[NU Sports] Big Ten losses and why I love them

[Joe Thiegs]

>> We'll see if Tressel can pull it back together because
>> clearly OSU has
>> the talent to walk through the BT.  We'll see whether
>> or not they have
>> the team.

> Exactly. Tressel's gonna face a stiff challenge because all of those
seniors who bypassed the > NFL and returned did so to win the title -- the
loss at USC all but eliminates that, so will
> they have anything left to play for besides draft position and me, me, me?

This is almost exactly the same position Michigan was in last year--Henne,
Hart, Long, et al. come back to win the national title, they get a top five
preseason ranking, along comes App State, and *poof* there go the title
hopes.  The Wolverines rallied and ended up beating Florida in a New Year's
Day bowl game.  Long did okay in the draft too.

On paper, it was almost impossible to pick against tOSU as the preseason Big
Ten favorite with all of the players returning from the nat'l title game
team a year ago.  However, while I haven't gone out on a limb to predict
another specific team, I thought tOSU might be ripe for a disappointing
year.  There are so many other examples:  Michigan 2007 for one, but even
closer to home, how about NU in 2001?  Tied for the conference championship
the year before and most key players back, tabbed as the preseason favorite
(before Wheeler's death) and the team eventually just fell apart.  Same
thing with Minnesota from 1999 (three plays away from undefeated) to 2000
(just about everyone back--well, except for Tyrone Carter--and more
offensive firepower, beat tOSU in Columbus but lost to NU and IU, among
others). 

> I'm curious about the same thing with PSU - certainly some selfish players
in terms of off-
> field incidents and not thinking of the team and certainly a load of speed
and talent ... but 
> how will they react in a close game in the fourth quarter?

They certainly look like the best team in the league right now.  The years
when people write off Joe Pa always seem to be the Nittany Lions' best.
Imagine how good they'd be with Sean Lee and other injured players plus the
ones dismissed for their off-field actions.  We'll see how it goes once they
get some tougher competition, though.

> Should be a wild Big Ten race.

Agreed.  NU, Minnesota, Iowa, and Indiana could be a combined 15-0 going
into conference play (although Ball State will be a tough test for the
Hoosiers).  On Big Ten Tonight, Mike Hall or Charles Davis noted that if
both NU and Iowa can keep their blinders on and each beat their last
remaining nonconference opponent, they'll go into the Big Ten opener for a
battle of unbeatens, so one of them would leave that game 5-0.
Interestingly, both the 'Cats and Hawkeyes play MSU as their opponent
following the NU-Iowa game (Iowa the following week, NU coming off their bye
a week after that).

-Joe

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