Last week was the MAC football preview. Now to my Big 10 guesses for 2012:
Legends
1.
Michigan State [6-2, 10-2] — The Conventional Sports
Wisdom has the Wolverines winning the division because they get Michigan State
at home. MSU will rely on a strong defense. They have just enough offense to
take the division. Sparty also gets Nebraska and Ohio State at home. The Boise
State game in East Lansing is the toughest nonconference game for the Spartans.2. Michigan [5-3, 8-4] —Lots of good things happened to Michigan last year, and their luck will run out in 2012. Denard Robinson, an average QB in a league full of average QBs, hasn’t solved the stout MSU defense yet. The offensive and defensive lines are getting rebuilt, and there are tough games with plenty of loss potential away from Ann Arbor, namely Alabama, Nebraska and Ohio State.
3. Nebraska [5-3, 8-4] — Bo Pelini’s team was not ready for the Little 12 last year. His defense was soft. It has to get better to offset the usual one-dimensional Cornhusker offense. Little 12 shills and ESPN ripped Ohio State’s freshman QB for his passing last year, but Taylor Martinez wasn’t a whole lot better.
4. Iowa [4-4, 8-4] — Kirk Ferentz, like his predecessor Hayden Fry, has a soft nonconference schedule to help him find a running game to go with a good QB in James Vandenberg. Defense must be better to move up to second in the division with a 5-3 record. Road trips to Ann Arbor and East Lansing will be sure defeats.
5. Northwestern [3-5, 6-6] — Pat Fitzgerald always seems to get the most out of a no-star team. Offense will be OK but not scary to opposing defenses. He will have to find people who can tackle on defense to win seven games.
6. Minnesota [1-7, 3-9] — Goofers will again bring up the rear in the Legends. Coach Jerry Kill has to recruit two more years and hope there will be enough talent by then to move up to fifth place. His team is still barren of talent, even with the decent QB Marques Gray.
Leaders
1. Wisconsin [7-1, 11-1] — Badgers will be in first place somehow to play the Legends winner, at least by default because Ohio State and Penn State can’t due to their tattoo and child rape scandals. Soft nonconference schedule will help the beaten-up Montee Ball ease into the conference opener in Lincoln. If Bret Bielema wins that one, he could go 8-0 in the league.
2. Ohio State [6-2, 10-2] — Holes in the OL and at linebacker must be filled for Urban Meyer to have a big first season in Columbus. LB depth is a big problem right now. Braxton Miller should be better at QB, as the spread-type system Meyer put in his more suited for him than last year’s dull Jim Bollman I-formation. The first four nonconference games at home will help Meyer get his offense playing the way he wants them. 10-2 is the best case scenario for OSU. 9-3 and 6-3 in the conference might be more correct.
3. Illinois [4-4, 7-5] — Tim Beckman might be the big surprise in the entire conference. Tim’s defense will be OK overall, but the offense in need of a running game likely will be the reason why the Illini won’t be better than .500 in the conference and 7-5 overall. His overall enthusiasm and spark is 1,000 times higher than the departed Ron Zook’s.
4. Purdue [3-5, 6-6] — More conventional wisdom from the Little 12 shills is the Boilermakers will be tough to beat. I’ll disagree with their guess on them. Caleb TerBush is an average QB. And DE Kawann Short can’t make every tackle on an overall spotty defense.
5. Penn State [3-5, 6-6] — Joe Paterno left the Nittany Lions’ new coach a soft nonconference schedule. The first game against Ohio U. will be an emotional one that could go either way. After that, reality will set in and the Nit Lions, who had 9 kids flee from last year’s team, will be hard-pressed to hit .500. Matt McGloin might be the seventh or eighth best QB in the entire league.
6. Indiana [1-7, 4-8] — Hoosiers will be horrible again, especially on defense. QB Tre Roberson gives them a decent chance to win a few games, especially the nonconference ones. A Hoosier standard of crap, the IU defense will surrender almost 450 points in 12 games.
Big Ten title game: Wisconsin beats Michigan State again, this time 28-24. I forgot to pick
the MAC title game last week: Ohio University over
the Rockets,
34-31.
