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.
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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