Muttley

October 27th, 2018 at 3:10 PM ^

I think the B1G has eight teams worthy of Top 25ish consideration/ballpark in

1, Meechigan (CFP caliber)

2. OSU (execution-flawed team that can four-and-five star overcome

3-4 PSU & Iowa

5-8 Wisky, NW, MSU, Purdue

9 Maryland (play not so great, but they do have the Texas W)

10-12 Indiana, Minnie, Nebraska (bad start but coming on strong)

13 Illinois

15 Rutger (because I can't rank them 16)

 

Sagarin has six in the top 22 (Purdue), seven in the top 31 (MSU), eight in the top 49 (I think this is too low for NW), nine in the top 52 (MD), 12 in the top 64-66 (Ind, Minn, Neb).

And then of course there's Illinois (105) & Rutger (144, beneath CFB powerhouses like Missouri State).

https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/

Not a conference that deserves to be left out in favor of a same-loss 2nd place alternate.

 

bronxblue

October 27th, 2018 at 2:56 PM ^

It really bothers me that the year Michigan starts hammering teams in the conference, they all start playing like ass so it doesn't get enough credit.  It also cracks me up that everyone dismissed Michigan's injury issues at QB but now you see teams like MSU and UW having to play backups and it's all "how could you expect them to look competent without their starters?"

1VaBlue1

October 27th, 2018 at 3:01 PM ^

That same trope was getting play two weeks ago when Miami got blasted.  Some Miami fans were complaining, but talking head universe had praise for Mark Richt and said give him time.  He's in year 3, so he should get some time to rebuild the program.

WTF?  Where was the time for Harbaugh's year 3?  Besides, Richt already has Miami as good as their going to be with him.

BlueMk1690

October 27th, 2018 at 3:00 PM ^

Puts things in perspective, NW is likely better than we thought when we scraped by them, Wisconsin is likely worse than we thought when we soundly beat them.

We do have to be a bit careful here not to overrate ourselves on the back of those Wisconsin and MSU games given that those teams are probably just OK rather than good. It's a long way from beating those to hanging with the playoff level teams.

bronxblue

October 27th, 2018 at 3:09 PM ^

I agree.  It's also mention that a lot of people overrated Purdue's offense a bit after OSU just stopped defending that 4th quarter.  They can get bogged down when their receivers can't get separation, and Blough is both a good passer AND the guy who threw 21 picks two years ago.  

There's a reason they are looking hard at 4-4.

Muttley

October 27th, 2018 at 3:16 PM ^

I think the B1G is showing itself to have eight teams that are ballpark 25ish level teams.  (A #25 team is going to have its ups and downs).

Obviously, Wisky isn't the Top 10 team of prior years, but I wouldn't write them off.  They did beat Iowa at Kinnick.  Similarly, as soon as you write off MSU, they win in Happy Valley or go toe-to-toe with a hot Purdue team.

WolverineHistorian

October 27th, 2018 at 3:21 PM ^

Injuries are always an unfortunate issue.  No team can avoid them.  But when MSU gets them, commentators like to point it out about 50,000 times more than other teams for some reason.