Week 7 B1G Thread...

B.A.R.

B.A.R.

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We are six weeks in and the next several weeks should give us an indication of what to look for in each division moving forward. Lots of interesting things happening this week, lets look back real quick...


Ohio State beat Indiana in a letdown game. This was kind of expected, to be close for a bit and maybe not the sharpest effort. Basically I think the script here went right to order. Nothing really significant out of this game for me personally.

Wisconsin beat Nebraska at home in a game that they really never got threatened. I will admit to not seeing much other than the TD to cover the spread in the 4th quarter. I do know this game had over 1000 yards of offense with Nebraska holding their own there (most of it in the air). Nebraska has a pourous defense and it showed again. They competed a bit though, it seems. They just need a win, bad to get off this donut.

Illinois pounded Rutgers. The only thing I saw here was a still shot of the sparse crowd in Jersey. Time to send this school to the AAC or something.

Iowa and Minnesota combined to average under 2.8 ypc on 71 total rushes. The total yards were not crazy, they were 420-320... So how the heck did this game end up with 79 points? Well, these teams were pretty efficient when they had the ball. Take away the end of the halves and there were TWENTY-EIGHT possessions in this game. That is incredible. Well, I said efficient because three things happened....either a 3 n out, a quick turnover or a scoring drive. There was nothing else really... none of those 7-8 play drives then a punt. What. A. Weird. Game.

Northwestern rushed for 8 yards. They won by double-digits. You are asking.... what is wrong with MSU?

-They cannot run. Take away the run with a WR and they had 48 yards on 22 carries otherwise.
-They have a horrible offensive line
-Injuries at WR
-The run defense is damn good, the rest is below average

The fact is... in the last 23 games against Power 5 opponents, MSU is 10-13 overall. That is not good. Obviously they had a year where everything went bad in 2016. Then, last year, everything went right. So, we get what we have here... a team that is somewhere in-between. That is an 8-4/7-5 type team.

We'll see what happens in Happy Valley and then home for the Super Bowl the week after.

And to the Northwestern side of things... much credit for great coaching and a resilient team.

Michigan took care of Maryland. The defense was absolutely lights out. There was the usual griping from many of us about some vanilla play calling but they showed some creative stuff too.

I'll tell ya what, it is a world of difference having a real QB. Shea won't have spectacular numbers because that isn't how this offense runs but he is one helluva QB that makes everyone around him better. People like to hate on him, but he is right there behind Haskins and Trace... just a little bit back.

Maryland is gonna be pretty good, pretty soon. Boy, they have some nice speed. They will have a nice, semi-signature win in conference this season methinks.


Alright, on to next week shortly...
 
I am gonna do this in two parts. My first part tonight, because it is getting so late, is just going to be a few snippets about this week...


-Michigan and Wisconsin UTL
-Michigan goes UW/@MSU/Bye/PSU the next month. If they have to lose one, they want it to be this one.
-Line opened at 8. That, at first glance seems high, doesn't it?
-Injuries on DL are the biggest question for Michigan this week going in.

-Sparty heads to Happy Valley
-Line was 14.5 when I saw it first pop at BOL.
-Penn State has had a few weeks to stew about the Ohio State game
-MSU won the weather delay game last year (week after osu/psu thriller)
-This game will be on Lewerke for Sparty to stay in it and win
-Seems bad to say, but the next week is so much more important to MSU, so we'll see their demeanor.

-Rutgers and Maryland
-Maryland will win pretty easily.
-No idea on the play vs the spread.

-Purdue is surging and goes to Illinois
-Line is around -10
-Lovie has the Illini competing more times than not
-Purdue cannot mess around and lose a game like this
-Has the feel of a tight one till the 4th quarter


-Minnesota invades the shoe
-Another exhibition for OSU
-Nothing much to see here.

-Nebraska goes into Northwestern seeking that first win
-The Cats might be a bit spent after the last two weeks
-Nebraska has had the line move in their favor so far it looks like
-Early gut feeling is that this is a close one

-Iowa heads into Bloomington to meet the Hoosiers
-Iowa is a dayum good team
-Indiana is a very solid team that is tough at home
-I am not sure here, I can make an argument for both sides
 
Neb has won every time in Evanston and I'll call for that streak to continue. Wisconsin continues to get every call and non call imaginable against us. 10 or 14 pt swing at the end of the 1h.
 
Wisconsin down quite a bit from last year and from what was expected of them. Their secondary is beat up and a starter will be out for the 1h due to targeting. I wouldn't anticipate them getting a lot of pressure vs the mich OL. Mich would be smart to have a pass heavy game plan. Not sure if Jim will go for that though.
 
cubsker said:
Neb has won every time in Evanston and I'll call for that streak to continue. Wisconsin continues to get every call and non call imaginable against us. 10 or 14 pt swing at the end of the 1h.
Click to expand...
Give me a summary on that game if you have time.
 
B.A.R. said:
Give me a summary on that game if you have time.
Click to expand...

Neb DL is incapable of getting off of blocks against anything resembling a decent OL and even more so when one team can blatantly cheat. Nebraska called for penalties left and right as we always are, including the absolute worst block in the back call I've seen in years that cost us a great chance to make it 13 to 10 late in the 2q. Meanwhile, this is fine as it always is for wisconsin against us:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1049190000556957696
.

The NU D held up for the first half and were at least serviceable holding them to a couple of FGs in the red zone. We're already down our starting DT and the backups just aren't strong enough. On offense, NU moved it most of the game but penalties and a couple of untimely sacks killed drives.

Second half, no one really stopped the other. Spielman had a field day against wisky secondary, going for 200 plus yds including a 75 yr td. Nebraska did very little running and I think they could have had some success there if they had tried. Neb D gave up a 88 yr td run with two pretty pathetic tackle attempts.

Wisconsin the better team but not by a whole lot. Maybe they weren't interested in kicking the shit out of us again. Probably gets old....
 
Martinez had 450 Yds of total offense. He easily left another 100 out there and did not play well in the 1h.
 
cubsker said:
Wisconsin down quite a bit from last year and from what was expected of them. Their secondary is beat up and a starter will be out for the 1h due to targeting. I wouldn't anticipate them getting a lot of pressure vs the mich OL. Mich would be smart to have a pass heavy game plan. Not sure if Jim will go for that though.
Click to expand...

After I saw what your Huskers did through the air in Madison I've got maybe way too much false confidence that Purdue can steal one with a couple good breaks there
 
Michigan @ Wisconsin 2017


In case you did not see the game or remember the details here is a quick summary.


Wisconsin 5 First Half Drives:

3 for 9
6 for 26
3 for 9
6 for 48
3 for 7

At halftime it was tied 7-7.

-Wisconsin scored on a punt return
-Michigan had a TD overturned even though replays indicated it was a touchdown
-Michigan fumbled after the overturn
-Michigan scored on a different drive

Wisconsin First 3 Second Half Drives:

3 for 1
3 for (1)
1 play Interception

-Michigan would get a FG for a 10-7 lead after the pick

On the next Wisconsin drive after a few plays the Badgers got a guy lined up against one of our young defensive players and burned him for 51 yards. The score was now 14-10 Badgers

On the ensuing possession, Peters got knocked out of the game leading to JOK entering, aka, the white flag against a good defense.

Wisconsin would score pretty quickly to jump to an insurmountable 21-10 lead and win 24-10.

Michigan bottled up Jonathon Taylor pretty well. Yes, the stats show 19 carries for 132 yards. But, dive in deeper. On the last two possessions in the 4th quarter he amassed 77 of those yards. Included in there was a 52 yard burst. Overall, Michigan did a pretty solid job against him.
 
The one thing about the Michigan defense last year in a few games. They simply seemed to tire from having to 'carry' the team. Between that and maybe not the best conditioning, they wore out. Hence, you see a guy like Taylor feasting in the 4th quarter as any great back will do.

So far this season, it seems conditioning has improved with this team.
 
Translation: Michigan was solid against Taylor for 3 quarters, then couldn't stop him in the fourth even though they had to expect heavy dose of run
 
Have to bite at 10 on princiapl or buy the half at 9.5 to get 10 now. No lose bet for me anyway, if we blow em out, wonderful. I'll pay good money for a blowout.
 
Here is a snippet of a Q&A from 247 with a Wisconsin reporter...


Q:
Click to expand...
Wisconsin gave up nearly 500 total yards to Nebraska at home last weekend. That doesn't seem to be very Wisconsin-ish. Was their performance last weekend a blip on the radar or a sign of some issues on that side of the ball?

Flood: It's not a fluke. This defense is struggling and it's a big concern going into Saturday. Wisconsin doesn't have the parts for their 3-4 defense that they're accustomed to.

They have a revamped defensive line and struggle to win on the early downs. If/when the Badgers do get their opponent into 3rd and longs, they don't have those outside linebackers who have typically dominated the 1-on1's to create pressure and/or get the quarterback on the ground. All that forces a young secondary to defend longer than they want. The Badgers also don't have a cornerback you feel good about in 1-on-1 coverage or who can keep the other team's top receiver in check for 60 minutes.

Against a Michigan offense that's very balanced and won't allow Wisconsin to hone in on one particular area, this is a scary matchup for the Badgers.
Click to expand...
 
For Michigan to beat Wisconsin...

-Come out and pass a bit more early.
-Do not be too stubborn with the run.
-Play with the lead at all times.
-No dumb penalties
-If Wisconsin scores early, make adjustments then, not in the 2nd quarter or at halftime...


This is most likely a low possession game. These are two of the slowest paced teams in the country. It will be a moving clock most likely. A two score game here is damn near death for the other team. It isn't insurmountable but will be very hard to come back from.

My prediction as of Thursday night...

I expect a couple of wrinkles from Michigan defensively. I do expect that Taylor will bust a big one at some point. If Michigan can get out to a lead that gets us Bad Horni at some point. He hasn't been as bad turning the ball over but other than Iowa he hasn't been tested as much. he Michigan DL injury situation seems to be quite fluid right now from everything circulating. We shall see. I think Michigan plays a very solid game and wins something like 27-17...

The line is at 9.5/49 right now. If I knew the MICH d-line wad at full strength I would recommend a large play on Wisconsin tt Under. We would be looking at a number north of 17.5 which is nice, at this point around 20. Obviously laying 9.5 isn't smart now when better numbers were available. At the same point, I do not think this goes much higher, so if you like Wisky, grab it. Despite my final score projection I am a bit neutral on predicting that in totality.

This is a big 4 weeks. Michigan must go 2-1...and as I have said...if they are to lose one...it should be a non-division game. But, with all the Wisky injury issues and a pretty average defense as is...Michigan needs to take advantage offensively.

If Michigan goes more vanilla than usual... anything can happen and trust me I'll near the front of the line to criticize the staff.

It will be cold...good old fashioned football weather. Bring on a fun atmosphere and see what happens.
 
Elsewhere...

I haven't read too much interesting...

Franklin said it was their best practice in 4 years or something the other day.

Nebraska seems to be very popular.

Not a peep about OSU/Minny.

Illinois and Purdue is interesting in general.
 
the illy purdue game will be determined by if illy can create turnovers. if they don't, they're not likely to get many stops at all.
 
Michigan will be exposed..just not tomorrow....and they'll still be stubborn as all hell per usual. If you all like 1970s football come watch a Michigan offense.
 
I cant fine one PSU insider not predicting a cover in that game. Normally they are pretty good with their predictions and arent homers, guys like Fitz etc. All seem to be about 42-20 type game with their predictions. Maybe one of 8 had it at 35-20 and that was as close as it was. take fwiw.
 
detroit187 said:
I cant fine one PSU insider not predicting a cover in that game. Normally they are pretty good with their predictions and arent homers, guys like Fitz etc. All seem to be about 42-20 type game with their predictions. Maybe one of 8 had it at 35-20 and that was as close as it was. take fwiw.
Click to expand...
Sparty run defense is solid. Now, have they been challenged on the ground enough? Shall see. I still think close at half... PSU 2h...
 
I took wisky +8 at opener and feel like a fucking moron. I should save myself the concern and rip up my ticket right now. Except I don't actually have a ticket to rip but whatever.
 
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