2012/2013 Big Ten Football Predictions

[Ctrain07]

Might as well start before spring ball, plus I miss college football already. So lets see how you folks feel the Big Ten will shake down!

1.Michigan (I feel they may play for the National Championship this year with another season under Brady Hoke and Denard with one last year)
2.Ohio St (Urban Meyer will have his new team playing top notch football bringing an element of speed to the Big Ten)
3.Wisconsin (They lost a lot in terms of coaches and most importantly Russ Wilson, but Montee Ball and James White will take pressure off the new QB)
4.Nebraska
5.Michigan State
6.Iowa
7.Northwestern
8.Purdue
9.Illinois
10.Indiana
11.Penn St (Bill O'Brien may not have been the best choice and the effects of the scandal will cause a rebuild stage)
12.Minnesota

[LionsFan..LOL]

Might as well start before spring ball, plus I miss college football already. So lets see how you folks feel the Big Ten will shake down!

1.Michigan (I feel they may play for the National Championship this year with another season under Brady Hoke and Denard with one last year)
2.Ohio St (Urban Meyer will have his new team playing top notch football bringing an element of speed to the Big Ten)
3.Wisconsin (They lost a lot in terms of coaches and most importantly Russ Wilson, but Montee Ball and James White will take pressure off the new QB)
4.Nebraska
5.Michigan State
6.Iowa
7.Northwestern
8.Purdue
9.Illinois
10.Indiana
11.Penn St (Bill O'Brien may not have been the best choice and the effects of the scandal will cause a rebuild stage)
12.Minnesota

You and I, sir/madame, are gonna get along just fine

[Ctrain07]

Well its sir to you I'm from Wisconsin so I have a tad bit of bias towards the Badgers. But I've always liked Michigan as well. When you guys got Brady Hoke and got rid of Rich Rod, I knew this time would eventually come.

[ahoda]

Michigan's schedule is too tough to win the Big 10 this year. MSU is still going to be damn good and could probably go to the Rose Bowl.

[BCB mwat15]

I don't have high expectations overall, but I do expect a lot from the Illini front 7. It would have been great to keep Koenning but it should be a great unit again.

[WorldChamps1908]

A season with nothing at the end....

Our bowl game is going to be the Michigan game..be afraid.

[mkool65]

UM as a national champion? They have nobody this year to catch Dennard's jump balls with Hemmingway gone. Their front 7 on the defense is week, teams like MSU, UW, OSU will run up and down the field on them. The o-line is average and running backs are slightly above that. 3-4 years down the road they may be back to that level, but they are not there this year. I have them at 8, maybe 9 wins.

1. MSU (Top defense, 2nd best RB in B10, very good O-line and a highly touted QB who has had 3 years to learn the offense is a good recipe. WR is the only position of concern, tons of talent but injuries and transfer status could be a problem. Also a fairly favorable schedule, 9 games in the state of Michigan if I am not mistaken)
1B. OSU (Miller has a lot of potential, and they have either the 2nd best or the best defense in the B10)
3. Nebraska (Toughest place to play in B10, very strong defense and a grinding offense. If Martinez could throw they would be great)
4. Wiscy (Best RB in the country, big OL, strong defense)
5. um (Getting better, but benefited from an easy schedule last season. 2 years from a B10 title run)
6. PSU
7. Illinois
8. Minnesota
9. Purdue
10. NU
11. Indiana

[IlliniCubs]

UM as a national champion? They have nobody this year to catch Dennard's jump balls with Hemmingway gone. Their front 7 on the defense is week, teams like MSU, UW, OSU will run up and down the field on them. The o-line is average and running backs are slightly above that. 3-4 years down the road they may be back to that level, but they are not there this year. I have them at 8, maybe 9 wins.

1. MSU (Top defense, 2nd best RB in B10, very good O-line and a highly touted QB who has had 3 years to learn the offense is a good recipe. WR is the only position of concern, tons of talent but injuries and transfer status could be a problem. Also a fairly favorable schedule, 9 games in the state of Michigan if I am not mistaken)
1B. OSU (Miller has a lot of potential, and they have either the 2nd best or the best defense in the B10)
3. Nebraska (Toughest place to play in B10, very strong defense and a grinding offense. If Martinez could throw they would be great)
4. Wiscy (Best RB in the country, big OL, strong defense)
5. um (Getting better, but benefited from an easy schedule last season. 2 years from a B10 title run)
6. PSU
7. Illinois
8. Minnesota
9. Purdue
10. NU
11. Indiana

This is more in line with my thinking as well. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Illini finish above PSU too. Beckman is bringing some things that have been sorely missing the last few years with accountability, competitiveness, and discipline. Not only that there are stats available that show how many games/year a coach gains or losses for his teams. Zook cost his teams a little over 1 win year while Beckman gains about 1 win per year for his teams.

A return to the norm of the Illini special teams units which have been the worst in the country...honestly they have literally been ranked the worst in the country by the stats. Tim Salem the new ST coach has done a phenomenal job at his previous stops and getting the ST's rankings to improve from 120ish to even 70-80ish could account for 1 extra win over the course of a season.

The defense should still be solid with a lot of talent coming back. The big questions will be depth (as it has been the last 6 years) and the S position. On offense, going to a spread-type offense will actually benefit the Illini more given their talent. They need to replace AJ jenkins but that will be done by a multitude of guys picking up the slack, not just one. If, IF, the OL can get marginally better the offense could really move the ball on people.

Overall, if you break the season down into thirds the Illini should go:
- 3-1 vs. WMU, @ ASU (should be the only potential loss), vs. Charls. Southern, and vs. Louis. tech. (who has a tough team this year actually).

- AT LEAST 1-3 vs. PSU, @ OSU, @ UM, vs. IU Easily the toughest part of the schedule. Going 2-2 would be a huge boost.

- 3-1 @ wisky, vs. Purdue, vs. Minny, @ NW. HAVE TO WIN 3 OF THESE GAMES.

That gets you to 7 wins which is about what I would expect this year. Factor in that Beckman tends to get more out of his teams that is usually expected and perhaps 8 wins or 9 if a big upset happens isn't out of the questions. Given the fact that the staff has to turn around a mentality that's been fostering for 5 years of giving up when times get tough I could easily see 5 wins also.

Sorry for the long post.

[croce_99]

UM as a national champion? They have nobody this year to catch Dennard's jump balls with Hemmingway gone. Their front 7 on the defense is week, teams like MSU, UW, OSU will run up and down the field on them. The o-line is average and running backs are slightly above that. 3-4 years down the road they may be back to that level, but they are not there this year. I have them at 8, maybe 9 wins.

1. MSU (Top defense, 2nd best RB in B10, very good O-line and a highly touted QB who has had 3 years to learn the offense is a good recipe. WR is the only position of concern, tons of talent but injuries and transfer status could be a problem. Also a fairly favorable schedule, 9 games in the state of Michigan if I am not mistaken)
1B. OSU (Miller has a lot of potential, and they have either the 2nd best or the best defense in the B10)
3. Nebraska (Toughest place to play in B10, very strong defense and a grinding offense. If Martinez could throw they would be great)
4. Wiscy (Best RB in the country, big OL, strong defense)
5. um (Getting better, but benefited from an easy schedule last season. 2 years from a B10 title run)
6. PSU
7. Illinois
8. Minnesota
9. Purdue
10. NU
11. Indiana

Did Iowa get kicked out of the league?

News to me if they did!

[mkool65]

hahaha my bad! Still used to 11 teams. I have them in that second tier of teams with PSU and Illinois

[PistonsFan14]

UM as a national champion? They have nobody this year to catch Dennard's jump balls with Hemmingway gone. Their front 7 on the defense is week, teams like MSU, UW, OSU will run up and down the field on them. The o-line is average and running backs are slightly above that. 3-4 years down the road they may be back to that level, but they are not there this year. I have them at 8, maybe 9 wins.

1. MSU (Top defense, 2nd best RB in B10, very good O-line and a highly touted QB who has had 3 years to learn the offense is a good recipe. WR is the only position of concern, tons of talent but injuries and transfer status could be a problem. Also a fairly favorable schedule, 9 games in the state of Michigan if I am not mistaken)
1B. OSU (Miller has a lot of potential, and they have either the 2nd best or the best defense in the B10)
3. Nebraska (Toughest place to play in B10, very strong defense and a grinding offense. If Martinez could throw they would be great)
4. Wiscy (Best RB in the country, big OL, strong defense)
5. um (Getting better, but benefited from an easy schedule last season. 2 years from a B10 title run)
6. PSU
7. Illinois
8. Minnesota
9. Purdue
10. NU
11. Indiana

Saying our front 7 on D is weak is a pretty ignorant. We have Craig Roh and Jake Ryan back on the ends. Will Cambell has a lot to prove at the nose and I think he is up to it. Demens is pretty solid a MLB and Cam Gordon has worked on getting faster on the outside. We'll be alright..

[mkool65]

Campbell has not done anything yet for someone so highly touted and I have heard nothing that leads me to believe he can come close to filling the void left by Martin. um will be replacing 3 starters on a fairly average D-line from last year. Cam Gordon is not a plus player in the B1G and Demens is average in my mind but will not have someone like Martin to eat up blockers for him. I thought I saw somewhere that Ryan might be playing SLB? Which would leave Brink as the favorite for the other DE spot if what I saw was accurate. Roh is a very good player though, that much I will give you. If Ryan is still at DE who is playing SLB for you?

I think with that front 7; OSU, Nebraska, Alabama, MSU, maybe ND and Wiscy if you somehow make it to them in a title game would be able to control the pace and run the ball all friggin day. That was not an ignorant post, I would feel comfortable betting that they are in the top 3-5 in rush yards given up on defense in the B1G.

[PistonsFan14]

Might as well start before spring ball, plus I miss college football already. So lets see how you folks feel the Big Ten will shake down!

1.Michigan (I feel they may play for the National Championship this year with another season under Brady Hoke and Denard with one last year)
2.Ohio St (Urban Meyer will have his new team playing top notch football bringing an element of speed to the Big Ten)
3.Wisconsin (They lost a lot in terms of coaches and most importantly Russ Wilson, but Montee Ball and James White will take pressure off the new QB)
4.Nebraska
5.Michigan State
6.Iowa
7.Northwestern
8.Purdue
9.Illinois
10.Indiana
11.Penn St (Bill O'Brien may not have been the best choice and the effects of the scandal will cause a rebuild stage)
12.Minnesota

No complaints from me.

[Ctrain07]

Im almost thinking that Wisco will be number two now. The addition of Danny O'brien is huge!