Stirring the Pot

[Big Beef Tacosupreme]

1.  Ohio State's schedule so far has been terrible.  I'm not impressed with TCU, Oregon State, Tulane, or Rutgers.  These 4 teams have combined for only one victory against an FBS squad.  
2.  Ohio State's offense absolutely passes the eyeball test.  Defensively I'm not so sure.  
3.  Penn State's victory over Appalachian State will end up being be the only B1G non-conference victory over a ranked team.  (excluding bowl games)
4.  The Michigan/OSU game will again determine the B1G champion.  Penn State has serious flaws on defense and will likely lose at least 3 conference games.  Yep, I'm ignoring the B1G championship game, because it doesn't matter.
5.  And on that note, I've never really bought into the B1G East's superiority over the West.  This year has changed my mind.  Maybe the Leaders and Legends wasn't so bad after all.  (WTH did I just say?)
6.  Everyone thinks that the the race for the B1G west is over.  However, Iowa only has one game left against a ranked team.  Wisconsin has two.  
7.  Ditto for the idjit TV commentators who think the OSU/PSU winner will decide the B1G East.
8.  I thought Purdue and Nebraska were on the verge of breaking out and becoming good teams.  I was wrong about Nebraska.  
9.  Nebraska looked like they gave up last week.  That's a not a good sign for the new coach.
10.  I keep hearing that OSU is 4-2 against the Penn State whiteout.  This is INCORRECT.  Penn State does not have a white out every time OSU is in town.  In 2009, for example, Iowa was the victim of the Penn State Whiteout, NOT OSU.  OSU is 2-2 against the whiteout.
11.  The B1G is down this year, but still looks way better than the PAC and ACC.  The Big 12 isn't looking great, either.   However, no way should a single conference have two participants in playoff again.  

[847badgerfan]

I'm thinking there will be a few more ranked teams from the OOC at the end of the season.



Texas will be ranked, methinks. So could TCU and BC. The season is young, so who knows?



But yeah, not a good showing OOC by any stretch. The good news is that some of the losses could turn out to be "good" losses.

[Cincydawg]

Mizzou looks to me like a decent team and barely beat Purdue (who beat ranked BC of course).

TCU to me looks like a very good team, a ~15th ranked kind of team.

UMD's win over Texas could look really solid.

[847badgerfan]

Mizzou looks to me like a decent team and barely beat Purdue (who beat ranked BC of course).

TCU to me looks like a very good team, a ~15th ranked kind of team.

UMD's win over Texas could look really solid.

I'm curious to see how BYU fares in Seattle this weekend.

[Big Beef Tacosupreme]

You're right.  BC could probably sleep their way through the ACC and still get 9 wins.  That's how bad the ACC looks.

I'm NOT a believer in Texas or TCU though.

My name is taco and I was wrong, and I'm singing the "I'm wrong" song.  I shouldn't have taken that chance, now here's my regretful dance.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Iowa's chances hinge on a rock, paper, scissors scenario whereby they beat PSU, but PSU beats Wisconsin. Even then, Michigan would have to beat Wisconsin as well. 

And yes, I know there are numerous other oddball scenarios that are mathematically possible, but those are all far less likely.

[medinabuckeye1]

• I mostly agree but I am not ready to completely give up on TCU just yet.  The others were awful as expected.  
• I agree on the offense but I want to see them against some more defenses first.  Defensively they are certainly exciting to watch.  I can't find the link right now but I read somewhere that tOSU's D was among the national leaders in BOTH really good plays (turnovers, TFL's, sacks) and really bad plays (30+ gains).  I see that as a recipe for a jeckyll and hyde team.  If they ever have a game where the really good plays don't happen they'll be awful.  If they ever have a game where the really bad plays don't happen they'll be phenomenal.  
• ApSt should end up ranked but they REALLY needed to win their PSU game.  PSU is the only team on their schedule that even approaches decent so with a loss there they will have a ceiling on their ranking especially if, as you project, PSU loses at least three games.  
• Again?  An OSU loss in 2017 would have made it a three way tie between tOSU, PSU, and MSU but M would not have been involved even with a win over tOSU.  In 2016 a tOSU loss to M would have put PSU and M into a tie and Michigan would have won the tie.  In 2015 a tOSU loss would have switched the B1G-E tie from MSU/tOSU to MSU/M but the Spartans beat both the Wolverines and the Buckeyes so they would have gone to Indy either way.  In 2014 a tOSU loss would have made the Buckeyes co-champs with the Spartans but the Buckeyes beat the Spartans so they would have gone to Indy anyway.  The Game has determined the B1G-E representative to the B1GCG only once.  
• The East/West divide looks REALLY big right now mostly due to Maryland's win over Minnesota.  Presently four of the top five and six of the top eight teams in the B1G Power Rankings are from the East.  
• This is a good point.  UW's B1G-E opponents are PSU, M, and RU.  Iowa's are PSU, IU, and UMD.  It isn't over yet.  That said, Wisconsin effectively has a two game lead so they are in a strong position.  
• It will have a big impact but the race will not end Saturday night in Happy Valley to be sure.  
• Yikes, Nebraska looks MUCH worse than I expected at this point.  I don't know what to make of Purdue yet.  
• I think that the Cornhuskers were just overwhelmed, I sure hope so.  
• I've been to Beaver Stadium and I think it is MUCH louder than the Big House.  I honestly think it is up there with Camp Randall, Kinnick, and The Shoe as the toughest venues in the league.  Any game there is tough, particularly a night game.  
• Purdue's win over BC really took a lot out of the ACC.  

[MrNubbz]

  The Michigan/OSU game will again determine the B1G champion.  Penn State has serious flaws on defense and will likely lose at least 3 conference games.  Yep, I'm ignoring the B1G championship game, because it doesn't matter.

I'm thinking you're pulling the "No Way" we win take only with a different slant.It's not nice to fool with the football gods.

[Entropy]

#9.... a Michigan player went on record and said UNL quit after the first series.    During the week leading up to the game, players were talking about buy in during press conferences.  After the game, guys stated players and fans need to decide if they are on board or not.

There have been rumblings that groups of players have not liked Frost's approach, especially around conditioning (tougher), practice times (early morning) and how many new guys were brought in (55).   What is sad is I don't doubt this is happening.   There are a lot of guys that seem more interested in the idea of being a football player at Nebraska than actually being one.   The cultural challenges are bigger than the skill set problems.   jmo

[medinabuckeye1]

• I agree on the offense but I want to see them against some more defenses first.  Defensively they are certainly exciting to watch.  I can't find the link right now but I read somewhere that tOSU's D was among the national leaders in BOTH really good plays (turnovers, TFL's, sacks) and really bad plays (30+ gains).  I see that as a recipe for a jeckyll and hyde team.  If they ever have a game where the really good plays don't happen they'll be awful.  If they ever have a game where the really bad plays don't happen they'll be phenomenal.  

I found the link.  This was from before last week's games but note:

• Ohio State was one of only five major teams with three defensive TD's
• Ohio State was one of only three teams to give up plays of 70+

In more detail, through three games tOSU's opponents ran 200 plays:

• Eight gained at least 30 yards
• 19 were TFL's
• Thus, 27 of 200 or 13.5% of tOSU's opponents snaps resulted in a big play one way or the other.  

[FearlessF]

There have been rumblings that groups of players have not liked Frost's approach, especially around conditioning (tougher), practice times (early morning) and how many new guys were brought in (55).   What is sad is I don't doubt this is happening.   There are a lot of guys that seem more interested in the idea of being a football player at Nebraska than actually being one.   The cultural challenges are bigger than the skill set problems.   jmo

Riley's culture was extremely soft
the kids he recruited probably fit that culture
bringing in 50 new guys and then telling players that he intends to keep bringing in kids to take their positions can be tough to take
life is tough

[847badgerfan]

There have been rumblings that groups of players have not liked Frost's approach, especially around conditioning (tougher), practice times (early morning) and how many new guys were brought in (55).   What is sad is I don't doubt this is happening.   There are a lot of guys that seem more interested in the idea of being a football player at Nebraska than actually being one.   The cultural challenges are bigger than the skill set problems.   jmo

That will happen. I've heard Mike Riley ran a country club out there. Guys get used to that stuff.

[MarqHusker]

Images of Roger Dorn running through my head.

[slugsrbad]

There is NO WAY Penn State beats Ohio State this weekend.