What is the State of the Big Ten After Week One?

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walrus said:
Many good thoughts here. What I didn’t hear was how sharp the Gopher offense and defense both looked in the last 5 minutes of the game to tie the score, then force a Nebraska turnover with a couple of minutes left and then get in position for a 45 yard plus clutch game winning field goal as time expired.

That was VERY good as far as I was concerned. It put one conference game win in the record book!
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Defense looked sharp all game. Other than getting burned by a broken trick play that resulted in a gimmicky TD, defense was very, very stingy. Offense took quite a while to get in rhythm, but on the drive that counted for all the marbles, rhythm was there.
 

PeoplesFront said:
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Well said. Very little quarrel with.
 

gophernut1 said:
How good does MN win look if NE ends up shutting down Colorado? I do believe we will look a lot better in the next few weeks as we adjust to what works well in our run game. NE defense was a challenge. I think our OL did really good in pass blocking and I didn't have an issue with their run blocking, as I think it was the types of runs that were called against the 3-5 defense. Optimistic things will settle in and we will separate ourselves over the next few weeks as they best team in the West.
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TCU ran a 3-3-5 defense also. Colorado disassembled it. But Nebraska has the personnel to run a 3-3-5; TCU clearly doesn’t. Next week i root for Nebraska to give the Poser Primes a face plant.
 
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Ohio State and Purdue are week one losers. Michigan should be/is? ranked above the Buckeyes.
 



Gophergrandpa said:
TCU ran a 3-3-5 defense also. Colorado disassembled it. But Nebraska has the personnel to run a 3-3-5; TCU clearly doesn’t. Next week i root for Nebraska to give the Poser Prines a face plant.
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How is he a poser? He might be a lot of things, but a poser implies he isn’t going to show actual results. The 2022 Colorado team loses to TCU by 40+. He has already proven he isn’t a poser.
 
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1. Iowa
2-3-4. No particular order. Illinois, Wisconsin, Gophs
 




Sparlimb said:
Funny that Ryan Day has the best winning percentage in first 5 years of any coach and could be on the hot seat. They did not look at all good yesterday. They'll get better, of course. Can they beat PSU and Michigan? To be seen.
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It’s crazy. 32-2 in the big ten and on the hot seat
 






mggoph said:
1. Iowa
2-3-4. No particular order. Illinois, Wisconsin, Gophs
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Not sure I saw enough from Iowa to say they are the clear cut #1 in the West right now.

I think the winner still comes from the Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin trio with Illinois, Purdue, and Nebraska not all that far off but probably not quite good enough to hang with the top 3. At this point the only thing I feel truly confident about in terms of the West is that Northwestern is going to take the #7 spot.

Need to see more from the others
Minnesota - Offense struggled, defense looked good, had the toughest week one matchup of the teams in the division.

Iowa - Offense looked really good early in the game and then it wasn't and they only managed 24 points. QB is already nicked up and if they lose him they are in trouble. Defense and special teams didn't dominate in week 1 the way they did last year.

Wisconsin - Managed to hit some big plays and pull away from Buffalo eventually but didn't look all that impressive doing it. Mordecai likes to throw it to the other team which offsets a lot of the good he can do and is pretty reminiscent of the guy he replaced.

Illinois - Struggled to get past Toledo.

Purdue - Lost to Fresno State in a bit of a shootout without a ton of defense being played.

Nebraska - Had the game with the Gophers won until they fell apart late and turned the ball over multiple times (both on great defensive plays).

Northwestern - yeah.....this is going to be ugly. Clear cut worst team in the division and probably the conference.
 

gophernut1 said:
How good does MN win look if NE ends up shutting down Colorado? I do believe we will look a lot better in the next few weeks as we adjust to what works well in our run game. NE defense was a challenge. I think our OL did really good in pass blocking and I didn't have an issue with their run blocking, as I think it was the types of runs that were called against the 3-5 defense. Optimistic things will settle in and we will separate ourselves over the next few weeks as they best team in the West.
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While I doubt Neb is gunna beat Co, Neb is going to ruin someone’s season…lows goes to Neb the same day we host Bucky…the week after Bucky hosts Neb.

Easier said: In the last two weeks of the season, Neb goes to Bucky and hosts Iowa - they’re going to raise hell in B1G West late im the year.

Let’s be happy we got them now and got a W; Rhule gunna have them improved.
 

mggoph said:
1. Iowa
2-3-4. No particular order. Illinois, Wisconsin, Gophs
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I didn’t see anything from Iowa that separates them from the other 3 you listed. I don’t think Illinois is in the top 3, they were down 19-7 to Toledo in the second half and were fortunate to escape with the win. They should still be pretty good defensively, but the offense is still not great and they don’t have a great rb like last year.
 

gophernut1 said:
How good does MN win look if NE ends up shutting down Colorado? I do believe we will look a lot better in the next few weeks as we adjust to what works well in our run game. NE defense was a challenge. I think our OL did really good in pass blocking and I didn't have an issue with their run blocking, as I think it was the types of runs that were called against the 3-5 defense. Optimistic things will settle in and we will separate ourselves over the next few weeks as they best team in the West.
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Same thoughts. I like kicking Nebraska when they're down as much as any god fearing agnostic college football fan. But seeing their defense stifle Sanders would be big. And if they managed to beat Colorado....that would help us out. Don't think it's out of the question either.....considering that Team Prime only opened as a 2.5 point favorite. And that's with home field baked in.

Anyways.....the Gophers offense has a lot to look at this week. I think we'll see steady improvements from week to week. And really.....I think that Nebraska's defense might just be good. They certainly have the athletes.
 

Team (last week)
1) Michigan (2)
2) Ohio state (1)
3) penn state (3)
4) Iowa (4)
5) Minnesota (5)
6) Maryland (6)
7) Wisconsin (7)
8) Michigan State (10)
9) Nebraska (9)
10) Illinois (8)
11) Rutgers (12)
12) Purdue (11)
13) Indiana (13)
14) northwestern (14)

Everyone from 4-10 is pretty interchangeable
 
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walrus said:
Many good thoughts here. What I didn’t hear was how sharp the Gopher offense and defense both looked in the last 5 minutes of the game to tie the score, then force a Nebraska turnover with a couple of minutes left and then get in position for a 45 yard plus clutch game winning field goal as time expired.

That was VERY good as far as I was concerned. It put one conference game win in the record book!
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Welcome back Wren! I always enjoyed your posts!
 

btowngopher said:
I didn’t see anything from Iowa that separates them from the other 3 you listed. I don’t think Illinois is in the top 3, they were down 19-7 to Toledo in the second half and were fortunate to escape with the win. They should still be pretty good defensively, but the offense is still not great and they don’t have a great rb like last year.
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Kansas isn’t as bad as they used to be, but they’re underdogs to Kansas if that says anything. Would Kansas be the big ten west favorite?
 

Some guy said:
Team (last week)
1) Michigan (2)
2) Ohio state (1)
3) penn state (3)
4) Iowa (4)
5) Minnesota (5)
6) Maryland (6)
7) Wisconsin (7)
8) Michigan State (10)
9) Nebraska (9)
10) Illinois (8)
11) Rutgers (12)
12) Purdue (11)
13) Indiana (13)
14) northwestern (14)

Everyone from 4-10 is pretty interchangeable
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This is a comment with an original opinion at 6 and 10. We will see.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
Wisconsin isn’t keeping its playbook “under wraps” until they face B1G opponents. It looks like they’re using all the plays currently installed to shake off the rust, get the bugs out, familiarize players with the plays at game speed, review player performances, etc. Good way to develop competences early in the season.
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That’s an absolutely horrible take. It’s exactly the opposite. They used a very limited portion on their offense on Saturday. They also kept the defense plain vanilla, as did most of the others in the West.

MN had a conference rival, so it was less of an option for them to play that preseason b.s.. This week, they’ll be able to keep things under wraps for the film their upcoming opponents will be looking at.
 



1) Michigan
2) Penn State
3) Ohio State
4) Wisconsin
5) Minnesota
6) Maryland
7) Iowa
8) Nebraska
9) Michigan State
10) Illinois
11) Purdue
12) Rutgers
13) Indiana
14) Northwestern
 



Gophergrandpa said:
Defense looked sharp all game. Other than getting burned by a broken trick play that resulted in a gimmicky TD, defense was very, very stingy. Offense took quite a while to get in rhythm, but on the drive that counted for all the marbles, rhythm was there.
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The Gophers are only going to get better as the season progresses.
 

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