Don't look now but Ohio State appears poised to win the Leaders Division
That is, unless we can stop them from doing so. The standings are misleading. PSU stands at 5-0 and in first place of the Leaders Divisionbut they have a brutal 3 game stretch to finish the season. I suspect they will lose all three games. But even if they just lose 2 of them that would place them in a tie with Ohios State who currenty only has 2 conference losses. Meanwhile Ohios State would have the head to head tie breakers against PSU and Wisconsin. The only thing really standing between OSU and the B!0 championship game is Michigan. Btw, I was very impressed with the OSU defense last night. They really out muscled Wisconsin.
October 30th, 2011 at 9:09 AM ^
In all seriousness, Miller looked a LOT faster than I'd seen him vs. MSU.
They still don't trust him throwing the ball, so stopping the run is going to be key. I love that that's our focus on defense, #1 stop the run. Helps us matchup in a big way.
Miller does look a little banged up, I'm not sure he makes it to the Michigan game, either that or he does a great Chris Perry impersonation.
With all that said, Nebraska still scares me more than Ohio State. I just feel Nebraska has more power on offense. Ohio State has Miller.
How awesome would it be for Michigan State to lose on the final day of the year...we beat OSU to get into the B1G Championship Game. Somehow OSU backs its way into the B1G Championship Game...and we beat them again.
#dreamcometrue
October 30th, 2011 at 9:31 AM ^
They didn't look good early in the year but they have gotten much better since getting Boom Herron and and the O-line guy Adams. JT or no JT, they still have a roster stacked with JT's recruited talent. They are starting a freshman QB so inherently there will be mistakes, but it seems to me that as long as their coaches don't fuck it up they have the talent to win their division.
Howeva, I just don't see them coming in to the Big House and leaving with a win. Brady has stressed this game from day one, and after losing to MSU the players, especially the seniors, will play harder than you can imagine to win this rivalry game. Our team has looked good, and I think that they can beat almost anyone on a given day.
October 30th, 2011 at 11:23 AM ^
that took over a situation involving a lot of turmoil.
I think they're just starting to get their head out of their ass now and playing more to the level of collective talent on that team.
And as the OP noted, for all intents and purposes, Ohio controls their own destiny.
October 30th, 2011 at 11:56 AM ^
I hope they keep winning so Fickell stays....I am truly scared of the remote possibility of a power coach like Meyer and what he could accomplish at tOSU (unlikely to occur, but still)
October 30th, 2011 at 12:09 PM ^
What is urban's record against Michigan? Last I checked.....0-1 as a head coach.......
October 30th, 2011 at 12:59 PM ^
The same Urban Meyer who has a cyst on his brain, a physically unhealthy approach to coaching and has flip-flopped the last three seasons on what he wants his future in coaching to be?
Yeah. So scary. For his family, not us.
October 30th, 2011 at 4:18 PM ^
I said 'like' Meyer, which implies other coaches of his ilk.
But IF he came, the wall would go back up in Ohio
October 30th, 2011 at 2:17 PM ^
We're still at least a year away from being truly competitive with the best in the conference.
We do not have a shutdown defense against powerful teams, more seasoning is needed in certain areas where we're still playing young and inexperienced guys. Nor do we have a dominating O-line. Nor do we have a consistent passing game. Those are glaring weaknesses, and we've all seen them from time to time in games.
The MSU game proved once again that we can't get the offense going against a strong defense that loads the box and forces us to pass. OSU's talent level on defense is obvious. And Miller looks like a very dangerous QB when he is allowed to have a good day.
Unless we can open things up with a solid passing game, Nebraska and OSU will load the box and beat the living daylights out of our run game. It will take one of those teams having a very bad day, or a miraculously good day a la UTL, to be competitive in either of those games.
The safest bet is that we'll win at Iowa and Illinois, and finish 9-3. Maybe there'll be miracles in one of the other games. All things considered, however, an improvement to 9-3 would have to be considered hugely successful for Michigan this year.
October 30th, 2011 at 11:09 AM ^
Taylor Martinez scares me zero. I have never seen a more incompetent Big Ten passer. I think we'll do well against them. I'm much more worried about OSU. It's absurd that everyone got down on them after they stumbled early. Someone made a "rest of the season prediction" post essentially chalking OSU up as a gimmee win for us. I guarantee you that game will test us to the limit.
October 30th, 2011 at 11:14 AM ^
Martinez's passing doesn't worry me, but the Nebraska OL and Burkhead do. They're not afraid to run the option on 3rd and 10 because their blocking is so sound. They rolled up almost 200 rushing yards on Sparty yesterday. Our run defense is going to be severely tested from here on out.
October 30th, 2011 at 9:24 AM ^
I came away very impressed with the Ohio run defense, especially their linebackers getting to the outside on some of those tosses/sweeps (unlike Purdue yesterday). They do seem to be pretty vulnerable through the air though, Russell Wilson found some very big holes to take the lead late in the game. They still can't pass on offense, so it says something that they were able to run as well as they did against a Wisconsin defense knowing the run was coming. UM ends the streak if Denard is throwing accurately and our D can shut down the run, especially that Pistol option play. But let's beat Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska first... GO BLUE
October 30th, 2011 at 10:40 AM ^
Sounds exactly like our formula for success vs Sparty ...
October 30th, 2011 at 11:18 AM ^
I'm not sure I'd say OSU can't throw. I was surprised by Miller's accuracy yesterday. He can, at the least, hit an open receiver, and since he'll be mostly facing zone coverage (the standard coverage against a mobile QB), he should have open guys most of the time. On passing downs, we may need to take chances with man coverage and force him to thread the needle.
October 30th, 2011 at 9:37 AM ^
Yesterday's Ohio vs Wisconsin game is HUGE.
I made the following website to compute who would finish as the champion of each divison (programmed in all the tie breakers, etc).
solarwebdesign.com/champs/
Check out this very reasonable scenario, if we don't take care of business against Ohio:
solarwebdesign.com/champs/index.php?scenario=265231748
October 30th, 2011 at 10:03 AM ^
I missed it. How will Nebraska only have two losses if we beat them? Or if they beat us? Nebraska or Michigan must have two losses at the end of the season since we both have a loss now and we'll play each other.
October 30th, 2011 at 10:18 AM ^
That is assuming we beat Nebraska, which gives them their second loss. Their other one was Wisconsin.
Our second loss would be to Ohio.
October 30th, 2011 at 10:21 AM ^
Yes you can trust me and my website. Nothing bad there....nothing that could POSSIBLY go wrong if you simply click on this link I made. Just click here and all your questions wil be answered.I mean I've been on the board now for almost four days
Hey....you're not a Nigerian Prince or anything are you? I mean I trusted one of them once and I'm STILL waiting for the 18MM US dollars to get transferred into my account.....
October 30th, 2011 at 10:33 AM ^
I made something cool and actually joined the board so I could share it. If you don't want to play with it then don't.
It's just a website. It's not like it's asking you to download anything.
October 30th, 2011 at 10:45 AM ^
October 30th, 2011 at 10:41 AM ^
Where is MSU's second loss coming from?
October 30th, 2011 at 10:45 AM ^
They pretty much have to lose to Iowa, in any scenario. It is important they lose a division game for tiebreaker purposes, so I suppose northwestern could also serve that purpose. Both games are on the road and state doesn't play well when they aren't at home.
October 30th, 2011 at 10:56 AM ^
Now that the real sparty has showed its ugly head, I wouldn't be surprised to see them drop 2 more games before the season is over. Personally I see them losing to Iowa and NU.
October 30th, 2011 at 10:11 AM ^
PSU is 5-0..... You are an idiot.
October 30th, 2011 at 10:37 AM ^
Considering how poorly their offense played for 58 minutes yesterday, I can't possibly see them winning out. Their defense created 4 turnovers that were only converted to 3 points.
October 30th, 2011 at 10:40 AM ^
If I don't look how in the hell am I supposed to see?
October 30th, 2011 at 10:54 AM ^
Don't be fooled, Ohio has no offense. Braxton is ok at scrambling, bad at throwing and they rely heavily on the run game (aka Dan Herron). If you watched the game last night, every play was a hand off to herron. If you get pressure on Braxton and put up a big front to stop the run they'll break down and have nothing going for them except their defense. At the same time, Wisonsin wasn't playing their best last night. Their offense was struggling and their defense looked tired and sluggish. I think the B1G Championship game will be Michigan vs Penn State or Wisnonsin. (and of course we'll win that game)
October 30th, 2011 at 12:06 PM ^
I would feel better about all that if we could stop an elite OL and/or a scrambling QB. Ever since D McNabb at Syracuse, that has not been the case...
October 30th, 2011 at 12:57 PM ^
Did you see the throw from Braxton that won then the game? Much as I hate to say it, Braxton is going to be a very good QB once he gets over his freshmaness and flashes of it keep popping up this year.
October 30th, 2011 at 2:17 PM ^
Ya but his receiver was wide open and thats not going to happen very much. idk if you watched the game but when throwing the ball into any coverage the ball was normally short and off target. I have no doubt he will be a good qb, but as of now i see nothing that worries me.
October 30th, 2011 at 2:41 PM ^
if you don't see anything that worries you, then I commend you for your positivity, but you're missing things. Take ownership of your homerism and hate for OSU.
BUT, to the "heart"-like substance of your posts, Wisconsin knew that every play would be a handoff to herron or scramble, and they still gave up 250+ to Miller & Herron.
OSU can block. They can block the shit out of people. That O-Line is taking the team on their backs and challenging opponents right up front. Hat on a Hat. If you saw Miller's gamebreaking 44 yard td behind the 2 tight end behemoth set and didn't think, oh god, how will we defend that, then I don't know what to tell you... watch more football, maybe?
Miller still plays like a freshman, and it's clear he's still on a pretty tight leash, but when they take the thought out of their playcalling and give him simple reads and decisions, allowing him to play fast, they are a dangerous running team. Not to mention, sooner or later, someone is wide open downfield for the occasional - read, 1 per game - pass.
For now, let's focus on Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska. But when we get there, OSU is going to come at us like MSU did, and our players better have a response.
I enjoy seeing Mike Martin get a couple of sacks and a safety, but Mike, it's time to see that production against the elite teams - ala Brandon Graham, OSU '09.
October 30th, 2011 at 2:02 PM ^
I think the B1G Championship game will be Michigan vs
Even if M wins out (thereby eliminating Nebraska), MSU still has to lose one more conference game. They only have two meaningful games left, @Iowa and @Northwestern. They haven't played well on the road to date, so there's a chance, but I'm not sure if either of those teams has enough of a defense to beat them.
Anyhow, that's a long way of saying that M does have a shot, but only by going 11-1, and even then will need help.
EDIT: Sorry, I hadn't noticed your earlier comment where you say you think Sparty will lose both those games. Certainly if that were to happen, then yes, a 10-2 Michigan team wins the division by beating UNL.
October 30th, 2011 at 2:14 PM ^
As i stated in another comment now that the real sparty has shown up i see them losing to iowa and nu.
October 30th, 2011 at 2:18 PM ^
a 10-2 Michigan team? You must mean an 11-1 Michigan team.
October 31st, 2011 at 8:57 AM ^
in fact a 10-2 M team would win the division in that scenario as long as they beat Nebraska and Iowa loses another game.
October 30th, 2011 at 10:54 AM ^
It's clear that Penn State, not TSIO, is the favorite. Penn State would have to start losing a lot of games for that to happen.
October 30th, 2011 at 10:59 AM ^
PSU's remaining schedule is Nebraska, OSU and Wisconsin. It's not far fetched to see them losing all 3.
October 30th, 2011 at 11:19 AM ^
Penn State is also a giant enormous fraud. I've never seen a worse 8-1 team in my life.
October 30th, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^
Penn State struggled against Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, and Illinois. They played one good team, and lost.
October 30th, 2011 at 11:01 AM ^
and WTF is the B!0?
October 30th, 2011 at 12:06 PM ^
Ohio's State School is what he meant. Just forgot his '
October 30th, 2011 at 11:19 AM ^
I still can't tell if the B1G is really awful, or just really evenly matched. After yesterday's games, I can imagine so many scenarios unfolding.
October 30th, 2011 at 11:21 AM ^
I think it's evenly matched but there really aren't any elite teams.
October 30th, 2011 at 2:27 PM ^
Look at out of conference (ooc) wins: best are Ill over ASU, barely, Neb over Wash, eventually, & UM over ND, in a miracle. Supposedly top teams losses, handled by, very mediocre teams Miami & ND, & probably a pile of even more embarrassing losses across rest of teams. Conference is awful, I think. Shuddering to think of bowls, too, because I'm sick of conference getting swamped on big stage & being laughing stock
October 30th, 2011 at 11:45 AM ^
brutus will lose another big ten game when we kick their asses in november go blue
October 30th, 2011 at 12:29 PM ^
Penn State can only drop one game(Nebraska only) if we are not considering "The Game" at the end of the season. They have a tough schedule ahead, but their defense should keep them in games even with that crappy offense.
October 30th, 2011 at 12:56 PM ^
Perhaps we should beat Iowa and Illinois before planning the Big Ten Championship Victory party.
October 30th, 2011 at 1:13 PM ^
all posters who put that damn stupid "t" in front of osu.
We can sort out the standings after that.....