Around the Big Ten

[Hannibal]

The vaunted Pinkshirt defense gave up 450 yards to the fighting Patrick Ramseys this week.

[iam416]

Indiana is not terrible. That may be one of Ohio State's better wins. Which goes to show you how completely untested that team is.

[lineygoblue]

LOL @ Minnesota 'playing a rigorous schedule'.

That last minute win over South Dakota State was a real attention-getter.

I think you OSU guys are secretly enjoying your season tremendously, and you should. You have your best team since the heady days of Mo Clarett and that boy from Michigan who played QB for you, and led you to the promised land.

[iam416]

This year's team is playing the best since the 2014 team did in it's unfathomable 3 game run. It's the most talented team since, well, 2015. And we know what happened in that year in a winner-take-all home game toward the end of November.

2014, 2015 and this year are all considerably more talented than 2002. The recruiting classes fo 2017 and 2018 were stupendous -- even AA took notice of 2017. And they're paying dividends now. The next couple years will be down a bit as they work through last year's sparse class and this year's meh class. But, I do like the 2021 class, so by 2023 or so I expect Ohio State to be ready to challenge for the East again.

[lineygoblue]

You guys have the best all-around team you've had in years. In my view, you've had one off year in recruiting, but that is being made up by this year's group. Blip on the screen. You've got enough talent on both sides of the class to cover up one off year.

Its okay for you all to admit it. You're the king on the hill, and all potential challengers can't match up.

[iam416]

They lose so much this year. If they didn't have Justin Fields then they'd be in real trouble next year. They should be pretty good next year, but not as good as this year. Then Fields leaves and they're short on QBs. 2021 will be a rough year, but I think they'll be back after that. Just a realistic approach to where they are.

They definitely out-recruit everyone else in the B10, and I doubt that will stop any time soon. But, they're eventually going to pay the price for last year's class -- which was pretty high on quality, just short on numbers. Gotta have depth everywhere and they won't.

[froot loops]

If you can get Minnesota to 8-0 that is very impressive no matter what the schedule is.

[Jeff Buchanan]

FGS ....... osu is the top team in the BIG and arguably nationally. So, my top five after week 9:

osu
M (assuming the last 6 quarters are sustainable and they may not be).
Minny (8-0 by virtue of an incredibly forgiving schedule - but they've been mauling that meager competition nevertheless)
PSU (I think IU is going to surprise them - Franklin's strategy of a few big plays with nothing sustainable is going to get got.)
IU & Wisky tied for #5 (Two completely different teams both decent to good)

Don't care about the rest. 6-13 are different degrees of bad. Rutgers is not ranked

[iam416]

I still have Wisconsin ahead of M,

[iam416]

[Jeff Buchanan]

I still have Wisconsin ahead of M,

Right now and until M's performance takes a step back - and it might - M is > Wisconsin.

I think Chryst's biggest problem is the reality that Coan is not that good under pressure. If a defense can stop JT and the Badger run game, forcing Chryst to have to dial up shots to Cephus et. al. and then Coan's pocket gets collapsed and he bolts, those plays are not going to end well. Patterson is starting to look like the QB we thought he would be in, albeit, this highly modified Gattis offense that may demand less of him. Nonetheless, it's working.

Wisconsin can't play from behind. It lacks an offense that has the capacity to do that and probably doesn't practice it much either. Now that Harbaugh appears to have assembled his pile of Legos, M's offense has shown it can do that (see PSU) and for the first time appears to have an offense matched to a defense that can also build a 3 score lead and hold on, nay, even cruelly grow it, dispiriting an opponent in the process (see ND). Wisconsin only has that capability when they can overpower an opponent on both sides of the LOS and one that tends to be talent or creativity limited on both defense and offense.

My only question: will M be able to replicate the last 6 quarters going forward. Sustain the success on both sides of the ball and fulfill what looks to be their BT mandate. I remain skeptical. Both Patterson/Gattis and Brown, have their moments.

[Jeff Buchanan]

On Iowa: I like DSL's line: Ferentz is Slovakian for FUCKING BORING. Boring teams end up not delivering when the chips are down. No explosiveness - the number one S&P+ component directly correlated with win probability - means a lot of 3 or more loss seasons.

[iam416]

[iam416]

[Jeff Buchanan]

.......... Peyton Ramsey still >>>> Haskins.

I think M at the end of week 9, M is > Wisconsin, not by much but still better. Some issues have been addressed and appear to have been solved or mitigated.

In week 4, Wisconsin was >>>> M who struggled with their non-con opponents, was not prepared for the trip to Madison, over confident, poorly coached and had a QB who was (?) injured or just sucked at that point in the season.

If the last 6 quarters hold and are replicated going forward, in the 45 years I've been following M football, this is the worst start followed by the biggest turnaround I've seen.

Of course, I'm a Schembechler/Hayes devotee. Loved their character based on a set of fundamental beliefs I also embrace and they both played the game with a degree of enthusiasm that trickled down to their players.

The ND game was the first time in decades, I saw elements of the kind of Michigan football I came along admiring: physical, tough, error free, a run game that was punishing and a conservative passing game that was both enhanced by the run game and enhanced the run game itself. In the end, they humiliated the Irish in a very satisfying sort of football way that people like us understand. I'll be one happy fan if M looks like they did against ND, win or lose, in the remaining games this season.