2019 Pundit Predictions

I went through every game in the west division, conference games only, and tried to figure out who would win every game. I initially gave out wins, losses, and tossups trying to weed out the easy decisions versus harder ones. After picking all of the easy ones, I went back and played around with who wins what games after digging into more of the team’s schedule and play last year. My initial output ended up with a 5-way tie for the division with Northwestern taking the tiebreaker over Iowa at 3-1 versus tied teams.





 


W


L




Northwestern


5


4




Iowa


5


4




Minnesota


5


4




Purdue


5


4




Nebraska


5


4




Wisconsin


4


5




Illinois


1


8







The one thing I was questioning was to make Iowa beat Northwestern, but then lose to Nebraska since I had both as tossups and was trying to figure out which games Iowa might lose. Doing this, Nebraska goes from 5th to winning the division and Northwestern goes from division winner to 6th.





 


W


L




Nebraska


6


3




Iowa


5


4




Purdue


5


4




Minnesota


5


4




Wisconsin


4


5




Northwestern


4


5




Illinois


1


8







Long story short, I think this is why everyone is struggling to put a finger on who will win the division. The best in the conference have tougher schedules and some of the dark horses have easier schedules that could springboard them to the top.

Should be a fun year.  :snacks:

 
deedsker said:
 


W


L




Northwestern


5


4




Iowa


5


4




Minnesota


5


4




Purdue


5


4




Nebraska


5


4




Wisconsin


4


5




Illinois


1


8
Click to expand...


giphy.gif


 
deedsker said:
I went through every game in the west division, conference games only, and tried to figure out who would win every game. I initially gave out wins, losses, and tossups trying to weed out the easy decisions versus harder ones. After picking all of the easy ones, I went back and played around with who wins what games after digging into more of the team’s schedule and play last year. My initial output ended up with a 5-way tie for the division with Northwestern taking the tiebreaker over Iowa at 3-1 versus tied teams.





 


W


L




Northwestern


5


4




Iowa


5


4




Minnesota


5


4




Purdue


5


4




Nebraska


5


4




Wisconsin


4


5




Illinois


1


8







The one thing I was questioning was to make Iowa beat Northwestern, but then lose to Nebraska since I had both as tossups and was trying to figure out which games Iowa might lose. Doing this, Nebraska goes from 5th to winning the division and Northwestern goes from division winner to 6th.





 


W


L




Nebraska


6


3




Iowa


5


4




Purdue


5


4




Minnesota


5


4




Wisconsin


4


5




Northwestern


4


5




Illinois


1


8







Long story short, I think this is why everyone is struggling to put a finger on who will win the division. The best in the conference have tougher schedules and some of the dark horses have easier schedules that could springboard them to the top.

Should be a fun year.  :snacks:
Click to expand...






Good post. I think a lot of people are putting too little emphasis on ease/strength of schedule, e.g. when they think it's crazy that Minnesota could win the division.

Although, I don't think they'll win the division because I don't think Nebraska will have 4 conference losses.

 
WyoHusker56 said:
Geez Gerry, tell us how you really feel: https://www.omaha.com/huskers/blogs/gerry-dinardo-thinks-nebraska-is-overrated-but-it-s-only/article_ac59a85c-8a7f-575b-a867-16ff54454662.html

I actually think this is a pretty good interpretation of where things are at until we see this team on the field. However, he mentions we need to wait until Scott has top 20 talent on the team, but I think our 4 year recruiting average is right at 20. So, by his logic there we should be ready to compete now.
Click to expand...


After reading the article I don't think DiNardo is incorrect in his assessment of the west division.  He says the B1G West is going to be the most competitive division in football and I agree.  He doesn't say it is going to the best, just the most competitive.  I haven't listened to his reasoning on why Nebraska is overrated though.  DiNardo is a show me guy and I think that goes double for Nebraska.  He wants to see it from Nebraska first.  I say this because I don't think he is a huge Nebraska fan.  He was McCartney's OC at Colorado  before he became a HC.  He can be objective, but deep down I don't think it bothers him if Nebraska isn't beating the crap out of people.  I feel the same way about Glen Mason.  He took a few beating at the hands of Nebraska when he was at Kansas.  

Personally I think 8-4 is a good safe bet.  I don't know where they lose the games at though.  I see a lot of toss up games on  this schedule.  I can see them winning more games, but I don't think they lose anymore than 4. 

 
Moiraine said:
Good post. I think a lot of people are putting too little emphasis on ease/strength of schedule, e.g. when they think it's crazy that Minnesota could win the division.

Although, I don't think they'll win the division because I don't think Nebraska will have 4 conference losses.
Click to expand...
I have Nebraska as a 4 loss team overall. I guess it goes into whether one of those is Colorado or not.

Biggest thing I realized is when teams are playing each other and whether they are ready for their opponent or not. Wisconsin has a tough hill to climb and it has Northwestern early. Not good for getting the kinks of a new an QB. Purdue can do well if they can notch wins at home, but I have little faith they can gets wins on the road given who they play. Minnesota just needs to play well consistently and they will be higher up in the division. Iowa was actually kind of sad as a team now that I look back at last year. All those offensive weapons and they still didn’t rack up a lot of yards/points.

 
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deedsker said:
Iowa was actually kind of sad as a team now that I look back at last year. All those offensive weapons and they still didn’t rack up a lot of yards/points.
Click to expand...


They heavily relied on their defense last year, and they lost a lot there (though they still have Epenesa). When you look at their schedule, which is much tougher than normal, if things start going south they could have a horrible season.

 
everybody knows my name said:
MSN: Nebraska Sucks and Watch Out for Minnesota (or something like that)

"Nebraska, Nebraska, Nebraska.

The college football world is having a love affair with a team that went 4-8 last season and has massive question marks on defense coming into the season, but..."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/college-football-2019-five-dangerous-teams-no-one-is-talking-about/ar-AAFJrar?ocid=ientp
Click to expand...


Don't think I've seen an msn article in a decade! I'm sure they are very good though, definitely not just picking Minnesota to be different and attract clicks.

In all seriousness though I'm surprised Minnesota isn't a trendier pick, they've got a path to win the West. I think the main problem is the other teams have either done that relatively recently (Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern) or have exciting young players and young coaches (Nebraska, Purdue). Minnesota absolutely has talent, but regardless of how good he is Tyler Johnson is less exciting than Rondale Moore or Adrian Martinez.

 
everybody knows my name said:
MSN: Nebraska Sucks and Watch Out for Minnesota (or something like that)

"Nebraska, Nebraska, Nebraska.

The college football world is having a love affair with a team that went 4-8 last season and has massive question marks on defense coming into the season, but..."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/college-football-2019-five-dangerous-teams-no-one-is-talking-about/ar-AAFJrar?ocid=ientp
Click to expand...
The sentence you leave with elipses points ends with "it just seems like a matter of time until the pivot to greatness is made" lol

 
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