In
another thread @ELA provided Phil Steele's projected preseason top-25. For the sake of brevity, I will not repost the whole top-25 but here are the B1G teams:
- #1 Ohio State
- #3 Oregon
- #5 Penn State
- #11 Michigan
- #12 Illinois
- #23 Indiana
[img width=297.429 height=100]https://i.imgur.com/DGDKVlQ.png[/img]
Michigan seems like EASILY the safest bet for the CG because even if you assume that Day and the Buckeyes aren't going to lose to them again that is still only one loss. Their next toughest game is probably the game against USC in LA on October 11 (mostly because of distance). If they can win in Lincoln (9/20) and in the Coliseum (10/11) then it is pretty hard to see them missing the CG because nothing else on their schedule looks even remotely scary.
Illinois looks like a solid dark horse to make the CG. If they can win in Bloomington (9/20) and take care of business in the games that they "should win" then they should be at least right in the mix for the CG.
Penn State and Oregon each have only one conference road game against a projected top-25 team as well. If HFA wins among the top-three then Oregon loses in State College on 9/27 and Penn State loses in Columbus on 11/1 and both of them need to win out and wait to see how the tiebreakers play out.
I think Indiana is getting the back half of their fortuitous schedule from last year. I just can't see them beating either Oregon or Penn State on the road and the home game against Illinois is, IMHO, a toss-up at best.
Ohio State may be rated the highest but they have the second toughest league schedule of the six. The good news is that it isn't as tough as last year. If the Buckeyes can beat Illinois on the road on 10/11 and beat PSU in Columbus on 11/1 and avoid a big upset they *should* head to Ann Arbor with a trip to the CG already clinched.
