My Big Ten Predictions

[BlindRef]

So having nothing better to do tonight, I went through the schedule and with 50+ days to go, here is how I see the Big Ten finishing. (I admit I am a bit of a homer)

1. OSU 11-1 (8-0)
2. Wisky 11-1 (7-1)
3. Michigan 10-2 (6-2)
4. Penn State 8-4 (5-3)
5. Illinois 8-4 (4-4)
6. Michigan State 7-5 (4-4)
7. Iowa 6-6 (4-4)
8. Purdue 6-6 (4-4)
9. Indiana 7-5 (3-5)
10. Minnesota 4-8 (1-7)
11. Northwestern 3-9 (0-8)

Had to edit because I miscounted Michigan State's losses.

[Danimal]

So having nothing better to do tonight, I went through the schedule and with 50+ days to go, here is how I see the Big Ten finishing. (I admit I am a bit of a homer)

1. OSU 11-1 (8-0)
2. Wisky 11-1 (7-1)
3. Michigan 10-2 (6-2)
4. Penn State 8-4 (5-3)
5. Illinois 8-4 (4-4)
6. Michigan State 7-5 (4-4)
7. Iowa 6-6 (4-4)
8. Purdue 6-6 (4-4)
9. Indiana 7-5 (3-5)
10. Minnesota 4-8 (1-7)
11. Northwestern 3-9 (0-8)

Had to edit because I miscounted Michigan State's losses.

Wow, a bit of a homer huh? If RR can make 10-2 he is coach of the year. He is dang good but geez. He has the fewest returning starters in the con. He has a newbie qb without the mainstays of Hart, Manningham, and Arrington to get the rock to. He has totally new systems to put in on both sides of the ball. That isn't exactly a recipe for major success. I don't think Mich will have the bust year some haters are hoping for by any means. They have plenty of quality in the coaching and young talent departments. That will keep them on the plus-side in wins and headed to an OK bowl. I think 8-4 is a more realistic record to be good with considering just how much newness there will be on the field this year.

My guesses:
OSU 11-1
Wiscy 10-2
PSU 9-3
Mich 8-4
Illinois 8-4
Iowa 7-5
MSU 7-5
Purdue 7-5
NW 6-6
Indiana 5-7
Min 5-7

[M Club]

most people enjoy pointing out what a shite conference the big 10 is until some michigan fan picks through the schedule and predicts a 10-2 or 9-3 season, at which point the big 10 apparently becomes a second hand meatgrinder of sorts.

[buckeye_in_sc]

wow no love for tOSU for beating USC...

I mean USC will have a new QB, some new OL and replacing some studs on the DL...they have more holes than tOSU...

meh...home field worth something I guess...

[PSUFAN]

Personally, I think OSU will beat USC, and I HOPE schmick doesn't beat his family.

[PSUFAN]

Also, I think PSU will lose to Illinois, and also either MSU or Iowa.

[Goober McTuber]

Also, I think PSU will lose to Illinois, and also either MSU or Iowa.

Not to mention Wisconsin and tOSU. And possibly Michigan.

[indyfrisco]

Personally, I think OSU will beat USC, and I HOPE schmick doesn't beat his family.

No, he'll just make his son's little league team beat the Reds and Indians in the leage 98-0 with spikes up on all slides.

[TheJON]

I'll take a stab at this....

1.Ohio State (11-1) (8-0)
2tie.Wisconsin (9-3) (5-3)
2tie.Iowa (8-4) (5-3)
2tie.Penn State (9-3) (5-3)
2tie.Illinois (8-4) (5-3)
5tie.Purdue (8-4) (4-4)
5tie.Michigan State (8-4) (4-4)
8tie.Michigan (5-7) (3-5)
8tie.Northwestern (6-6) (3-5)
10.Indiana (5-7) (2-6)
11.Minnesota (4-8) (0-8)

Bowl games...

Ohio State- Rose
Penn State- CapitalOne
Iowa- Outback
Wisconsin- Alamo
Illinois- Champs Sports
Purdue- Insight
Michigan State- Detroit

Other picks...

-Michigan will get STOMPED on opening day at home against Utah. Score will be something like 31-14.
-Notre Dame will beat Michigan in the ultimate cripple fight.
-Wisconsin AGAIN will have a padded record thanks to a weak ass schedule.
-Illinois will lose AT LEAST 2 games they shouldn't because that's what Zook ALWAYS does.
-Ohio State will lose a hard fought battle with USC in what will go down as the game of the year. If the game was in Columbus, Buckeyes would win as I think they're as good as anyone this year.
-Iowa will sort of get back to form this year with a more experienced roster, but still will lose a game or 2 they probably shouldn't.
-Tim Brewster will prove why he is the worst coach in the Big-10 (with the possible exception of Zook) as the Gophers will lay an egg in conference play. That program is the biggest joke in the history of college football. Brewster was a terrible hire and even though he's probably cheating to get recruits, he'll still lose- just like Zook.
-Joe Tiller again will beat up on the weak and get donkey punched by the good teams. Why? Because that's what Joe Tiller always does. The next big game he wins will be his first.

[BlindRef]

Yeah, it was a homer pick, I did preface the post with that.

Why am I optimistic?

1) I am a fan, being negative is no fun. I expect Michigan to do well, and I hope Michigan will do well.

2) Rodriguez made West Virginia a national power with 2 and 3 star talent, he has never had a team with this much talent on it. If he can take a program that was dead in the water and make them great, I have no doubt he can take a team with more talent, better facilities, stronger alumni support, strong athletic department support and be successful.

[Goober McTuber]

-Wisconsin AGAIN will have a padded record thanks to a weak ass schedule.

It does include Iowa. Good point.

BTW, if Wisconsin finishes tied for the second best overall record in the Big 10, they will be playing New Year's day ahead of Iowa. Not in the fucking Alamo Bowl.

[buckeye_in_sc]

NO way GOOBS with 85 first rounders the Outback would rather have Iowa...


Iowa at 8-4 I FUCKING LAUGHED...with what? The coach that gets the least out of pretty good talent...

fucking hilarious...if Jon posted more he would give SO CAL a run for his money...



yes Indy/PSU get ready to hear about refs screwing SC, etc if USC loses...I am sure SO CAL will post something about Meluga taking out Beanie or Todd's knees or something...

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

If Iowa turns out a better season than Wisconsin or even MSU than I'll...

...Well, I dunno what, but I'll be mighty surprised.

[Danimal]

[quote="M Club"]most people enjoy pointing out what a shite conference the big 10 is until some michigan fan picks through the schedule and predicts a 10-2 or 9-3 season, at which point the big 10 apparently becomes a second hand meatgrinder of sorts.[/quote

1. I wouldn't forget about the noncon. ND and Utah should hardly be pencilled in as W's, they will be hardfought games.
2. I wouldn't pencil-in any conference wins outside of Minn and NW either. Hell you may get a tussle from NW. I would definitely say your conference-sched is tougher than last season. PSU will be good. Illinois has had years of Zook recruiting, they'll be good. MSU should be tough in D'Antonio's second go-round. At Purdue could be a battle. Then you still have Wiscy and tOSU.

I'm not saying the 10 has become a meatgrinder(quite respectable but not a meatgrinder) but since you always get tOSU and little brother MSU will fight like hell you are generally playing the toughest sched in the con.

Eight out of twelve on your sched are tough, loseable games when one considers there is a ton of newness on the field between the schemes and the players. Hell just having a totally inexperienced qb learning a new system alone will likely cost you. You are likely to see some losses, not a lot, but more than two. Like I said before, under the circumstances 8-4 is a quite respectable record.

[TheJON]

Ferentz gets the least out of pretty good talent? Hu? You do realize we're talking about the coach that took Iowa to 4 straight New Year's Day bowls from 2002-2005 and 3 straight Top 10 national rankings from 2002-2004, right?

And Goober...

If Iowa and Wisconsin have about the same overall record and conference finish Iowa will go ahead of them in the FLORIDA bowl pickings for a couple of reasons. #1....No one travels to Florida in the conference better than Iowa. #2....Because Wisconsin has been to the CapOne and Outback Bowls quite a bit the last few years. So they're more likely to take an Iowa team that hasn't been to Florida in a few years. Remember, we're talking about an Iowa team that went 7-4 in 2005 (same record as Michigan and Iowa LOST to Michigan) and Iowa ended up in Tampa whereas Michigan ended up in San Antonio. If we can bump Michigan of all teams for a bowl slot we certainly can bump Wisconsin. You clearly don't know how the bowl selections work.

[buckeye_in_sc]

to bad a couple teams in ghe Big 10 are still going to New Years Day bowls (Sup Sconsin and tOSU)...and still are winning titles (Sup tOSU)...so if you want to live 4 years ago...go right ahead...

what has Ferentz done in the last 2 years? gotten his ass handed to him...he had a great couple of recruiting classes in 2005/2006...so those kids would be sophs and juniors...what has panned out?

In fact didn't in 2004 and or 2005 Iowa had back to back top 10 classes? Whatever...

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Wisconsin 11-1 (7-1)
Ohio St 10-2 (7-1)
MSU 8-4 (5-3)
Penn St 8-4 (4-4)
Illinois 7-5 (4-4)
Purdue 6-6 (4-4)
Iowa 6-6 (4-4)
Michigan 7-5 (3-5)
N'western 7-5 (3-5)
Minnesota 5-7 (1-7)
Indiana 4-8 (1-7)

I really wouldn't have predicted Wisky to win the Big Ten considering they're breaking in a new QB and def. coordinator, but looking at the schedules and checking wins/losses this is just how it came out. I still gotta believe it's OSU's for the taking.

[Goober McTuber]

Ferentz gets the least out of pretty good talent? Hu? You do realize we're talking about the coach that took Iowa to 4 straight New Year's Day bowls from 2002-2005 and 3 straight Top 10 national rankings from 2002-2004, right?

And Goober...

If Iowa and Wisconsin have about the same overall record and conference finish Iowa will go ahead of them in the FLORIDA bowl pickings for a couple of reasons. #1....No one travels to Florida in the conference better than Iowa. #2....Because Wisconsin has been to the CapOne and Outback Bowls quite a bit the last few years. So they're more likely to take an Iowa team that hasn't been to Florida in a few years. Remember, we're talking about an Iowa team that went 7-4 in 2005 (same record as Michigan and Iowa LOST to Michigan) and Iowa ended up in Tampa whereas Michigan ended up in San Antonio. If we can bump Michigan of all teams for a bowl slot we certainly can bump Wisconsin. You clearly don't know how the bowl selections work.

Wisconsin travels as well as any team in the country. Certainly better than Iowa and probably better than Michigan. For all of their success, I’ve not heard a whole lot about Michigan being a darling of the bowl suits. This is clearly a rhetorical discussion, however, since Iowa will finish behind tOSU, Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan, and Illinois.

[TheJON]

Buckeye,

No, it was just the 2005 class that was ranked high. Most of our other classes have been in the 30-50 range. You have to understand, much of that 2005 class has either left the program for one reason or another or had injury problems. Quite a few of them will be starters on this years team and hopefully guys like Trey Stross, Dan Doering, and Dace Richardson can actually stay healthy because all of them have shown promise and it's obvious why they were Top 100 recruits.

Shonn Greene, a 4-star RB recruit from that class is back after flunking out and having to tranfer to a JUCO last year. He should give our running game a boost. Also back from that class is safety Marcus Wilson, another flunkout of a year ago. He had a very good freshman year in 2006 and depth in the secondary is a major concern so his return is huge.

Overall, the 2005 class has been a bust considering all of the detractions from that class. If I'm not mistaken, over 50% of that class is no longer in the program.

[TheJON]

Sam,

I'll take Iowa's tradition over Alabama's any day of the week because whatever we've done......we've done it with class and integrity. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about Alabama's cheating racist football programs. Your program is a piece of shit, always has been always will be. The SEC overall is a joke in terms of integrity and your program makes what Phillip Fulmer has done at UT look classy. Now shut the fuck up and go away.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

What, you think those 85 first rounders come without a price? Perhaps Iowa is just better at not getting caught.

[Goober McTuber]

Sam,

I'll take Iowa's tradition over Alabama's any day of the week because whatever we've done......we've done it with class and integrity. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about Alabama's cheating racist football programs. Your program is a piece of shit, always has been always will be. The SEC overall is a joke in terms of integrity and your program makes what Phillip Fulmer has done at UT look classy. Now shut the fuck up and go away.

Your ignorance about Alabama football is laughable.

You could have left out "about Alabama football".

[TheJON]

Okay, okay, some solid points Sam.....BUT...

You want me to ask a Southern Cal fan or player about who has class? Come on now, that's the least classy program EVER. Let's see.....they're fans are d-bags and they cheat more than anyone. Probably shoulda left them off the list. Putting them on there kinda kills your argument.

[PSUFAN]

Also, I think PSU will lose to Illinois, and also either MSU or Iowa.

Not to mention Wisconsin and tOSU. And possibly Michigan.

Yes, I was simply assuming losses there. I don't see us beating UM, OSU or Wisconsin. 4 conference losses is the norm for PSU of late, I see 5 as probably this year.