Around the Big Ten

[THE_WIZARD_]

When you say "best fit" for the B1G...what are we talking about? Geography? History? AAU? TV Sets? Market Size? Football viability?

It's all BS. It's about nothing more than money...which some of that is related...but when Utah says they are a fit...ask how much money they bring in. ND brings in MEGA MULA...after that...probably UNC of the schools on the presumed shopping shelf...

[Whitley]

UNC is the heart of the ACC. If you get them the ACC is toasted.

I think the problem with Oregon is twofold.

1) Yes they are AAU but for how long? Their research is 1/2 of the Huskers And Nebraska research was 1/2 of the next lowest conference member.

2) When Phil Knight passes on who are the other big time donors for Oregon? A lot of their facilities upgrade on the sports side involve him heavily from my understanding.

I think it is very possible....Norte Dame coming brings Stanford with. UNC and UVA.

[WingsFan]

Watched some of the Illinois game, they are getting better under holy cow (pun intended) Bielema who has to be over 300 pds these days.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Bert can coach. He's a certified jag but he as well as Fitz get the most of what they got...unlike Frosty who brings in a lot of talent and wastes it.

[lineygoblue]

Yeah, the meathead can coach, and he's especially good in the Big Ten. He specializes in tough running games, and he's working on that at Illinois. He may have them contending for the BTW in a couple years.

And ye gads ... he definitely looks like he ate some pork chops with collard greens and cornbread when he was coaching at Arkansas ... yow ...

[THE_WIZARD_]

I would take Bert or Fitz at UNL...

[AlabamAlum]

Pork chops, collards are fine. None of that will really make you pack on pounds.

Lane Kiffin would go to Nebraska from Ole Miss and he’d absolutely do a great job.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I would take Lane...his family has UNL connections with his Dad a former assistant. Lord knows we can't do much worse than now.

[AlabamAlum]

Lane is easily the best offensive coach we ever had In Tuscaloosa. It’s not really even close. He had some personal and maturity issues, but seems to have those worked out. And I would absolutely love him to be out of the SEC.

[iam416]

Mississippi is a bigger job than Nebraska, though. Only upside is a much easier path to CCG in B10 West. Still, UNL would have to back up Brinks truck to get Lane to take that step down.

UNL is better off targeting the hot coach in the Ohio Valley Conference or the like.

[THE_WIZARD_]

STFU

[WingsFan]

Thats a shame. College football is better when Nebraska is good, used to hear this all the time with RR/Hoke days and Michigan. Just can't get past Frosty though

[iam416]

After a few years off, the Forum's single favorite, most loved and easily bestest written column returns -- B10 Picks!!!! Please save the adulation until after reading the first installment.


Penn State (-3') at Purdue. While the nFw beatdown of Frosty was technically the B10 opener, this is the real American B10 opener, and it's actually compelling. Purdue has dreams of winning the B10 West because, well, anyone can win the B10 West. And Aidan O'Connell certainly gives them hope. He put up huge numbers last year as any Aidan O'Connell fantasy owner knows. However, my concern is that David Bell was a certified badass and, well, no one else is even close on that team. King Deroue at RB is horrible. Penn State also returns a QB, though I doubt it creates much optimism in the land of turning a blind eye. Unfortunately for Nittany loyalists, Sean Clifford isn't good enough to go pro in Botswana, let alone the US, so, thanks to Covid, you get CLIFFORD YEAR 6! Congrats on that. Fortunately, he'll be helped out by a truly awful running game. That said, Penn State should be really good on defense. This is a hard pick for me early, but I'm going to trust Penn State's defense and downgrade the O'Connel hype. I'll say Franklin pulss off a 24-17 win in the pit of NW Indiana, and yes, that includes Gary.

New Mexico State (+36') at Minnesota. With Ibrahim back along with other quality RBs, a solid offensive line and Tanner Morgan back, who is at at least experienced, the Goofers should be solid and, well, think they can win the West. But, I still don't trust Fleck to put up the points necessary to cover huge lines, so I'll take the horrific Aggies to somehow keep it to something like 45-13.

Western Michigan (+23) at Michigan State. If this were a Dantonio team, then it's easy for me to lay the points. Yeah, they'd methodically wear down Western, but it'd take 3+ quarters and the 23 would come home comfortably. Here, I'm not so sure, especially since the strength of the team should actually be Thorne and Reed & Co. And Western should just be regular old 7-8 win Western. I dunno....I'll roll the dice and say Western barely stays ahead of the number...Sparty 38-17.

Maryland (-24) vs Buffalo. I really like Maryland's offense against bad teams. They should put up a ton of points. One would think that should be enough to cover against Buffalo. I'll say Turtle wins 52-20.

Illinois (+3) at Indiana. Bert is doing what Bert does with Illinois. Run the goddamn ball all day. And, when Danny DeVito is your QB, that's really you're only option. I kid, of course -- the actor is probably half a level better than Tommy, who is just plain bad. Fortunately for Bert, I think IU is going to be awful this year. Pennix is off in Seattle. They have no real skill players. And Bert has a game under his belt. I really like Illinois to win outright and by a lot....I'll say Illini 31-17.

Rutgers (+7) at Boston College. I refuse to break down Schiano's side of ne'er-do-wells. They won outright last year at a middling ACC school. BC should be decent, but I'll say the Knights cover the 7 in this shitty ass game that starts me counting down to the end of CFB season.

Michigan (-30') vs Colorado State. This is a name your score game. Not quite as much name your score as the next two weeks, but close. I assume HARBAUGH!!!! will actually want to see Cade run the offense, so they'll be trying to score for at least 2.5 quarters. That ought to be plenty to get the number home. HARBAUGH!!!! serves notice on the rest of CFB with a decisive 59-10 win.

Notre Dame (+17) at Ohio State. This really boils down to whether you think Ohio State can be competitive on the line of scrimmage against a good team and whether the defense is at all competent. If Henderson is running the ball a bunch then there's almost no way Ohio State punts. If the defense plays solid, then I don't see Notre Dame's offense stringing together enough scoring drives. Unfortunately, I'm not confident in either. And for added measure, Ohio State has been horrific at home in their "big" non-conference matchups -- from Virginia Tech to Oklahoma to last year's clownshow against Oregon. I still think Ohio State has enough offense to win, which would be a huge upgrade from those three games, but I don't see anything close to cover. I'll say Ohio State 33-31. A shitload of FGs thanks to running game that can't score red zone TDs and ND controlling the ball with their QB-assisted running game.

Others: South Dakota State at Iowa; North Dakota at Nebraska; Illinois State at Wisconsin

Wildcards:

North Carolina (-1') at Appalachian State. No way The Mack loses in Boone.
Wyoming (+6') vs Tulsa. Cowboys are bad, but I think Tulsa is going to really bad. I'll take the points.
Clemson (-22) at Georgia Tech. Speaking of really bad, enter Georgia Tech. If Dabo has his offense fixed, in any way, this is a total rout.

[THE_WIZARD_]

STFU

[Dr. Strangelove]

I was surprised that ESPN couldn't do better than that Clemson-GT stinker for the "big" Labor Day game.