Around the Big Ten

[Rob F]

Wasn't Illinois one of just 3 or 4 schools Mike "I'm a Man, I'm 40!" Gundy was willing to let Lunt transfer to?

[lineygoblue]

I wonder why he had a problem with him transferring to CMU?

[Dr. Strangelove]

I wonder why he had a problem with him transferring to CMU?

I'd have to double-check but I think Oklahoma State plays CMU in the next few years. He wouldn't let him transfer to ANY school that OK State currently had scheduled.

[WM Wolverine]

Oklahoma State plays central in '15, '16 & '18.

[lineygoblue]

He has nothing to worry about as long as that former Spartan boob Dan Enos is the HC at Central ...

[Dr. Strangelove]

Rutgers has scheduled a home-and-home with Washington State in 2014-15. Wazzu was already supposed to play Wisconsin in those years but that's being bumped...probably an indication that Wisconsin is close to finalizing some sort of neutral site series with LSU as rumored.

[*JD*]

[*JD*]

Indiana is ripping off Princeton's helmet design? The nerve.

Not as big an offense as ripping of the starter kit for every generic helmet.

[Tony G]

So OSU is more academic than Purdue? Hmm They land on the positive side of the academics? Hmmmm

[WM Wolverine]

Yup, they've improved academically quite a bit in the last couple 15 plus years.

[iam416]

"Future" Power Rankings for the B10 courtesy ESPN. It's how they think teams will rate over the next three years. Zero surprise at #1.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/78650/future-power-rankings-in-the-big-ten

A little surprised to see Maryland dead last and Northwestern ahead of MSU. I guess MSU's move the "East" has to play a major role in that decision.

[WM Wolverine]

Maryland typically recruits better talent than Minnesota, Illini, Purdue and recently, Iowa even. But they aren't in the weaker 'west' like those programs... Disappointed to see Rutgers & Maryland can't keep the good talent they do have in-state, more so Maryland...

MSU I'd probably put ahead of NW but again, they are in the tougher 'east'... PSU is tough to gauge like the author stated, those scholarships reductions are going to be devastating, I could see them being a lot lower as the Lions will need to not have many misses in recruiting...

I brought this up somewhere already but the 'bottom' of the B10 looks to be stronger than usual this season. Lots of the bottom 5-6 programs were playing mostly juniors & sophomores last season while teams like Wisky, PSU graduated a good bit of talent while Nebraska lost a ton on defense...

I'm struggling a lot at separating these teams into different tiers... Ohio is at the top, M not far behind probably with Wisky & Nebraska. MSU plays such a soft schedule they'll probably be competing for the 'west' division while I've got NW just the opposite of MSU, they play a very difficult schedule but every bit as talented but I can't see them competing for the division as I think they play both Wisky & Ohio this season..

After that, it's just a mess of teams that'll probably beat each other up, with most teams winning their home games...

[iam416]

I haven't really given much thought to the B10 top to bottom for 2013. I ususally start with QB starts and OL starts and go from there.

The Leaders is pretty much a foregone conclusion. I don't think Wisky will be particularly good, and they have to play in Columbus. Purdue will be a modestly trendy pick to finish well based on returning starts (I think). And, of course, they had OSU dead to rights last season.

The Legends still looks like a giant clusterfuck. I think 6-2 gets to Indy via a tiebreaker. I agree with you on NW and MSU. I can't really imagine UNL being all that much worse on defense no matter how much they lose. If I recall correctly, UNL probably has the most favorable schedule with only M on the road. They'll lose that, but otherwise their schedule is manageable, though I see 1 more loss somewhere. If M can sweep @MSU and @NW, they should be in, but I think they'll get a split and lose to OSU. MSU, eh...I think they'll beat M, but I think they could easily lose 3 games. So, I'd guess, w/o looking at schedules or thinking much about it (heh), that it's M and UNL at 6-2 with M winning tiebreaker.

[THE_WIZARD_]

You need to be dead.

[Optimus Prime]

Macabre.