2010).

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Hello, football fans, and welcome to the 24-hour APC Open Thread! Many thanks to Brandon for allowing this silliness.

There are other Open Threads around SBN. Feel free to drop by any of them.

Battle Red Blog, home of the AFC South Eternal Threads. Very welcoming group of people, with quite the mix of Colts, Texans, and the occasional Jags fan. Disgust for the Titans is extremely welcome.

Niners Nation, home of the San Francisco 49ers...

Pride of Detroit Community Open Threads. Division Rivals the Detroit Lions may be, BUT their fanbase is a good group of people. Respect them, and they should respect you. (of course, arodgb may heavily disagree in this regard)

Bleeding Green Nation's OTs.

A bit new to the game, but still there: Revenge of the Birds OTs

Canal Street Chronicles, getting in on the OT action as well

Rules of the thread:

NO POLITICS

NO RELIGION

NO THREATS

NO NAME-CALLING OTHER POSTERS ON THIS BLOG. There w ill be other people who stop by this thread. Yes, this is a Packers blog.Please refrain from trolling others, even virulent fans of rival teams. If you want a trash-talk thread (like the one we had in the Super Bowl), I can make one.

Absolutely NO SAYING YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST

Since we've had a little...issue...with people posting NSFW pictures, please keep in mind that some people might well read this thread at work. If you're going to post a picture that might be considered Not Safe For Work in any way, shape, or form, post a link to it instead of embedding it in the comment. That way, nobody gets in trouble.

Please remember that any time you spend on the APCOT's is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and these won't be cluttering APC as much.

With those rules in mind, have fun.

Continue reading this post »

Hello, football fans, and welcome to the 24-hour APC Open Thread! Feel free to discuss Many thanks to Brandon for allowing this silliness.

There are other Open Threads around SBN. Feel free to drop by any of them.

Battle Red Blog, home of the AFC South Eternal Threads. Very welcoming group of people, with quite the mix of Colts, Texans, and the occasional Jags fan. Disgust for the Titans is extremely welcome.

Niners Nation, home of the San Francisco 49ers...

Pride of Detroit Community Open Threads. Division Rivals the Detroit Lions may be, BUT their fanbase is a good group of people. Respect them, and they should respect you.

Bleeding Green Nation's OTs.

A bit new to the game, but still there: Revenge of the Birds OTs

Canal Street Chronicles, getting in on the OT action as well

Rules of the thread:

NO POLITICS

NO RELIGION

NO THREATS

NO NAME-CALLING OTHER POSTERS ON THIS BLOG. There w ill be other people who stop by this thread. Yes, this is a Packers blog. Please refrain from trolling others, even virulent fans of rival teams. If you want a trash-talk thread (like the one we had in the Super Bowl), I can make one.

Absolutely NO SAYING YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST

Since we've had a little...issue...with people posting NSFW pictures, please keep in mind that some people might well read this thread at work. If you're going to post a picture that might be considered Not Safe For Work in any way, shape, or form, post a link to it instead of embedding it in the comment. That way, nobody gets in trouble.

Please remember that any time you spend on the APCOT's is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and these won't be cluttering APC as much.

With those rules in mind, have fun.

Continue reading this post »

Quite simply, this was a game in which everything that could go wrong actually DID go wrong.

Unfortunately for the Green Bay Packers, they ended up on the wrong side of Murphy's Law, scoring a grand total of 0 first half points and recording 5 first downs in the first half. The Kansas City Chiefs, by contrast, were moving up and down the field, but the Green Bay defense held the Chiefs to redzone field goals. Consequently, Green Bay trailed at the half 6-0, but thanks to drops and horribly-inconsistent play by the offensive line, the Packers were in a sinking condition almost from the getgo.

In the 3rd Quarter, Donald Driver scored on a 2-yard TD strike from Aaron Rodgers to give Green Bay a 7-6 lead. It would be the only time that the Packers led in the entire game, as on Kansas City the pass defense immediately allowed Kansas City to take the lead right back at 9-7 on a 46-yard Ryan Succop field goal.

In the 4th Quarter, Kansas City scored on another field goal, this time from 20 yards out, taking a 12-7 lead. Jckie Battle extended the gap to 19-7 with a 1-yard TD run, leaving the Packers in a 12-point hole with 4:53 remaining.

On Green Bay's final drive, Rodgers was immediately sacked by Tamba Hali, before finding Randall Cobb for a 16-yard connection and a first down. After an illegal shift backed the Packers up 5 yards, Hali again demolished the hopelessly-overmatched Marshall Newhouse and sacked Rodgers again, putting the Packers in a 2nd and 20 situation with 3:57 remaining in the game. Rodgers stepped up, however, and completed each of his next 4 pass attempts to drive the Packers into the redzone. On 3rd and 3 from the Kansas City 8, Rodgers scrambled out to the right, pump-faked twice, and ran into the endzone, cutting Kansas City's lead to 19-14 with 2:04 remaining.

Some silly stuff happened on the onside kick, which subsequently rolled out of bounds, and Kansas City ran out the remaining 2:03, knocking the Packers from the ranks of the undefeated and ending the longest win streak in franchise history.

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Sorry for the late post. Seems we on APC have been a bit exhausted by that last-second win over the Giants which hopefully shuts up that ignorant **** Skip Bayless for at least another half an hour.

The 12-0 Green Bay Packers take on the Oakland Raiders in Lambeau Field this weekend.

Please keep this thread clean, and if there are any issues, please let me, Brandon, or Vermont Cubs Fan know as soon as possible.

Thank you.