Around the Big Ten

[iam416]

Well, there's not much doubt where star NJ kids won't go. Others will have their say (not as much last year), but Piscataway Community College will not.

Ohio State has given up 24 points to Rutgers in 3 games. The fewest they've scored is 49 (163-24 total). Thanks to Hoke, you still have have the SuperNova Humiliation to muck up M's overall performance against them.

[THE_WIZARD_]

STFU

In other B1G news...Al Pacino is going to play JoePa in the upcoming Pedo State Movie...

"...Attica! Attica!..."

[WM Wolverine]

PSU is in on some pretty good talent thanks to a strong year in the Mid Atlantic whose talent continues to improve: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia & Washington DC. Lions being down will help M get the top talent in those regions instead of PSU.

[WM Wolverine]

Ranking the B1G...

I really like Penn State, they were really good last season and return most their important pieces and did well in the Rose Bowl despite falling to USC. They've a better chance than M who is just too damn inexperienced to upset the Buckeyes (PSU is on road, M has Buckeyes at home) ime... Penn State is a very deserving top 10 team for '17, let's hope they can beat Pitt this season... PSU will graduate a ton after '17 much like M did in '16...

Sparty has just lost way too much talent to attrition, a lot of that talent was regarded fairly highly for Sparty. They probably underachieved last seasons dumpster fire, they'll again be looking up at Indiana in the East and will jockey with Maryland for 5th best team in B1G East...

Having a difficult time differentiating the B1G West after Wisconsin who is really good. Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota & Nebraska all look like 7-8 win teams. I suspect one of them will have a blessed season and win 9; more likely Nebraska imo. I'd probably put them Nebraska, Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota right now. I probably like NW more than most others do... Illini & Purdue match-up will go a long ways to decide the cellar.

*B1G East: OSU, PSU, M, Indiana, Maryland, Sparty, Rutgers....

*B1G West: Wisconsin, Nebraska, Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota, Purdue, Illinois.

If M played @OSU but PSU & Wisconsin at home, I might be more optimistic about a 10+ win season but B1G road games, especially at night are tough to win.

Discuss.

[WM Wolverine]

Kickoff the damn ball, 50 days left?

[AlabamAlum]

If Harbaugh finishes 3rd in the BigTen East for the third straight year, there will be some unhappy M fans.

[WM Wolverine]

Depends if Penn State is as good as I think.

Penn State however does play 3 pretty solid B1G West programs: Nebraska, Northwestern & Iowa; arguably 2nd, 3rd, 4th... M plays Wisconsin (1st), Gophers (5th) & Purdue (6th/7th)... Obviously the head-to-head match-up is critical, I've got PSU better than Wisconsin and a CFP contender.

[Jeff Buchanan]

If Harbaugh finishes 3rd in the BigTen East for the third straight year, there will be some unhappy M fans.

Without good reason, IMO. The experience thing is big. Like WM, I see only 8 wins for M. 10+ wins assumes M wins at least one of their toughest road wins (Wisconsin or PSU), doesn't blow a game v lesser opponents and beats osu in AA.

It also assumes one incredible coaching job with 18/19 year olds. M just doesn't have the quality depth it needs to dominate the Big. If M does win the Big, it will be one of those teams that plays well beyond my expectations.

[WM Wolverine]

8 or 9 wins more likely than 10 in regular season...

Too many first-year starters, true sophomores, red-shirt freshman and true freshman in the 2-deep; too much inexperience. I like the Nittany Lions a good bit more than Wisconsin.

We could, should beat Wisconsin at home or on a neutral field but at Camp Randall? That is a really tough game that could go either way... Neutral site game, 1st game of season for a very young, inexperienced team against a really talented Florida team? That'll be a really tough game.

[Dr. Strangelove]

EAST OPPONENTS

Wisconsin: Maryland, @ Indiana, Michigan
Nebraska: Rutgers, Ohio State, @ Penn State
Northwestern: Penn State, @ Maryland, Michigan State,
Iowa: Penn State, @ Michigan State, Ohio State
Minnesota: Maryland, Michigan State, @ Michigan

I'd say NW has a good shot at the 2 spot except that they have to play at both Wisconsin and Nebraska

[Cody_Russell]

Clayton Thorson and Justin Jackson. They are back and have a lot of experience. If Thorson takes a big leap, NW will take the 2 spot. NW's defense is going to be good again.

For Purdue, they finally have a competent coaching staff. It's going to take some time because the talent is terrible. Recruiting classes ranked in the 65-75 range for the last 5 years... Maybe in 18, they will get to 6-6. As the new facilities are starting to come in, the recruiting hopefully starts to bring in top 60 recruiting classes.
3-9 at best in 17. Probably 2-10. Their schedule will result in a rough start for Purdue. We have a chance vs Illinois and Jeff George Jr in the 2nd half of the season.
Get ready for Lamar Jackson to put up 60+ on Purdue week 1.

[iam416]

One wonders how much is in the "+" for Louisville against Purdue. That will be horrific.

On the recruiting front, the B10 currently has 189 kids verballed. Ohio State has 14 (soon to be 15). Of the 175 non-Ohio State verbals, there are 5 from kids ranked in the top 100. Of Ohio State's soon-to-be 15, there are 11 ranked in the top 100. Or, put another way, you could take an "all-recruit" team from the other 13 B10 schools, and that class would still be ranked behind Ohio State. That said...

BROHM!!!!!!

[AlabamAlum]

Ohio State is not a surprise. Penn State is. They seem to be getting some good gets. Early, anyway.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Well they do know how to take care of boys.

[iam416]

Eh, they lost Fields and Parsons, though Parsons may still end up there.

Shorter is really good, and I like Slade, too, but I don't think he's a 5*. But they only have 4 top 100 kids, they're from NJ, Virginia (2) and Pennsylvania. They have 3 more kids in the top 300, and they're east coast kids.

So, meh...I mean 7 out of 19 in the top 300. Whatever. To me, there class isn't much different than Tennessee's.

That said, PSU will probably have the #2 class in the B10. I doubt M will surpass them (or even finish in the top 10) with limited numbers (after taking 60 the last two years).