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How good is the B1G, and how much better will it be in 2019?

Middle-aged_Ball_Coach

Middle-aged_Ball_Coach

Eternal Chairman of the Defense Commission
5 Year Member
As I'm watching Wisconsin strip the paint off of Miami, and after watching Minnesota toss around Georgia Tech last night, I'm convinced that the early non-conference stumbles of the B1G created a false impression that the conference was down. I expect OSU to whitewash Washington, and I also expect Penn State and Michigan to win. I like Northwestern and Purdue's chances; I question Michigan State's depth; I expect Iowa to choke in their bowl game like normal. Put it all together, and I think that we end up around 7-2 or 6-3 in B1G bowl games. With just a little bit of juggling--swap Michigan State and Penn State, and swap Iowa and Wisconsin--and I think that the B1G could have won every bowl game.

How good is the B1G? Only the SEC has an argument for being in the same class, and I think that the B1G would win more match-ups if they played head-to-head based on where each conference's teams are ranked.

Now what about next year? I'm looking over everyone's schedules for 2019, and while nobody is betting on Rutgers to get to .500, it's hard to find any other teams that aren't good enough to get into bowl games. Here are my way-too-early predictions for who will go bowling from the B1G next year:

West
Wisconsin
Nebraska
Purdue
Minnesota
Iowa
(Northwestern and Illinois are bubble teams depending on how their non-conference schedule goes)

East
Penn State
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State
(Indiana and Maryland are bubble teams depending on how their non-conference schedule goes)

If you want to talk about a strong argument against playing 9 conference games, how about the fact that it probably kept Indiana, Maryland, and Illinois from going to bowl games this year? It's likely to cost at least 2 bubble teams the opportunity to go to a bowl game next year.
 
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One Hit Wonder said:
The West is intriguiging and the teams are getting better except for maybe Illinois. It makes for a better conference.
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Even Illinois is intriguing. I'm curious to see how much difference it will make having a new DC for them. I think that Lovie was maybe a little too loyal there. They could be a dangerous team next year, but the expectation is that they'll screw it up somehow. What if they don't?
 



Cisco said:
It will also be year two for them in what is essentially Rich Rodriguez's offensive system. And they ran all over our defense.
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Are you talking about Illinois? AJ Bush had a really nice day running the ball, but that game was 47-21 halfway through the 4th quarter.

I'm not concerned about that game. Illinois has no idea who they are.
 
lincoln84 said:
Watching the BIG during the regular season, I felt they were pretty bad top to bottom. That conference is wide open for NU once the pieces come together. Right now there is nothing to fear from anyone.
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Based on the last year, and changes in the next (new Purdue QB, probably new starter at OSU, new Badger QB starter probably, new starters at Northwestern) there are open opportunities to make dramatic gains. The schedule and opposition changes are lining up in interesting ways. We have our own holes to fill at WR and RB, but things are looking up.
 
lincoln84 said:
Watching the BIG during the regular season, I felt they were pretty bad top to bottom. That conference is wide open for NU once the pieces come together. Right now there is nothing to fear from anyone.
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Are you watching the bowl games? Minnesota and Wisconsin didn't look bad to me, and they're mediocre teams in the conference.
 




OldFatHerbie said:
Based on the last year, and changes in the next (new Purdue QB, probably new starter at OSU, new Badger QB starter probably, new starters at Northwestern) there are open opportunities to make dramatic gains. The schedule and opposition changes are lining up in interesting ways. We have our own holes to fill at WR and RB, but things are looking up.
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The "new" Purdue QB was the starter before he got injured, and Blough took over. OSU has a stockpile of QBs, possibly to include Fields transferring in from Georgia. Northwestern picked up a transfer who is rated higher than anybody else that they've had for a long time. The Wisconsin QB looked a heck of a lot better than Hornibrook, and I hear from a lot of folks that the kid coming in will probably win the job.

Nobody doubts that Nebraska will be/should be greatly improved, but it's not like the rest of the conference is eroding away its talent. The same people who think that we're going to tear things up probably thought that we were going to win 10 games last year, and even now talk about how we "should have," etc. The bottom line is that we are in an incredibly tough conference, and suddenly our side of the conference is getting a lot better. If we win more than 8 games next year, it will be a great year.
 
OldFatHerbie said:
Based on the last year, and changes in the next (new Purdue QB, probably new starter at OSU, new Badger QB starter probably, new starters at Northwestern) there are open opportunities to make dramatic gains. The schedule and opposition changes are lining up in interesting ways. We have our own holes to fill at WR and RB, but things are looking up.
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1. The Purdue QB is Elijah Sindelar. He beat out David Blough but had an ACL. Kid is a baller.
2. Wisconsin QB Jack Coan (FR) looked good running the O against Miami tonight. RB Taylor is back with 7 of 10 OL.
3. Ohio St QB Haskins hasn't decided on the NFL yet. OSU has ridiculous talent.
4. Nebraska has holes at WR, RB, OL (center) plus many holes on the defense.

Thoughts?
 
Middle-aged_Ball_Coach said:
Nobody doubts that Nebraska will be/should be greatly improved, but it's not like the rest of the conference is eroding away its talent. The same people who think that we're going to tear things up probably thought that we were going to win 10 games last year, and even now talk about how we "should have," etc. The bottom line is that we are in an incredibly tough conference, and suddenly our side of the conference is getting a lot better. If we win more than 8 games next year, it will be a great year.
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No this is not true. I thought a bowl game was going to be tough this year based on as much.....the schedule and the culture change. I do think we are going to tear it up next year to the extent of 9-3 based on the schedule and what we are returning. I'm not dismissing the fact that we have areas that appear weak but some people don't realize other teams have issues too.

For example......Purdue loses 8 offensive starters including 4 of their 5 starting lineman and their QB and Running back. They lose 7 of their top 10 two deep on the line and 14 total of their top 22 on offense. Nebraska however loses only 4 offensive starters and only 2 starting lineman. We only lose 5 of our two deep on offense compared to their 14.

People aren't dismissing the likes of Purdue and such nor are they failing to understand some holes we need to fill. I would argue that some fans are failing to understand the holes many of these West teams have to fill.

Now teams like Minnesota have also shown great youth movement and return a lot of starters but overall they have had significantly less talent..….albeit better developed prior to Frost......than us the last 4-5 years. All the teams in the West are faced with question marks on their roster.
 
I was reading a USA Today article earlier in the week regarding QB transfers ... one of the article’s premises was that Jalen Hurts would move on after this season.

Got to think he is a talent that could make several teams in the B1G better ... Maryland’s HC is a former Alabama OC for instance. Maybe some other good fits around the conference (ie, was Shea Patterson ‘one & done’ at Michigan?).
 



One Hit Wonder said:
1. The Purdue QB is Elijah Sindelar. He beat out David Blough but had an ACL. Kid is a baller.
2. Wisconsin QB Jack Coan (FR) looked good running the O against Miami tonight. RB Taylor is back with 7 of 10 OL.
3. Ohio St QB Haskins hasn't decided on the NFL yet. OSU has ridiculous talent.
4. Nebraska has holes at WR, RB, OL (center) plus many holes on the defense.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I'm in agreement on all of your bullet points and have a hard time understanding why everyone thinks NU is going to roll in the West in '19.

Improvement was obvious throughout the year, but the roster just isn't where it needs to be overall. I think it gets there in '20 and keeps improving under Frost, but the bar in my eyes for 2018 is still a bowl game and a winning season. Contending for the B1G West isn't completely out of the question, but Wisconsin, Northwestern and Iowa at minimum will give NU a run for their money. I'm not convinced PJ Fleck can't get Minnesota up to a consistent 7-8 win a year team, so that leaves a young Illinois team that showed flashes and has a ton of good, young talent as the lone outlier. Maybe.

Bottom line, Nebraska has too many holes outside of Martinez and a lot of hopeful youth to rattle their sabres just yet.
 

Middle-aged_Ball_Coach said:
Are you watching the bowl games? Minnesota and Wisconsin didn't look bad to me, and they're mediocre teams in the conference.
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Bowl games are about matchups. The B1G is one of two P5 conferences not in the playoffs meaning the matchups in bowls become skewed.

If tOSU were in the playoff then Michigan would be in the Rose and someone else would be playing Florida and so on and so forth. Likely the Badgers wouldn’t be playing a pathetic Miami team but rather someone much better.
 
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