Big Ten Football 2011

[Sea Ray]

I was in Michigan over the weekend and picked up a Detroit Free Press on Monday and Drew Sharp sure isn't impressed with the state of football in the Big Ten:

How big a deal is it now, for Michigan State to beat Michigan?

It'll be a bigger deal for this program if next week it beats a Wisconsin team that's clearly the class of the Big Ten. Of course, being the best football team in the Big Ten is the equivalent of being the best hockey player in Ecuador.

http://www.freep.com/article/2011101...ons-Drew-Sharp

This wasn't exactly a ringing endorement for the Big Ten. If anything, this was verification of what's wrong with this conference in relation to others that are...you know actually relevant nationally.

http://www.freep.com/article/2011101...ons-Drew-Sharp

Their (Michigan's) best hope for the remainder of the season is that the Big Ten collectively is worse than even I had ever imagined this season.

That said I am impressed with Wisconsin although I wonder if their lack of competition will hurt them come Bowl time. I'll be interested to see how their game with Mich St goes this weekend.

The weak Big Ten seems to have contributed to the Wolverines over ranking. MSU proved that Denard Robinson is a one dimensional QB and if you can force him to pass, you will win. This bodes well for OSU as they are very capable of doing exactly that

[*BaseClogger*]

I'd match that MSU defense against any one of your SEC offenses, Sea Ray...

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

I'd match that MSU defense against any one of your SEC offenses, Sea Ray...

They do look pretty impressive. Let's start by seeing how they do against Wisconsin. Alabama made mincemeat of them last year. Have they really improved that much since then?

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

They do look pretty impressive. Let's start by seeing how they do against Wisconsin. Alabama made mincemeat of them last year. Have they really improved that much since then?

I would say they have despite their loss of Greg Jones, but I also don't know, are there any offenses in the SEC this season as good as that Alabama one?

[dabvu2498]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

I would say they have despite their loss of Greg Jones, but I also don't know, are there any offenses in the SEC this season as good as that Alabama one?

Arkansas.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

I would say they have despite their loss of Greg Jones, but I also don't know, are there any offenses in the SEC this season as good as that Alabama one?

Alabama didn't blow out many SEC teams last year like they did Mich St

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

Alabama didn't blow out many SEC teams last year like they did Mich St

They didn't have over a month to prepare for any of those SEC teams either...

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

They didn't have over a month to prepare for any of those SEC teams either...

Well coached teams take advantage of a month to prepare, no question

[Sea Ray]

Great game between Wisc/MSU last night. I was hoping it'd be worth watching and I wasn't disappointed. It sets up a huge game next week between the Badgers and OSU. The winner will likely meet MSU in the Championship game in Indianapolis. I expect another great game in Columbus on Sat night

[bucksfan2]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

I was in Michigan over the weekend and picked up a Detroit Free Press on Monday and Drew Sharp sure isn't impressed with the state of football in the Big Ten:



That said I am impressed with Wisconsin although I wonder if their lack of competition will hurt them come Bowl time. I'll be interested to see how their game with Mich St goes this weekend.

The weak Big Ten seems to have contributed to the Wolverines over ranking. MSU proved that Denard Robinson is a one dimensional QB and if you can force him to pass, you will win. This bodes well for OSU as they are very capable of doing exactly that

Im not quite sure why the Big 10 always falls in your crosshairs for criticism. I don't know who would have thought the Big 10 would have been good this season when you look at all the trouble OSU is going through. I think you can make the point that over the past decade only Ohio State has recruited and played to a level that top teams do. I think its fair to say that the Rich Rod hiring and the Paterno debacle have set both Michigan and PSU back considerably. To be honest anyone who has followed Michigan over the past few seasons knew that they would come crashing back down to earth.

I tend to think that MSU and Wisconsin have built very nice programs over the past few years. What they lack is the top notch recruits that would put them over the top. Nebraska will be interesting because I think Pelini will only make that program better after the disaster known as Callahan.

I really haven't been impressed with any team overall this season. LSU defense is great but their offense is pretty lackluster. I haven't seen enough of Alabama to make a proper judgement. As for the rest of the SEC they tend to underwhelm me maybe with the exception of Arkansas. I think there are a lot of good teams in college this season but there isn't a great team. There isn't a team like USC, Texas, OSU, Miami, or Florida of a few years ago. There isn't a team that is able to beat you on both offense and defense. I guess what I am getting at is I think its fair to say that the Big 10 is down, but I also think its fair to say that the rest of college football is down as well.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by bucksfan2

Im not quite sure why the Big 10 always falls in your crosshairs for criticism. I don't know who would have thought the Big 10 would have been good this season when you look at all the trouble OSU is going through. I think you can make the point that over the past decade only Ohio State has recruited and played to a level that top teams do. I think its fair to say that the Rich Rod hiring and the Paterno debacle have set both Michigan and PSU back considerably. To be honest anyone who has followed Michigan over the past few seasons knew that they would come crashing back down to earth.

I tend to think that MSU and Wisconsin have built very nice programs over the past few years. What they lack is the top notch recruits that would put them over the top. Nebraska will be interesting because I think Pelini will only make that program better after the disaster known as Callahan.

I really haven't been impressed with any team overall this season. LSU defense is great but their offense is pretty lackluster. I haven't seen enough of Alabama to make a proper judgement. As for the rest of the SEC they tend to underwhelm me maybe with the exception of Arkansas. I think there are a lot of good teams in college this season but there isn't a great team. There isn't a team like USC, Texas, OSU, Miami, or Florida of a few years ago. There isn't a team that is able to beat you on both offense and defense. I guess what I am getting at is I think its fair to say that the Big 10 is down, but I also think its fair to say that the rest of college football is down as well.

I agree with all of that. As for the Big Ten, any negative falls into my crosshairs. It's much more interesting to discuss than rah, rah yay team stuff.

I don't think there is one dominant team but Alabama may prove us wrong in the end. Of course there's nothing wrong with not having one dominant team.

As for the Big Ten I thought Wisc was a dominant team, like OSU has been in the past. For some reason MSU gives them trouble.

[BuckeyeRed27]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

I agree with all of that. As for the Big Ten, any negative falls into my crosshairs. It's much more interesting to discuss than rah, rah yay team stuff.

I don't think there is one dominant team but Alabama may prove us wrong in the end. Of course there's nothing wrong with not having one dominant team.

As for the Big Ten I thought Wisc was a dominant team, like OSU has been in the past. For some reason MSU gives them trouble.

I think the biggest lesson Wisconsin learned is to not wait until the middle of October to play your first road game. Playing Northern Illinois at Solider Field doesn't count.

[Roy Tucker]

I still think Wisonsin is pretty dominant. It took a Hail-Mary-doink-off-the-facemask and the MSU receiver getting a whisker of the ball over the goal line to beat them. Helluva play, but you make that one time out of 20.

But yeah, Oct.-Nov. Saturday night road games are hell. OSU will fight the good fight, but eventually the OSU non-existent air game and that Wisconsin road grader of an OL will win out (sad to say).

[5TimeWSChamps]

This isnt good:

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[Caveat Emperor]

Are they paying? If so, I'm totally down for a drive to Indy.