Big Ten Review: Home Stretch for Big Ten
October 23 2007 10:20 PM -- Filed in: Sam Anderson
With the home stretch approaching in the regular
season of college football many teams have put
themselves in a position to make a run, others have
thrown in the towel, while still others are
“laying in the weeds” and with a big run
to finish out the season, could find themselves
positioned nicely in the Big Ten standings come bowl
season.
Ohio State has done what many expected them to do, going 8-0 headed into Happy Valley. Penn State forced Indiana into 4 turnovers last weekend and Anthony Morelli had a solid game statistically going 22-32 for 195 yards and two touchdowns. If nothing else he is going to have confidence going into this weekend.
Without the key to their offense playing, Michigan went to Champagne and put Illinois in their place. Michigan has now positioned themselves to make a run at two of the three goals they talked about during the off-season. The Big Ten title is still very much in reach and beating Ohio State may even mean more than that. No reason to speculate what Michigan is thinking about doing with Lloyd Carr; whether Les Miles is interested in Michigan; whether Michigan is interested in Les Miles, blah blah blah. Michigan is positioned to do some big things after a tough start.
Wisconsin, Illinois, and Penn State have all become “middle of the pack” teams in the Big Ten, statistically. Talent wise many would assume this is a step up for Illinois while Penn State and Wisconsin have to be a little disappointed. Wisconsin’s loss to Illinois, Illinois’
loss to Iowa, and Penn State’s loss to
Michigan set the tone for the first half of their
respective seasons. However, if any of these teams
win out, they will have themselves in position for
two weeks in a warm climate and a very respectable
bowl game come December or January. Without sounding
too negative, my belief is that if any of these teams
were in the SEC they would be ranked highly in the
top 25.
Purdue, Northwestern, and Indiana have all fielded competitive football teams but for different reasons have failed to establish themselves as a title contender. Each was given a chance. Indiana had a chance to beat Penn State on Saturday. Purdue was beaten badly in consecutive weeks by Ohio State and Michigan. Northwestern also played Michigan competitively.
Michigan State, Iowa, and Minnesota have all
struggled. Michigan State and Minnesota are
struggling through coaching changes while Iowa lost a
big senior class last year. Michigan State has a nice
talent pool and it will certainly grow with Dantonio
in charge; Minnesota may have the best freshman
quarterback in the conference in Adam Weber, and
Iowa’s Christenson is only a sophomore. Look
for them to make runs in the near future.
The Bucks have performed the best so far and deserve to be atop of the standings. However, with Michigan starting to roll, and Illinois, Penn State, and Wisconsin just a few wild weekends away from finding themselves on top, don’t blink. We could find ourselves on the outside looking in faster than Malcolm Jenkins disrupting a slant route.
Upset Watch:
Michigan @ Michigan State, November 3rd
Indiana @ Wisconsin, October 27
Illinois @ Ohio State, November 10th
Ohio State has done what many expected them to do, going 8-0 headed into Happy Valley. Penn State forced Indiana into 4 turnovers last weekend and Anthony Morelli had a solid game statistically going 22-32 for 195 yards and two touchdowns. If nothing else he is going to have confidence going into this weekend.
Without the key to their offense playing, Michigan went to Champagne and put Illinois in their place. Michigan has now positioned themselves to make a run at two of the three goals they talked about during the off-season. The Big Ten title is still very much in reach and beating Ohio State may even mean more than that. No reason to speculate what Michigan is thinking about doing with Lloyd Carr; whether Les Miles is interested in Michigan; whether Michigan is interested in Les Miles, blah blah blah. Michigan is positioned to do some big things after a tough start.
Wisconsin, Illinois, and Penn State have all become “middle of the pack” teams in the Big Ten, statistically. Talent wise many would assume this is a step up for Illinois while Penn State and Wisconsin have to be a little disappointed. Wisconsin’s loss to Illinois, Illinois’
Purdue, Northwestern, and Indiana have all fielded competitive football teams but for different reasons have failed to establish themselves as a title contender. Each was given a chance. Indiana had a chance to beat Penn State on Saturday. Purdue was beaten badly in consecutive weeks by Ohio State and Michigan. Northwestern also played Michigan competitively.
The Bucks have performed the best so far and deserve to be atop of the standings. However, with Michigan starting to roll, and Illinois, Penn State, and Wisconsin just a few wild weekends away from finding themselves on top, don’t blink. We could find ourselves on the outside looking in faster than Malcolm Jenkins disrupting a slant route.
Upset Watch:
Michigan @ Michigan State, November 3rd
Indiana @ Wisconsin, October 27
Illinois @ Ohio State, November 10th
