How do you see the B1G West after 3 weeks?

[Red Five]

Started typing this in another thread, but figured I'd start a new one...

 

So how do you handicap the B1G West after 3 weeks? Northwestern and Iowa seem to be trending up. Minnesota is trending down. Wisconsin doesn't look to have the same run game as in the past. Illinois beat up 2 cupcakes, then folded against a team with a pulse. Purdue is Purdue.

 

Personally, I say we still have a pretty good shot to win. We are not going to be seeing the same offenses (or QBs) that we saw from BYU or Miami.

 

We get Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Iowa at home. We need to win those 3 to hold the tiebreaker.

 

Minnesota can't throw (or run at the moment).

 

Illinois does scare me a bit in that they run the spread and have a serviceable (I think) QB.

 

Getting Purdue and Rutgers on the road shouldn't be bad as they are both dumpster fires.

 

Michigan St is Michigan St.

 

I would say a 7-1 record wins us the division outright. 6-2 we would need help with the tiebreakers. 5-3 I am disappoint.

[Redux]

I think we have an outside shot. I just don't see us being able to beat everyone in our division. There will have to be a hiccup somehwere. Logically it would be Wisconsin or even NW at this point. Minny on the road could be nasty if they get their situation figured out.

 

Depth is going to be a major issue down the stretch. I just don't think we have enough in the tank to finish the race. Hope I'm wrong.

 

Next year, look the hell out Big Ten. With the Davis twins likely on field, Tommy a Sr, DPE Westy Morgan and much more I really like next years squad. Schedule gets nasty, but we wanted to be a top tier program. So, it's an opportunity and a challenge.

[Saunders]

I think BYU and Miami are better than everyone in our division, except Wisconsin. They also have better QB's than anyone on our schedule, outside of Sparty. I agree with your assesment of Wisconsin. They aren't the same team they've been in the past, and the OL has struggled to run the ball effectively, as in years past. NW has a legit defense, but their offense is... bad. Ditto for Minnesota. Iowa? IDK. They're better in some spots, not so much in others. Purdue and Illinois are who we thought they were.

 

7-1 is a lock to win the division, 6-2 is probable, and 5-3 would require weird tiebreakers.

 

I "think" we can do 7-1, IF we can shut down Wisconsin's run game, and get improvement in the secondary. I don't think we have more than a night game punchers chance against Sparty. None of the other teams on our schedule scare me enough on offense,so it comes down to efficiency and turnovers to win those.

[VectorVictor]

6-2 and us winning the B1G West (8-4 overall going into title game), playing a rematch against Michigan State.

 

I see us losing to Michigan State and a team that we shouldn't lose to, but will because of a good passing attack (e.g. Illinois, Rutgers)

 

I don't see us losing to anyone else, as long as we have our offense intact and can get better at running the ball. MSU has the horses to stop us cold, NW may cause us fits with their defense, but they're woefully inept on offense...

 

...but as you said Red Five, Illinois has a serviceable QB. Plus they have a good scheme that plays directly to our weakness on defense. And Rutgers is fairly good at slinging the ball around too...

[Bigred_inSD]

Minnesota defense is nasty and will challenge us a lot, to win that game we have to limit turnovers and have a healthy Foltz punting

 

NW, we will see. They look good, but if anyone can find a way to screw it up its Fitzgerald.

 

Wisconsin is Wisconsin, their Oline isn't as good as usual,but we have no d line to expose it.

 

We will probably drop 2 more games and not go to the CCG, let's just hope we avoid a bowl game date with Georgia

[BIG ERN]

All that matters right now is Wisconsin. This is a must win game with how favorably their B10 schedule is. If we take care of that we are for sure in the drivers seat. They play Iowa at home the week before so we will learn a lot about both those teams.

 

I just see us matching up a lot better against conference opponents. Our D should improve if we can stay healthy since we will see more run first teams and less spread. I think we go 6-2 in the B10.

[NUinID]

I think it is a very even division right now.

 

Iowa is getting a lot of love at 3-0 and looks better than last year, but they have beat a 1AA team, Iowa St, and Pitt. Now Pitt is OK, but it took a last second 57 yard fg to do it.

 

Illinois is most likely better, they beat 2 bad teams badly and then got their ass kicked by a very average N. Carolina team.

 

Purdue is better, but not in contention.

 

Northwestern has the best win of the year against Stanford and the win against Duke doesn't look too bad, but we don't know how good Duke is. They are playing good defense, but the offense has been nothing special.

 

Minnesota has a good loss to TCU and then two unimpressive wins. It took OT to beat Colorado St. and then they beat I think Akron 10-7. There offense looks very anemic this year, which is what I suspected may happen to them.

 

Wisconsin got curb stomped by Alabama and has 2 decent wins against inferior teams.

 

Nebraska has 2 close loses against decent teams. Those 2 games could have gone either way. The offense is looking pretty good and should be able to score some points the defense most notably pass defense needs work.

 

How this season plays out is just a guess. I like NU's chances the rest the way. I think they can play with everyone on the schedule. Every team has flaws. It should be a fun divisional race.

[swmohusker]

1-Iowa-QB gives them some big plays on Offense. Defense is stout easy schedule

2-Wiscy- not sold on offense Defense is good

3-Northwestern- Def has been lights out, offense will give us fits

4-Minny- That Defense ++++++ That Offesne-------

5-Nebraska- Not sure who we are yet. Offense is better off passing which will come back to bite us at some point this season either through weather or TO's. Defense has been better against the run but its bc when it is so easy to pass why would anyone in their right mind run the ball. Not sure if we are really better against the run or if it is a mirage.

6- Illinois- reality check last week. Still have potential on offense. Defense will struggle.

7- Purdue- Have gotten better but still a long ways to go.

 

The seperation between 1-5 in miniscule. That is how I see it right now. We are not good enough right now to beat teams that have comparable talent as us right now consistently.

[True2tRA]

I think it is a very even division right now.

 

Iowa is getting a lot of love at 3-0 and looks better than last year, but they have beat a 1AA team, Iowa St, and Pitt. Now Pitt is OK, but it took a last second 57 yard fg to do it.

 

Illinois is most likely better, they beat 2 bad teams badly and then got their ass kicked by a very average N. Carolina team.

 

Purdue is better, but not in contention.

 

Northwestern has the best win of the year against Stanford and the win against Duke doesn't look too bad, but we don't know how good Duke is. They are playing good defense, but the offense has been nothing special.

 

Minnesota has a good loss to TCU and then two unimpressive wins. It took OT to beat Colorado St. and then they beat I think Akron 10-7. There offense looks very anemic this year, which is what I suspected may happen to them.

 

Wisconsin got curb stomped by Alabama and has 2 decent wins against inferior teams.

 

Nebraska has 2 close loses against decent teams. Those 2 games could have gone either way. The offense is looking pretty good and should be able to score some points the defense most notably pass defense needs work.

 

How this season plays out is just a guess. I like NU's chances the rest the way. I think they can play with everyone on the schedule. Every team has flaws. It should be a fun divisional race.

Good take. I pretty much agree with everything you said.

 

Minnesota offense is not coming together yet, but their defense is solid. Especially in the backfield. If Nebraska cannot run the ball, it might be hard to rely on he passing game all day long in that one.

 

Northwestern is shockingly good. I'm glad that's at home. I see that game as a toss up now but still very much winnable.

 

Wisconsin can look bad all year and then play us and have heir best game. That's just the feelin I get. I hope like hell we win that one. That's one I really want to see this team get.

 

Iowa plays us tough. They jus do. It could very well be another one of those close games that could go either way.

 

 

Really looking forward to getting conference football going so we can get a better read on things .

[Frustrated]

Alabama did not curb stomp Wisconsin. They were and are dealing with a ton of injuries, yet hung pretty well with the Tide. That said, without their OL and starting tailback, they have emerged as more of a passing threat. I wouldn't count them out to come to Lincoln and beat us.

[JJ Husker]

I think we have a good shot at winning our division. Wiscy does not appear to be the same team they have been. Northwestern could be a bit tougher than expected a month ago. And MSU looks to be the best left on our schedule but for some odd reason they concern me the least. I am just not a Connor Cook fan and MSU always seems to struggle with us and leave us in the game for whatever reason. MSU is the only team on paper I feel we should lose and I don't think we will. But I do think we'll drop 1 or 2 other conference games that, going in, I feel we should probably win. Prolly something stupid like losses to Illinois and Iowa or some sh#t like that. And strangely I would be ok with that as long as we beat some of the "better" teams. Tired of losing every damn game to anybody with a heartbeat. We have to start winning some games that matter.

[NUinID]

Alabama did not curb stomp Wisconsin. They were and are dealing with a ton of injuries, yet hung pretty well with the Tide. That said, without their OL and starting tailback, they have emerged as more of a passing threat. I wouldn't count them out to come to Lincoln and beat us.

 

I am not exactly sure what game you watched but the 35-17 game I watched was a beat down by Alabama. They ran them into the ground. No one is counting them out as far as winning in Lincoln, but they didn't look that good against Alabama.

[cornographic]

We can certainly win the West, the normal suspects being the key obstacles again. We're still in the playoff hunt as far as I'm concerned--until proven otherwise.

 

jNU is looking pretty darn good this year, I must admit.

[huskerfan92]

Not understanding people being scared of Illinois, we beat them 45-14 last year and that program is in disarray.

Purdue already had a quarterback change, that program is a dumpster fire

Was impressed with Minnesota after the TCU game, then they struggled against Colorado St and Kent St....not sure what to make of them yet

Iowa doesn't scare me at all, Pitt is not a good team

Northwestern's defense has been absolutely filthy to start the season. However, their offense is very weak. Reminds me a lot of our 2009 team

Wisconsin just lost Clement, they haven't impressed me either.

 

As for us, we're a team that gives up too many passing yards, and commits too many penalties.

 

So to sum it all up, the only team that has impressed me so far this season has been Northwestern, but this division is still very weak and I am glad we are not in the East. Hopefully the coaches can correct the penalties, and the passing yards will go down after we face the poor quality of quarterbacks in the division. The main thing for us is going to be stopping the run, which our defense has proved they are better at this year.

[Red Five]

Not understanding people being scared of Illinois, we beat them 45-14 last year and that program is in disarray.

 

I don't know about scared, but their offense looks like it can give us fits. Illinois runs a spread and can throw it around a bit. Last year's game we got a bit lucky that their starting QB (Wes Lunt) was out and their backup made his first start. And the interim coach has to be a better head coach than Beckman.