Point-Counterpoint…Pre-Season Power Rankings

A fellow football junkie and I compare our power rankings for the preseason.  These are real emails back and forth.

Josh                            Kam

1. Michigan State       1. Ohio State

2. Wisconsin               2. Michigan State

3. Ohio State              3. Wisconsin

 

J – We have the same top-three teams but differ wildly on the Buckeyes.  Why do you have them as the class of the league?

 

K – Maybe Urban Meyer?  I think he is the best coach in the league and has that proven track record.  D’Antonio is becoming one of the nation’s best.

 

J – Will that heart hold up?

 

K – As long as he has his daughter’s backing…But I think Meyer’s regular successes and how he controls and utilizes Miller is the difference maker.  Why do you believe that the MSU front seven can stop Miller this year?

 

J – More with the losses for OSU, chiefly Carlos Hyde.  Shilque Calhoun will need to bring his A-game

 

K – It seems pretty obvious that the East will come down to that game.  Do you give Michigan much of a chance?  They played an epic game against OSU last year and Gardiner has a full year under his belt with Funchness to throw to.

 

J – I’m glad you bring Michigan up…

 

4. Iowa                         4. Michigan

5. Michigan                  5. Iowa

6. Nebraska                 6. Nebraska

 

J – We both like Michigan, Iowa and the Huskers but don’t love them.  What do you see as the biggest weaknesses with these teams and can they crack the top 3?

 

J – To circle back to your question, of course I give them a chance.  In some shameless self-promotion of another link on this site (Michigan’s preview) I have OSU winning this by the just a field goal.  The Vegas line for the home team…aka…toss-up in my book!

 

K – I think the West is more open to Nebraska and Iowa to unseat Wisconsin.  With Nebraska having an improved D line and Abdulluh possibly being the best back in the Big Ten, you have to give them a shot.  Iowa has the schedule advantage hosting both Nebraska and Wisconsin.  Wisconsin has a great Oline and a running back that could be considered 1A or 1B in Melvin Gordon.  Between Gordon, Abdulluh, and the rotation in Iowa’s backfield, the West could come down to ball control in those critical heads up games.

 

J – Nebraska going to have enough juice in that passing game though?  They look woefully one-dimensional on paper in August.

 

K – Same could be said for Iowa and Wisconsin.  Rudock hasn’t shown that he can make the deep throw.  The loss of Abbrederis won’t allow Wisconsin to stretch the field as well a year ago.  But truth, Nebraska is very one dimensional.  More than those other two.

 

J – Has Rudock attempted a pass longer than six feet?  I thought Greg Davis’ playbook didn’t allow that.

 

K – Screens to Powell and playing “500” with Fiedorowicz was the gist of the passing game for Iowa last year.  With a couple to Jake Dozey that took defenses by surprise

 

J – Speaking of passing, two of the next three teams look to center their success around that…

 

7. Indiana                     7. Penn State

8. Penn State               8. Northwestern

9. Northwestern           9. Indiana

 

J – I got Indiana bowling, PSU “eligible”* and NU staying at home this winter.  Tell me why I’m wrong about my prediction of Indy’s breakthrough (finally) season?

 

K – Yeah I think it will be interesting to see how these 3rd tier teams do.  I think Northwestern will bounce back this season.  I am hoping to see a healthy Venric Mark have a great season while Trevor Siemien has a full season as the number one starter.  I think NW has a coaching advantage over Indiana.  Defensively, I don’t know if Indiana is good enough to win more than 6 games.

 

J – I’m glad you bring up that coaching “advantage” Northwestern has.  How can such a good linebacker continually have such shitty defenses?  Don’t bring up recruiting…Look at Stanford – they were top 10 last year defensively.  I don’t buy the whole smart-school argument anymore.  Not with the successes of Stanford, Vanderbilt and Florida State.  I know I’m in a 0.000001 percent minority on this but I’m not sold on Fitzy.

 

K – Im more sold on Pat Fitzgerald than Kevin Wilson.  Indiana struggles defensively and having an offensive coordinator become your head coach won’t fix that problem

 

J – Neither does 65 years of irrelevance

 

K – Irrelevance….Look at teams 10 through 14. Anything good going to come from Purdue, Minnesota, Illinois, and newcomers Rutgers and Maryland?

 

10. Maryland                10. Maryland

11. Minnesota              11. Minnesota

12. Illinois                     12. Illinois

13. Purdue                   13. Rutgers

14. Rutgers                  14. Purdue

 

J – Well I have Maryland slipping into a bowl, Tim Beckman (Illinois) getting canned and Kyle Flood (Rutgers) hanging on the by the slimmest of margins – I don’t see how you fire a coach this early into a new league and try and build a program.  We’ve seen programs do this before and always stink (i.e. Indiana).  I think you need to give your coach a legit shot.

 

K -Yeah Beckman has a chance to build something, maybe, with Wes Lunt at QB but we don’t know how good he is going to be.  Maryland has a chance to finish with a bowl but that’s not necessarily saying they are going to be a good football team

 

J – Maryland’s schedule is criminal.  I think they have 8 or 9 win talent but will go like 6-6

 

K – New brothers gotta pledge.  It’s rush season

 

J – I sort of forgot about the Wes Lunt transfer.  He didn’t exactly set the world ablaze at Okie State.  Are we sure he’s even better than Reilly O’Toole – the Irish sensation, sweeping the nation?

 

K – Beckman will probably have to rest his job in Lunt…not promising

 

J – We both have the Gophers backsliding.  We seem to be in the minority.  Why are we right and the rest of the nation full of it?

 

K – We are right because we know better than those East coast biased ratings phonies.

 

J – I’m serious, what is with the love of UM?  They have a ton of questions coming into this year, top among them is what they will get from quarterback

 

K – A bigger problem might just be the schedule.  They need to win some games early in the league.  Their last 4 are iowa osu @neb @wisc.  Four losses there with a opening loss to michigan.  That’s 3-5 at best, not including a potential loss against northwestern

 

J – This was a lot of talk about some awful football.  Talk to you after week one.

 

* PSU is ineligible for post-season play due to the NCAA sanctions