{"id":141,"date":"2017-09-05T19:56:48","date_gmt":"2017-09-05T19:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bigtenelimination.com\/?p=141"},"modified":"2017-11-28T21:19:15","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T21:19:15","slug":"9-5-17-minnesota-indiana-penn-state-purdue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigtenelimination.com\/index.php\/2017\/09\/05\/9-5-17-minnesota-indiana-penn-state-purdue\/","title":{"rendered":"9\/5\/17 – Week One Minnesota, Indiana, Penn State, Purdue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, that was an exciting week of football…\u00a0 Illinois almost took out half of the group… sucks for everyone who has to pick them later! \u00a0oh… dammit…\u00a0 Maryland beat Texas which was surprising..\u00a0 I guess Tom Herman should have stayed in Houston… well… not like literally stayed in Houston last week but like literally remained Houston’s football coach because Texas figuratively sucks at football.\u00a0 Speaking of coaches who just moved to Power 5 schools:<\/p>\n

Minnesota:<\/div>\n
Minnesota won 9 games last year under their first year coach… then they fired him.\u00a0 Things were weird last year at Minnesota… Several players threatened to boycott their bowl game in support of one of their suspended teammates…. the coach publicly supported this decision… then they unboycotted after determining that sexual assault is a bad thing to support… (Or something like that… I’m too lazy to look up the story again) \u00a0 So they fired\u00a0Tracy Claeys\u00a0and they called up PJ Fleck and he rowed his boat from Kalamazoo to Lake Michigan, through Lake Huron, up to Lake Superior and around the U.P. to wind up in Gopher territory.\u00a0 Last year he led Western Michigan to an undefeated regular season and close loss to a very good Wisconsin team in their bowl game. \u00a0(Western also had a strong performance this week with their new coach losing to #4 USC 49-31… Seriously give this team some respect).\u00a0 I don’t know how good Minnesota will be this year.\u00a0 They won this week 17-7 against Buffalo which… whatever. I think PJ Fleck will make them a competitive mid to upper level Big Ten team.\u00a0 I don’t know if he’ll do it year one especially with a new QB this year.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Indiana:<\/div>\n
I’m disappointed in all of my fellow Michigan Alumni… Ohio State plays #TeamChaos in the first game of the season and none of you are willing to sacrifice $10 to invoke the Hoosier Curse and watch JT Barrett cry as his senior season is ruined by Indiana. \u00a0(Ignore what team I picked, that’s not important) \u00a0Only one of you picked OSU and it looked for a while like that would be enough.\u00a0 They were up 14-13 after the first half before falling apart as the game went on.\u00a0 Indiana is a legit team with a solid defense. Lagow is not a great QB… His mistakes a part of the reason that game turned into a blow out late… but he does have some weapons and if he has some good games then Indiana is going to be a tough opponent for some good teams this season.. They’re also gonna win some games against weaker opponents and non-football-teams*<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Penn State:<\/div>\n
Penn State is ranked #6.\u00a0 Last year they should have gone to the playoffs.\u00a0 They won the Big Ten Championship, and beat the team that was elected instead of them (Ohio State)… I just wrote a whole page about this situation and how college football playoffs are stupid but it got entirely too long for a one team review… maybe I’ll put this out later as a “How CFP should work” topic…\u00a0 Anyway Penn State should have gone to the playoffs last year and is probably a better team this year.\u00a0 Therefore my analysis for Penn State is: \u00a0Meh.\u00a0 When I say “they should have made the playoffs last year” that really means “They kinda suck but the other teams blew it and don’t deserve nice things” \u00a0Their defense gave up points against even mediocre offenses last year.\u00a0 The offense will put up points with returning star running back Saquon Barkley, but their big wins last year came largely on high variance special team plays and lots and lots of perfectly thrown deep balls.\u00a0 That’s hard to duplicate on a consistent basis.\u00a0 They’re gonna have troubles against a good secondary (see 10 points against U-M last year).\u00a0 They’ve got a rough mid-year stretch of Michigan and OSU back to back but overall they have a relatively soft schedule with 3 easy non-conference games (they already blew out Akron) and no Wisconsin.\u00a0 They’ll win some games.\u00a0 I expect them to lose one or both of those middle games but if they catch a break then you’ll likely see them in the hunt for Indy or CFP late in the season again.\u00a0 Possibly a decent record leading to a post-season pounding.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Purdue:<\/div>\n
Purdue sucks.\u00a0 I like Purdue.\u00a0 I want them to be good at football again but they’re not… Sorry.\u00a0 Sucks that we all have to pick either Illinois or Rutgers or Purdue…\u00a0 Oh, they do have a new coach this year… they’ll still be bad though<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Nobody was eliminated this week.\u00a0 Get me your picks!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
*Forshadowing<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
P.S. Michigan’s band apparently played the Jaws theme at the game.\u00a0 This is hilarious.\u00a0 If you don’t understand why do some research: Jim McElwain + Shark.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, that was an exciting week of football…\u00a0 Illinois almost took out half of the group… sucks for everyone who has to pick them later! \u00a0oh… dammit…\u00a0 Maryland beat Texas which was surprising..\u00a0 I guess Tom Herman should have stayed in Houston… well… not like literally stayed in Houston last week but like literally remained … <\/p>\n

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