Who do you think will make noise in the B1G in the next few years?

Submitted by canzior on

We discussed before the season how the B1G has one of the best groups of coaches it has ever had. And I think that regardless of who Purdue hires, the conference coaching and the school will be better without Darrell Hazell.  

1. Who do you think will be the next B1G team outside of Michigan/OSU to make a playoff?  

2. Which team is poised to improve the most in the next 4/5 years?

3. Who declines most in the same time frame?

 

 

1. Wisconsin? Is that too easy?  They schedule tough games which might give them an advantage over other non Big 2 teams.  I could also see a scenario where Penn St/Indiana (eventually Maryland) put it together, get a fluke win over OSU and M slips, and they win a tie breaker. 

2. Is Northwestern is fools gold? Can Rutgers become even a decent team?  I think Maryland is the choice here. There's a ton of talent  in this area (remember they kept Stefon Diggs from Michigan) and if they can win 1 recruiting battle a year with M, OSU, and Penn State...they could be formidable. Still don't know if they ever beat Harbaugh and Meyer.

3. I think MSU could be in trouble.  I would love to see Mark D get offered a job, like LSU/Tennessee where he could be LIGHTS OUT. Their inability to outrecruit Michigan during the down years would be troubling for me if I were a Sparty fan.  Personally I think they outkicked their coverage the last few years and are on the way to becoming a 7/8 win team each year.  My next choice would be Iowa I think.

03 Blue 07

November 4th, 2016 at 3:04 PM ^

He is not wrong. I'll step in for him:

Penn State's largely delusional fan base can go fuck itself. They literally held a ceremony this year, in 2016, honoring JoePa. It is clear that Paterno, at a minimum, perjured himself when testifying about the Sandusky allegations. It's also very likely, in my view, based on testimony that has surfaced since Paterno's death, that Paterno knew of the allegations for decades and actively discouraged victims from coming forward. As a fan base, the PSU people do not seem to grasp that enabling and covering up for a child molestor completely offsets any positive things Paterno did during his lifetime and, in fact, makes Paterno a despicable human being.

Blue In NC

November 4th, 2016 at 10:31 AM ^

Agreed.  I think Wisconsin may have the best coaching and system in the West so they would be my choice.  PSU and MSU could be possibilities but going through OSU and Michigan will be tough.  Nebraska possibly but I am not sure if they have much upward momentum (unless they beat OSU).

funkywolve

November 4th, 2016 at 1:44 PM ^

It'll be interesting to see how they close out the season.  The last time the Huskers lost less than 4 games in a season was 2003 (the last year of Solich).  Starting with Wisconsin last weekend, they finish the year against 5 straight teams that have winning records right now:

@ Wisky

@ OSU

Minny

Maryland

@ Iowa

Like you, not sure if they have a ton of upward momentum but if they can finish the regular season 10-2, that would be a pretty nice job in Riley's second year.

DetroitBlue

November 4th, 2016 at 10:33 AM ^

I could be mixed up, but hasn't Wisconsin traditionally scheduled the softest of soft out of conference schedules? I know they played LSU these last couple years, but in the past that has been emphatically not the case. Do they have more big OOC games coming up over the next few seasons?




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MH20

November 4th, 2016 at 10:51 AM ^

A quick perusal of their past slates reveals their OOC schedule up to this season went pretty much like this (listed in order of opponent toughness):

  • FCS team
  • low-level G5 team (MAC/Sun Belt)
  • mid-level G5 team (Mountain West/C-USA)
  • mid-level/good P5 team

 

Now, this isn't to say that Michigan's OOC schedule has always been tough...

Lampuki22

November 4th, 2016 at 10:35 AM ^

 

...their own recent history. 

Rising

Michigan, Penn State, Nebaraska, Maryland, Indiana

Stable

OSU, Wisconsin, Northwestern

Declining

MSU,  Iowa, Rutgers,

 

Stagnant

IL, Purdue, Minny

 

Mostly based on gut feel, plus obvious coaching and recruiting trends, 

 

LSAClassOf2000

November 4th, 2016 at 10:59 AM ^

Sure, it's bleak, but what if you take a page from the book of a fellow Big Ten institution and subscribe to the notion that while you may have lost, you did lose with dignity and that's what matters at the end of the day. 

No, Rutgers might no even be able to do that coherently. Never mind what I said. 

SpikeFan2016

November 4th, 2016 at 10:42 AM ^

Wisconsin is already a playoff caliber team, ranked #8 in the country and poised to win out. 

 

The Badgers will likely be ranked near #5/#6 at the end of the regular season, a win in Indy would get them in most likely. 

 

I don't think James Franklin has what it takes to get PSU there. I think PSU will return to being a 9-3/10-2 type team, while playing easy non-conference schedules. I can't see PSU winning in Ann Arbor or Columbus; I think they will knock off one of OSU/UM every other game (once every four years) in Happy Valley White Outs and those will be their high points. 

 

I could see Maryland becoming a solid, bottom of the Top 25 type team within a few years, but not playoff material. 

 

MSU will not stay this bad, but I don't think they'll be winning the Big Ten again in the next 5 years. I think that they will be a perennial fringe top 25 team, and they will remain tough to play for UM, especially in East Lansing. 

 

I can see Nebraska winning the West from time to time, but I don't see them becoming a true playoff caliber team. 

 

So, Wisconsin is definitely my choice for the next non-OSU/UM playoff appearance. 

ijohnb

November 4th, 2016 at 10:54 AM ^

problem for MSU is not that will stay bad, for the short term, they have had a few nice recruiting classes and their caliber of play will improve dramatically from this year over the next 2 or 3.  The problem is that with Michigan, Ohio State, and now Penn State seemingly rounding back into form, they are dead meat in the division. 

They will ride the CFP to a couple more years of semi-competitive recruting, but OSU is poised to be an absolute death machine and while Michigan will have a lean year or two (relatively) after this one, we will be deadly thereafter assuming Harbaugh sticks around and there is no evidence that he won't.

So for future top end recruits, why would you go to MSU with three college football giants in the division and really no remote chance of competing for the BIG championship.  And they can't sell me on "player development" and not recruiting as the reason for their recent success because they stocked up on would-be Michigan commits during the Rich Rod era and have leaned on them really until this year.

So, long story short, I don't think State is going to get or stay bad over the next couple of years, but their good won't be good enough and that will have a debilitating effect on their future as far as conference competitiveness goes.  

In reply to by ijohnb

1974

November 4th, 2016 at 1:39 PM ^

"... they stocked up on would-be Michigan commits during the Rich Rod era and have leaned on them really until this year ..."

No, they didn't. In fact, many of their high-profile, next-level (NFL) players didn't even have Michigan offers. Gholston is an exception. Who else do you have? (That's a serious question.)

Here -- I'll help you.

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/32315
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/29376
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/19461
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/15602
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/7133
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/15672
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/22909

See any Michigan offers there? Me, neither.

I mentioned Gholston. Let me know if you find others.

ijohnb

November 4th, 2016 at 2:04 PM ^

did not have UM offers because Rodriguez was not recruiting them.  I'm not sure what we are disagreeing on.  I'm not saying that Michigan of old or Michigan of new would have offered all of them, but Rodriguez was recruiting slot ninjas and Demar Dorsey during that time so we will never know what could have been. 

1974

November 4th, 2016 at 2:55 PM ^

Refining ...

Your idea seems to be that MSU prospered partly because of RichRod's errant recruiting. You're implying that his predecessors wouldn't have had that issue. I disagree.

Look closely at the lists for those players. Lloyd Carr probably wouldn't have offered them, either. By consensus they were mostly low-level recruits. OSU wasn't knocking on their door.

Aside, it's worth noting that, in 2009, RichRod went out of state and got Lewan, Schofield, Denard, Toussaint, et al. What should he have done? Stocked up on a bunch of Michigan 3-stars instead?

I think RichRod's recruiting was shaky overall, but I can't clearly tie MSU's prosperity to many lousy recruiting decisions of his involving players that would have normally gone to Michigan.

ijohnb

November 4th, 2016 at 11:16 AM ^

they would get in.  The Committee values championships, and it is not as though they would come into that game ranked like 15, they would be like #5 or 6 to begin with.  I would also hope so, because Michigan would not be getting in and if Wisconsin beat Michigan and did not get in that would mean that there would be to BIG team in the playoff.  That would not be good.

Bleedmaizeblue

November 4th, 2016 at 10:42 AM ^

I hope Fleck gets a B12 job. He'd dominate there. He will be in a bad position in Purdue. I don't know if any B12 jobs will open up this year, besides Texas which he won't be hired for, but if there's not, wait it out. Either that or wait out for a higher tier B1G job.

uofmfootball97

November 4th, 2016 at 10:42 AM ^

I do agree that I think Purdue will be better by hiring just about anyone else. I think Pelini would be a great hire for them.

 

1. I'll take Nebraska or Wisconsin. I just don't see anyone else from the East beating out Michigan or Ohio State to win the division. Meanwhile, the West is so weak (overall) that I think Nebraska or Wisconsin (with a good crossover schedule like Iowa last year) could get to the Playoff.

 

2. I'm torn here. Part of me wants to say Illinois because I really do think that Lovie will recruit well there with time. He's well respected in state, plus has strong NFL relationshis. They also are close to the St. Louis area which has a ton of talent, as well as pullling the occasional athlete out of Chicago. However, I'm just not sure they have the resources (yet) to get to a point of relevancy.

 

3. I just don't see MSU remaining a perrenial top team with the way theyve recruited. Granted they are very young this year, but with what they're losing (McDowell, Bullough, etc) I just don't see how they're going to get much better. I also think Iowa and Minnesota are candidates here. Iowa because they're losing Beathard and Minnesota because I don't think Claeys is a great coach.

The Mad Hatter

November 4th, 2016 at 10:43 AM ^

I would have said PSU, based on the assumption that Franklin was going to be fired this year.  Then they beat OSU, which saved his job for at least the next 14 months.  In the east it's going to be Michigan and OSU for as long as Harbaugh and Meyer are coaching.  MSU will revert back to playing their traditional role as a potential spoiler.

Wisconsin will be the team to beat in the west for the foreseeable future.  Chryst is a damn good coach, even if he always looks like he just rolled off the couch and onto the sideline.

Blarvey

November 4th, 2016 at 10:44 AM ^

Nebraska and Wisconsin should rule the west with Iowa and NW popping up every so often. I have this feeling that Minnesota is going to be formidable in the future but I am not sure why.

I think Maryland is on the rise in the east and Indiana seems to be putting it all together. CFP bound? Probably not anytime soon. PSU reminds me of Nebraska under Pelini - 8-9 wins a year with nothing particularly impressive.

Blarvey

November 4th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^

Depending on the scheduling, they could end up with a down Nebraska and Wisconsin and crossovers against bad east teams. I think their upside is like one of those good Iowa years once they get the offense going. As it is, they are only 10 points away from being undefeated.

Late November should be telling for them.

Alumnus93

November 4th, 2016 at 10:48 AM ^

Wisconsin will make alot of noise....   Northwestern isn't fools gold... for they just lost their best player QB Sieman who is doing quite well in the pros, and usually thats a massive falloff (see MSU and Cook)...   MSU will be average, for Lewerke looks pretty good, and Dantoni isn't gonna get a better job after being a likely 3-9.... like Salozzo in the Godfather, Dantoni missed his chance, and it was this past offseason.

burtcomma

November 4th, 2016 at 11:02 AM ^

He's not going anywhere in terms of another head coaching job. He will be at MSU until he retires (of his own accord or after some AD encouragement). He has found the perfect place and fit for himself.

I would not be so easily dismissive of his chances to have good teams, as he and his assistants have a pretty decent track record of identifying underrated talent and coaching it up.