SI's Most Impactful Players / Coaches for Each Playoff Conference

Submitted by Everyone Murders on

Link: http://www.si.com/college-football/2016/06/13/college-football-playoff-…

SI's Brian Hamilton put together a piece that would be considered a fluff piece, but for the accuracy of the B1G player selected.  Their take on the impact coach is interesting too - although we know the QB Whisperer resides in Ann Arbor.

Nearly zero meaningful content?  Probably.  But Peppers, man.  Peppers.

 

Big Ten Player: Jabrill Peppers, LB/S/All-purpose, Michigan. The winner of the Big Ten East will again be favored in the league championship game and thus be a favorite for a playoff invite. Peppers could be the uncommon player who will be deployed in such a fashion to make game-changing impacts singlehandedly. He has enough talent to do exactly that.
Coach: Brad Salem, quarterbacks coach, Michigan State. The Spartans have depth at running back, enough returning experience on the offensive line and a ton of potential to be exceptional on defense. What they don’t have is a starting quarterback who won 34 career games, as Connor Cook did. The toughest road game is Week 3 at Notre Dame. Michigan State’s schedule, which also includes matchups with Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin, could eat a bad quarterback alive. But if there’s a prepared, solid option available, suddenly the tenor of a playoff pursuit changes.

Blue_In_Texas

June 13th, 2016 at 8:51 PM ^

If Coach Salem can lead their offense without Cook, Burbidge, and the OL they lost, to a victory against the monsters we have on D, he will have earned this. 

LSAClassOf2000

June 13th, 2016 at 8:59 PM ^

Player: Florida State’s next starting quarterback. Deshaun Watson may be the league’s best player, but the Seminoles’ starter will either be good enough to do enough to lift a playoff-caliber roster into contention … or Clemson won’t face much to derail it from a second straight trip to the final four.

I like these predictions that just admit that you can get a lot of people to perform well enough in the right offense, or alternatively, one of those prediction predicated on Jimbo's keen senses. Either way, a very offseason prediction if there ever was one. 

TheRonimal

June 13th, 2016 at 9:24 PM ^

I'm very interested to see what state does this year with their offense. I see the potential for a run heavy offense if their OL is any good. O'Connor has some ability running the ball, and LJ Scott and Madre London could be dangerous. I think their OL is going to struggle early, maybe develop into a decent group. Their run game will be extremely important against Michigan. I will give them credit for showing their willingness to adjust their offense to their personell over the years. The Cook pass-fest that was last season vs. them just giving Leveon Bell the ball over and over again as he runs into the line. 



I'm very excited to see what Peppers can do this year, though. It's so difficult waiting for this season. I want to see how the defense runs. It was so much fun watching the defense dominate early last season and hearing the crowd really get into it against NW. 

Formerly Yoda

June 13th, 2016 at 10:07 PM ^

jedd fisch is the most valuable assistant coach in the nation, glad he's still under the radar

Tater

June 14th, 2016 at 12:49 AM ^

The coach for the Big Ten should have been Harbaugh or Brown, but they didn't want to give both the player and coach to the same team.