Sign up or login to track your favorite teams

Sign Up for Bleacher Report

As a registered user you can subscribe to your favorite teams, post comments, write your own articles, and much more.

You must register in order for that functionality to work!








Validating sign up form ...

Bleacher Report articles are written by fans like you

Do you want to cover your favorite sports, teams, and leagues?

Processing writing preferences ...

Great, , you're signed up!

i.e. Big 10, LeBron James, USC Football

Selected Tags:

Logging in ...

Now that the conference schedule is underway, I thought I'd run down the conference and rank them from top to bottom as I see it and adjust weekly as necessary. Here goes nothing:1...

Handicapping the Big 10

by Wade Starnes (Contributor)

0

56 reads

Sports

October 01, 2008

Now that the conference schedule is underway, I thought I'd run down the conference and rank them from top to bottom as I see it and adjust weekly as necessary. Here goes nothing:


1. Ohio State - I've read and heard a lot of the same two things this year from various blogs and media outlets....1) Ohio St is overrated and 2) I had a "sneaking suspicion" Penn State was the better team. I'm here to say that these statements are both incorrect. Yeah, Ohio St got blown out by USC. They also lost this game on the road...not just on the road, but across the country...at night...on National TV....without their best player. Despite the struggles with Ohio and not blowing the doors of Troy and Minnesota, I still think they're the best team in the Big 10. This for sure....Terelle Pryor scares the hell out of me. I guess we can eliminate the "Pryor's a dummy he could have started from Day 1 at Michigan!!!" argument from our repertoire. It took him all of 3 weeks to take over for a QB that led his team to the BCS Championship game a year ago. He's not sharing the job either. Boeckman got a grand total of 1 snap against Minnesota and I've got 3 new ulcers typing this paragraph.

2. Penn State - Yeah, yeah, they suh-moked Oregon St who beat USC who beat Ohio St. By the way, can we stop these type of comparisons?!?! It's lazy effing "journalism" and it's just flat out flawed....Now if you want to look at a body of work of one team, I'm ok with that. Say Oregon St ends up 9-3 with a win over USC...then I'll be impressed with this victory. Anyhow, Penn St managed to turn their moribund offensive attack into a high-flying circus act in less than a year (are you paying attention Rodzilla?). Shedding Anthony Morelli had to help this cause, but something seems amiss here. I mean it's Jay Paterno right? I'm so sick of hearing about the "Spread HD" that I'm actually starting to hate watching HD programming on my TV. Last note, I hope someone on the Penn St staff writes an expose about Paterno some day. He doesn't wear a headset on the sidelines, so he's not talking to any coaches in the boxes. He's not calling plays. He doesn't talk strategy in any sideline huddles. Outside of some rah-rah BS in the lockerroom and playing the role of pylon to oncoming players, I'm not sure this guy has done dick since about 1985.

3. Michigan State - This is where it gets tricky. Is MSU setting themselves up for their typical collapse down the stretch? It might seem that way, but MSU's committed to running the ball this year with Javon Ringer and that should help cut down on the crazy Northwestern-type loss. What remains to be seen is if they have enough defense to stay in the upper echelon of the Big 10. They're looking to be 6-1 prior to hitting the tougher part of their schedule, when they have Ohio St, @ Michigan, Wisconsin in 3 consecutive weeks. If they can win two of those games they'll remain up here.

4. Wisconsin -
Track this Article on My B/R
Flag This Article
Share This Article

0 commentsLeave a Comment

Leave a Comment

  • You must register to post a comment.

  • Want to write for Bleacher Report

    We are a community of fans who write about sports. And we're growing.

    Learn More and Sign Up »



    Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Getty Images.
    Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Getty Images is strictly prohibited.