CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: Cincydawg on July 25, 2019, 10:53:39 AM
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It's almost August.
I got Nebraska at 10-2 vs Michigan at 11-1 in the CG with Nebraska pulling an upset to make the RB, but not playoff.
This probably jinxes both of course. If JH can't beat OSU at home without Urban and a new QB, he might as well give it up.
For the four teams that get in, I got nothing special really. Clemson has an almost assured spot barring injuries. I can't pick against Bama. I think they beat UGA again with their backup QB. Oklahoma looks good to me, and I'll reach out for Washington, which isn't very likely I admit.
The probably a rematch.
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It won't be the Wolverines.
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this all sounds wonderful to me
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It won't be the Wolverines.
While they have solid O-Line and Receiving corp.Patterson has to emerge as a passer.Off the top of my head the lost Winowich(sp),Gary,Bush off of the "D".They might put up a lot of points but they'll have to.Lot of question marks all over this conference.If Sparty's O-Line can come together they may be the SOB's MD's been hoping for
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Cincy,
Just curious, do you have the 2 Husker losses to Ohio St. in Lincoln and to the Gophers on the road?
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My 10-2 is more guess than detailed prediction, so I don't know where they will lose of course, but OSU and Minny sound reasonable. Teams lose games we don't expect obviously. NW, Purdue, Wisconsin, all possibles as well.
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In 4 years at Michigan, Jim Harbaugh hasn't had a non-Top 10 defense yet. And that includes 2017, when they returned 1 defensemen. What did they lose that year from 2016? Just 11 guys to the NFL (8 draftees and 3 free agent signees). They have at least as much returning talent and experience this year as in 2017, and I'd argue significantly more. Expecting a free fall on defense is silly unless a defense can free fall and stay in the Top 10.
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Patterson has to emerge as a passer.
Patterson was one of the conference's best QBs last year. The 22:7 TD:INT ratio is stuff you can win with. We're all anxious to see how the new offense looks, though. We know the huddle and fullbacks are gone but little else.
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TEs to remain a large contributor to the new offense?
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My 10-2 is more guess than detailed prediction, so I don't know where they will lose of course, but OSU and Minny sound reasonable. Teams lose games we don't expect obviously. NW, Purdue, Wisconsin, all possibles as well.
yes, I see tOSU and Wisconsin as the 2 most likely losses. Northwestern and Iowa follow with Purdue and Minnesooota not far behind.
My guess is 8-4
Wisconsin wins the west, perhaps in a tiebreaker
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TEs to remain a large contributor to the new offense?
It doesn't sound like it.
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a couple of those big kids that Jim beat Riley for in recruiting could use the portal to get to Lincoln
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Former NFL quarterback turned college football analyst Dan Orlovsky believes the preseason Big Ten West favorites are a legitimate national championship contender this fall, acknowledging Nebraska as his darkhorse Playoff pick during Wednesday's appearance on Get Up!.
"Give me the frosted tips of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, they’re back,” Orlovsky said, before Booger McFarland picked Texas and Marcus Spears landed on Oregon.
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Booger McFarland's nickname fits him.
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yup
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IMO, it's no great leap of the imagination to pick Texas. If the Horns are as good as everyone is saying they are, then they will beat the teams they should beat. Then their season comes down to beating LSU and beating OU in the Big 12 CCG, or losing to LSU and (likely) having to beat OU twice.
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I'm utterly intrigued by the B1G this year. Given Clemson and Bammer will likely continue to rule the roost, not much interest nationally.
But:
The West looks like a meat grinder. Outside the Illini (who may continue to improve) every game looks like a tossup.
The Big Four of OSU, UM, MSU, and PSU could still all be slobberknockery.
Not sure what to expect out of Maryland or Indiana. Not a Locksley defender, but they have talent. The Hoosiers might have a competent offensive coordinator - could they be kinda good?
Rutgers probably still bad.
My prediction
Minnesota v. Michigan State for the championship
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My prediction
Minnesota v. Michigan State for the championship
Rupert Murdoch would be hella pissed
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I think both divisions are more up-in-the-air than usual.
The wildcard in the West is that Nebraska has a schedule that could be VERY favorable for a CG run.
The wildcard in the East is that the Spartans will probably have a defense good enough to potentially beat anybody and an offense bad enough to potentially lose to anybody.
The secondary wildcard in the East is that obviously the Buckeyes have a new coach. Ohio State has won at least a share of the B1G-E every year that there has been a B1G-E to win, but those all occurred under HC Urban Meyer and he has retired, how will Ryan Day fare?
I could definitely see Nebraska getting to the CG because they host what are probably their four toughest B1G opponents (tOSU, Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern). OTOH, this is still a team that started out 0-6 and finished 4-8 last year so picking them to win the division may be a bridge too far.
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Rupert Murdoch would be hella pissed
HUH?
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I still can't believe that Dantonio's response to the last few years of dismal offense was to:
- fire no one
- move his QB coach to RBs and OC
- move his RB coach and co-OC to QBs
- move his TE coach and co-OC to OL
- move his OL coach to TEs
- move his DBs coach to WRs
- move his WRs coach to DBs
All the same faces are in the clubhouse, but literally every offensive coach has a new job. That's incredible. But it seems relatively few non-MSU fans have noticed.
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If JH can't beat OSU at home without Urban and a new QB, he might as well give it up.
If Day is a downgrade from Urban, and the team starts to equilibrate to a new level, this could be the hardest year for JH to beat him.
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HUH?
Part owner of 20th Century Fox, which owns Fox Sports. Fox will broadcast the B1G CCG.
Point being that nobody will tune in to see Minnesota vs MSU. Ratings will suffer and therefore Rupert Murdoch will be pissed.
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In 4 years at Michigan, Jim Harbaugh hasn't had a non-Top 10 defense yet. And that includes 2017, when they returned 1 defensemen. What did they lose that year from 2016? Just 11 guys to the NFL (8 draftees and 3 free agent signees). They have at least as much returning talent and experience this year as in 2017, and I'd argue significantly more. Expecting a free fall on defense is silly unless a defense can free fall and stay in the Top 10.
Replacing bodies isn't plugging holes unless Winovich & Gary were overrated which seems to be the lament.Bush however was tough,if Harbaugh is going to get off the canvas this better be the season.Don't think M's D will be anything special this season
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Part owner of 20th Century Fox, which owns Fox Sports. Fox will broadcast the B1G CCG.
Point being that nobody will tune in to see Minnesota vs MSU. Ratings will suffer and therefore Rupert Murdoch will be pissed.
Gotcha
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Replacing bodies isn't plugging holes unless Winovich & Gary were overrated which seems to be the lament.Bush however was tough,if Harbaugh is going to get off the canvas this better be the season.Don't think M's D will be anything special this season
I have to assume you would have said the same thing ("replacing bodies isn't plugging holes") about replacing:
- Jabrill Peppers and
- Chris Wormley and
- Taco Charlton and
- Jourdan Lewis and
- Delano Hill and
- Ryan Glasgow
Michigan lost more, arguably a lot more, going into 2017 than going into 2019. Going into 2019 we are down Winovich, Gary, and Bush. Those guys are amazing, full stop. But it's still less all-stars to lose and less uncertainty to have than we saw going into 2017 after being bled of the bulleted list above. (...) And that was still a Top 10 defense.
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They weren't a top ten defense the last two games of the season when it counts.Now M might fill out nicely but right now I'm not seeing it and hopes seem to be on the other side of the ball
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I never said they were perfect. I also didn't say they finished the season on top versus every opponent last year. Just overall Top 10 nationally. And that all of Jim Harbaugh's defenses at Michigan have finished the season as Top 10 defenses. I also said that pulling this off in 2017 was the hardest magic trick yet, and that this year's outlook for pulling it off looks less challenging than it was in 2017. So betting on another Top 10 defense is a good bet to take.
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This conversation began when you said "They might put up a lot of points, but they'll have to." If by "they'll have to" you were implying that by losing Winovich, Gary, and Bush, they'll fall out of the national Top 10, then I disagree with you for the reasons stated. But if you meant literally anything else, then we don't even have a disagreement.
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Hmmm....
Prediction....
Every QB that faces Nebraska will leave the game with an injury.
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What's the opposing QB injury connection? I never assume dirtiness but UNL also doesn't have the pass rush and DBs to make "highest level defense" the answer.
I remember a recent year (was it 2016?), where I think as many as half the teams Michigan faced left the game without their QB starter on the field due to injury (sometimes temporary, sometimes season-ending). It wasn't dirty play that did it, just overwhelming and punishing play.
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perhaps he's cornfused and thinking about this injury vs the Buffs to Adrian Martinez?
Adrian Martinez injury against Colorado - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S6jbcyp5LA)
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I still can't believe that Dantonio's response to the last few years of dismal offense was to:
- fire no one
- move his QB coach to RBs and OC
- move his RB coach and co-OC to QBs
- move his TE coach and co-OC to OL
- move his OL coach to TEs
- move his DBs coach to WRs
- move his WRs coach to DBs
All the same faces are in the clubhouse, but literally every offensive coach has a new job. That's incredible. But it seems relatively few non-MSU fans have noticed.
I've noticed. I'm not sure what to think. There is a lot of Tressel in Dantonio. Tress had some bad years offensively and would move things a bit, but never made some giant change. And magically sometimes they looked a lot better.
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Aren't a lot of them even the same coaches that were on Tressel's staff?
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HUH?
I think it is plausible that he is unaware of the ownership of the specific broadcast rights for the B1G CCG.
There was a great story, in the Ringer I think, about the NFC TV rights when FOX blew CBS out of the water for in the 90s, and one of the lines reported was Rupert Murdoch rubbing his hands together during a celebration and said, "Now, somebody tell me how they play this game." That was a great story, and huge moment in broadcast sports history, but I digress.
Prediction, some of us will not like FOX's emphasis on 11 am central kickoffs.
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I like it that the Iowa/Nebraska game on BTN will not be at 11am
1:30pm!
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I still can't believe that Dantonio's response to the last few years of dismal offense was to:
- fire no one
- move his QB coach to RBs and OC
- move his RB coach and co-OC to QBs
- move his TE coach and co-OC to OL
- move his OL coach to TEs
- move his DBs coach to WRs
- move his WRs coach to DBs
All the same faces are in the clubhouse, but literally every offensive coach has a new job. That's incredible. But it seems relatively few non-MSU fans have noticed.
I think MSU has made a living with so many offenses that range from bad to average to good in that way you don’t notice that everyone just takes it as a given.
What’s more underrated is how MSU redid its defensive identity to a degree, and really no one noticed.
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and really no one noticed.
It depends on how you define "no one." We were well aware of their ascent last year, though we are obviously not a normal bunch.
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I am going to be boring and pick Wisc vs OSU for the CCG.
It seems if you go that route, you can be right about 50% of the time.
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I am going to be boring and pick Wisc vs OSU for the CCG.
It seems if you go that route, you can be right about 50% of the time.
Boring often is close to right. The SEC picks look pretty obvious, and boring. Florida though has a decent shot.
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Michigan. Sparty, and Ohio State will all contend for the East Division. Illinois will not contend for the West Division.
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It depends on how you define "no one." We were well aware of their ascent last year, though we are obviously not a normal bunch.
I don’t mean their ascent. I mean they went from high-risk, high-reward pass D (press coverage under Pat D) to more of a really good bend don’t break on the back end (a Dantonio-Tress type thing).
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A reason to pick the Goophers to win the west
and a reason to pick against the Badgers
https://athlonsports.com/college-football/ranking-big-tens-toughest-college-football-schedules-2019 (https://athlonsports.com/college-football/ranking-big-tens-toughest-college-football-schedules-2019)
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I've noticed. I'm not sure what to think. There is a lot of Tressel in Dantonio. Tress had some bad years offensively and would move things a bit, but never made some giant change. And magically sometimes they looked a lot better.
A lot of the coaches are the same people. The difference, IMHO, is that at Ohio State high-end 4* and 5* talents nearly grow on trees while at MSU they simply don't. High-end talent at tOSU bailed out a lot of Tressel's incompetent offensive coaches and made them look at least reasonably competent at times. At MSU that level of talent isn't an every-other-year or so type of thing, it is almost-never thing and thus we see MSU's horrible offenses continually wasting MSU's NC level defenses.
MSU is the hardest team in the conference to pick W's and L's for because their defense is so good that even the best teams probably will not get much separation from them and their offense is so bad that they can't get separation from even the worst teams. Thus, I feel like they are a couple of plays from beating Ohio State / Michigan / Wisconsin but they are also a couple plays from losing to Rutgers.
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Should I start the B1G Preseason Power Rankings thread now or wait until closer to the season?
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How about we get through Fall camp so we know what we're looking at?
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I like the idea of knowing about injuries, and all of us seem to complain about the AP/Coaches polls coming out three or four weeks too early, so I don't disagree with the pause, but we usually finish our preseason one before the first game. Is there time for that if we wait until after all of the camps are done?
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I doubt it changes anything to wait.
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sure, it won't take me long to vote
I'll just copy & paste Badger's post like usual
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I like the idea of knowing about injuries, and all of us seem to complain about the AP/Coaches polls coming out three or four weeks too early, so I don't disagree with the pause, but we usually finish our preseason one before the first game. Is there time for that if we wait until after all of the camps are done?
Yeah, we could do it starting the Monday before the season starts. That way we know what the depth and talent looks like, after camp. We should have more audience here by then too.
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Yeah, we could do it starting the Monday before the season starts. That way we know what the depth and talent looks like, after camp. We should have more audience here by then too.
Forgive him, preseason polls and offseason rankings is Michigan's time to SHINE :sign0004:
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Oh no you didn’t.........
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Michigan does remind me of Georgia a fair bit.
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Forgive him, preseason polls and offseason rankings is Michigan's time to SHINE :sign0004:
And February?
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Always February. Always April. Always August. Some years, be them rare since 2004, other or all months add in.
Fandom is a riot.
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To be real, though, Michigan has been on the short list at the end of November throughout Harbaugh's tenure. That's the definition of a healthy program -- in the parlance of James Franklin: maybe a great team, not an elite one. It's also falling short of getting over the hump, which isn't sustainable long-term. Given 2008-2014, I'm satisfied and becoming satisfied took the program some doing. But of course there will eventually be a time when a lot more is expected. MDot is already there. So are other Michigan fans. But I don't think that's a majority. It might not even be close to a majority.
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To be real, though, Michigan has been on the short list at the end of November throughout Harbaugh's tenure. That's the definition of a healthy program -- in the parlance of James Franklin: maybe a great team, not an elite one. It's also falling short of getting over the hump, which isn't sustainable long-term. Given 2008-2014, I'm satisfied and becoming satisfied took the program some doing. But of course there will eventually be a time when a lot more is expected. MDot is already there. So are other Michigan fans. But I don't think that's a majority. It might not even be close to a majority.
Absent some unforeseeable 5-7 type season, he's fine. I think he needs at the minimum a CCG appearance (and at that point a win with the East being undefeated there) with OSU undergoing a coaching transition, PSU replacing the QB who saved Franklin's job, and MSU seemingly content to squander an elite defense by just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic offensively, to ward off a very, very uncomfortable offseason next year.
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Michigan. Sparty, and Ohio State will all contend for the East Division. Illinois will not contend for the West Division.
To get more specific does anyone want to predict anything besides rinse-n-repeat for Michigan? Flexing their muscles against less talented rosters but playing mostly flat and lost against teams of equivalent talent and athleticism? Harbaugh season 5 no different than Harbaugh seasons 1 - 4?
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Absent some unforeseeable 5-7 type season, he's fine. I think he needs at the minimum a CCG appearance (and at that point a win with the East being undefeated there) with OSU undergoing a coaching transition, PSU replacing the QB who saved Franklin's job, and MSU seemingly content to squander an elite defense by just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic offensively, to ward off a very, very uncomfortable offseason next year.
Honestly, I don't think that's necessarily true. It depends on who the losses are to. Looking at the schedule, this looks like another 10-2 kind of regular season. If the losses are to OSU and ND, Michigan could squeeze into the CCG, or they could miss it without much hand-wringing.
Now if one of the losses were to MSU (...) woof. Harbaugh would survive it; he wouldn't realistically even be at risk of getting fired by Warde for ... years, if ever (to be honest), but the town and media would become a hellscape.
If Michigan wins 10 games and one of those wins is MSU, the spirit will be "not perfect but that's not bad." It's funny what that means for the rivalry. In 2007 and before, it had become a bit of an afterthought. I think MSU hadn't won consecutive games in 40 years and Lloyd Carr went 10-3, including that 6 game streak lasting through Dantonio's first year. MSU really deserves credit for resurrecting that. Dantonio's record is now 8-4, but there was a real feast between 2008 and 2014, 6-1. That was absolutely and bar-none the hardest thing Michigan fans had to stomach through Rodriguez and Hoke.
And it adds up to there being zero chance for the fanbase to stay sane if they lose that game. There really isn't any game on the schedule that has more outsized rage than versus MSU. Unfortunately, though winning that game is essential, winning it is also unlikely to tilt the scales much in the Big Ten East race, at least not as much as the OSU game can.
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He's fine no matter what happens.
The Harb is their only hope. There is nowhere else to turn.
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He's fine no matter what happens.
The Harb is their only hope. There is nowhere else to turn.
Old bitter,drunken Brutus - just a stirrin up the pot (https://www.cfb51.com/Smileys/fantasticsmileys/cheer.gif)
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I would be perfectly fine with them wandering back out aimlessly into the coaching abyss, but predict that they will instead stick with Harbaugh through thick and thin no matter what happens.
Even if he turns out to be John Cooper with retro glasses, winning ten games per year while losing to rivals and in Bowl Games, they will decide that it is quite a bit better than Hoke or RichRod, and ride it out.
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I would think he has to go 2-1 vs ND/MSU/tOSU - all in AA.He's in year 5,he has his guys and URBZ has split.IMO barring a rash of injuries his seat gets warm if he doesn't.
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a warm seat might motivate him to change some things
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My intent is probably not the same as BB's but I agree, for example, that Harbaugh could win very few games versus OSU and still be the best possible hire. Fortunately, the odds of those wins always being few (presently none) have shifted with Meyer being on the outs. We just don't know to which extent. And we can't know for a half-decade or more.
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I would think he has to go 2-1 vs ND/MSU/tOSU - all in AA.He's in year 5,he has his guys and URBZ has split.IMO barring a rash of injuries his seat gets warm if he doesn't.
Absent 7-5ish seasons, I think he's unfireable any time within the next 3-5 years. And if he keeps averaging 10-win seasons, no matter the losses, he will stay for 10+ years.
(...) As long as he also beats MSU. It's changed to become the only must win game on the schedule. ND has bottomed out in M relevance since becoming the #2 rival through the 2000s. And OSU is coming off 20 years of rarest-level coaching. That program has almost been too strong for Michigan to ask for better results. So I think he could go 10-2 with losses to OSU and ND and his seat wouldn't get warm at all. 10-20% of the fanbase would be pretty hot, but they aren't relevant to his seat.
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a warm seat might motivate him to change some things
He just made the biggest change of his coaching career. For the first time, he removed himself from the offense.
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As HC he can obviously reinsert himself during crucial situations.
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I'd welcome that. I've seldom had a problem with his in-game decision making. My prevailing problem had been that he owned an offense that (1) was inflexible, (2) incapable of going no-huddle to speed up meaning the team didn't really have a 2-minute drill and (3) his offense telegraphed plays because the run and pass were coordinated by two guys and were never integrated, so they were too separate, and pass plays infrequently looked like they could *maybe* be runs and vice versa. These are all structural problems engrained through offseason camps.
This year the offense will perhaps never huddle and is being designed by one guy with lots of discussion about running formations that look like they could be anything. I don't know if it'll succeed, but I do think it's a superior way to think about offense.
If Harbaugh, with Gattis's system, ever wants to take over in a big moment -- cool. This isn't one of Harbaugh's problems.
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We've all seen coaches "survive" at top level programs by averaging 10 wins a year while falling short of beating their rivals and winning conferences, but that usually doesn't last forever (Mark Richt). At some point, fans with Large Checkbooks step up and get heard.
The alternative is to slip out of the annual NC contenders and start being considered an outside shot to win your division.
10-2 is great at Iowa or Michigan State.
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We're all seeing the early (irrelevant) rankings coming out already, and OSU is usually 3-4-5 and Michigan seems to be top ten but more 5-6-7-8, right?
If we imagine those are roughly correct, it comes down to a few point HFA and then how the ball bounces.
It should be an interesting season for the B1G, perhaps the most competitive conference of the P5s (Pac could be as well).
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10-2 is great at Iowa or Michigan State.
At Michigan after Rodriguez and Hoke, it almost registers as a miracle. The point though is that for Michigan there are distinct kids of expectations for the team when it's in "climbing" mode and when it's in "maintenance" mode. And so far the administration and (vast?) majority of fans are judging it in climbing mode.
Maintenance mode probably requires East contention in something like 7/8 years and a conference championship at least 1/3 of the time.
This requires us to ask about realistic timelines for finishing the climb *into* maintenance mode. I think that's mostly a personal question, and anyone can frame it as they like. I see it as a long process (in the parlance of James Franklin again: that becoming elite is harder than becoming great) and that, if the goal is 11-1, climbing can be happening, but seem hidden, within a long string of 10-2's. My dream is to hold at 10 wins and wait. That makes breaking through to 11 statistically inevitable ... given the right patience.
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So I think he could go 10-2 with losses to OSU and ND and his seat wouldn't get warm at all. 10-20% of the fanbase would be pretty hot, but they aren't relevant to his seat.
Not saying he gets the pink slip simply the noose gets tighter.All 3 at home probably favored also.I think the faithful start raisng red flags if M doesn't grab two wins.Might add I'm not certain about Fields under center for tOSU but behind him the scenerio is dreadful
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10-2 beating OSU obviously is not the same at all as 10-2 losing to OSU. That is a serious monkey I think.
(My own monkey is to beat Alabama, so monkeys are all over the place of course.)
My guess is 10-2 with a L in THE Game will start to lower level grumblings. 11-1 might as well with that loss if OSU is 11-1 or better.
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Nubbz: If by "noose" you mean that the smallish group of currently unhappy people will become angrier and maybe grow to include more fans, then I agree. Of course that's right. It's true of every coach any time a negative thing happens. And the opposite is true when positive things happen.
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10-2 beating OSU obviously is not the same at all as 10-2 losing to OSU. That is a serious monkey I think.
(My own monkey is to beat Alabama, so monkeys are all over the place of course.)
My guess is 10-2 with a L in THE Game will start to lower level grumblings. 11-1 might as well with that loss if OSU is 11-1 or better.
Because of fan chauvinism and the pre-Harbaugh decade, I think MSU losses are a much bigger bugaboo than OSU losses. OSU losses are more survivable and less grumbly than MSU losses.
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Interesting, I would not have thought that.
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Michigan fans routinely accepted that a rebuilding Michigan should realistically lose to a Tressel/Meyer OSU. It was the stronger program and essentially always favored. Most importantly, Michigan and OSU respect each other. By comparison, Michigan fans never tolerate MSU losses. There aren't any qualifiers either -- there're no times where Michigan fans look around and say"hey guys, it's understandable this time." There's chauvinism behind that. And the pre-Harbaugh years (Dantonio starting 7-2) raised the urgency.
Of course, the rivalry is little known outside the state. So this is not the kind of thing you should be surprised you didn't know, Cincy.
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I can imagine somehow UGA losing to Tech a few times, let's say 7 out of 9, and it becoming an urgent need. Well, I can't imagine that really, but I can put it out as some weird hypothetical. UGA did lose two home games in a row to Tech, which was quite annoying.
Beating Florida/Auburn/Tenn is still more important, but doing that and losing to Tech? Yeah, really not good.
So, I can see your point, I had just not thought about it that way.
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Sparty vs Weasels is in my top 5 every year,some seasons number 1
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Beating Florida/Auburn/Tenn is still more important, but doing that and losing to Tech? Yeah, really not good.
That's a good comparison. OSU and ND are far more satisfying to win but MSU is, by orders of magnitude, the worst to lose.
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It's interesting how wins and losses are not syllogistic, if that's the right word.
Some wins are better than others, but the losses that are worse than others are not symmetric with that.
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Absent some unforeseeable 5-7 type season, he's fine. I think he needs at the minimum a CCG appearance (and at that point a win with the East being undefeated there) with OSU undergoing a coaching transition, PSU replacing the QB who saved Franklin's job, and MSU seemingly content to squander an elite defense by just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic offensively, to ward off a very, very uncomfortable offseason next year.
That is a sadly accurate way to put it.
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To get more specific does anyone want to predict anything besides rinse-n-repeat for Michigan? Flexing their muscles against less talented rosters but playing mostly flat and lost against teams of equivalent talent and athleticism? Harbaugh season 5 no different than Harbaugh seasons 1 - 4?
AC already covered this somewhat, but at least to the reasonable fans, losses to teams that end up finishing top-5 or so (ie, tOSU most years lately, M's bowl opponents, etc) are at least understandable. No fan is ever going to be happy about a loss so I'm not saying that, just that losing to a REALLY good opponent is understandable.
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My intent is probably not the same as BB's but I agree, for example, that Harbaugh could win very few games versus OSU and still be the best possible hire. Fortunately, the odds of those wins always being few (presently none) have shifted with Meyer being on the outs. We just don't know to which extent. And we can't know for a half-decade or more.
Exactly. If the situation were reversed I wouldn't be happy AT ALL about all the losses in THE GAME, but I would understand that playing against an EXTREMELY good opponent is going to generally result in a good number of losses. It sucks, but it happens. Now if Harbaugh had been losing to 8-5 Ohio State teams that would be different (that would be Cooper).
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Bingo
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Always fun to re-read these at this point...
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I am going to be boring and pick Wisc vs OSU for the CCG.
It seems if you go that route, you can be right about 50% of the time.
Nice work.
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In the trap game thread, Medina nailed Illinois for Wisconsin. Sigh.
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Is it too late to revise my predictions?