I sure as heck hope this is the year the Huskers prove you wrong
13. Nebraska
I just don't think there are enough bodies in Lincoln yet.we'll see what the NCAA does with scholarship limits next year, but this crazy season may help Frost upgrade his roster
1. OSU- when playing king of the hill you are there until you get knocked offI kinda look at this the same way.
2. Wisconsin- similar to above until proven wrong
Let's see if his AD welcomes that additional $300K/year cost for each of them.the AD has money
1. Ohio StThis looks about right.
2. Penn St
3. Wisconsin
4. Minnesota
5. Michigan
6. Iowa
7. Indiana
8. Northwestern
9. Nebraska
10. Purdue
11. Michigan St
12. Illinois
13. Maryland
14. Rutgers
I'm guessing the chip is still thereThey remind me of Brian Griese’s 1997 Wolverines, minus - and it’s a sizable minus - Charles Woodson. They’ll give everyone their best shot and for the first time in forever, should lack that entitlement chip that’s predictably and consistently knocked them back to earth.
I figured that at least a few posters would go all in on the Gophers, and that a Wolverine fan or three would have convinced themselves over the off-season that this was their year. Mix in a vote for Wisconsin here, and Penn St there. Or maybe some practical joker might even show the Huskers some love.i would stay away form the Gophers until they play a game or two to see what they have after the COVID settles
I can’t rank em till I see them. But I suspect Penn State and Michigan are going to fight for the division and be better than most think.If you keep predicting someone not named Ohio State to be the best teeam in the B1G-E you'll eventually be right but so far you've done this pretty much every year and been wrong pretty much every year, sandbagger.
If you keep predicting someone not named Ohio State to be the best teeam in the B1G-E you'll eventually be right but so far you've done this pretty much every year and been wrong pretty much every year, sandbagger.You are a welcome sight my friend.
So far Ohio State has won or shared the B1G-E title every year that there has been a B1G-E title to win:Final rankings (AP):
- 2014: Won it by a game over MSU whom they defeated 49-37 in East Lansing
- 2015: Tied MSU one game ahead of Michigan. tOSU lost the tiebreaker because they lost at home by a FG to MSU but: Ohio State beat third place Michigan 42-13 while MSU barely escaped them 27-23. Also, while tOSU's loss was to a very good MSU team, MSU's loss was to a sub-.500 UNL. The Buckeyes were clearly better overall and just had a bad day at the wrong time. They still tied for first place.
- 2016: Tied PSU one game ahead of Michigan. tOSU lost the tiebreaker because they lost on the road by a FG to PSU but: Ohio State beat third place Michigan (admittedly at home in OT) while PSU got absolutely drilled by the Wolverines (49-10). PSU also lost OOC to a mediocre Pitt team. Much like the previous year, the Buckeyes were the best team in the division but they had their bad day at the wrong time. They still tied for first place.
- 2017: Won it by a game over PSU and MSU. The Buckeyes beat PSU by a point and drilled MSU 48-3.
- 2018: Tied M two games ahead of PSU. tOSU won the tiebreaker because they beat M at home 62-39. This is probably the best year to argue that tOSU was NOT the best team in the B1G-E. The Buckeyes barely escaped third place PSU (27-26 on the road) while Michigan clobbered them (42-7 albeit at home). Also, while Michigan's conference loss was to a very good tOSU team, tOSU's was an inexplicable blowout loss to a sub-.500 PU. On the other side of the coin Michigan's loss to tOSU wasn't very close and they also ended up with two other losses. One was a respectable road loss by a TD to a very good ND squad but the other was a blowout loss to Florida in the Peach Bowl. Looking at the whole 13/14 game resumes, it isn't easy to argue that Michigan's 10-3 was better than tOSU's 13-1.
- 2019: Won it by two games over PSU. The Buckeyes beat PSU 28-17 at home.
- 2014: #1 tOSU; best other B1G-E team was #5 MSU. tOSU by 4.
- 2015: #4 tOSU; best other B1G-E team was #6 MSU. tOSU by 2.
- 2016: #6 tOSU; best other B1G-E team was #7 PSU. tOSU by 1.
- 2017: #5 tOSU; best other B1G-E team was #8 PSU. tOSU by 3.
- 2018: #3 tOSU; best other B1G-E team was #14 M. tOSU by 11.
- 2019: #3 tOSU; best other B1G-E team was #9 PSU. tOSU by 6.
This excellent writer posted this today as far as predictions and I will share it because I was already thinking this:In this same vein, I have been noticing that Michigan, of late, is basically a worst-case-scenario opponent for Ohio State. In the last 20 years the Wolverines have finished between 8-5 (.615) and 10-3 (.769) 12 times. That means that in 60% of the years between 2000 and 2019 the Buckeye's final regular season opponent was a team that is good enough that even a NC contender needs to be on their toes for, but wasn't actually good enough to get any significant credit for beating them.RAMZY: BEWARE THE WOLVERINESMichigan is going to be a legitimate pain in the ass this season because it has finally been knocked far enough off of the arrogance perch that has kept its self-defeating culture weaponized for the better part of the millennium. No one is going out of their way to overrate them in 2020. COVID has humbled everyone to a degree, which only benefits the B1G program in most need of humbling, And there’s no anointed savior on the roster; just a bunch of guys accustomed to winning the least when it matters the most.They remind me of Brian Griese’s 1997 Wolverines, minus - and it’s a sizable minus - Charles Woodson. They’ll give everyone their best shot and for the first time in forever, should lack that entitlement chip that’s predictably and consistently knocked them back to earth.
Well, it looks like there will be a season after all. Thus, we need to do our usual B1G Power Rankings!Other than for Rutgers and Ohio St., the chart is all over the place.
Here is the chart from last year:
[img width=500 height=385.994]https://i.imgur.com/0eliMxY.jpg[/img]
Ohio State and Michigan started out roughly tied for #1 followed by a big gap then PSU, MSU, UW, and Iowa. Starting in week #2 Ohio State held a slight lead over #2 UW up until they played. After that the Buckeyes were pretty much alone in first place through the end of the year. Rutgers was a near-unanimous #14 all year long.
Where does UW fall in those metrics?In the last 20 years Wisconsin's median final record was 9.5-3.5 (half way between their 10th best of 9-3 and their 11th best of 10-4). Their median final ranking was #19 (half way between their 10th best of #17 and their 11th best of #21). That is almost exactly tied with Michigan on both metrics.
I'd have them higher if Jack Coan wasn't hurt. Sure, there is a lot of hype with Mertz, but we've seen this movie before.
We'll know a whole lot more about UW after Friday night.