Who is the B1G's paper tiger?
I'm personally not buying the Nebraska hype this year. I think they have the potential to win a game they shouldn't, but are vastly being overhyped. They are going to be fighting to get a bowl game. Their defense was just sooooo bad last year.
Penn State for some reason is also getting more hype than I think they deserve. I think they could lose 6 games this year (Pitt, @Maryland, @Iowa, Michigan, @MSU, @OSU). Their defense should be a little stronger but besides KJ Hamler what do they have on offense? I think James Franklin gets exposed this year as being a mediocre coach and Nittany fans put him on the hot seat.
Who else is being overhyped?
August 16th, 2019 at 3:04 PM ^
And yet you clowns blithely slurp the cooler. lol
2-16 dude.
Wake the fuck up.
LOL indeed.
August 16th, 2019 at 3:43 PM ^
If only national accomplishments were based upon beating your divisional opponent.
2-16 against some of the worst UofM teams of all time only equals two championships.
I remember before that UofM was 10-1 against OSU and that only got one championship.
If UofM wins another championship before they do it's 2-2 in the modern era where it counts.
Not that that has to do with the fact they're the biggest "paper tiger" in years.
August 16th, 2019 at 5:31 PM ^
That's the funniest "if" of all time.
August 16th, 2019 at 6:33 PM ^
I can only hope your team underestimates Michigan as much as you do. In the famous words of Dannartino "It will never be over".
August 16th, 2019 at 7:58 PM ^
Naw, funniest "if" of all time is:
If there isn't a bathroom around, where do I #2?
August 16th, 2019 at 2:02 PM ^
Pitt is awful, PSU will thrash them!
August 16th, 2019 at 2:03 PM ^
The correct answer is Rutgers.
On paper, they're going to be bad.
In reality, they'll be so much more.
August 16th, 2019 at 2:03 PM ^
Hasn't Franklin already been exposed as a mediocre coach? More in-game coaching bumbles than an above average coach should have and his record outside of the Moorhead years is meh at best.
His only two good years at PSU ('16 and '17) came with Moorhead. He was 7-6, 7-6 and 9-4 without Moorhead. I'd expect more 8/9 win seasons out of him, nothing more. Which with the talent he can get, or should be getting anyway, isn't exactly lighting the world on fire.
That said, I'm not buying the Nebraska hype either. Offense could be interesting but too many questions on defense.
August 16th, 2019 at 2:39 PM ^
Way OT: If (a) you've got some spare time between now and the start of Michigan's fall sports season, (b) you enjoy reading books about sports and would like a quick read to keep you occupied while you're not surfing the internet, (c) you've ever wondered what it might've been like to have played professional football after never having played football at any level, AND (d) if, like most MGoBloggers, you root for the Detroit Lions*, then this might be a good time to read George Plimpton's Paper Lion.
* Never having lived or worked in Michigan, I feel left out whenever there's a board post about Detroit's sports teams, but I have great respect for those of you who are suffering through the Lions' long decline from NFL relevance because I'm a long-time Boston Red Sox fan who lived through that experience from 1957 until the end of the 2004 World Series and I also have a close relative who's a devoted fan of the New York Jets.
August 16th, 2019 at 2:46 PM ^
Rutger. The answer is always Rutger.
August 16th, 2019 at 7:42 PM ^
Hauer you reaching the conclusion that the "answer is always Rutger"?
August 16th, 2019 at 3:15 PM ^
Penn State and Michigan are this conference's paper tigers. Michigan has a great shot of beating OSU this year in arguably the must win game of Harbaugh tenure because it's one thing to lose to Urban but to lose to a first year coach at home with a new QB against our seasoned senior QB would just be like, death.
Wisconsin is also always overblown merely by being in a shit division.
August 16th, 2019 at 3:28 PM ^
It's Frames Janklin's team. Also I think Minnesota will blow as usual - not that they are getting much love as far as winning the West, but they are getting more hype than they should.
August 16th, 2019 at 3:37 PM ^
I'm a BPONE bitch, but come on... Michigan banged out 10 straight wins against some good teams, and lost to 3 very solid squads. Based on 2018, Michigan is not correct.
For me, it's PSU.
August 16th, 2019 at 4:21 PM ^
August 16th, 2019 at 3:41 PM ^
I think people sleeping on Nebraska or trying to push back at Nebraska hype are doing so at their own risk. A lot of it reminds me of people who poo-pooed the Harbaugh hire because Michigan had been butt for so long, and you'll end up looking just as dumb doubting Frost as those people did doubting Harbaugh.
The answer is Wisconsin. Yeah, they still have all their pipelines for OL and that's not changed, but Chryst sucks. Nothing that guy did at Pitt was notable enough to get him a job like Wisconsin if he wasn't an alumnus and one of like 5 people willing to work for Alvarez. His game management is worse than anyone I've ever seen. They're going to slowly drift down a little bit at a time until we wake up one day and Wisconsin's losing OL to Minnesota or Michigan they used to never miss on.
August 16th, 2019 at 4:12 PM ^
Well ask this guy.
This May be one of the laziest articles I’ve ever seen in my entire life and that’s saying something. Just wow
And to be clear I understand he said “outrageous” and that they shouldn’t be taken seriously. It’s just a lazy excuse of an article.
“I’m gonna say stuff could happen off of my 10 minutes of looking at returning players and schedule but I’ll put ‘outrageous’ so no one can blame me for it.”
Its a lazy excuse to get clicks. I fell for the bait. But it’s just sad this is what sports writers are still doing.
August 16th, 2019 at 4:39 PM ^
I’ll go Maryland
August 16th, 2019 at 6:18 PM ^
OSU. Or I fucking hope, anyway.
Hope this is one of those situations where they lose one game, and not having Meyer around to circle the wagons and rally the troops causes shit to completely hit the fan in Columbus and everything falls apart.
This is still the same team that struggled with Nebraska, Indiana, Minnesota, and got blown out by Purdue.
Gotta dream big boys.
August 16th, 2019 at 6:49 PM ^
You could be right. It's no guarantee that the Urb freight train continues without bumps.
Among the games you mention are part of the recurring theme of the past 2 seasons. After an emotional comeback victory in a huge game against PSU, OSU has come out flat and been drilled the very next time they hit the road.
The 2017 Iowa debacle came the week after an epic PSU battle. After a come-from-behind win in a big game against PSU in 2018, OSU came out sluggish against Indiana & Minnesota, but won both home games. It wasn't until the next road game (Purdue) that the sluggishness was exposed in an embarrassing defeat.
August 16th, 2019 at 6:50 PM ^
Michigan
We have one of the toughest schedules, lost most of our D and got soundly beat by anyone with a pulse last year. No way we should be ranked 7th.
A new OC that's been here a few months isn't going to matter much.
If our new OC is worth 7 pts a game, we still lose 2 games last year and tie ND.
That said, games still have to be played, our team could mature and develop rapidly, opponents that look tough now might struggle and be beset with injuries, and we might win one of those Big Ten Championship thingys
August 16th, 2019 at 10:05 PM ^
Home field advantage gives us the victory over ND and OSU lost about 42 points from their offense, so no probs ;)
August 16th, 2019 at 8:51 PM ^
BTN said MSU is 99th in the country in returning defensive production (UofM is 106,) and while everyone is worried about how much we lost on defense, State’s is being hyped up because they return Bachie and Willekes.
August 20th, 2019 at 7:55 PM ^
I'd take Bachie and Willekes any day.
August 16th, 2019 at 11:19 PM ^
I don’t take anything for granted. I don’t see any of the other Big teams as paper tigers. On any given Saturday, anything can happen.
I have to agree with some though - Nebraska does seem to be getting a lot of hype this year. Not quite understanding that.
August 17th, 2019 at 8:04 PM ^
Let’s not bash PSU too much, we have Franklin’s #2 star pupil calling our offense.
Nebraska will have to win shootouts to hit 10 wins. Their D is crappy and they’re trying to be the Oregon of the Midwest which is a joke because they’ll see 5-6 teams who actually play defense.