Week 4: Big Ten Predictions

[GAC]

Northwestern @ Ohio State

Big 10's #2 Pass offense vs the #1 Pass defense
#9 Rushing defense vs #7 Rushing offense.

The Buck are at Home. Impressive at Washington (I was surprised)
N'western struggled vs Nevada and lost to Duke???

31-10 Buckeyes

It could end up being 23-10 Bucks if Tressel plays conservative and settles for FGs.

Illinois @ Indiana

Who cares right?

Looking at these two teams, no real quality wins over solid opponents, unless you want to count Indiana's win over W. Michigan

Indiana 37-28

Penn State @ Michigan

Can one say Michigan is on the rebound after playing the likes of Notre Dame? Both their defense (9th) and offense (10th) has not been impressive. They are not really pressuring the opposing offense (last in rushing D). They are facing the #2 scoring offense in the Big 10.

Penn State 24-21

Michigan State @ Notre Dame

If all the Spartans get is a safety they'll win vs this Irish offense. A quality win for the Spartans over Pitt last week. I personally think the Spartans are going to be a force in the Big 10.

At halftime you'll be changing the channel trying to find someone else to watch.

37-10 Michigan State

Iowa @ Wisconsin

Iowa, so far, has been tough on defense in all facets of the game (#2 overall behind the Buckeyes). The Badgers got a quality win over Washington State a couple weeks ago, but really struggled vs UNLV (could've lost). The Badgers are at home, but I'm still going with the Hawkeyes.

Iowa 21-17

Purdue @ Minnesota

You've got the top two teams in the Big 10 in Total Offense facing each other. The Boilermakers have the #1 Pass Offense and Scoring Offense vs the Gopher's #11 Pass Defense. And the Gophers have done a majority of their scoring via the air. I believe it's gonna be a high scoring affair as both teams struggle to run the ball. But the Gophers are gonna have trouble trying to run vs Penn States #1 Rush Defense.

41-34 Purdue

[Unassisted]

Northwestern @ Ohio State
42-7 Buckeyes
NU hasn't played a team as good as Ohio State yet.

Illinois @ Indiana
I figure Illinois by 3, so I'll go with 24-21.

Penn State @ Michigan
Michigan's back on track. They'll continue to dominate PSU in the series.
Maize and blue by touchdowns two. 35-21

Iowa @ Wisconsin
Both are overrated, but Iowa's more so.
Badgers take this one in front of a well-oiled home crowd 28-10.

Purdue @ Minnesota
I see scoring, lots of scoring, thanks to the dome and the lack of pass defense.
52-48 Minnesota in a wild one.

[Danny Serafini]

Ohio St. 38-7
Illinois 28-20
Penn St. 31-17
Wisconsin 27-13
Purdue 38-21
Michigan St. 35-13

[jmcclain19]

I predict the Big Ten will suck again this week, just like the last three

[BuckeyeRed27]

I predict the Big Ten will suck again this week, just like the last three

So what conference is good?
I'll give you the SEC. After that I'd say its pretty open.

[RedFanAlways1966]

As Northwestern plays OSU today, I have a trivia question...

I once attended an Ohio State AT Northwestern game... in the state of Ohio (but not Columbus). Anyone know why this NW home game against OSU was played in Ohio?

[GAC]

If I was NW'n, I'd sneak out of the stadium in Columbus at halftime.

42-0 Bucks.

Michigan 7 Penn State 3 with about a minute to go till the half

17-14 Michigan State over ND approaching the half.

Mendenhall of Illinois (214 yds rushing) did me in on that game prediction. I thought Indiana might pull that one out.

[GAC]

As Northwestern plays OSU today, I have a trivia question...

I once attended an Ohio State AT Northwestern game... in the state of Ohio (but not Columbus). Anyone know why this NW home game against OSU was played in Ohio?

You were lost, and not even in the state of Ohio?

[Razor Shines]

How about those Irish? Two TDs in one game!! Whatever else happens in the game we automatically win.

[RedFanAlways1966]

You were lost, and not even in the state of Ohio?

LOL, GAC! No tailgating at the game due to the cold-and wet rain that whole day.

Anyhow... NW was pretty bad back in 1991. Art Modell offered the school $1 million to have their home game (Oct. 16, 1991) vs. OSU at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. NW would also get the home team's share of the gate revenue as well. NW got their butts kicked that day and the majority of the fans were wearing scarlet-n-gray... but they probably built a new engineering building on their campus with the money they took home.

[MWM]

While Michigan's defense was never as bad as they looked the first two weeks, they aren't as good as they looked today. Penn State is really disappointing. I was hoping they'd be strong this year for the conference, but the clearly aren't a top 10 team. They haven't had a good offense in more than a decade.

[pedro]

While Michigan's defense was never as bad as they looked the first two weeks, they aren't as good as they looked today. Penn State is really disappointing. I was hoping they'd be strong this year for the conference, but the clearly aren't a top 10 team. They haven't had a good offense in more than a decade.

Yeah, Penn St. just seems to be stuck in the 70's offensive wise.

Not impressive at all.

[guttle11]

Did Penn state even watch game film on Michigan defense? They played into their strengths all day, and never adjusted. Spread them out and they struggle like heck to keep up. I don't even think they tried all game.

Morelli is all kinds of awful, too.

[Spring~Fields]

If I was NW'n, I'd sneak out of the stadium in Columbus at halftime.

42-0 Bucks.

As a common fan I of course take the win for the home team but on the other hand a victory over weaker opponents just doesn’t seem like a victory to me anymore as I get older.

Something is missing, real competition in a real sporting event. Traditional football powers year in and year out playing soft schedules somehow seems like fraud to me. I know they schedule them well in advance etc. but, the polls and standings seem so dubious to me.

[MWM]

The Big Ten needs to learn how to play offense. OSU and Michigan has had pretty good offenses recently, but there are a lot of teams stuck in the 70s, as Pedro put it. I think that's why the conference is down right now.