[NU Sports] A football maxim proves to be true--again (fwd)

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> In the post-game press conference, one of the
> Michigan players said that
> there were two words that expressed why they felt
> confident heading into 
> the conference season;  No Spread Offenses.

Maybe Jim Harbaugh was right about Michigan!:)

Not only do their math skills need some work, but
Indiana and Northwestern run versions of the spread -
and OSU did against them last year (who's to say they
won't again).

Plus you have a few mobile quarterbacks in league play
- notably Juice Williams - who could give them
trouble.

It could be a wild Big Ten race. I'm not too down
about NU overall (yesterday still stings), because we
do tend to play to our level of competition and for
all the disappointing NC losses we've had in the last
decade or so, we have more upset wins against Big Ten
teams we know and don't fear.

Sizing up the league heading into the season, I'd put
it like this ...

CONTENDERS: Penn State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Purdue

I thought the Wisky @ PSU game would be for the second
BCS bid, but it may now be for the league title. No
clear favorite here and I could see a massive 7-1 tie
at the top, but the Nits have to have the edge because
of the schedule - they get all three of these teams in
Happy Valley. If they can get over their Michigan
mental block next week and stop turning it over, watch
out!

As for the rest, Purdue is up there because no team
west of Toledo seems to have a defense this year in
the Big Ten and the Boilers can put up points despite
their defense. Wisky's up there for their experience
and ability to wear opponents down with the offense.
As for OSU, don't count the Bucks out with an
improving O and the only other solid D in the league
outside of PSU. Plus, their schedule is nicely
backloaded to give them time to find some weapons,
which you know they have stockpiled in Columbus.

And yes, despite our woes, I think the Big Ten will
get two BCS bids. For starters, just about every
league will this year with ND out of it already and no
real non-BCS team stepping up (Hawaii's close win at
LaTech could damage them and Boise State and TCU
slipped up already). So that leaves four bids out
there for six leagues. The SEC will surely get two and
it's tough to see the ACC or Big East getting two.

SPOILER: Michigan

Tough to see Michigan winning the league - but it's
easy to see the Wolverines knocking off PSU, Wisconsin
and anybody else if they come to play on a Saturday.
They could have a role in the Rose Bowl race by who
they manage to knock off along the way.

BOWL BUBBLE: Michigan State, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois,
Northwestern

MSU and Indiana are in good shape with the 3-0 start
and a win in South Bend would really help Sparty's
case even if I'm not a believer yet. As for Indiana
and Illinois - next week's game will be huge. And Iowa
should still get in despite the ISU loss because they
skip Michigan and OSU. As for NU, it gets tougher
without the Duke win, but we still can do it by
beating EMU and Minnesota, along with splitting the
MSU, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana games. Homecoming vs.
Minny may make or break the season for us.

NEXT YEAR: Minnesota

With two non conference losses already and a defense
that looks porous even by Big Ten standards this year,
it's going to be long wait for hockey season to begin
up north. But the Gophers could definitely be a bowl
spoiler to the bubble teams above.

Last night would have really helped - but we gotta put
it behind us and get ready for a tough game in the
Shoe.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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


       
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