Saturday, October 12, 2013 - Early Game Thread

Submitted by Wolverine In Iowa on

I'm going to watch FYS against Indiana - should be hilarious.

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maize-blue

October 12th, 2013 at 2:20 PM ^

It's really hard to judge teams in our conference because we have several with deficiencies on one side of the ball (Indiana, Nebraska, MSU was this, Northwestern) and then there's Purdue. I don't have a clue what Illinois, Penn State or Iowa are. Ohio is decent.

All in all I don't think the conference is very strong and I can't really get a read on these teams until we play them.

 

Joined: 01/10/2013

MGoPoints: 44662

alum96

October 12th, 2013 at 2:22 PM ^

Well a month ago MSU was a black hole on offense while Nebraska was a black hole on defense.  I'd say MSU's offense has improved more than Nebraska's defense in that time.  Meanwhile NW's defense is suspect.  As for us we have no idea what our offense will be in any week as its very dependent on how Devin plays.

All teams with issues, and if you threw them all in cage match on neutral fields I'd expect a lot of 5-5 win loss in 10 game series between any of these teams.

Joined: 04/28/2012

MGoPoints: 82539

alum96

October 12th, 2013 at 2:20 PM ^

228 yds to 322 yds for MSU

13 min to 26 min TOP thus far

Indiana doesnt need much time to score of course which is why they wont be out of it unless it gets >14 late.

Joined: 04/28/2012

MGoPoints: 82539

KBLOW

October 12th, 2013 at 2:21 PM ^

Feeling like Mizzu playing not to lose with those punts.  Probably the best strategy with all the UGA injuries on offense but one more TD would seal the deal.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 22595

One Inch Woody…

October 12th, 2013 at 2:34 PM ^

I am an unabashed Big 10 homer as you all probably know, but objectively speaking - the conference was probably the worst it's ever been last year. And to start this year it was better, but still not good. I think a lot of teams have really started to improve as the season has gone on. All a team really needs is a spark on one side of the ball like MSU against Iowa and Nebraska against Illinois. We have young teams all across the conference so the improvement is noticeable. We're not at the PAC 12 or SEC level, but give the conference just TWO years of coaching stability and we'll get there.

Joined: 06/25/2011

MGoPoints: 1434

alum96

October 12th, 2013 at 2:40 PM ^

I have said this before but the key is QBs.  There used to be guys like Chuck Long at Iowa and Jeff George at Illinois.  More recently Brees at Purdue.  It simply is the most important position in the sport by a country mile.  Compare that to what those teams now get.   If you get more quality QBs in the Big 10 it makes everyone look good.  Right now how many QBs are serious NFL candidates?  I am not saying the BIg 10 used to have 10 NFL type QBs but the level of QB play in this conference has been very bad for quite a while.  There might be some hope now as Indiana and NW now play a 00s Purdue style offense (which doesnt necessarily mean the QB is great), PSU has what could be a great QB, etc.  

I will use UM as an example right now, Devin when he is "on" can hide a lot of personnel deficiencies.  So goes the same for a lot of average Big 10 teams.   We need better QBs in this conference.

Joined: 04/28/2012

MGoPoints: 82539

One Inch Woody…

October 12th, 2013 at 2:47 PM ^

I would argue that Gardner, Siemian, Miller, Stave, and maybe Hackenburg are definitely great QBs and the rest of the conference really just has stand ins - the thing is, even system QBs can be really good if given more than 2 years in a system. If the current coaches stay on for some time, those Mitch Leidners can turn into Kirk Cousins. It's not that surprising, though that MSU has had QB struggles with Roushar leaving. Cook will definitely improve and will be a threat in the coming years.

Joined: 06/25/2011

MGoPoints: 1434

maize-blue

October 12th, 2013 at 2:37 PM ^

MSU's reality is although they are undefeated and seem to have an improving Offense, they have played one team that could be considered "decent" on the national stage. They lost that game.

Joined: 01/10/2013

MGoPoints: 44662

maize-blue

October 12th, 2013 at 2:54 PM ^

No it has not either. The Jeff Sagarin rankings have us currently with the 122nd ranked strength of schedule. There are a total of 252 teams in these rankings (both FBS and FCS, I think). The only thing we can hang our hat on so far is the ND win.

Joined: 01/10/2013

MGoPoints: 44662

Reconnisaur

October 12th, 2013 at 2:38 PM ^

  Anyone got a good link to stream some games? Deployed to Egypt, firstrow is not working (hasnt for the last two weeks for me), and BTN international is not showing the Michigan - PSU game.

 

  Any help would be appreciated.

  Thanks,

 

           Jeff

Joined: 11/25/2011

MGoPoints: 127

NOLA Wolverine

October 12th, 2013 at 2:51 PM ^

First row is a little wierd now after the original site got blown up. It seems like there's three different sites for that service. Try this one (http://firstrowus1.eu/sport/american-football.html). If that's what you've been using and it's not working, give (http://www.stream2watch.me/live-tv) a shot, or (http://www.vipboxonline.eu/sports/american-football.html).

Joined: 09/01/2009

MGoPoints: 7307