Athlon Awards: Ranking the Big Ten's Best Units

[knapplc]

With the #1 ranking for all three levels, the Huskers enjoy the Big Ten's best preseason rankings on defense. Ohio State was #2 in all three categories, though, predicting the Buckeyes will be our toughest competition this year.

 

The summary breakdown:

 

  	        QB 	RB 	WR/TE 	OL 	DL 	LB 	DB 	Totals
Ohio State 	10 	3 	5 	1 	2 	2 	2 	25
Wisconsin 	3 	1 	8 	2 	4 	3 	5 	26
Nebraska 	5 	4 	10 	6 	1 	1 	1 	28
Michigan State 	4 	2 	1 	9 	3 	6 	6 	31
Iowa 	        8 	5 	7 	3 	6 	5 	4 	38
Penn State 	7 	6 	4 	8 	7 	4 	3 	39
Michigan 	1 	7 	2 	4 	8 	10 	10 	42
Illinois 	6 	8 	11 	5 	9 	9 	7 	55
Northwestern 	2 	10 	3 	10 	10 	11 	9 	55
Purdue 	        11 	11 	12 	7 	5 	8 	8 	62
Minnesota 	9 	9 	9 	11 	12 	7 	11 	68
Indiana 	12 	12 	6 	12 	11 	12 	12 	77

 

I very much disagree that there are nine schools in the Big Ten with better WR/TE combos than Nebraska. BK is a solid veteran, and both Kyler Reed and Ben Cotton bring threats to the TE position.

 

It will be interesting to see where we end up at the end of the season in rankings like this. My guess is we'll be mixed at the top two spots in each DEF category with OSU, and our RB and WR/TE will be higher. Here's hoping our OL is higher, too.

 

LINK

[kchusker_chris]

I almost commented the same thing on the site when I saw this. #10 WR/TE? I chalked it up to them not wanting our totals to top OSU/WISC. While historically our WR unit hasn't been all that dominant statistically - there is certainly an argument to be made that we have the best TE unit in the Big10.

 

The thing is, if you look at their discussion of why Michigan State is ranked #1 - it starts out giving praise to Cousins. So if your WR ranking is more of a "how many yards will your QB pass for" ranking, then I can see where they are coming from. But giving MSU the #1 spot, when their top returning receiver had 600 yards and 9 TDs is odd. Kinnie had 500 yards, and Reed had 8 TDs...in an offense that DIDN'T pass. We'll be fine in this area...no worries from this guy.

[knapplc]

So if your WR ranking is more of a "how many yards will your QB pass for" ranking, then I can see where they are coming from.

 

That was my thought, too. Martinez lit up one team last year through the air, and they were a horrible pass defense.

[captain obvious]

Putting Wilson ahead of Cousins is kinda strange.

[deedsker]

If someone steps up behind BK we can have a middle of the pack WR core. Our TE's are the best. Done.

[badgerman27]

Putting Wilson ahead of Cousins is kinda strange.

 

What's strange is putting Denard Robinson as the #1 QB. If Mich was going to remain a read option offense, I could see it. As a QB in a pro style offense? No way at all.

[Paul in WI]

If our OL is truly at #6, we're screwed. Hopefully the extra coaches will make an impact quickly, because that number needs to change drastically. We need to get back to the lines that made our school the envy of everyone. Frankly, I'm getting a little tired of hearing the revisionist history from everywhere about how we were always a "defense first" team, because that isn't true at all. That's only been true since Bo's been here. Before that, the Blackshirts always took the back seat to a killer offense.

[BIG ERN]

We will be better than 10 at the WR/TE position, but we need to remember Kinnie is the only WR back that caught more than 1 pass.