2015

[MNVCGUY]

From Grantland's discussion on Anderson leaving Wisconsin:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/college-football-lightning-round-gary-andersen-wisconsin-oregon-state/

Michael Weinreb: So, to summarize, the Big Ten West is composed of:

1. A coach (Tim Beckman) who believes his team was only 10 plays short of defeating Purdue.

2. A coach (Kirk Ferentz) who made approximately $582,142.86 per victory this season.

3. A coach (Pat Fitzgerald) who referred to his own team as “an embarrassment.”

4. A coach (Darrell Hazell) whose team lost by three touchdowns to Central Michigan.

5. A coach (Mike Riley) who is, you know, like, a really great guy.

6. A program bereft of a coach for the second time in three years …

… and Minnesota. Which means a team that hasn’t qualified for the Rose Bowl since the Cuban Missile Crisis is now the most stable and promising program in this whole confab of misfit toys.

That's a pretty amusing look at the state of the division.

Some have been speculating on the West favorite going into next year. I honestly don't know at this point if there will be a clear cut favorite. I would bet most will view it as a 4+ team free for all between Us, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Iowa with programs like Illinois and Northwestern lurking in the background and Purdue again bringing up the rear. I would say that like this year we probably won't know who will win the West until the final week of the regular season.

 

[GopherHomer]

TCU is going to be a very tough game. If we are improved, we should have no problem with CSU minus their coach and all of their offensive production next year.

Good point. Admittedly, I did zero research into how many players are coming back for CSU.