"Are you ready for some Big Ten football"

[Hodge71 662]

This is a squirrely week for me. PSU got thumped last weekend by a cruddy team and so did a couple others. Im just gonna pick and hope for the best...... Will PSU get their helmets from their butts and beat Kent State? Or is Nebraska gonna get wacked by South Dakota State.....I guess time will tell. Bring on da beers and da games.... 

 

Minnesota, Iowa, Ohion State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Missouri, Michigan.  

[papaglide 541]

Gophers, Hawkeyes, Buckeyes, Huskers, Nittany Lions, Badgers, FIGHTING IRISH, Wildcats, Hoosiers, cheeze- n- blue.

[bk-scouter 93]

MINNESOTA, IOWA, OHIO ST., NEBRASKA, PENN ST., WISCONSIN, NOTRE DAME, NORTHWESTERN, MISSOURI, MICHIGAN

-BK 

[stevasaurus 22,229]

hodge71...you did not pick the Penn St / Kent St..game...I am going to put you down for Penn St.  If you want a different team (Kent St.), let me know before game time.    I figure, being from Penn, you are going with them.

 

There is only 3 games to watch this week...San Jose St./Minnesota...Mich St./Notre Dame...Missouri/Indiana.  Everyone picked the other 7 games the same...the Big Ten teams

[squonk 38,815]

Looks like my upset special didn't pan out.

[stevasaurus 22,229]

And the winning teams are for WEEK #4...

MINNESOTA, IOWA, OHIO ST., NEBRASKA, PENN ST., WISCONSIN, NOTRE DAME, NORTHWESTERN, MISSOURI, MICHIGAN

 

5 guys picked all ten games right this week...bk-scouter...brrly1...hodge71...JimD...Stevasaurus

 

9 / 1 papaglide

 

8 / 2 bitten...RMCIII...Squonk

 

Total standings:::

 

Stevasaurus...............38 / 8

hodge71.....................37 / 9

JimD...........................37 / 9

brrly1..........................36 / 10

bitten..........................35 / 11

bk-scouter..................35 / 11

papaglide...................35 / 11

RMCIII.........................35 / 11

Squonk.......................32 / 14

 

Congratulations to the 5 guys and their PERFECT PICKS...in the 4 or 5 years we have been doing this, I don't think this has ever happened.

:) :)

[stevasaurus 22,229]

Bragging Rights for 5 guys...this ought to be good!!!

 

:banana-linedance: :banana-linedance:

 

 

WOW...Michigan sure is making a lot of teams look good.

[papaglide 541]

Thoughts:

Minny- 4-0 start. Kill is a good coach. Could the Gophers be the real deal? Tough to tell as they haven't beat anyone significant yet. Upcoming game with Iowa will be the litmus test for them.

Iowa- hawkeyes 3-1with the lone loss being N Illinois. They have come back from their horrendous 6 game losing streak from 2012. But Iowa will be Iowa. Right in the middle of the pack. The game with Minny is more of a test for the Gophers than it is for Iowa: no surprise if they win and no surprise if they lose: that just what Iowa does.

Ohio State- 4-0. throwing 76 on Florida A&M is no shock. Guiton picking up where Miller left off is no shock. Defense pitching a shut out is no shock. Do you see where I am going with this? Wisconsin will be the toughest test for them yet but, the Buckeyes are en fuego.

Nebraska- 3-1, with a single loss to UCLA, who we are seeing is no joke. They haven't really shown much. Beating who they are supposed to and getting "upset" by UCLA. They do have a nice October coming up: Illinois, Purdue and Minny. The game with the Gophers could be large IF the Gophers beat Iowa.

Penn State- another 3-1 team. The 3 point loss to UCF doesn't really reveal anything about this team. Are they a surprise? I dunno. Are they better than we thought? I dunno. The schedule gets significantly tougher this month with an interesting game at Indiana and ending with back to back games with Michigan and at OSU. How these three games shake down will tell us more about this team.

Wisconsin- 3-1 with humongous game looming at Ohio State this saturday for the Badgers. Gary Anderson is a good coach and he is proving it. Could the Badgers take the Buckeyes to ot again? Sure. Could they just fall into the meat grinder at the horseshoe and be spit out as ground chuck? No. They will give the Buckeyes all they can handle. We know who the Badgers are: good D, decent QB, and run,run run power football.

Michigan State - 3-1 with the loss coming at the hands of a Notre Dame team that didn't want to win; and the Spartans still found a way to lose. Another close loss, shades of last season. Dantonio can coach defense but the rest of the team remains a question. Iowa, Indiana, Purdue and Illinois come up this month. Some teams would be salivating at this schedule, using a sharpie to mark w's on the schedule. My feeling is that the Spartans are using a pencil do draw question marks.

Northwestern - 4-0 with the big test at Maine out of he way. Really, the wildcats have beat Cal and Syracuse showing us that they have some potential. Pat Fitzgerald is a very good coach and we all know how well he has done at this perennial doormat of a program. Are they in the caliber of the conference elite? No, but they sure as heck can surprise some and dominate others. We should get a real good feel for how good this team is after they get thru back to back games with OSU and at Wisconsin (2 teams that they didnt play last year)

Indiana- 2-2 with losses at navy and Mizzou. This team is getting better but they won't turn the corner until they can play defense. With such a prolific offense they can and will score points. October brings PSU, MSU and Michigan. Could they possibly beat one of those teams? Sure. Could they lose all three? Likely. Until they can show that they have a defense, this is what its going to be like in Bloomington for the foreseeable future.

Purdue- 1-3 with the lone win over Indiana State. In my mind Hazell was a reach and until he has a significant win and the team shows continuos improvement, he will remain that way. Purdue has reached what quite a few other B1G teams have: the plateau of mediocrity. No upset specials here, no dominating wins, an occasional, exciting close loss and an occasional win versus another team from the plateau.

Illinois - 2-1-wins over S. Illinois and Cincy. Loss at Washington. The Fighting Illinin remain the landlords of the plateau of mediocrity. They hired a mediocre coach to run a mediocre program. They hired a mediocre OC (Cubit) who was mediocre at Western. From back to back bowls to 2-10 last season. I see a trend here. Game at Nebraska, followed by 2 home games against Wisconsin and Michigan State spell doom for the Illini.

Which brings us to the luckiest team so far this season in the B1G:

Michigan - 4-0 with a questionable squeaker at home against the Irish, another last night at UConn, yet another at home against Akron and the given blowout win against Central. Wow! This team is hard for me to figure out. Gardner is playing very well and he is no joke, but they seem to have a penchant for not finishing games and letting their opponent lose them instead. That will haunt them when they play the big boys. Minnesota comes to Ann Arbor this month as does Indiana. They go to Happy Valley between the 2 home games. Could the Wolverines come out of October 1-2? I think so. Unless they get their act together and play for a full 60 minutes the tides will turn as they face more upper echelon teams in the conference.

Edited September 22, 2013 by papaglide

[JimD 3,345]

And that's the rest of the story...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Just kiddin papa, I think you are spot on!

[stevasaurus 22,229]

WEEK # 5  Just 4 games to pick this week...all are played on Saturday.

 

  MIAMI (OHIO)  AT  ILLINOIS 

    NORTHERN ILLINOIS  AT  PURDUE  

  IOWA  AT  MINNESOTA 

  WISCONSIN  AT  OHIO ST. 

[stevasaurus 22,229]

Here are my picks for WEEK # 5...    ILLINOIS, NORTHERN ILLINOIS, MINNESOTA, and (what the heck am I thinking???)  Wisconsin

 

Here is your chance to pick up a couple of games on me you guys. :happy-jumpeveryone:

[JimD 3,345]

Illinois, Northern Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State.

[squonk 38,815]

RATS! My vast football knowledge says I gotta agree with the "Big Guy!" Tecky's, Northern  Tecky's  Go Go Gophers and BAD gers 

 

The Rabbit in the Woods Dwelling in the Cellar since 1959, Squonk

[JimD 3,345]

Holy crap! I need a scorecard, or a dictionary, I don't speak squonk.

[squonk 38,815]

    bottom feeder talk

[papaglide 541]

Illinois, Northern Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio State

[bitten 133]

Did catch a bunch of salmon last week but didnt do very good with my picks. With only 4 games I dont think that I will be making up any ground this week.

 

illinois

northern illinois

minnesota

 

The Ohio State Buckeyes

[Brrly1 1,146]

Well ya, you know. I am going with North Ill., Illinois, Ohio State and then we have the Battle for "Floyd the Pig". As of now the Hawkeyes hold Floyd and will be taking it back home with them to Iowa City!

                                                        As always Go Hawkeyes!!!!!!!!

                                            

[RMCIII 838]

Illinois, Northern Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio State

[Hodge71 662]

Illinois, Northern Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Lord I hope they keep their head in the game. Last years OT loss was tough. I hope it sticks in their minds to strive harder this year. 

[bk-scouter 93]

ILLINOIS, PURDUE   (cinderella choice of the week), MINNESOTA, OHIO ST.

-BK

[Brrly1 1,146]

This is a special post fo all of you Iowa nay-sayers, Sorry about your Luck!!!

                                                 As always, Go Hawkeyes!!!!

                                          

                                              

                                                 

[JimD 3,345]

Yep, looks like they are for real this year John. I sure won't take Iowa lightly.

[JimD 3,345]

Winning teams for the week of 9/28/13 are Illinois, Northern Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio State.

 

 

Standings for the week of 9/28/13:

 

Brrly1 and JimD went 4-0.

Bitten, Papaglide and RMCIII went 3-1.

Bkscouter, Hodge71, Squonk and Stevasaurus went 2-2.

 

Overall standings:

 

JimD......................41-9

Brrly1.................... 40-10

Stevasaurus......... 40-10

Hodge71............... 39-11

Bitten.................... 38-12

Papaglide.............  38-12

RMCIII..................  38-12

Bkscouter.............  37-13

Squonk.................  34-16

 

Still a very long way to go and lots of possibilities in the standings.

[stevasaurus 22,229]

I can't believe a very good Minnesota team let a very mediocre Iowa team beat them AT HOME.  LUCK is a 4 letter word and I believe (since Michigan had the day off) Iowa found it.  This week LUCK is spelled IOWA. :ychain: :ychain:   Congratulations John.

Edited September 29, 2013 by stevasaurus