247 Sports looks at the Legends division
The people at 247 Sports have a brief free article evaluating the Big Ten Legends division teams. Also, they give their picks on who wins both divisions and where the various Big Ten teams land in the bowl season. You're too impatient to go read the article? Ok, Michigan goes to somewhere where there is a rose parade, if 247 has it right . . .
http://247sports.com/Article/Big-Ten-Legends-Spring-Wrap-Up-73497
Hopefully they are right about U-M. I see they have Sparty making their first BCS appearence as well.
How funny would it be if Sparty goes to the Sugar Bowl this season and we go to the Rose Bowl.
Kork Coupons gets a chance to watch the Big Ten Championship game and leapfrog Wisconsin for a BCS bowl berth...
He can sit and watch from his couch this year as we go to another BCS bowl.
Is your mouse broken and you can't click on the link?
A little confused when I went to the article and the first thing I saw was Taylor Martinez among the Division stars... Wildly overrated. No aspect of his game is as good as Denard's, and Denard has some flaws. He gets why too much love from the national media. Plus he's an asshole.
Taylor Martinez has a cannon for an arm! And excellent form!
Only if you remember that Taylor is a female name as well...
/NTTAWWT
Biggest understatement: Mattison worked a "minor miracle".
....which they did for both divisions in this article, I am forced to wonder if any team should actually feel insulted to be called a "logical fit" at the Meineke Car Care Bowl, even if it was Illinois they were discussing.
I certainly would not complain if I were bumming accommodations off the family in Pasadena so I could see Michigan in the Rose Bowl. They might complain, of course, since the wayward souls in my extended family are USC alums. A potential trip to the Big Ten championship game would be a great penultimate game for Dilithium as well.
Upvoted purely for the proper use of penultimate.
The world will be a better place once people stop using "penultimate" as a synonym for "final" and "I digress" as a substitute for "I'm getting back on topic".
The Sparty and Buckeye commenters at the end of the article tells you everything you need to know about their programs. They care more about ragging on us than worrying about their own teams (especially little bro). Having said that I don't think we will win the B1G this year but we will be a better team than last year. Our running game is going to be very effective but until i see something from our receivers (both WR and TE) I'm not going to be holding my breath. Our D will be fine and I have total faith in Mattison plus our DB's should be one tops in the B1G and will help if our DL has some problems.
Thing I worry about:
How many of these pre-season articles will overlook the fact that we are losing David Molk? His loss cannot be understated.
And the two best players along our D-line? We won a lot of games last year because we were good in the trenches. This year, we can expect regression.
True but we also have our returning players hopefully improving over last year, and then there's the BWC riddle. If he can step it up I think the loss of Martin, while still felt, can be minimized. Same goes for the OL. Obviously it wil hurt to lose Molk but we actually have some very solid players competing for positions. If Barnum can get comfortable at center (and stay healthy!) he is more than capable of being a productive player and is probably more physically gifted than Molk. Even if our DL isn't up to the level it was last year our LB's and DB's should be good enough to help pick up the slack. Long story short, I'm more concerned about our lack of experience and proven production from our receiving positions than our lines on either side of the ball.
P.S. - Sorry if this was difficult to read, very long day.
But not always the best player in the nation at such an important position. I think we'll be OK, but I certainly have concerns. Was really making the point that a writer isn't going to write about the interior Oline because that's not very sexy, yet Molk was so important for our team. Remember what happened when he sat a couple snaps in the Sugar Bowl?
If you scroll down to the comments section and take a look at the Little Brother trolls you will have a laugh. Never have I seen an inferiority complex as I have observed in State fans. One guy thought we would lose to Bama, ND, and 3 conference games.
One guy thought we would lose to Bama, ND and 3 conference games.
Ummm....that is not really that implausible. I'm pretty sure UM will be a big underdog against Bama, an underdog against ND (night game in South Bend) and a likely underdog at Nebraska and at OSU (yes, sorry to inform you, but OSU is going to be good in 2012...). Throw in games against MSU and Iowa in AA, two teams UM has made a habit of losing to over the last 4 years and that "troll-ish" prediction isn't all that far out.
I'm thinking UM will finish 8-4 with losses against Bama, ND and two conference games from: @Nebraska, @OSU, MSU and Iowa. However, I wouldn't be shocked to see UM finish 7-5 next season. I'll be thrilled if UM goes 9-3, personally.
They also did the leaders division.
http://247sports.com/Article/Big-Ten-Leaders-Spring-Wrap-Up-72523
They're pretty high on the B1G. Wisc, OSU, MSU, and Iowa are all projected to have 10 win seasons. Nebraska and UM at 9 wins and IL and PSU at 7-5. I think that's pretty generous. In fact I'll eat a lemon if OSU wins 10 games.
Have you looked at OSU's schedule for 2012? A ten win regular season is not that far-fetched for the Bucks. I think people need to remember that last season was an aberration. OSU is not going to suddenly start sucking at football. They are still loaded with plenty of talent; last year was simply a train wreck of a season with all of the distractions.
OSU's 2012 schedule:
- Miami (OH) == win
- Central Florida == win
- California == win (Cal is "meh" and they will be coming all the way across country)
- Alabama-Birmingham == win
- @ Michigan State == likely loss (maybe just a toss up though)
- Nebraska == win
- @ Indiana == win
- Purdue == win
- @ Penn State == toss up
- Illinois == win
- @ Wisconsin == likely loss
- Michigan == toss up
That is 8 easy wins, two 50-50 toss ups and two likely losses as a worst case scenario. 10 wins is VERY much in play for OSU next season.
You have OSU @ Penn State a toss up and them beating Nebraska and @ Wisconsin a likely loss. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Penn state was TERRIBLE last year stil beat OSU in their house so I can see the toss up, Nebraska should beat OSU tho atleast a toss up and Wisconsin won't be that good. Yea it's cool they kept Montee Ball another year but , I think thats more because he has seen what Wisconsin RB's do in the NFL.
I'll put Ohio down for a 9-3 with losses to MSU, Nebraska and Michigan.
I just hope Michigans offense plays a lot better than they did on the road last year.
That article is written by an ohio slappy, just sayin'.
the michigan roundtable will be Monday 5/14 on college football live with herbie, blackledge and the gang. Will this be on youtube?
after all the complaining, crying, and whining they did after they lost the B10 and didnt get a BCS bid but Michigan did by virtue of NOT having to play in the title game...RIGHT?