[NU Sports] It's football time!!!

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Walking by the magazine rack in the store last week, I
was delighted to see the college football annuals! The
perfect cure for a blah NBA finals, the usual baseball
yawn and the long wait for the Big Ten network that
will hopefully give us "classic replays" like the NFL
network and ESPN classic to help on the pigskin
withdrawal during the offseason.

So anyway, in the Sporting News annual, NU got some
surprising love in the conference opening segment
(Willie the Wildcat beat out probably the most
well-known conference group for best mascot in the
league), but were picked dead last in the league with
a 3-9 record overall. No respect for Fitz, who they
rank as the league's worst coach. To add to the ick
Factor, TSN is all aboard the Zook-Juice Illini love
train, predicting a bowl berth for ILL-noise.

Still, good to have the football talk back. They have
the Big Ten placing two in the BCS - an unbeaten
Michigan (left out of their USC-LSU title game) and an
11-1 Wisconsin. The only thing NU ranks in the top
half of the league in is the receiving corps and no
1st or 2nd team players.

Given how they pick two of our opponents - Duke and
EMU - to go 1-11, they must have us losing to Nevada
and all the Big Ten games. 

I gotta say I see 7-5 or 6-6 as much more likely. I
like our schedule this year in who our opponents play
the week before us. Nevada visits Nebraska (ouch),
Illinois visits OSU and MSU visits Wisconsin. Indiana
does have Ball State before us, but they visit Madison
the week before and have the big Bucket game with
Purdue the week after. Those are the four key games,
IMO, with us needing at least 3 of the 4 for bowl
hopes.

Minnesota, Purdue and Iowa are probably the ring above
those where we could pull an upset or two to offset
blowing a game or two. And Michigan and OSU would be a
true upset ... though we do catch them early.

Still, I like our chances to get into the bowl mix. I
think the league will be deep this year but that we'll
get an upset or two to help out. Our offense should be
solid and the D should keep improving. We gotta start
3-0, though. My early breakdown ...

*** TOP TEN TEAMS ***
- MICHIGAN: They're loaded on offense and it could be
LLoyd's swan song. The only bad news is that they're
the one Big Ten team that kept a tough schedule.
September includes Oregon, ND and PSU in consecutive
weeks and November has Wisky and OSU to end things ...
the good news is that only the Badgers are on the
road. If they escape those, the only other forseeable
slip up is at MSU in the rivalry game.

- WISCONSIN: With Iowa and MSU visiting Camp Randall,
the Badgers should be 6-0 heading into their toughest
road test of the year, a night game at PSU. Win that
and it's home free until November, when they visit OSU
and host Michigan. With a load of talent returning on
both sides, it's no wonder they're a popular sleeper
pick for the national title game.

*** TOP TWENTY TEAMS ***
- OHIO STATE: That Texas series was well timed in that
it ended last year and the young Bucks have a long
time before their first big game (the last week of
October at PSU ... unless Purdue decides to play D).
By the time they face the Badgers and Wolverines in
November, the offense should be recovered from their
losses and they could be a dangerous spoiler in the
Rose Bowl race.

- PENN STATE: The Nits may be the most balanced team
in the league and might be a favorite to win the thing
if there wasn't that one game on the schedule ... the
one JoePa hasn't been able to crack for more than a
decade. Michigan. The Irish, Badgers, Hawkeyes and
Bucknuts all visit Happy Valley ... but an early game
in the Big House will be the difference between a good
year and a great one in State College.

*** BOWL TEAMS ***
- IOWA: OK ... no more whining about NU's help from
the schedulemaker, either this year or in the past
when OSU was off the schedule. Yeah, we had years with
the Bucks off our slate, but never the luck Iowa has
this year in the rotation. No Michigan. No Ohio State.
Neither of the Big Two. Wow. If Ferentz can't pull a
10-win season out of this creampuff, he may be on a
serious hot seat by November. True, there are games at
Madison, State College and West Lafayette ... but win
two of those and Iowa could be Pasadena bound.

- PURDUE: There's a lot of starters returning and a
powerful offense ... but also some big questions on
the Boilers toughness, especially on D. No Badgers,
but the schedule is rough, especially in the middle,
with Notre Dame, Ohio State and Iowa visiting and a
trip to Ann Arbor in between. There's a November trip
to Happy Valley, too, but those four games in the
center will determine whether it's a January bowl of a
December one.

After those six, who should easily make the bowl cut,
it's going to be a mad scramble. No one's clearly out
of the postseason hunt and there will be no easy wins
in league play ... but each has a load of questions as
well that means that a break or two will determine who
gets to keep practicing in December.

* MINNESOTA: Lots of people back, but a new coach and
new offensive quarterback could mean trouble. Like NU,
winning the non-conference games area must ... and
they get to skip PSU and MSU, while also getting
Purdue, OSU and Wisconsin at home. Still, it's tough
to see more than six, maybe seven wins - Coach
Brewster may pay off in the future, but not right
away.

* MICHIGAN STATE: Same as Minny ... new coach + new
quarterback usually doesn't spell success. Throw in a
schedule with trips to South Bend, Madison, Columbus,
West Lafayette and Iowa City (not to mention Michigan
and Penn State visiting in November) and six wins will
be a great first year for Coach Dantonio.

* ILLINOIS: Expectations are high with Juice and all
Zook's recruits, and I'm not doubting all the hype.
But the Illini may still have some lumps as they climb
into new territory. A 4-0 start is possible, but the
middle of the schedule (visits from PSU, Wisconsin and
Michigan with a trip to Iowa) could squash the
momentum. Still, if they make it through that, a game
at OSU is the only real monster challenge left to
close the year.

* INDIANA: Obviously, there's no way to really gauge
how Coach Hoepp's loss will affect the rising
Hoosiers. Much like NU last year, I expect the early
rallying cry to be strong but for emotions to take a
toll later. At least the schedule is kind with no OSU
or Michigan and a 4-0 start could happen before trips
to Iowa, MSU and Wisconsin -- and a visit from PSU --
test IU's mettle. If they can get an upset or two,
though, everybody will be rooting for them in the
finale as they host rival Purdue.

So let the pigskin feast begin! I truly believe that
NU and Illinois have better chances of making a bowl
than MSU or Minny with their new coaches ... but I can
see scenarios for any team to get 6 or more wins this
year. The one thing I know for sure is that two of our
big three had better get BCS bids (Playing each other
in November instead of September probably won't help -
but making sure we pound ND down in September as a
league will) ... because we'll easily fill our bowl
spots and need room for more.

GO CATS!!! BEAT NEU (if we're always identified as
NWU, would NEU be correct?:) )!!!

-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


 
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