My Big 10 Preview

[BigdaddyQH]

The Big 10 is back to the "Big Two". Just replace Michigan with Penn State. There is a big log jam in the middle.

The contenders: Penn State gets QB Clark and RB Royster back. They will have to lead a group that will be inexperienced up front. The defense should be tough in the front 7, but very inexperienced in the secondary. The schedule is an 11 win gift, wrapped up and ready to be handed to JoePa. They get Iowa and Ohio State at home, and the non-con schedule is straight from the bakery. All cream puffs.

Ohio State. The Buckeyes have to develop their offense in a hurry, with Pryor the only returning starter from last year. The defense will be strong up front and in the secondary, but loses all 3 of it's LB's. Ohio State gets tested early by USC, and travels to Penn State. That probably spells 10-2 or better for the Bucks.

Midpack Madness: A bunch of teams will fight for positions 3-8 in the Big 10. Your guess is as good as ours, so here goes.

Illinois. Juice Williams returns at QB and brings experience with him. The offense should shine this year. The defense has numerous holes to fill, especially in the back 7. Missouri, Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan State make up 4 of the first 5 games.

Michigan State. Having to find replacements for QB Hoyer and RB Ringer will not be easy. There is experience at WR and on the line. The defense, with 8 starters returning, will hae to pick up the slack until the offense gets on track.

Iowa. RB Greene went pro, and Iowa now must find a replacement. QB Stanzi will have to improve on his passsing game. Iowa will again depend on a stingy defense, led by strong LB's. The line will have to be rebuilt. Iowa has road games against Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State, and Wisky. Ouch.

Michigan. It could not get any worse for Michigan, after last years fiasco. They return 9 starters on offense, and if Freshman QB Forcier canlearn the offense, Michigan should be able to score. The defense is the problem, with only the LB corp in good shape. The schedule is rather soft.

Northwestern. The 'Cats must replace the skill players on offense, but the line looks solid. The defense returns 8 starters and should continue to show the improvment started last season. Fitgzerald is a very good coach, and Northwestern normally flies under the radar. Can they do it again?

The pretenders.

Minnesota. Lots of returning starters for this group, so may think that they should be a challenger, but how good are the returners? The offense returns 10, but must show better balance. That means running the ball, especially now that they are playing outdoors. The defense is quick, but must win more battles up front. Minny went bowling last year, with 7 wins. This year, No. Illinois, Bowling Green and Montana State are replaced by Syracuse, Air Force and Cal, a bit more challenging. The rest of the schedule, save one game, is no help.

Indiana. A new offense hopes to get better results than last years 3 win campaign. A lot of starters return. Indiana must improve the ground attack and stop giving up so many points. It will be a stretch for a bowl appearance here.

Purdue. Danny Hope takes over from the legendary Joe Tiller. Hope is what is neeed because Purdue is very thin and inexperienced at QB, WR, and RB. the OL is experienced, and must leand the way. The defense returns 7 starters, but needs to lead the team while the offense gells. A tough assignment for this team.

 

[russ1945]

Bqh

Good analysis and pretty much the way I see it. I am anxious to see how Minnesota works QB/Athlete MarQueis Gray into the game plan. He is supposed to be a talented QB/Athlete and will probably be a situational player and maybe used in the red zone. If he is the real deal but still 6 wins may be a stetch for the Gophers this year. Do you think Michigan is going to become a public team as far as betting goes in 2009?

 

[BigdaddyQH]

Michigan has had such a poor record ATS, it is hard to say. They were 23-24-2 the past 4 years preceeding last year, and they went 2-10 last year. It all depends on how much knowledge Joe Pub has. This may be a money maker for sharp gamblers. I am going to watch the lines closely, especially the line vs Notre Dame, a home game for Michigan.

 

[Flsunman]

What?? Ohio State's only returning starter on offense is Pryor? I don't care how good the kid is, this is trouble.

 

[Conan]

What?? Ohio State's only returning starter on offense is Pryor? I don't care how good the kid is, this is trouble.

What does reloading their offense look like at OSU? It seems USC's toughest game this season won't be at Ohio St. The Trojan defense may be compromised for a while compared to last season, but OH St. doesn't look like much of a threat. I am expecting to see USC's offense unload all they've got in W1 over there. I'm just wondering what the Buckeyes have to counter that with. Is there any kind of defense left, or is the cupboard bare there too?

 

[romecloneout]

osu is bringing back brewster at center, they are saying he is one of the tops in the country. also they are getting the o-linemen who transferred from michigan this year, so the o-line will be ok. they actually have decent skill players returning just no real stars(yet). the defense should be abouve decent with the loss of jenkins and little animal. I think the season will come down to whether or not tressel will open up the playbook for pryor. I think he needs to run the plays that he ran with troy smith. The usc game should be fun just hope we can pull one out at the shoe this year.

 

[spokenword14]

no Wisconsin? you left them out completely

 

[BigdaddyQH]

no Wisconsin? you left them out completely

Thank you. I will include them now. I knew I missed someone.

Wisconsin: This is another middle-of-the-pack team. This team still can not throw the ball on offense. The QB situation is unsettled. P.J. Hill is gone, and that void must be filled. The defense will be strong in the secondary, but very inexperienced along the front 7. The schedule starts out with 4 games at home, 3 being cupcakes. Wisly has been a disappointment last year. Beware of this. Their ATS record for the past 2 years is 9-15.

 

[spokenword14]

Thank you. I will include them now. I knew I missed someone.

Wisconsin: This is another middle-of-the-pack team. This team still can not throw the ball on offense. The QB situation is unsettled. P.J. Hill is gone, and that void must be filled. The defense will be strong in the secondary, but very inexperienced along the front 7. The schedule starts out with 4 games at home, 3 being cupcakes. Wisly has been a disappointment last year. Beware of this. Their ATS record for the past 2 years is 9-15.

agree with all of that, but losing PJ Hill won't leave much of a void. John Clay was their best running back last season, and Badger fans are real excited about him.

 

[TOOTIGHT]

Clay will be a stud this year and as far as their passing game goes, I think they will be adequate. The QB position should be more stable this year and as long as they don't stack up a ton of injuries like last year, Wisky could be a solid squad.

 

[TOOTIGHT]

"Minnesota. Lots of returning starters for this group, so may think that they should be a challenger, but how good are the returners? The offense returns 10, but must show better balance. That means running the ball, especially now that they are playing outdoors. The defense is quick, but must win more battles up front. Minny went bowling last year, with 7 wins. This year, No. Illinois, Bowling Green and Montana State are replaced by Syracuse, Air Force and Cal, a bit more challenging. The rest of the schedule, save one game, is no help."

Well they are bringing back a good QB, and a freshman RB that had a great 1st year, and one of the best wide-outs in the country. This is not a team like Indiana just bringing back scrubs. The D-line gets pressure and the O-line should be more experienced. I think this team can get it done this year. They aren't like Indiana just returning scrubs, they are bringing back serious talent. I'm just worried about weather or not Tim Brewster is a legit coach aside from recruiting.

 

[BigdaddyQH]

I'm wondering what Minny fans think about the move to an outdoor stadium and how this will effect the team, if at all. Any comments from anyone?

 

[russ1945]

Minnesota

Some where on my thread I remember posting something about MarQueis Gray who is a QB/Athlete with a lot of raw talent. Minn had the OC from Texas, Greg Davis, come up and work with him in the off season thnking he had Vince Young like qualities. Have you Big 10 guys got more on that.
I saw him as a spot player, spt, runner, receiver, roll out guy who might come in in certain situations. I think he took most of the snaps in the spring. He had to sit out LY in order to qualify. I am very interested to get some feed back on him. He could be an X-Factor in the opeing week at Syracuse if he is under the radar nationwide.

 

[russ1945]

Found this on espn.com

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="75%" border=0 sizset="105" sizcache="0"><TBODY sizset="105" sizcache="0"><TR sizset="105" sizcache="0"><TD vAlign=top sizset="105" sizcache="0">Minnesota, Michigan discuss non-league games
June 5, 2009 11:30 AM
Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
Michigan athletic director Bill Martin mentioned last month how he tries to fill out his nonconference schedule with the two Big Ten teams that the Wolverines don't play in a given season.
He wasn't kidding.
According to the blog MVictors.com, Michigan and Minnesota recently discussed scheduling a nonconference game in 2010 at Michigan Stadium. The Wolverines are still looking for an opponent for the Sept. 4 opener, which will mark the first game in the renovated Big House. Minnesota has open dates on Sept. 4 and Sept. 25 and needs to add a 12th game for 2010.
The Gophers and Wolverines don't play in 2009 or 2010.
Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi confirmed the discussions and explained to MVictors.com why the plan ultimately didn't pan out.

We had already scheduled Southern Cal for next year [2010]. I'm not a real brilliant guy, but I'm not so sure it's in the best interest of Minnesota football to play Southern Cal and Michigan in back-to-back weeks. Non-conference, so-to-speak. As a result, if we had not scheduled Southern Cal I would have been very interested. But we had already inked Southern Cal, which again I applaud coach [Tim] Brewster for improving our schedule, but you don't want to improve it too much. I'm not so sure Ohio State or Michigan would do that either.
Bill proposed it. I thought it was intriguing because the honest truth is, I still needed a game for next year and so did he.
​

A Big Ten spokesman said the league would have no objection to two of its members scheduling a non-league game. In 2002, Purdue and Indiana scheduled a nonconference basketball game in December because they were scheduled to meet just once during the regular season.
You can't fault Minnesota for avoiding a trip to Ann Arbor in addition to a game with USC, though it will be interesting to see if more Big Ten teams look at this strategy.
This could be a way to add flavor to the nonconference schedule and help fellow league members (Minnesota would have pocketed a hefty sum for visiting the Big House). Fans would certainly welcome more non-league games against big-time teams, especially familiar ones.


Bill Martin, Joel Maturi, Michigan Wolverines, Minnesota Golden Gophers, USC Trojans
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[russ1945]

Minnesota - Gray

Spring answers
1. Gray day -- Heralded recruit MarQueis Gray finally got on the practice field for the Gophers this spring, and he lived up to the hype. Gray won't take the starting quarterback job away from junior Adam Weber, but he'll definitely be a part of the offense this fall. Minnesota likely will have some special packages for Gray, who completed 8 of 10 passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns in the spring game.

 

[BigdaddyQH]

Interesting article about Minny and Michigan wanting to scheule non-con games with each other, but it takes away from the whole concept of non-com games. I woul dmuch rather see Minny or Michigan play a USC, or some other Pac 10 team, than each other. I applaud Minny for scheduling USC to a home and home series, something that Michigan will never do.

 

[FairWarning]

Interesting article about Minny and Michigan wanting to scheule non-con games with each other, but it takes away from the whole concept of non-com games. I woul dmuch rather see Minny or Michigan play a USC, or some other Pac 10 team, than each other. I applaud Minny for scheduling USC to a home and home series, something that Michigan will never do.

Michigan has played home-and-home in the past with the Big Boys. Recently had Oregon. Now that Rodriguez is there, they have Delaware St, in addition to two MAC schools and Notre Dame.

Minny will be better than Mich this year.

 

[BigdaddyQH]

The thing that I do not understand is why Michigan refuses to play anymore home/home series with any other non-con team except Notre Dame. This is very suspect. I have spoken to a couple of Michigan fanatics and they seem to think that finances play a part in it. Michigan has to have 7 home games a year or more, or so they claim.

 

[goblue12]

Minny will be better than Mich this year.

They will be, but the W/L record won't indicate that. Minnesota has a gauntlet of a schedule.

Getting 6 would be an accomplishment for them (ditto to Michigan).

 

[SoonerBS]

"Minnesota. Lots of returning starters for this group, so may think that they should be a challenger, but how good are the returners? The offense returns 10, but must show better balance. That means running the ball, especially now that they are playing outdoors. The defense is quick, but must win more battles up front. Minny went bowling last year, with 7 wins. This year, No. Illinois, Bowling Green and Montana State are replaced by Syracuse, Air Force and Cal, a bit more challenging. The rest of the schedule, save one game, is no help."

Well they are bringing back a good QB, and a freshman RB that had a great 1st year, and one of the best wide-outs in the country. This is not a team like Indiana just bringing back scrubs. The D-line gets pressure and the O-line should be more experienced. I think this team can get it done this year. They aren't like Indiana just returning scrubs, they are bringing back serious talent. I'm just worried about weather or not Tim Brewster is a legit coach aside from recruiting.

I have to agree with Big Daddy on this one. Minny looks like a bunch of pretenders. They got to a bowl game last season by mostly beating some powder puffs to get there. Whenever the meat of their schedule arrived, they folded bent over like a Prom Queen on Prom Night.

I think Minnesota could be a good fade, especially against early good competition. I also agree about Purdue, they should be a good fade this season as well. Although, I don't look for the linesmakers to give us a whole lot of favors with Purdue. We'll see . . . . .