** 2021 Previews: The Athletic's Stewart Mandel Big Ten Predictions **

[Saunders]

Quote

 

Stewart Mandel’s Big Ten conference predictions: Ohio State is still Ohio State but watch out for Wisconsin

The common perception for years has been that the Big Ten East Division is stronger than the Big Ten West Division. In 2021, it’s more accurate to say Ohio State is stronger than the rest of the Big Ten — but its two strongest challengers might come from the West.

 

https://theathletic.com/2781811/2021/08/23/stewart-mandels-big-ten-conference-predictions-ohio-state-is-still-ohio-state-but-watch-out-for-wisconsin/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983

 

 

[DevoHusker]

Flip flop us and Minny...I think that will be closer.

[Husker in WI]

Just now, DevoHusker said:

Flip flop us and Minny...I think that will be closer.

 

Agreed. We could totally bomb and not even go 6-6, but NW has way more questions and Minnesota has their share as well. The spot behind Iowa/Wisky this year is completely open, and we have the highest ceiling. Probably us or Minnesota, unless Bajakian has a Broyles-award season as NW's OC, Brohm figures out his defense, or Bielema wins Coach of the Year.

 

Minnesota might seem like the safer bet, but last year was pretty bad for them all in all other than Ibrahim. Their head to head win against us last year and a flash in the pan (IMO) 2019 are the reasons they're being picked over us. I think they're going to struggle, although I'll admit some of that is my intense dislike of Fleck. And that there are also many reasons to doubt Nebraska putting things together.

[Undone]

Really don't understand how he can seriously project Iowa to go 10-2. Their schedule is deceptively on the tougher side IMO because they play Indiana (who will almost definitely beat them) & Penn State. Now both of those games are at home, but then they play away against Wisconsin & Northwestern.

 

Somebody let me know if I'm missing anything major but I'm thinking Penn State rebounds pretty well this season.

[runningblind]

5 minutes ago, Undone said:

Really don't understand how he can seriously project Iowa to go 10-2. Their schedule is deceptively on the tougher side IMO because they play Indiana (who will almost definitely beat them) & Penn State. Now both of those games are at home, but then they play away against Wisconsin & Northwestern.

 

Somebody let me know if I'm missing anything major but I'm thinking Penn State rebounds pretty well this season.

I think Penn State will rebound yes but I think you're off on Indiana definitely beating Iowa.   They definitely could but if I were betting I'd take Iowa at home and Vegas agrees with me.  Their toughest game might be Iowa State.

[BigRedBuster]

3 minutes ago, runningblind said:

I think Penn State will rebound yes but I think you're off on Indiana definitely beating Iowa.   They definitely could but if I were betting I'd take Iowa at home and Vegas agrees with me.  Their toughest game might be Iowa State.

I would love to see Iowa start the season 1-3.  Indiana is going to be tough as the first game.  Anything can happen.  ISU will be tough and I think they will win.  Then, I will definitely be rooting for CSU to have a huge upset over a struggling Iowa team.

[Undone]

6 minutes ago, runningblind said:

I think Penn State will rebound yes but I think you're off on Indiana definitely beating Iowa.   They definitely could but if I were betting I'd take Iowa at home and Vegas agrees with me.  Their toughest game might be Iowa State.

 

I didn't know about the current Vegas line - thanks for that info.

 

I'll still stick with a schedule that is "deceptively on the tougher side," though. 

 

The thing is...if we didn't flat out suck on special teams, I think we're roughly on Iowa's level heading into this season. Minnesota plays Ohio State and Indiana in their cross-divisional games. The cross-divisional games schedule is arguably the biggest single variable that puts all six West division schools not named Wisconsin up further on the projection list, IMO.

[Toe]

Meatchicken going 3-6 in conference and .500 overall? So he's predicting the end of the Harbaugh era, then?

[Saunders]

My favorite part is NW going 7-5. I know Fitz is a demigod, but they have the least amount of production returning in the entire country. And his whole philosophy is about staying old on the roster, and not making mistakes. They lost their #1 RB for the season, and #2 & 3 transferred during the offseason. And they just named Hunter Johnson their starting QB... who was named the starting QB in 2019, bombed horribly (worst QBR in D1), and got benched.

 

They could easily have 6 losses before November.

[Undone]

If we're not winning the West, I don't necessarily care too much about where we finish. Like, especially if we're 6-6 or 7-5 and it's this small amount of bragging rights over finishing 3rd in the West (or whatever).

 

Biggest thing this season is what our overall record is. Getting to 8-4 puts us in such a good spot to quiet down the noise - especially if it's on the back of Martinez having an awesome season and then announcing he's coming back for a Super Senior season next year.

 

My gut says we're a 6-6 team, but if special teams does a drastic turnaround I think we really could go 8-4.

[ColoradoHusk]

41 minutes ago, Saunders said:

My favorite part is NW going 7-5. I know Fitz is a demigod, but they have the least amount of production returning in the entire country. And his whole philosophy is about staying old on the roster, and not making mistakes. They lost their #1 RB for the season, and #2 & 3 transferred during the offseason. And they just named Hunter Johnson their starting QB... who was named the starting QB in 2019, bombed horribly (worst QBR in D1), and got benched.

 

They could easily have 6 losses before November.

Northwestern has a pretty easy start to their schedule, but I do see them to have a major regression vs. last season.

[presidentjlh]

6-6 or 7-5 is my bet. Best case scenario 10-3, worst case 3-9

[presidentjlh]

8 minutes ago, presidentjlh said:

6-6 or 7-5 is my bet. Best case scenario 10-3, worst case 3-9

My rule is you should win 90-95% of the time for the games you should win, roughly 50% of the time for toss-ups, and 20% of the time for should lose.

 

I'd say there's maybe 3 games we should win. 6 that are toss ups. 3 that are should lose. That pretty solidly arrives at 6-6 or 7-5.

[Saunders]

23 minutes ago, ColoradoHusk said:

Northwestern has a pretty easy start to their schedule, but I do see them to have a major regression vs. last season.

Maybe, maybe not. They could lose to MSU, Duke, and Ohio before they come to Lincoln. Then, they could lose 3 of 4 in October before they get Iowa and Wisconsin back to back.

[whateveritis1224]

11 hours ago, Saunders said:

Maybe, maybe not. They could lose to MSU, Duke, and Ohio before they come to Lincoln. Then, they could lose 3 of 4 in October before they get Iowa and Wisconsin back to back.

One trend with NW is that when they have a solid to good older QB, they have a good year (Ramsey last year had already proved himself to be a good B1G QB and Thorston before him grew into the role). I wouldn't be surprised if they are just above Illinois this year because they won't be able to move the ball at all.