Inter-Division Degree of Difficulty, Legends

Submitted by Muttley on

Likely out-of-division easy-turkeys for Nebraska and MSU put them in the Legends contention discussion.  Northwestern could be 0-2 after a trip to Wiscy next week.  Of course, Michigan is ALWAYS in the discussion on MGoBlog.  In terms of out-of-division degree of difficulty, Michigan hosts THE GAME but does not face Wisconsin.

 

 
Rank Team Toughest Middle Easiest
1 Northwestern Ohio State (L) @Wisconsin 10/12 @Illinois 11/30
2 Iowa @ Ohio State 10/19 Wisconsin 11/02 @Purdue 11/09
3 Michigan Ohio State 11/30 @ Penn State 10/12 Indiana 10/19
4 Minnesota Wisc 11/02 @Indiana 11/02 Penn State 11/09
5 Michigan State @Illinois 10/26 Indiana 10/12 Purdue 10/19
6 Nebraska @ Penn State 11/23 @Purdue 10/12 Illinois (W)

LSAClassOf2000

October 6th, 2013 at 1:45 PM ^

If you insert the projected probabilities over at Massey, these would be the estimated chances of each team winning all three of those games given the OP's table. Of course, Northwestern (*) could only go 2-1 at best, so theirs is the probability of going 2-1. Nebraska has already played and won one of these, hence the 1.00

  Toughest Middle Easiest  
Northwestern 1.00 0.27 0.65 17.55%*
Iowa 0.10 0.30 0.84 2.52%
Michigan  0.29 0.38 0.55 6.06%
Minnesota 0.13 0.12 0.31 0.48%
Michigan St. 0.68 0.64 0.98 42.65%
Nebraska 0.44 0.88 1.00 38.72%

 

A Lot of Milk

October 6th, 2013 at 2:35 PM ^

I'm nervous for Indiana. Unless our defense really does a great job of containing their offense, we're gonna have to match them offensively. And with an increased emphasis on the run offense and slow possessions, matching them offensively is gonna be impossible.

Wolverine Devotee

October 6th, 2013 at 2:52 PM ^

Seeing that 44-24 score on the board yesterday at the game, certainly created a buzz in the section. indiana is going to be more difficult of a game than penn state. 

allintime23

October 6th, 2013 at 3:25 PM ^

I have this horrible feeling that we beat Ohio and win the division only to lose to them in the championship game and find ourselves facing Stanford. I still think Nebraska and staee drop a game they should each have won. I'm just hoping we find a way to take care of business.

Leonhall

October 6th, 2013 at 4:53 PM ^

thinking is we'd better be ready for State. to me, that and Ohio are our toughest opponents left. State has improved greatly, i don't know if gardner can handle that defense at all, if we can't stop their run, that will be a long shitty day in lansing.

Muttley

October 7th, 2013 at 1:51 AM ^

our offensive line allowed ND to apply to Devin.  Few QBs would have been successful in that situation.

Hopefully, we've got Good Devin back, and our O-line will have improved markedly by then.

I dumped the Dope

October 6th, 2013 at 8:04 PM ^

After Notre Dame, I was looking ahead to Ohio, feeling like the rest of our games were winnable.

Now every week is a game that could break us.  Not saying it will but the probabilities are there that make me sweat.

1. Penn State, needle can swing from great to bad in my opinion.  Depends which team shows up.

2. Indiana has shown they can put up a load of points on a couple of occasions.

3. Michigan Staee, we're always going to get their best game, its always going to be a grinding game.  Their defense could wreak havoc on our rush and pass game.

4. Nebraska..if martinez is healthy look out.  Their defense has been labeled terrible but it seems to boil down to tackling issues and not experience, my quick opinion is those can be coached out and their D could rise up at any time.

5. Northwestern...we showed terrible trouble containing Venric Mark's speed.  Not sure how we will do against the spread.  NW has a historical record though of only having 3 quarters worth of gas in the tank as last year and Saturday showed.

6. Iowa..also scares me as I consider us equal to them at this point in time.  Big front 7 who can squish the run.  Better offense than Staee.  Bad memories of last trip to Kinnick with 0 for 4 from the 2 yd line.

7. Ohio...I can see gaps and chinks in their armor.  But if Hyde gets loose one way and Miller the other its going to be a long afternoon.  They rushed 3 and blew up NWs pocket all 4th Q long.  It would take a perfect game on our part to pull this out.  I like the way we've played smashmouth with Miller, it seems to tax him as the game goes on.  I feel certain they are going to be undefeated when they bus it up to Ann Arbor and a late season loss by either team is going to tank national standings with no chance of recovery.  The possibility of a rematch the next week isn't good either.  I'll worry about that one when its presented.

Bottom line is its week-to-week for me now.  I have no expectations other than to fight for 4Q and see what happens, maybe that's healthier in the long run rather than having a high flying blimp everyone's gunning for.