Around the Big Ten

[THE_WIZARD_]

So does your boyfriend...

[Dr. Strangelove]

Regrets if already posted...but Joe Tiller died this past saturday. He wasn't as successful once Brees was gone, but Tiller brought Purdue back from two decades of irrelevance.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/20871463/joe-tiller-former-purdue-boilermakers-football-coach-dies-age-74

[THE_WIZARD_]

So Tiller was tOSU's Tressel...minus the cheating...gotcha...

[iam416]

4-2 in the first real week of conference play. Up to 23-24-1.

Penn State (-13') at Evanston High. Fitzgerald will be all fired up, as will the 40% of the 35,000 that support, in some sense, the Mildcats. Yes, it will be quite the hornet's nest. And we've seen Penn State nearly bumble their way to a road loss against an inferior team. Here's the thing -- Penn State pretty much dominated Iowa and nFw lost by 31 to Duke...at football. I'm going to continue to ride with Penn State and keep my fingers crossed that they can translate their dominance into what I think will be at least a 3 TD win.

Illinois (+17') at Iowa. I'm done backing Illinois. DONE. Holy hell are they awful. I mean, they couldn't move the ball against Nebraska, mostly because there are better passing games on elementary school playgrounds of Urbana. Iowa is pretty decent at run defense. The question is whether Iowa can muster enough on offense to cover the number. They have their own offensive issues. However, I don't feel like I'm asking too much from an all-time great B10 Coach to rustle up 27. Hawkeyes.

Minnesota (+4) at Purdue. There is some universal gambling law that says you always fade the Boiler if you're getting points. The Goofer is good value coming off the Turtle shitfest, and some folks apparently think the Boiler is credibly good. LOL. Goofers to go row and win outright with a little room to spare.

Maryland (+31) at Ohio State. Speaking of universal laws, or at least good guidelines, one that I adhere to is "expect the new QB to regress to the mean." So many times you'll see a new QB frustrate a team that hasn't prepared for him and way outperform his level. Max Bortenschlager is still the third best QB that MARYLAND had on its roster to start the season. He had a nice game against the Goofer aided by a tremendous running game. I would be surprised if things went the same way on Saturday. That said, Maryland has been pesky against OSU -- finding ways to hang within 4 scores on two occasions. Maryland absolutely can run the ball. If ol' Borty can make just a few throws it should be enough to score a little and hold the ball. I'm still not sold on OSU's offense, so I'll say something like 38-17 -- Turtle to cover.

Michigan State (+10') at HARBAUGH! I'm still a believer in the "Undervalued Sparty Theory. Unfortunately, a lot of others have signed on and thus the line has moved from 13' to 10'. That's getting dangerously close to "Don Brown Can Cover This Himself" territory. Weighing against M is the aforementioned "New QB/Regress Mean" Theory. I do think O'Korn will regress, but not enough. I really can't see how Sparty, as great as Lewerke is, scores more than 10. And I do think M can get to 23 with the automatic leg of Nordin and Don Brown setting up M's offense. HARBAUGH!!!!

Wisconsin (-10') at Nebraska. Their initial history featured Team Husker grabbing its collective ankles and thanking the Mighty Badger for whatever came its way. Recently, however, the games normalized to competitive battles that were important in deciding the Short Bus West. A close, competitive game seems like the safe play. However, the Mighty Badger is currently in a Good Badger/Bad Badger holding pattern when it comes to the number. This week is Good Badger. Further, Wiley Riley hasn't come fucking close to covering the number in any of UNL's 3 home games. So, against my initial take, I'm backing Wisconsin to cover in something like a 14 point game.

Indiana plays Charleston Southern. Rutgers is off. Tragic.

[Hannibal]

Maryland's defense is terrible. OSU will cover. UCF almost covered that 31 points on the road.

[crashcourse]

team husker=ankle grabbers

synonymical

[THE_WIZARD_]

crash...you ignorant slut

[crashcourse]

Im not ignorant

[THE_WIZARD_]

heh

[THE_WIZARD_]

Taintedban...since when are we allowing fans of the B12 in here anyway...

fuckin' B12 fans

[iam416]

Easy winners to start. Goofers-Boilers is a toss up in the 4th. And OSU bludgeoned Maryland in the first half. Still back-doorable, but 25 yards of total offense doesn't have me optimistic. It's also going to take 21 to cover.

[froot loops]

I didn't want to jinx it, so I didn't point out to talent as he was making his picks that Mark Dantonio was 10 and 0 against the spread versus the Wolverines going into tonight.

[iam416]

Bastard. Well, I was half-wrong about that game. MSU couldn't do much on offense, but they sort of quit trying in 3rd when they were into the wind and by the 4th when things had eased up M had clearly shown they had no chance of driving the field to score a TD. So, I was wrong about M's offense getting enough to cover.

It reminded me of the debacle in Columbus in 2015 where it was clear OSU couldn't drive the field at all and score.

[Jeff Buchanan]

...... It reminded me of the debacle in Columbus in 2015 where it was clear OSU couldn't drive the field at all and score.

Very similar. Similar weather conditions if I recall as well.

Rope-a-dope by Dantonio, playing it safe, getting up by a score and then just waiting for M to fuck something up, killing whatever drive they were cobbling together.

M delivered. I have to hand it to Dantonio. Well, played, sir.

[froot loops]

I told you I liked this team, they are pretty good but way too young. The second half was basically Dantonio saying, "I don't trust my freshman receivers and Sophomore QB in this rain."

I think that OSU game had them better prepared at least for the coaching staff and whatever players remain on the team from that game. Sometimes you have to grind out games that bear no resemblance to the style that normally play. If that means your offense is designed runs or your qb scrambling for yardage you do it.