Tuesday, September 23, 2008

It's not the Big One Little Ten afterall! Predictions

Ok, the Big Ten looks like it might be a bit closer than I originally had discussed in the pre season. There are several reasons for this change

1) Ohio State looks mortal between Beanie not being 100% and the QB situation being up in the air.

2) Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan State are playing better than expected at least by me. It's really hard to know how good Penn State is, however I think the winner of the Penn State Illini game Saturday is in the hunt for sure.

So here are my predictions and yes it's much easier to make these now vs before the first game of the season. However with the gained knowledge my self expectations are much higher. I would expect that my total wins differential should be less than 11 meaning less than 1 per team plus or minus. Guessing a team will go 3-5 and they go 5-3 is just as bad as guessing 5-3 and they go 2-5.

I've also posted my predictions within an Excel workbook so you can enter yours and see how you compare with mine and friends of yours at the end of the season. You can get that by visiting the Downloads page on the website or just click here .

If you are really brave you can go public with your pics either by commenting here, or entering the contest on the Fansofthebig11 social network site. Go to Forums for more info there.

Ohio State 7-1
Illinois 6-2
Penn State 6-2
Wisconsin 5-3
Michigan State 5-3
Purdue 4-4
Iowa 3-5
Northwestern 3-5
Minnesota 2-6
Michigan 2-6
Indiana 1-7

I might be selling UW and MSU short but I think in both cases their QBs will be unable to rally their teams if they fall behind in tough games. Northwestern is one of the worst 4-0 teams I've seen and Minnesota, while much better than last year is still a year away from a true bowl team.

Michigan has a tough schedule and frankly is a circus act on offense and the defense is good but not great and therefore they will lose every game among the Top 5 teams in the league for sure. This season is pay back for MSU and Penn State over the Wolverines.

I would be surprised if any other team cracks the Top 5 beyond who I have listed and I will be pretty surprised if the Buckeyes lose more than 1 Big Ten game. But hey the arguing and the season begin!

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