Tomorrow is the start of a new season. For some it is the continuation of just hoping for a win week to week. For most it is a chance to redeem an early loss out of conference and still make it into a BCS bowl game. Others are right where they want to be: undefeated with visions of playing in Lucas Oil Stadium not too far off. Where is your team?
The better question might be "How confident your team will win the Big Ten?" With all the talk of conferences expanding again, the Big Ten has been quietly left alone. Fans as a whole should be thankful. The Big Ten has been a little disappointing so far this season. I am not thrilled that the biggest game of the season is tomorrow night with #8 Nebraska traveling to Camp Randall to play #7 Wisconsin. There might be a matchup that means a lot later in the season, but nothing is going to compare to this first game of the Big Ten season.
Legends:
- #8 Nebraska 4-0. Rolling
- #19 Michigan 4-0. Have fans dreaming in September again
- Michigan State 3-1. Wishing the schedule was different
- Iowa 3-1. In position to quietly have a great year nobody knows about
- Northwestern 2-1. Still waiting for Dan Persa
- Minnesota 1-3. Gave hope for the league keeping close to USC. Lost it when they lost to New Mexico State. Shamed the league when they lost to North Dakota St.
Leaders:
- #7 Wisconsin 4-0. Rolling
- #24 Illinois 4-0. Surprised Arizona State. Still waiting to see real Zook
- Ohio State 3-1. Terrelle Pryor is coming back next week right? They hope so.
- Penn State 3-1. That one was Alabama. That one was ugly. Real ugly.
- Purdue 2-1. Who made their schedule? Seriously? They had their bye already. Good luck playing 9 straight weeks.
- Indiana 1-3. I'll give you credit that you can figure this one out on your own.
Michigan State falls square into the redemption category. One loss already wouldn't normally be terrible. This season is different because of how difficult the schedule is. This is the toughest 4 games in a row to start the B1G season you could imagine. The only way it could technically be more difficult is if MSU played Illinois tomorrow and not OSU. But that's the technical sense saying that Illinois is better than OSU.
I took some heat on twitter last week for not being positive during a 45-7 win. I countered with the fact that it was Central Michigan. I was happy with the defense. The secondary flew to the ball and the front 7 did a good job of getting pressure on the QB. Kirk Cousins had a terrible day. Please don't spit out numbers at me saying it wasn't a bad game. He was overthrowing receivers and forcing balls into double coverage. In fact I think I'm going to try and get that patented. Whenever somebody forces a ball into double coverage it will now be called "The Cousins."
It was great to finally see the O Line dominate people and clear some running holes. What more does Le'Veon Bell need to do before he becomes the go to running back? Right now I trust him more than Edwin Baker. He is running harder (ask the poor CMU CB who thought he had a chance to tackle him) and appears faster. He has to get more than 8 carries tomorrow, and should be the back to get the carries on the first drive. The goal of having three great running backs is to be able to give it to the hot hand. That's not happening right now.
Get ready for this to be a long 4 games for the Spartans and a long season for the Big Ten in general. Eventually the national media is going to get back to trashing the Big Ten. It just happens that the Big 12 and Big East currently took over the suckfest. Don't get me wrong. I can't wait to see the matchup tomorrow night. I still don't know who I'm rooting for. Wisconsin has the dominating O Line that Spartan fans can only dream of, while Nebraska has a highly touted defense that lives up to expectations...that Spartan fans can only dream of. Luckily I don't have to make a choice right now since these two teams will be playing again at the end of the year. I just hope it's not a blowout so that it won't feel like the second best team in the league can't hold a candle to the best.
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