I'm thinking Jim Mora better be glad he has a $12 million buyout if the Bruins don't improve this season. UCLA is 12-13 overall and 7-11 in the Pac 12 the last two years. He does have 15 starters returning including 9 on offense.
I agree Conan, Mora MUST improve the running game or Josh Rosen will struggle this year.
I had a hunch last year on Penn State doing well, mostly because I thought the OC hire was really good. They got better to dangerous by seasons end. I know they return everybody, but my gut says setback year. Franklin is just an ok coach and now the league has a year of tape. Michigan is too physical. Ohio State upgraded and should get revenge. There is one more loss in that schedule.
Lot of respect from the Northern part of Alabama when you post RLR. Ohio State is the class of the conference but there will be some surprises to follow. Michigan nor Penn State are in OSU's class. The underdog in the Big 10 to me is Northwestern. Lots of veterans plus a returning quarterback.
No doubt about it, Northwestern is now the "University of Illinois" that headquarters in Chicago land. Their program has come a long way from days when the Wildcats were the perennial cellar-dwellers in the Big 10 (They did win the 1949 Rose Bowl defeating California 20-14, I listened to the game on the radio ).
Poor fighting Illini, not even Ron Zook was able to bring the program back to national or Big 10 prominence.
Auburn has the potential this year to be very good. Maybe better than very good. But based on preseason power ratings and past history, I think 8 is a solid number.
They will be underdogs to bama (home), Clemson (away) and LSU (away). Depending on how the season plays out, they could end up underdogs to Ga (home) and A&M (away) as well.
They have winnable games against Ark (away) and the Mississippi schools (home) but I wouldn't put any of those in the automatic category.
The parts are in place for an outstanding season - one that would far exceed 8 wins. But it is hard to get a read on a Malzahn coached team. They underachieve as often as they live up to expectations.
