The Big 10 will face a series of changes over the next couple of years. Here are my predictions for the future.
I will put my predictions for the coming season when I have the time.
1. OSU - all they do is reload
2. Michigan - will be back on it's feet, maybe better than ever - Rich Rod. will implement his deadly offensive scheme with even better talent than he had at WVU. This year will be a down year, but after a couple years for his players to learn the new system and for his new recruits to become established, they will be strong.
3. Illinois will be strong - Great recruiting under Zook will have them back in the upper echelons of the Big Ten.
4. Wisconsin - Will start to fade a little, losing out on players from Illinois, Minnesota and other Big 10 territories where they have historically stolen from.
5. Gophers - Brewster's first recruiting class was the surprise of the Big 10. As the develop and if Adam Weber continues to develop, Dunbar could help propel another offense to the top of the Big 10.
6. Michigan State - Dantonio isn't the cure-all for what ails them in East Lansing, but should hopefully help to stem the tide of the mid season collapses which have plague the Spartans the past few years.
7. Penn State - Joe Pa will either kick it or be forced out in the next few years. The turmoil will make Happy Valley a rancorous place.
8. Purdue - Joe Tiller is stepping aside in a year. Recruiting is already on a downturn, and you can't run a train without coal.
9. Indiana - Hardy is gone. Indiana is going to continue to be cherry picked by other Big 10 schools, especially with Illinois and Minnesota on the rise.
10. Iowa - The heat will be turned up on Ferentz if he isn't gone already. The Thugz he had are all gone, and he can't raid Illinois and Minnesota for talent anymore. Things could get ugly for the Herky Birds.
11. Northwestern - Kind of tough to have things like "academic standards" at your school when Illinois and Wisconsin have none.
1 comment:
I agree that Ohio State is the class of the conference. I think the key now is what DickRod can do at Michigan. He doesn't have the personnel to run his offense (especially at QB) so it may take him a couple of years to get rolling. With the tradition and demands at Michigan he'll need to deliver some big wins, especially over OSU.
The team I'm worried about is Becky. They return a lot of starters and Bielema has seemed to ride the wave of Alvarez's success to land some nice recruiting classes. We need to burst their bubble quickly.
Illinois should be a factor with the recruiting ability of Ron Zook.
I think Iowa will be higher than 10th in the conference. Ferentz always seems to get a lot out of his players.
The tide will start to turn for the Gophers this year. They will play better now that they've been in Brewster's system for a year and they're finally getting some much need speed on both sides of the ball.
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