The Big Ten East division is the NBA Western Conference. The Big Ten West division is the NBA Eastern Conference. The Big Ten East is the English Premier League. The Big Ten West is the Championship. The Big Ten East are the New York Yankees. The Big Ten West are the Staten Island Yankees. Well, I’m exaggerating a bit, especially on that last one, but you get the idea.
As we’ve been chronicling for the past month or so, the Big Ten has it all in terms of story lines this football talking season, but they failed miserably in terms of who they selected to attend Media Days this Thursday and Friday.
The Ohio State quarterback situation has been this offseason’s number one national college football storyline. OSU DL Joey Bosa projects to be the #1 overall pick in next April’s NFL Draft. If he goes #1, Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg might go #2. He should be the first signal caller selected. Neither player is coming to media days. Neither are any of OSU’s QBs. Ditto regarding their starting tailback, who should be the first running back selected in the draft.
Well, you get the idea. A lot of the other Big Ten schools followed Ohio State’s lead in leaving the more relevant and brand name players back on campus. Instead, you’ll have many more obscure players in Chicago this year for Media Days.
Big Ten West Predictions and Projected Record
1. Wisconsin Badgers 10-2, 7-1
You know the Wisconsin Badgers football drill. Really strong and really fat guys clearing out huge spaces of open field for really talented, speedy tailbacks. Rinse and repeat. Always repeat.
Exit Melvin Gordon, Rob Havenstein and Kyle Costigan. Time to step up for Corey Clement, Tyler Marz and Ray Ball. Wisconsin will once again over-power opponents by pounding the ball. In the words of Spandau Ballet, “I know this much is true.”
2. Nebraska 9-3, 6-2
New Coach Mike Riley brings a distinctively different style. While Pelini was the “Angry Dad” cartoon character created by Bart Simpson, Riley is more The Dude from “The Big Lebowski.” The laid back Riley has a nice chill attitude and PR skills aplenty, but he shouldn’t instill a whole lot of optimism. Going 93-80 for his career is certainly not all that impressive.
But as Angry Dad says, “THAT’S OPINION! Not News.”
3. Iowa 7-5, 5-3
Lately, Iowa football seems to excel when no one expects much of it. So hey, “the Hawkeyes are going to suck this year!” Meaning they actually won’t. Sure, there are all kinds of question marks with this team, but there’s also plenty of reasons to be very hopeful. They could easily win eight games.
4. Minnesota 7-5, 5-3
They might be play some boring games this fall, as I expect all of the Gophers contests to be low-scoring and dull. I’d predict ‘Sota to win 8 or 9, but their schedule is pretty tough. They might have the hardest schedule in the Big Ten. How about that opener versus TCU?
5. Northwestern 6-6, 4-4
Theyโll have to break in a new signal caller, and thereโs plenty of issues with the group up front who will be blocking for that new, to be determined, starting quarterback. Six or seven wins sounds very accurate, but itโs highly unlikely the Wildcats exceed that mark.
6. Illinois 5-7, 2-6
No Mikey Dudek + Wes Lunt’s injury history + a suspect offensive line = probably not another bowl bid. A lot of Illini fans want to see Tim Beckman and Athletic Director Mike Thomas go; they might get their wish around Christmastime.
7. Purdue 3-9, 1-7
So many recruiting classes have been rather poorly rated lately, and it all adds up to a poor record this season.
Overall, it seems like the West has been set up to give the Wisconsin Badgers a nice easy path to the Big ten Title game each season. The Big Red Machine in Madison continues to roll on despite regime change.ย Here is the link to the Big Ten East Division predictions and projections
Never Too Early Season Preview Series:
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Wisconsin
Paul M. Banksย owns, operates and writesย The Sports Bank.net, which is part of theย FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country.
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