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Post your B1G West prediction

Minnesota
Nebraska
NW
Wisconsin
Iowa
Purdue
Illinois

The conference is ridiculously balanced IMHO. I could vote for any of the first 5-6 teams being the better team. Given that, I started looking at schedule. Iowa's looks ROUGH, which pushed them down. MN finished so strong and returns so many starters that I pushed them up. Wiscy is due for an average year. I struggled to put Purdue so low, given that they beat us pretty soundly (were up 17? points at one point in the game). Bottom line - I made a prediction that I have no confidence is even close...
 

HuskerWeatherman said:
I know Steele produces those numbers as he's found a worthy correlation between returning starters and production and overall year-over-year improvement. Yes, it's not always the case. There will always be exceptions. But Steele is a stat guru that presents his findings with some basis. Otherwise, sure, I get what you're saying. I will add, however, it's generally better to have returning starters and production than not. Northwestern doesn't return a lot in either category -- though they do have their best player (on paper) at QB in school history slated to start -- and also the best coach in the Big Ten.

Actually, my concerns with replacing Ozigbo and Morgan are more due to lost depth of experience than talent that can't be replaced.

I definitely agree with it being impossible to made a prediction of Big Ten West standings with any confidence. Other than Illinois, I can make a case for every other team in the West. And the best team probably won't be separated by the fifth or sixth in the standings by more than a few plays on the season. Actually, it's so tight, I look more at schedule than anything else.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I know that was from Phil's stuff. I am not a huge stat guy and I know you are, I bet you play a lot of fantasy football.

Iowa only returns 4 starters on defense, but no one is worried about their defense not being good. Their best player "Epenesa" wasn't even a starter last year.

Illinois will be better than they have been just not as good as the other teams in the top end. I do think they will beat someone though and it may knock that team out of the B1G West derby. They will beat Nebraska, Wisconsin, NW or Iowa. I just hope it isn't Nebraska.
 
Interesting... tough to say as I think who your crossover games are is going to play a huge role this year. For example, I like Iowa this year but they have Michigan and Penn State, and Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Northwestern on the road. Conversely, we all now Ohio State is the only real tough crossover for Nebraska and their tough games are at home.

Maryland has a ton of talent returning, and their toughest conference game before November is Nebraska at home. They somehow beat us and they are in the driver seat, as their other conference games are Purdue, Illinois, Rutgers, Maryland before November. For as excited as we are about our schedule, Minnesota may have us beat.

Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern-Wisconsin-Iowa
Purdue
Illinois

That guess is only because I don't think we are "play for conference title caliber" yet. But I also think the top 6 are all so close that we could end up getting help a lot of places.
 
RockyMtnHusker said:
I struggled to put Purdue so low, given that they beat us pretty soundly (were up 17? points at one point in the game). Bottom line - I made a prediction that I have no confidence is even close...
Click to expand...
Yes we were down and lost handily but this game was a good example of the growing pains we were having. We out-yarded them on offense but penalties and turnovers killed us. It was a game of stupid mistakes the whole time and yet our stats still looked better. A quote from the summary on ESPN.
The Huskers, in losing their program-record eighth straight game, amassed 582 total yards and 30 first downs but couldn't overcome five personal fouls and a total of 11 penalties for 136 yards. ​
This didn't even mention the 2-0 turnover margin that we had against them. Just mistake after mistake that game. I remember watching that game and at half time I though we would eventually stop the stupid stuff and we would win. Well we didn't stop the stupid stuff. 5 personal fouls? Seriously? ​
 



ShortSideOption said:
Interesting... tough to say as I think who your crossover games are is going to play a huge role this year. For example, I like Iowa this year but they have Michigan and Penn State, and Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Northwestern on the road. Conversely, we all now Ohio State is the only real tough crossover for Nebraska and their tough games are at home.

Maryland has a ton of talent returning, and their toughest conference game before November is Nebraska at home. They somehow beat us and they are in the driver seat, as their other conference games are Purdue, Illinois, Rutgers, Maryland before November. For as excited as we are about our schedule, Minnesota may have us beat.

Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern-Wisconsin-Iowa
Purdue
Illinois

That guess is only because I don't think we are "play for conference title caliber" yet. But I also think the top 6 are all so close that we could end up getting help a lot of places.
Click to expand...
This injury "could"possibly cost Minnesota big. Depends how it plays out but I'm not convinced Morgan is all that good so it's going to be interesting to see what happens in those early games. It's difficult to win the division without high caliber QB play.........

Gophers sophomore quarterback Zack Annexstad threw a pass and felt a pop in his foot during a non-contact drill in Friday’s practice.

With that single motion, Minnesota’s starting QB competition between Annexstad and Tanner Morgan, which was expected to stretch weeks, instead ended three days into preseason camp.

“Tanner won the first day and Zack won the second day; it was back and forth,” Fleck said Saturday. “It was going to be a great competition, and you feel awful for Zack because of the work he put in.”

The Gophers said Annexstad will be out “indefinitely,” with Fleck saying details are needed to understand the full scope of the injury, but he underscored it’s serious.

Annexstad’s injury, which was not specified Saturday, could require surgery. If so, it would be done as soon as possible to jump-start the healing.
Click to expand...

www.twincities.com

Gophers quarterback Zack Annexstad out indefinitely with an injury

Gophers sophomore quarterback Zack Annexstad threw a pass and felt a pop in his foot during a non-contact drill in Friday’s practice. With that single motion, Minnesota’s starting QB competition be…
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com
 




HuskerWeatherman said:
Reading and bumping ...

More fun offseason discussion from last offseason (2019) ....
Click to expand...

Yeah, it is very interesting to see what people wrote or even what I wrote. Everyone thought Minnesota would be decent, but nothing like they ended up. I am going to go on record right now and say they don't go 10-2 next season.

They had a magical season last year. Pretty much everything went their way, which is what has to happen unless you are super talented. I mean other than the QB before the season getting hurt, they were basically injury free. They won 4 close games at the beginning of the season to pick up a lot of confidence. Their QB played out of his mind all season long.

Wisconsin was way better than I was expecting them to be also. I mean the way they started the season kicking everyone's arse. No one saw that coming. I think they take a step back next year. Without Johnathan Taylor and Quintez Cephas they will lose a lot of firepower. They have good RB coming back, but nothing like Taylor. Same goes at WR.
 



Iowa loses way too many studs/difference makers to be picked as high as many have picked them. Also surprised to see Minny so low on some.

I'd go:
Wisconsin - No reason not to given recent history
Minnesota - Very impressive run last year
Nebraska - If we come in 3rd, that's improvement and I'll be content after 3 losing seasons
Northwestern - I can't see Fitz having another terrible year like last year, too good a coach
Iowa - Loses several close division games without Epenesa and crew
Illinois - Continues to improve, but just doesn't have the horses to make top half of division
Purdue -It was either Illinois or Purdue here for me, could swap them
 
NUinID said:
Yeah, it is very interesting to see what people wrote or even what I wrote. Everyone thought Minnesota would be decent, but nothing like they ended up. I am going to go on record right now and say they don't go 10-2 next season.

They had a magical season last year. Pretty much everything went their way, which is what has to happen unless you are super talented. I mean other than the QB before the season getting hurt, they were basically injury free. They won 4 close games at the beginning of the season to pick up a lot of confidence. Their QB played out of his mind all season long.

Wisconsin was way better than I was expecting them to be also. I mean the way they started the season kicking everyone's arse. No one saw that coming. I think they take a step back next year. Without Johnathan Taylor and Quintez Cephas they will lose a lot of firepower. They have good RB coming back, but nothing like Taylor. Same goes at WR.
Click to expand...

Regarding Wisconsin, I think a lot of people thought the 2018 was a sign that the Badgers were trending down -- but instead, it was really more of an anomaly. The 2019 season was pretty much what Wisconsin has been for most of this century. So -- I personally tend to always assume that Wisconsin has a legitimate chance to be the best team in the Big Ten West. They have been -- by far -- the most consistently good for the longest period of time. Sure -- Jonathan Taylor was a stud that won't be easily replaced -- but Wisconsin has a long history of plugging in the next superstar RB. Just since Nebraska has been in the Big Ten, the Badgers have had Montee Ball, followed by James White, followed by Corey Clement, followed by Melvin Gordon, followed by Jonathan Taylor. That's just nuts -- so I don't know why I should assume they won't have another star RB. They signed a 4-star RB, Jalen Berger, who will likely have the opportunity to start. The Badgers will have holes to fill on offense -- but defensively, they were young last season and return a bunch of starters.
 

Lurker44 said:
Iowa loses way too many studs/difference makers to be picked as high as many have picked them. Also surprised to see Minny so low on some.

I'd go:
Wisconsin - No reason not to given recent history
Minnesota - Very impressive run last year
Nebraska - If we come in 3rd, that's improvement and I'll be content after 3 losing seasons
Northwestern - I can't see Fitz having another terrible year like last year, too good a coach
Iowa - Loses several close division games without Epenesa and crew
Illinois - Continues to improve, but just doesn't have the horses to make top half of division
Purdue -It was either Illinois or Purdue here for me, could swap them
Click to expand...
Nakia Watson will be Wisc next all American running back
 
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