The Beast's Big Ten Football Preview

1. Ohio State Troy Smith and Ted Ginn Jr. are two of the most exciting players in college football today, and along with running back Antonio Pittman they provide a fantastic treo on offense. Good enough to win the Big Ten without a doubt. However, I am not so sure that we can really talk National Championship yet. They have many incoming freshman to fill some major holes on the defensive side of the ball. The Buckeyes have to go to Texas on September 9th along with dangerous road trips to Iowa and Michigan State. The schedule isn't all that bad, with Michigan at home, and a win over Texas could be the springboard for another BCS season.

2. Iowa Big Ten title or bust. If Iowa can reastablish its dominance at home by beating Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Iowa State, then it's a one game season at Michigan on October 21st. long as the holes are patched in the linebacking corps and at receiver, there's absolutely no reason this team can't win the Big Ten title and be in the hunt for even more.

3. Michigan This is a make it or break it year for the Wolverines. They have consistantly overacheived the past few years. Lloyd Carr's consevative play calling kills this team. In order for them to win the Big Ten, they must produce offensively. Henne must have a big year for Michigan. Overall, they must be able to win Big Ten road games in order to win the conference.

4. Wisconsin This is mostly the same team that crushed Auburn. Fine, so there's no Calhoun and the receivers are gone, but the defense that shut down the Tigers in the Capital One Bowl returns most of the starters, and should be even better now that there are healthy live bodies to play on the defensive line. Once again, most publications will pick the Badgers to finish in the second half of the Big Ten standings, and once again, this team should surprise.

5. Michigan State The key to overcoming the recent slump is to learn how to take the losses in stride. Drew Stanton is one of the nation's best quarterbacks and the season truly rests on his shoulders. In addition to the Spartans Heisman trophy contending quarterback, there are good athletes on both sides of the ball to battle anyone on the schedule. What's the worst thing that can happen? Another meltdown?

6. Penn State Two words, Don't slip. Penn State went 9-4 in 2002 with a senior dominated team, and then pffffft. 3-9 in 2003 and 4-7 in 2004. There's far too much talent to see a freefall to another non-bowl season, but it wouldn't be a total shock if the Nittany Lions lost five games with road trips to Notre Dame, Ohio State, Minnesota, Purdue, and Wisconsin and with a tough home game against Michigan.

7. Purdue Things might not have been that bad. Blowout wins over lightweights Illinois and Indiana to end the season, along with the win over Michigan State, put a band-aid on the wound. Looking back, was it so bad to lose in double overtime at Minnesota, lose to home at Notre Dame, Iowa and Northwestern, and lose on the road to Wisconsin and Penn State? Those were six bowl teams with two who played in the BCS. With this year's schedule, seven wins is a must and a nine-win season is possible.

8. Northwestern With the death of Randy Walker, the season begins on a sour note. Rookie Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald, 31, takes over the Cats. He must do everything humanly possible to tighten up the defense, because the onslaught is coming. Northwestern should be able to get past a opening night Thursday game at Miami University and shouldn't have a problem with New Hampshire and Eastern Michigan, but those are followed by a parade of tough offenses that'll have their way with the Purple with three straight road games at Nevada, Penn State and Wisconsin before getting Purdue, Michigan State, at Michigan, at Iowa and Ohio State before facing Illinois.

9. Minnesota Turn up the heat on defense! Mason's contract situation is in place, so he and his staff can finally relax. Everyone knows Minnesota will win at least six games, run for a bazillion yards, and win at least one shocking game that it's not supposed to. Eventually, everything will break the right way and the Gophers will be in the mix for the Big Ten title, but that is not this year my friend. They can only contend by better play from their porous defense.

10. Indiana Help is on the way. Coach Hoeppner made a big deal out of bringing in speed with his 2006 recruiting class, and he's planning on giving several true freshmen chances to provide more depth when they hit campus late this summer. IU has to find more playmakers on defense and make the offense more efficient. The pieces are there to come up with a scary passing game to at least keep the Hoosiers alive in most games, but it has to all come together during camp.

11. Illinois The joke of the Big Ten. Ron Zook does get starters back, but from a losing team. However, they must keep improving, but so does everyone else. They must use their experience to become more consistent and far sharper. All the practice in the world won't make the Illini D faster, but the offense can improve.

Don't forget to read my blog Troy Talk at, http://troytalk.blogspot.com/.

Date

Tue 07/11/06, 1:06 pm EST

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CoreyisarealboyMajor Leaguer

1216 days ago

Score 2

I like that you have Wisconsin in the upper half. They could very well have the best defense in the Big Ten, and their D-line is still relatively young (Shaughnessy, a sophomore, has been named to the Hendricks watch list). They're also returning one of the best O-lines in college football, led by All-American Joe Thomas, who would've been a top ten draft pick last year had he not torn his ACL playing DEFENSE in the Capital One Bowl. John Stocco is also on the Maxwell watch list, and after two years of starting, he finally seems to be coming around. All reports out of Madison say that they'll be starting a true freshman to replace Calhoun and most will say that he's at Calhoun's caliber. They also recruited a speedy receiver out of Milwaukee who is 6-4. I'd watch out for the Badgers, they don't face OSU and have Penn State at home.

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