Around the Big Ten

[WM Wolverine]

They'll be devastated, they'll be hurting even after they get back to 85 (2018?) as they won't have enough upperclassman.

[Hannibal]

They'll be devastated, they'll be hurting even after they get back to 85 (2018?) as they won't have enough upperclassman.

Yeah, and the Big Ten rules about limiting the recruiting class to 25 will prevent them from getting up to 85 for about two years.

Hackenberg looks like the real deal though. He's got a cannon and he's accurate, and he looks like he has poise too. It will be interesting to watch his career.

[*JD*]

NW goes from a 20-10 lead to a 24-20 deficit in the blink of an eye. Late in the 3rd quarter.

[*JD*]

And now they get a pick-6. NW back in the lead.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Based on what I saw yesterday

1) Michigan
2) Wisconsin
3) OSU
4) Northwestern
5) Nebraska
6) Penn State
7) Indiana
8) MSU
9) Minnesota
10) Iowa
11) Illinois
12) Purdue

[lineygoblue]

RE: Strangelove's rankings.

The top four could be placed in just about any order based on the first week's games. All four had good and bad. NW looked a bit tougher than I expected them to be.

Same goes for the 2nd four, although I'm still trying to figure out why so many sports hacks are so in love with Sparty. Of all the B1G who had Week 1 wins, their's was probably the most lackluster.

I'd flip Iowa and Illinois in that final four. Iowa looks like they just don't have the passion to compete at a high level anymore. Purdue just flat-out sucks.

[WM Wolverine]

Liney's 'tiers' look about right. Sparty was very unimpressive and tough to see that offense getting much better. They couldn't complete a pass more than 7 yards and didn't have much of a ground game considering their opponent. Receivers have hands of stone, all of them pretty much.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Wisky, Neb and Iowa are over-rated.

osu is under-rated (sandbagger)

M? Jeeze it was win over CMU without their starting QB and RB.

We have no idea how good Wisconsin is until we see them play against a defense that has a front seven that can actually play football. It will be interesting to see how their new HC plays it when his run through walls offensive philosophy he inheritied from the Meathead stalls and, OMG, his QB has to throw it into a competent defense.

Our Neb friends predicted the awfulness of Bo Pelini's defense. Nebraska will be toast in the Leaders Division if they can't stop the ball hogging/high point scoring offenses of M, NfW, and even Jerry Kill's Gophers. Who, I might add, Neb plays on successive weekends. I feel a little better about M's chances for a rematch with osu in December. But man, NfW looks good ...... at least their O does. Not sure about their D ..... and my word, if Wisky actually has a passing game, osu could be challenged.

Iowa just sucks. I think both Pelini and Ferentz are done if the opening Saturday is an indication of their abilities to prepare and coach. And to think, Ferentz was a hot, hot commodity a few years ago. Mary Sue Coleman almost hired him.

Here's a link of interest. ESPN will reportedly be making Bowl Predictions after each Saturday of the season. Nothing fundamentally wrong with this except its from ESPN.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/82844/big-ten-bowl-projections-week-1-2

[WM Wolverine]

Iowa is every bit as bad as I expected, I've felt for awhile there 'talent' was getting worse and worse, with more and more of it going to NW, Wisconsin, ND, etc... Tough to see that team go bowling, probably battling the Gophers the basement in the 'west.'

Wisconsin dominated the patsy they had scheduled, not sure what to make of them until they play a decent opponent...

Nebraska's defense is going to give them major issues, they are lucky they have a soft schedule. Wyoming is probably better than what most B10 teams played yesterday. Still, that defense has a lot of holes and I don't see a lot of potential for improvement. They'll have to outscore more anyone and Taylor Martinez is a feast or famine type of QB. They probably have at least another loss in them than I thought; 8-4 instead of 9-3...

Ditto for Sparty except the issues is the offense. Instead of ~9-3 (very, very soft schedule), they might struggle to get a 7th win given no improvement in their offense which I thought couldn't get worse than last season...

Northwestern played an imo and up-and-coming Cal team (they might be a year away), like Nebraska they'll have to outscore everyone but they might just be the #2 team in the 'west' and win 9 regular season games...

[entropy]

I thought our coaches put guys in positions to fail.. It was like a scrimmage where you try things... I will type more later, but this wasn't about calling the wrong defense or wrong offense on a play... Those things happen. It's about telling guys to do things they are weak at while the game is on the line.

Frustrating... UNL isn't great, but I think we're good. Last night showed average.

[Wild Hoss]

Its about opposing offenses knowing your defense better than your own players do.

I think with the right scheme and coaching, this could be a good defense. Not great, but good. Good enough with our offense to compete for the league title.

[entropy]

agree... but the book is out on bo's cover 2. spread them and use motion.. and if the LB's move, run the QB.. if the LB's stay, pass the ball into the flats

[Rocky Bleier]

Did Northwestern fake injuries at Cal?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/did-northwestern-fake-injuries-cal-sonny-dykes-takes-152408404--ncaaf.html

[Hannibal]

NfW had a lot of pretty suspicious looking "injuries". So did Georgia.

IMHO this needs to be addressed.

[Hannibal]

Based on what I saw yesterday

1) Michigan
2) Wisconsin
3) OSU
4) Northwestern
5) Nebraska
6) Penn State
7) Indiana
8) MSU
9) Minnesota
10) Iowa
11) Illinois
12) Purdue

I agree for the most part, although I think that I might put Penn State above NW and Neb. NW, especially, was not impressive to me in their win over Cal.