Footballking16

I think Iowa fans are already over this season and are at crossroads with Ferentz and his son. If Iowa somehow manages to keep it close with Rutgers next week it might get ugly.

Penn State looked impressive against Auburn Saturday until you realized this is the worst fielded Auburn team in the last 50 years and their coach is a dead man walking. Give Penn State two years and they may be the best team in the B10 in spite of James Franklin. Two freshman RB's are going to be really good as they continue to develop and I think Allar is a potential top 5 pick down the road. But they will still have to overcome Franklin's in-game incompetence.

That was my third loss for Michigan when I had originally made the bet with you. Iowa would have to play 8 quarters to score enough points to beat Michigan. I still think the Wolverines get rolled by Ohio State in a revenge game from last year but I just don't see them losing any more than two games, if two at all.

Where do you see 3 losses on this Michigan schedule? I made a bet with @temptationin the offseason that Michigan wouldn't win 10+ games and am already regretting it. The B10 is awful this year and Michigan's schedule is extremely favorable. Their 3 hardest remaining games are home games against Penn State and Michigan State and an away game at Ohio State to end the year. I think at worst Michigan goes 10-2 but they will be a TD+ favorite in every game until the rivalry game with Ohio State.

So you would rank Minnesota ahead of Michigan (as you previously stated above) because Minnesota's SOS is one spot higher than Michigan? That's legit the worst rationale I've ever heard. Penn State is the only team in the B10 who comes close to making an argument that they should be ranked ahead of Michigan. Penn State is good, they aren't Michigan good.

They were in the CFB playoff last year. Penn State has routinely taken dumps outside the conference and Wisconsin hasn't beaten anybody to date AND has already lost at home to Washington State. 3-0 Minnesota hasn't played a soul either and there's no way they look better than Michigan right now. I hate to defend Michigan and Harbaugh, but outside Georgia, they look about as good as anybody in the country and I don't care who they've played. Penn State is the only team that you can even attempt to make an argument should be ahead of Michigan right now.

Nebraska is (was) horribly coached and their defense is just atrocious. No doubt it was an exciting game but when Northwestern does that to your defense it should have been foreshadowing. They've given up 31 to NW, 17 to an FCS team that was a game through 3 quarters, 45 to GA Southern, and 49 to Oklahoma who called off the dogs early.

1. OSU 2. UM 3. Penn St 4. Minnesota 5. Mich State 6. Maryland 7. Wisconsin 8. Purdue 9. Iowa 10. Indiana 11. Rutgers 12. Illinois 13. Northwestern 14. Nebraska

Well Purdue isn't 3-0, they're 1-2. And a 3-0 Purdue team would be ranked right behind Michigan and Ohio State had that been the case. There is still a level of an eye test that goes into this and despite playing 3 high school teams, Michigan looks the part. Wisconsin doesn't belong anywhere near this list. The lost at home to Washington State.

They were shutout in the 2nd half against Ohio State and 70 yards of offense and put together one decent scoring drive against Marshall in the second half. Their last TD was set up on a short field stemming from a block punt. Notre Dame is T-115th in the nation in scoring offense at 18.5. That's terrible. UNC defense is terrible but their offense is elite. They're going to have to score more than 18 points in Chapel Hill to have a chance.

Which makes you think....just how bad is Nebraska?

I really don't remember Brady in college so that may be a "my bad" on my end. I do know Griese lead them to their last national title. Jim Harbaugh is synonymous with Michigan and always thought he had a better college career than Brady. Grbac lead them to multiple Rose Bowl and just figured there were some good UM QB's during Bo's hey day.

Not sure Brady is even top 10 all-time at Michigan if you’re strictly going off collegiate career, although I’m not terribly versed in Michigan QB’s.

Harsin won’t make it through the season.

Won 10 games each of the last 5 years with the same suspect QB play (Ian Book was really good btw). That’s a testament to Kelly’s coaching abilities.

Just lost to 0-2 Bowling Green. Bowling Green lost to FCS Eastern Kentucky last week.

It’s embarrassing and the B10 should have to answer for it. Northwestern just lost to an 0-2 FCS team at home.

Imagine being 3-0 at this juncture AND looking ahead to a B10 West schedule. Defense was a no show until they started getting aggressive late and forced some big turnovers. Offense is already a night and day improvement from last year and could still be better. Have to get better in the redzone. 3-0 is nice but don’t see many remaining wins left on the schedule. On to Cincy.

I think Temp is alluding to to Kelly's cringeworthy behavior trying to be "them". I don't think LSU cares that Kelly is from MA as long as he wins. Saban is from WV, Miles was a NE Ohio guy. Orgeron (from LA), had two really good season (1 great) and was a dud for the rest of them. And they turned on him quick.

I don't see the logic in promoting a coordinator who is unqualified for a head coaching position at Notre Dame for the sake of keeping him away from LSU. That's the top of logic that gets you 0-3 to start a career while looking completely in over your head.

Is there some kind of embedded rivalry with LSU that I’m missing here? ND promoted Freeman to head coach so LSU couldn’t lure him away as a DC? I don’t see the logic.

If that is indeed the case, it even furthers the point that Notre Dame needed to look at a proven winner, before hiring a green coordinator with zero head coaching experience. Whittingham and M Stoops are both proven winners at schools who aren’t perennially landing elite recruits. If you can win at Utah and Kentucky, you can win a Notre Dame. This is why I don’t understand the grief Kelly took. Say what you want about his recruiting abilities, he’s a damn good X’s and O’s coach, one of the best in the country, and won 10+ games the last 5 seasons.

If Notre Dame went after Fickell, Kyle Whittingham, and Mark Stoops and all said no then I get the Freeman hire. All three of those coaches should have been contacted first.

It's almost like getting cute with Ohio State and trying not to get blown out for style points for their end of year resume wasn't such a good idea? I said that right after the Ohio State game and got blasted by other ND posters here. I think Freeman sent a terrible message to his team and that had to kill any confidence that Buchner had. ND was shell-shocked by Kelly's departure. But ND and Swarbrick caved in to player demands who all rallied behind Freeman immediately after Kelly bolted. It's the same thing that happened at USC with Clay Helton. Freeman was promoted with 72 hours so very hard to believe that ND did a thorough coaching search, let alone interviewed a pool of candidates. USC, Oklahoma, LSU, and Notre Dame jobs were all open this past offseason and Notre Dame by far made the smallest splash.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Before knowing how serious Buchner's injury was, I commented late Saturday that the Irish were a 7 win team at best with its current QB play. I didn't see how the Irish outscore UNC, Clemson, BYU, and USC, and Syracuse may be sneaky good, we'll know after their game with Purdue Saturday. I do think the Irish will somehow scrape and claw their way to 6 wins and earn bowl eligibility, but getting a top tier QB in the portal next summer is job #1 for Freeman.