The Big Ten

[Bdgrfan]

The conference as a whole is the worst it's been in 5-6 years.

The QB play at PSU & OSU has been dreadful. They have enough talent to be competitive everywhere else, but the QB play has just killed both schools. Little to no threat in the passing game makes them sitting ducks against teams with good defenses.

Michigan being down is bad for the conference. R Rod thought he was still in the Big Least. A 3-3-5 defense in a physical conference like the Big 10? They can't stop anyone from running the football. Last year, we ran the ball against them on 35-36 consecutive plays in the 2nd half. Their passing game consists of 30 yd Hail Mary's. They'll be back to competitive in a couple of years, but as of now they are a middle of the pack team.

MSU is a Jekyll & Hyde team. Always have been. They lost 2 great LBs last year, and the replacements haven't been as good. Cousins hasn't been nearly as good this year. Their OL has had injuries. Dangerous team, but not at all what they were last season as of yet.

Illinois is much improved over the last couple of years. They are actually playing defense. They're committed to running the football, and their OL has played well.

Iowa is way down. Their losses at WR(DJK), and on defense have hit them hard. QB play isn't nearly as good, no matter what the stats might suggest. The kid they have isn't nearly as good as Stanzi was.

The talent level at Purdue is way down from a few years ago. So many injuries.

Northwestern is a dangerous team at home. They can beat anyone, but then lose to Army. Getting Persa back will help them.

Indiana and Minnesota are two of the worst teams in D1. Both with losses to 1-AA schools.

UW has some issues on defense. JJ Watt was a big loss. Our front seven just hasn't been as good as we hoped. Still good, but not good enough to be dominant. They have lost gap contain too many times. I think that will be a huge emphasis in practice this week. The back end has been surprisingly good. Much better than expected. The offense has been great. Not many worries there.

As a whole, I think the conference has been hurt by teams switching to spread/read option offenses. It has really hurt the passing game. OSU, PSU, and Mich have been impacted more than anyone. In recruiting kids to run a zone read, they have become unable to find players who can throw the football. It may be 2-3 years before those schools are back to a level their fans consider acceptable. Illinois and Northwestern have been able to make it work for them.

Iowa and MSU are close. Good enough that they can trip you up if you make mistakes. Indiana, Minnesota, and Purdue are so far from competing for a conference title that they are hardly worth mentioning.

Good analysis of the conference. We'll see what happens Saturday.

I keep reading about how there's such a big speed difference. Hear that all the time in the B1G but it seems to be more perception than reality. Remember two Wisconsin DBs running down the ASU kick returner last year? Heard it two years ago leading up to the Champps Sports Bowl against Miami and UW crushed them. And a couple years before that when UW smoked Arkansas with Darren McFadden and Felix Jones in the Cap One Bowl.

Personally, I'm happy to have a program like Nebraska in the conference. Good, traditionally strong program.

 

[irafreak]

The conference as a whole is the worst it's been in 5-6 years.

The QB play at PSU & OSU has been dreadful. They have enough talent to be competitive everywhere else, but the QB play has just killed both schools. Little to no threat in the passing game makes them sitting ducks against teams with good defenses.

Michigan being down is bad for the conference. R Rod thought he was still in the Big Least. A 3-3-5 defense in a physical conference like the Big 10? They can't stop anyone from running the football. Last year, we ran the ball against them on 35-36 consecutive plays in the 2nd half. Their passing game consists of 30 yd Hail Mary's. They'll be back to competitive in a couple of years, but as of now they are a middle of the pack team.

MSU is a Jekyll & Hyde team. Always have been. They lost 2 great LBs last year, and the replacements haven't been as good. Cousins hasn't been nearly as good this year. Their OL has had injuries. Dangerous team, but not at all what they were last season as of yet.

Illinois is much improved over the last couple of years. They are actually playing defense. They're committed to running the football, and their OL has played well.

Iowa is way down. Their losses at WR(DJK), and on defense have hit them hard. QB play isn't nearly as good, no matter what the stats might suggest. The kid they have isn't nearly as good as Stanzi was.

The talent level at Purdue is way down from a few years ago. So many injuries.

Northwestern is a dangerous team at home. They can beat anyone, but then lose to Army. Getting Persa back will help them.

Indiana and Minnesota are two of the worst teams in D1. Both with losses to 1-AA schools.

UW has some issues on defense. JJ Watt was a big loss. Our front seven just hasn't been as good as we hoped. Still good, but not good enough to be dominant. They have lost gap contain too many times. I think that will be a huge emphasis in practice this week. The back end has been surprisingly good. Much better than expected. The offense has been great. Not many worries there.

As a whole, I think the conference has been hurt by teams switching to spread/read option offenses. It has really hurt the passing game. OSU, PSU, and Mich have been impacted more than anyone. In recruiting kids to run a zone read, they have become unable to find players who can throw the football. It may be 2-3 years before those schools are back to a level their fans consider acceptable. Illinois and Northwestern have been able to make it work for them.

Iowa and MSU are close. Good enough that they can trip you up if you make mistakes. Indiana, Minnesota, and Purdue are so far from competing for a conference title that they are hardly worth mentioning.

Good analysis of the conference. We'll see what happens Saturday.

I keep reading about how there's such a big speed difference. Hear that all the time in the B1G but it seems to be more perception than reality. Remember two Wisconsin DBs running down the ASU kick returner last year? Heard it two years ago leading up to the Champps Sports Bowl against Miami and UW crushed them. And a couple years before that when UW smoked Arkansas with Darren McFadden and Felix Jones in the Cap One Bowl.

Personally, I'm happy to have a program like Nebraska in the conference. Good, traditionally strong program.

Wow some very insightful posts. As far as the speed issue....Nebraska fans listened to the media poke fun at our dinosaur option offense as we racked up 3 titles running it so most of us don't buy into the media's knowledge of the game...

 

[Enhance]

Regardless, it's the SEC and everybody else, and until other conferences finally start winning the MNC consistently then the SEC is still going to be the best league.

Even some of the bad teams in the SEC are pretty good teams.

 

[Igetbored216]

Regardless, it's the SEC and everybody else, and until other conferences finally start winning the MNC consistently then the SEC is still going to be the best league.

Even some of the bad teams in the SEC are pretty good teams.

SEC is king with so many great athletes spread across their schools. Either Alabama or LSU is winning the BCS Championship this year.

 

[Creed]

Regardless, it's the SEC and everybody else, and until other conferences finally start winning the MNC consistently then the SEC is still going to be the best league.

Even some of the bad teams in the SEC are pretty good teams.

SEC is king with so many great athletes spread across their schools. Either Alabama or LSU is winning the BCS Championship this year.

It is easy to see that LSU, Alabama, UF has better athletes all around. FSU used to be this way. FSU used to be men playing amongst boys. They get all these kids because of many reasons - location, coaching, lax admissions, agressive recruiting, program history, fan passion, etc.

 

[stlspartan]

I don't think there is much animosity towards Nebraska in the B10 (though I'm still a little ticked about Derrick Mason's broken arm.) I'm a little torn because I enjoy watching Wisconsin lose but it just wouldn't be right to have the Huskers come in and run the table.

Another side of it, is that the B10 plays a style of football that is pretty grueling. I'm not sure that Nebraska can approach the B10 season the same way they might approach the B12. It reminds me of the way MSU is treated by the press every year at the NCAA tournament. All the pundits say "MSU can't run with <insert team>." What they fail to realize is that MSU loves to run, but in the B10 the other teams aren't going to let you do that. I think it's the same for football. You can't be the top team in the B10 if you aren't pretty physical because even the teams that are in the middle to bottom of the conference are going to beat you up.

 

[mwj98]

I understand what you are saying stlspartan......but when I hear "physical", the Big Ten isn't any more physical than any other conference. From my perspective, being big and physical works to a certain extent. I remember when TCU beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. All I heard was how "physical" and "big" wisconsin was. You know what....speed kills these days. You have to be able to fly and catch people. You can lean on smaller teams with little depth.....and in the end...wear em out. We did it all up until Osborne figured out he couldn't beat these Florida schools without speed. So, I see your point to a certain extent.

But one thing I learned about football is.....you never play standing up......it's about pad level and getting off the ball. Crick for example, plays too high and he gets very little movement. Anyhow, like I said...we have to play the games and find out. I can't tell you how the game will end up or the season. I just know, we will shock some folks. If we beat Wisconsin and I hope we do, the entire conference will pucker. The last thing anyone in the big ten wants is to see the Huskers come in and wreck shop!

 

[Creed]

IMO the big and strong style only works when you have ball controlling offenses that have many time consuming long drives. This will wear down the defenses. Wisc last year and this year is more of a quick strike offense. Get a lead to the 4th quarter and it's all she wrote. You chew up time and you wear down the smaller, quicker defense. Look at Nebraska vs Miami in 1995 Orange Bowl, ND under Holtz was very good at it too.

 

[808Husker in KCMO]

You got some links to share? I'm curious to see support for Nebraska. I can't even get any Husker support in my office!

There's a great big wasteland out there for solid message boards of Big Ten teams, but BuckeyePlanet has been my go-to board for most of this year. I put up a poll over there:

LINK

tOSU fans should root for Nebraska. They are in the same division as Wisconsin and a UW loss is a win for them.

 

[zoogs]

You got some links to share? I'm curious to see support for Nebraska. I can't even get any Husker support in my office!

There's a great big wasteland out there for solid message boards of Big Ten teams, but BuckeyePlanet has been my go-to board for most of this year. I put up a poll over there:

LINK

This "buxfan4life" guy is great.

I like corn. Cheese makes your poop hard.

Very true. Corn should be a pretty good source of fiber.

They also seem to have creative forum censoring out there.

Gonna be interesting to see if Martinez [Mark May]s the bed or not.

I think I like OSU fans.

 

[Badger_HB]

You got some links to share? I'm curious to see support for Nebraska. I can't even get any Husker support in my office!

There's a great big wasteland out there for solid message boards of Big Ten teams, but BuckeyePlanet has been my go-to board for most of this year. I put up a poll over there:

LINK

tOSU fans should root for Nebraska. They are in the same division as Wisconsin and a UW loss is a win for them.

Plus, they flat-out hate Wisconsin. Like you wouldn't believe.

 

[BlueInTheFace]

You got some links to share? I'm curious to see support for Nebraska. I can't even get any Husker support in my office!

There's a great big wasteland out there for solid message boards of Big Ten teams, but BuckeyePlanet has been my go-to board for most of this year. I put up a poll over there:

LINK

This "buxfan4life" guy is great.

I like corn. Cheese makes your poop hard.

Very true. Corn should be a pretty good source of fiber.

They also seem to have creative forum censoring out there.

Gonna be interesting to see if Martinez [Mark May]s the bed or not.

I think I like OSU fans.

HA! We'll see how long that lasts....

 

[zoogs]

It's OK, I already like Michigan fans

Considered going to school there actually...talked to this dude at a Michigan alumn event for prospectives, who was so pumped up about the Wolverines and just spent five very intense minutes bagging on everything about the Buckeyes. It was awesome. I wish I could remember every word of that passionate diatribe. Got to love fans that love their school like that.