Is the Big Ten regressing?

Florida looked awful against Bowling Green in their first game.  Yes, they won ... but it was not terribly impressive.  So yeah, first games are a bitch.

it's all in how you look at it.

Indiana State's very happy to have the chance to play Indiana and the game was competitive. Northern Iowa's beaten Iowa State three times in the last twenty years; South Dakota and North Dakota State have each beaten Minnesota recently. Georgia Southern put more points and yards on Alabama than any other school last year (I know Alabama rested starters; it's still impressive). Montana won four straight against Idaho (that might be the only trophy game played across divisions, although they haven't played it for a few years). It's the highlight of the year for those schools--why do you want to take it away from them?

I can do without the Okie St./Savannah matchups and I don't know why Michigan should be playing UMass but there's some overlap between the bottom of FBS and the top of FCS and I don't think a blanket ban does anyone any good.

A bowl/playoff/ranking system that made a distinction between different calibers of FCS opponents and heavily penalized bad mismatches (within FBS too) seems like a better idea.

They have a veteran team, and they took Southern Miss (who is usually decent) to the woodshed. I think that's the game on our schedule that we're most likely to lose.

the Big Ten deep? I actually think the conference of late has been more competitve than this past you refer to. It is only recently that the rest of the Big Ten has cycled through with years of competitiveness. Wisconsin and Iowa have come on, Penn State for a while, then MSU. It was Ohio, Michigan, and whomever happened to be hot that year when one or the other was caught napping.

I think this quarterback of the year strategy Wisconsin has is misguided, but they'll be back. Two years ago they could have handled Bama way better than we did.

PSU will be hammered for a while - they cannot strategize their way around the sanctions like USC did.

Nebraska is a good addition, but we'll see where they are as the season goes on. I happen to think our game in Lincoln decides the B1G this year.

OSU appears to be back but capped by sanctions.

MSU is in transition, we'll see how they as the post-Rich Rod recruiting downturn hits them.

It's all cyclical and explainable. And I agree, the bulk of the SEC did not look that good either. Dave just signed us up for the toughest assignment imaginable out of the box, and we weren't ready yet.

Welcome to the board!

2007 lost to Appy State... Won 8 straight oncluding rivalry games against ND and Sparty... dominated Florida in bowl game! Plenty of football to be played.

I was going to say I wouldn't be surprised by any regression as the best SEC programs are reaping the rewards of winning, but this is a good point. Hopefully with good coaches and the subsequent wins and recruiting, the conference will get tougher and be better for it.

I thought Florida had been avoiding it from the start.

I mean, I have nothing but fondness for Northern Iowa...  I've been to some games there and I have run multiple track meets in the Unidome.  They recruit the best talent they can get (top Iowa talent mixed with some elsewhere, they have a great track program), but they should never even come close to the talent level of a Big Ten team.

Basically you are making my point...  There is no reason for any defending conference champ to lose to a better than average FCS team.  There is also no reason for any team in the Big Ten to lose to a team that is in a whole division lower than itself.  It's like another App. State...

Who are the Big Two? Michigans not back YET, and OSU had a losing season last year.

Most of the teams the pac 12 played are ok teams.  BYU, SJSU, NEVADA, CSU ARE ALL GOOD TEAMS

 Michigan Football-  


 What you gonna do when hokemania RUNS wild over you?

Penn State hung with Bama!

It will take us a few years to cycle through the bust-laden 2008-2010 class and the handful of diamonds 2011 class.

From Rivals

Name Pos Location Ht Wt 40 Stars Rivals Rating Committed Videos Pos Rank Nat Rank State Rank Visit Date Enrolled Recruited By
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2008
Boubacar Cissoko 4 stars 6.0
Dann O'Neill 4 stars 6.0
Darryl Stonum 4 stars 6.0
J.B. Fitzgerald 4 stars 5.9
Kevin Koger 4 stars 5.9
Michael Shaw 4 stars 5.9
Brandon Smith 4 stars 4 stars 5.9
Ricky Barnum 4 stars 5.8
Kenny Demens 4 stars 5.8
Taylor Hill 4 stars 5.8
Mike Martin 4 stars 5.8
Sam McGuffie 4 stars 5.8
Elliott Mealer 4 stars 5.8
Brandon Moore 4 stars 5.8
Terrence Robinson 4 stars 5.8
Roy Roundtree 4 stars 5.8
Marcus Witherspoon 4 stars 5.8
Mike Cox 3 stars 5.7
Justin Feagin 3 stars 5.7
Rocko Khoury 3 stars 5.7
Martavious Odoms 3 stars 5.7
Kurt Wermers 3 stars 5.6
J.T. Floyd 3 stars 5.5
Patrick Omameh 2 stars 2 stars 5.1

2009
William Campbell 5 stars 6.1
Justin Turner 4 stars 6.0
Tate Forcier 4 stars 5.9
Jeremy Gallon 4 stars 5.9
Craig Roh 4 stars 5.9
Je'Ron Stokes 4 stars 5.9
Vladimir Emilien 4 stars 5.8
Cameron Gordon 4 stars 5.8
Anthony LaLota 4 stars 5.8
Taylor Lewan 4 stars 5.8
Denard Robinson 4 stars 5.8
Michael Schofield 4 stars 5.8
Fitzgerald Toussaint 4 stars 5.8
Quinton Washington 4 stars 5.8
Isaiah Bell 3 stars 5.7
Brandin Hawthorne 3 stars 5.7
Mike Jones 3 stars 5.7
Teric Jones 3 stars 5.7
Vincent Smith 3 stars 5.7
Thomas Gordon 3 stars 5.5
Brendan Gibbons K 2 stars 5.4
Adrian Witty 2 stars 5.3

2010
Cullen Christian 4 stars 5.9
Devin Gardner 4 stars 5.9
Richard Ash 4 stars 5.8
Demar Dorsey 4 stars 5.8
Marvin Robinson 4 stars 5.8
Ken Wilkins 4 stars 5.8
Jibreel Black 3 stars 5.7
Josh Furman 3 stars 5.7
Carvin Johnson 3 stars 5.7
Ricardo Miller 3 stars 5.7
Christian Pace 3 stars 5.7
Jerald Robinson 3 stars 5.7
Davion Rogers 3 stars 5.7
Terry Talbott 3 stars 5.7
Austin White 3 stars 5.7
Drew Dileo 3 stars 5.6
Conelius Jones 3 stars 5.6
Jordan Paskorz 3 stars 5.6
Jake Ryan 3 stars 5.6
Courtney Avery 3 stars 5.5
Will Hagerup K 3 stars 5.5
Stephen Hopkins 3 stars 5.5
Jeremy Jackson 3 stars 5.5
Antonio Kinard 3 stars 5.5
Terrence Talbott 3 stars 5.5
D.J. Williamson 3 stars 5.5
Ray Vinopal 2 stars 5.4

2011
Justice Hayes 4 stars 5.9
Chris Barnett 4 stars 5.8 2/2/11
Brennen Beyer 4 stars 5.8
Chris Bryant 4 stars 5.8 1/28/11
Blake Countess 4 stars 5.8
Raymon Taylor 4 stars 5.8 1/22/11
Delonte Hollowell 3 stars 5.7
Kellen Jones 3 stars 5.7
Antonio Poole 3 stars 5.7 1/25/11
Frank Clark 3 stars 5.6 2/2/11
Thomas Rawls 3 stars 5.6 2/1/11
Chris Rock 3 stars 5.6
Russell Bellomy 3 stars 5.5 1/25/11
Greg Brown 3 stars 5.5
Tamani Carter 3 stars 5.5 1/20/11
Keith Heitzman 3 stars 5.5 1/22/11
Jack Miller 3 stars 5.5
Desmond Morgan 3 stars 5.5
Tony Posada 3 stars 5.5
Matt Wile K 2 stars 5.3 1/22/11

2012
Kyle Kalis 5 stars 6.1
Ondre Pipkins 5 stars 6.1
Erik Magnuson 4 stars 5.9
Blake Bars 4 stars 5.8
Joe Bolden 4 stars 5.8
Amara Darboh 4 stars 5.8
Royce Jenkins-Stone 4 stars 5.8
Dennis Norfleet 4 stars 5.8
Terry Richardson 4 stars 5.8
James Ross 4 stars 5.8
Tom Strobel 4 stars 5.8
Jarrod Wilson 4 stars 5.8
Ben Braden 3 stars 5.7
Jeremy Clark 3 stars 5.7
Devin Funchess 3 stars 5.7
Matthew Godin 3 stars 5.7
Mario Ojemudia 3 stars 5.7
Kaleb Ringer 3 stars 5.7
A.J. Williams 3 stars 5.7
Christopher Wormley 3 stars 5.7
Jehu Chesson 3 stars 5.6
Allen Gant 3 stars 5.6
Willie Henry 3 stars 5.6
Drake Johnson 3 stars 5.6
Sione Houma 3 stars 5.5

2013
Shane Morris 5 stars 6.1
Henry Poggi 4 stars 6.0
Kyle Bosch 4 stars 5.9
Jake Butt 4 stars 5.9
Chris Fox 4 stars 5.9
Patrick Kugler 4 stars 5.9
Mike McCray 4 stars 5.9
Dymonte Thomas 4 stars 5.9
Taco Charlton 4 stars 5.8
David Dawson 4 stars 5.8
Ross Douglas 4 stars 5.8
Ben Gedeon 4 stars 5.8
Jourdan Lewis 4 stars 5.8
Wyatt Shallman 4 stars 5.8
Logan Tuley-Tillman 4 stars 5.8
Jaron Dukes 3 stars 5.7
Maurice Hurst Jr. 3 stars 5.7
Deveon Smith 3 stars 5.7
Csont'e York 3 stars 5.7
Gareon Conley 3 stars 5.6
Khalid Hill 3 stars 5.6
Channing Stribling 2 stars 5.4
Scott Sypniewski 2 stars 5.2