Big Ten West teams are mild, but division race could be wild

[BleedGopher]

per Eric:

The Big Ten West is a mess. It’s also mesmerizing.

Wisconsin and Nebraska already have fired their head coaches. Minnesota took up the mantle as West favorite, only to be upset at home. Illinois, picked sixth, is one of the hottest teams in the nation after outscoring two nonconference opponents and Wisconsin by a combined 89-13.

Even Nebraska, an after-thought coming into the season, ended a nine-game losing streak against Bowl Subdivision opponents and suddenly thinks it could make a run.

Six teams are 1-1 in conference play and tied for first place, the first time since the 2014 East-West split that one of the Big Ten divisions has had such a logjam.

Preseason favorite Wisconsin, which has won four of the eight West titles, is alone in last place at 0-2 and rebooting with defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard taking over as interim coach following Sunday’s firing of Paul Chryst.

While the East has three teams in the top 10, the West has no one close to being in the AP Top 25. Minnesota is ninth among the 15 teams receiving votes.

Big Ten West teams are mild, but division race could be wild

The Big Ten West is a mess. It's also mesmerizing. Wisconsin and Nebraska already have fired their head coaches.

apnews.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[Taji34]

Mark my words, the west division race will come down to the final week yet again, and we may not know the winner until the final game of rivalry week is played.

 

[Some guy]

Mark my words, the west division race will come down to the final week yet again, and we may not know the winner until the final game of rivalry week is played.

Disagree.

I predict that teams pick up their third conference loss in the following weeks:
Minnesota - never
Illinois - oct 15 vs Minnesota
Iowa - nov 5 @ Purdue
Purdue - oct 22 @ Wisconsin
Nebraska - oct 29 vs Nebraska
Northwestern - oct 22 @ Maryland
Wisconsin - nov 5 vs Maryland

The gophers will have 1 or 2 conference losses to finish the year. The division will be over when Minnesota beats Iowa on nov 19

 

[MNVCGUY]

Disagree.

I predict that teams pick up their third conference loss in the following weeks:
Minnesota - never
Illinois - oct 15 vs Minnesota
Iowa - nov 5 @ Purdue
Purdue - oct 22 @ Wisconsin
Nebraska - oct 29 vs Nebraska
Northwestern - oct 22 @ Maryland
Wisconsin - nov 5 vs Maryland

The gophers will have 1 or 2 conference losses to finish the year. The division will be over when Minnesota beats Iowa on nov 19

3 conference losses definitely feels like the magic number for elimination in the West although it is not impossible that we could end up with multiple 6-3 teams at the top of the division with the way things have gone so far.

Going to be fun to see how it all unfolds in the coming weeks. At the moment all 7 teams are still in it even if some have a much better shot of winning the division than others.

 

[Go Gophs]

Disagree.

I predict that teams pick up their third conference loss in the following weeks:
Minnesota - never
Illinois - oct 15 vs Minnesota
Iowa - nov 5 @ Purdue
Purdue - oct 22 @ Wisconsin
Nebraska - oct 29 vs Nebraska
Northwestern - oct 22 @ Maryland
Wisconsin - nov 5 vs Maryland

The gophers will have 1 or 2 conference losses to finish the year. The division will be over when Minnesota beats Iowa on nov 19

Illinois is going to beat Iowa this week and I would guess also be favored against the Gophers at home the week after.
Don't take them lightly. They have a fantastic running back and a great defense.

 

[Some guy]

Illinois is going to beat Iowa this week and I would guess also be favored against the Gophers at home the week after.
Don't take them lightly. They have a fantastic running back and a great defense.

They lost to Indiana.
They’re mediocre

 

[CentralGopher]

Regardless of where teams in the west end up I think the bowl game opponents should look out. My two cents is that with the exception of Nebraska and Wisconsin the west is being underrated and will dominate bowl game opponents.

 

[Some guy]

Regardless of where teams in the west end up I think the bowl game opponents should look out. My two cents is that with the exception of Nebraska and Wisconsin the west is being underrated and will dominate bowl game opponents.

And northwestern

 

[Go Gophs]

They lost to Indiana.
They’re mediocre

And they whacked everyone else they have played, while hardly giving anything up on defense. They will be a tough out for everyone they play this year.

 

[1983]

We took last week for granted which inexperienced teams often do. We had ESPN shows talking about us and everyone figuring their Indy trip. At our key positions like Head coach and QB, I expected a bit more maturity and better play in general. We are certainly in a better position than some teams in the division and we should still be considered a favorite. We are in the position of no more screwups like last week. Getting beat by a better team is one thing but not showing up is another. We show up the rest of the way and we are back on ESPN and looking to get that Indy trip.

 

[ChromeDome]

They lost to Indiana.
They’re mediocre

Past struggles don't necessarily turn into future struggles. We lost to Bowling Green last year, turned it around, and still had a very good season.

 

[Some guy]

And they whacked everyone else they have played, while hardly giving anything up on defense. They will be a tough out for everyone they play this year.

They haven’t played anyone good yet.
And saying conference opponent will be a tough out is a cliche that applies to everyone in the conference

They beat a 2-3 Virginia team that lost to duke and best win is old dominion
They beat a 3-3 Wyoming team
They beat a team that fired their coach
They beat an FCS team.

“If you wanna crown him, crown their ass”
-Denny Green

 

[Some guy]

Past struggles don't necessarily turn into future struggles. We lost to Bowling Green last year, turned it around, and still had a very good season.

Who said they don’t have the ability to have a good season?
Saying they aren’t the team to beat isn’t the same thing as saying they’re bad.

 

[SelectionSunday]

They lost to Indiana.
They’re mediocre

Sometimes teams get better, sometimes they get worse. Illinois looking like they belong in the former group. Neither team wants to get their second conference loss so early.

 

[Ope3]

They lost to Indiana.
They’re mediocre

So is everyone else (or worse) in the West.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Who said they don’t have the ability to have a good season?
Saying they aren’t the team to beat isn’t the same thing as saying they’re bad.

Some people really struggle with nuance or anything that isn't black and white. Saw it in the Purdue threads when people would get bent out of shape when someone would say we played poorly against Purdue as if that somehow meant they were saying Purdue didn't deserve any credit.

 

[MNVCGUY]

So is everyone else (or worse) in the West.

The reality is nobody really knows at this point with the West. There is no clear cut favorite in the division right now and all 7 teams still could potentially come out on top.

Illinois looks solid but it is too early to say they are a favorite just like it was clearly too early to think we were going to run away with the division after the MSU game.

That was the whole point of the article. Nobody in the West is perfect and any number of things could happen over the remainder of the season which will make it a really fun race to watch even if the teams in it all seem to be quite a bit behind the Ohio State's of the world.

 

[ChromeDome]

Who said they don’t have the ability to have a good season?
Saying they aren’t the team to beat isn’t the same thing as saying they’re bad.

You called Illinois a mediocre team. Mediocre teams don't have good seasons. Illinois just crushed Wisconsin, the jury is out whether they are a mediocre team or a good one.

 

[Go Gophs]

They haven’t played anyone good yet.
And saying conference opponent will be a tough out is a cliche that applies to everyone in the conference

They beat a 2-3 Virginia team that lost to duke and best win is old dominion
They beat a 3-3 Wyoming team
They beat a team that fired their coach
They beat an FCS team.

“If you wanna crown him, crown their ass”
-Denny Green

You could argue that neither have we and the only one we did, we lost to. Look past them or think it is easy, that is up to you. They beat us last year and didn't give up much at all to our offense, especially on the ground. I will stand by my statement that they will be a tough out for everyone they play with that defense and running game.

Minnesota:
Beat an FCS team
Beat a 0-5 NMST team
Beat a 0-5 Colorado team
Beat a 1-3 MSU team

 

[Com_Cool]

Who do we want to win in the IA/IL matchup?

 

[gopherinatl]

They haven’t played anyone good yet.
And saying conference opponent will be a tough out is a cliche that applies to everyone in the conference

They beat a 2-3 Virginia team that lost to duke and best win is old dominion
They beat a 3-3 Wyoming team
They beat a team that fired their coach
They beat an FCS team.

“If you wanna crown him, crown their ass”
-Denny Green

Neither have we.

 

[SPB_Gophers]

Who do we want to win in the IA/IL matchup?

Whichever one you’re more confident we can beat I would guess

 

[GopherVotary]

The tie breaking procedures could go several steps deep.

 

[MGGopher]

You could argue that neither have we and the only one we did, we lost to. Look past them or think it is easy, that is up to you. They beat us last year and didn't give up much at all to our offense, especially on the ground. I will stand by my statement that they will be a tough out for everyone they play with that defense and running game.

Minnesota:
Beat an FCS team
Beat a 0-5 NMST team
Beat a 0-5 Colorado team
Beat a 1-3 MSU team

Your point stands, but NMSU has 1-win and MSU has 2. They still stink, of course.

If Minnesota plays the rest of the season like they did Saturday, they'll finish around 5-4 in conference and a distant 3rd or 4th in the division. If they play like they did against MSU, they'll likely win out and run away with the division. Reality is probably somewhere in the middle, meaning they'll pick up at least one more loss and be right in the thick of it until the final week. Buckle up. Can't ever be easy, lol!

 

[stemar]

We took last week for granted which inexperienced teams often do. We had ESPN shows talking about us and everyone figuring their Indy trip. At our key positions like Head coach and QB, I expected a bit more maturity and better play in general. We are certainly in a better position than some teams in the division and we should still be considered a favorite. We are in the position of no more screwups like last week. Getting beat by a better team is one thing but not showing up is another. We show up the rest of the way and we are back on ESPN and looking to get that Indy trip.

I think this is kind of a rationalization to say we took it for granted. It is really a condemnation of our coaching staff to say they didn't have the team mentally prepared. We were simply outplayed in all phases. To me the jury is still out on how good we are. I like how our schedule lines up, but we shall see.

 

[cjbfbp]

Neither have we.

Well, given that we lost to Purdue, I think we have to call them "good." They're not like Bowling Green, or even Illinois, of last year. They have two losses but those were to two 5-0 teams and those games were very close.

 

[cjbfbp]

I think this is kind of a rationalization to say we took it for granted. It is really a condemnation of our coaching staff to say they didn't have the team mentally prepared. We were simply outplayed in all phases. To me the jury is still out on how good we are. I like how our schedule lines up, but we shall see.

This is a standard homer perspective. Your losses never have anything to do with the performance of your opponent (unless, maybe, that opponent is very elite team that you expected to defeat you). Losses are only attributable to your own mistakes and poor play. Homers don't really watch the opponent so they don't notice what the opponent did well.

 

[Xerxes_]

Who do we want to win in the IA/IL matchup?

As much as Gopher fans hate Iowa they probably should be rooting for them Saturday. Illinois has an easier schedule and Iowa has 3 extremely likely losses left in Ohio State, Purdue, & Wisconsin.

 

[Ope3]

As much as Gopher fans hate Iowa they probably should be rooting for them Saturday. Illinois has an easier schedule and Iowa has 3 extremely likely losses left in Ohio State, Purdue, & Wisconsin.

Calling Iowa losses "likely" to Purdue and Wisconsin seems like a stretch, especially with the Badgers going to Kinnick.

 

[MNVCGUY]

As much as Gopher fans hate Iowa they probably should be rooting for them Saturday. Illinois has an easier schedule and Iowa has 3 extremely likely losses left in Ohio State, Purdue, & Wisconsin.

Iowa is almost certainly going to lose to Ohio State and Illinois is likely to lose to Michigan. Everything else is pretty much a toss up at this point.

Going to be an interesting game to keep tabs on Saturday as whoever loses will be in trouble since they will have 2 conference losses and the aforementioned tough crossover game still on the schedule. Not to mention their other head to head matchups coming with teams in the West.