Outside of the SEC West division this is the best division in College Football. Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State all reside in the East. Urban Meyer, Jim Harbaugh and Mark Dantonio are some of the best college football coaches. Winning the East is going to come down to injuries, weather (case in point last years Ohio State Michigan State game), and luck. Any one of these three teams could win the Big Ten and earn a spot in the Playoff. The West on the other hand is a bit of a toss-up. Iowa is the only team ranked in the pre-season, but Nebraska, Wisconsin and Northwestern could all challenge.
East (In order of finish)
Michigan State: Michigan State the past three years: 2013 13-1 Rose Bowl Champs, 2014 11-2 Cotton Bowl Champs, 2015 12-2 Lost in College Football playoff. Is Michigan State the most underrated college football program in the country? Sparty has to replace three-year starter Conner Cook this season, but with top three rushers from last season and three offensive linemen coming back Michigan State should again be a grit and grid team offensively that fits perfect in the Big Ten. Defensively Michigan State has to replace three starters along the defensive line. Former five-star recruit Mike McDowell leads a rebuilding front four. The linebacking crew returns seven linebackers with game experience (10 plus games), and the secondary returns five defensive backs with game experience. As long as the defensive line holds up the Spartan defense should improve from last season’s 26th ranked defense. I picked Michigan State to represent the East due to the schedule. The Spartans play both Michigan and Ohio State at home.
Michigan: Jim Harbaugh second season at San Diego 11-1, second season with the 49ers 11-4 and one play away from winning the Super Bowl. If history tells us anything Harbaugh is going to improve upon last season’s 10-3 record. The Wolverines return the top two rushers, top three pass catchers and four starters off the offensive line from last season. Whomever wins the quarterback competition (either Shane Morris or transfer John O’Korn) will have plenty of talent to work with. Harbaugh’s Manball offense protects quarterbacks and does not typically ask the quarterback to carry the offense. Although last season’s defensive coordinator DJ Durkin left for Maryland the defense should be the strength of this team. Last season Michigan finished 4th overall in total defense and with three starters coming back along the defensive line and three starters off the secondary new coordinator Don Brown (last season’s Boston College defensive coordinator who finished number one in total defense) should have no problem replicating the success of the Wolverine defense. Schedule wise Michigan should be 7-0 before traveling to Michigan State in late October. After Michigan State, Michigan plays Maryland, Iowa and Indiana before traveling to Ohio State.
Ohio State: After losing twelve players in last season’s draft (in the first four rounds none the less!) and defensive coordinator Chris Ash (Head Coach at Rutgers). Ohio State still ranked in the preseason top five. This is a testament to how well Urban Meyer can recruit. Every projected starter is either a four star or five-star recruit. How well this talent gels together will determine the Buckeyes season. After Bowling Green and Tulsa in the first two games of the season Ohio State travels to Norman Oklahoma to face the Oklaoma Sooner. Lose to Oklahoma and Ohio State has to win out to make the playoff’s. JT Barret has to summon his inner Tim Tebow and carry the Buckeyes offense throughout the season.
Penn State: Outside of the big three in Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State the rest of the division is pretty average. Entering James Franklin’s third season in Happy Valley it’s make it or break it. Bringing in two new coordinators with very different systems then what Penn State has traditionally run will either take Penn State to new levels or have James Franklin fighting for his job at the end of the season. Penn State will feature a new up tempo spread offense that is the antitheses of the plodding pro style offense that Penn State has featured under Joe Paterno and Bill O’Brien. Last season Penn State finished 105th in total offense. Much of that ranking had to do with pace of the offense (or lack their of). This should drastically improve with new offensive coordinator Joe Fordham calling the plays the offense that has returning starters everywhere except quarterback. Ian Boyd illustrates how Penn State will adapt to the spread offense here. Defensively the Nittany Lions lose twenty-two sacks between Carl Nassib and Austin Johnson, and defensive coordinator Bob Shoop, however it is not all bad for Penn State all three linebackers return along with three starters in the secondary. 2016 is a tough schedule for Penn State. Road games at Pittsburg, Michigan with home games against Temple, Ohio State and Michigan State spell trouble for James Franklin and Penn State.
Indiana: Last season Indiana took major steps forward as a program going to their first bowl game since 2007, however the season was filled with missed opportunities. The Hoosiers lost to Ohio State by seven, Rutgers by three, Michigan by seven and Duke by three. That’s four loses by a combined twenty points. Offensively the Hoosiers Return starters at running back, wide receiver and three offensive linemen. The only issue is at quarterback, but considering the entire offense is back and Kevin Wilson a quarterback guru projected starter Zander Diamont should be fine. Defensively the Hoosiers had the 121st ranked defense last season. New defensive coordinator Tom Allen brings a 4-2-5 defense to help out the defense that is sure to improve (only one way to go!). With a rebuilding defensive line, five linebackers returning with ten plus game experience, and a deep secondary Allen may consider a 2-4-5 alignment until the defensive line can mature. The Hoosiers are favored in six games this season, if Indiana can split Nebraska and Penn State then Kevin Wilson and the Hoosiers will go bowling again.
Maryland: The unique aspect about coaching at Maryland are the expectations. On one hand you have access to fertile recruiting grounds in Virginia and Pennsylvania, national appeal being so close to Washington DC, Under Armor CEO Kevin Plank is a Maryland graduate three aspects that typically enable a program to consistently challenge for conference championships. On the other hand you have a program that is over-shadowed by the basketball team (in both the ACC and Big-10) and have not capitalized on the resources available. With the right coaching hire is Maryland able to break out and compete in the Big-10 or is a 9-4 season your ceiling? New head coach DJ Durkin has worked under Jim Harbaugh while at Stanford as a defensive line coach, Urban Meyer’s linebacker coach at Florida and again under Harbaugh as a defensive coordinator at Michigan, so the pedigree and defensive know how is there. Most defensive coordinators that become head coaches install offenses that drove them nuts as a coordinator (Air Raid, Spread, Option) or use an offense that will protect the defense by running the ball, controlling the tempo and keep the defense off the field. I anticipate Durkin using the latter as Terps quarterbacks Perry Hills and Caleb Rowe both finished with more interceptions than touchdowns last season; Hills completed exactly 50% of his passes while Rowe completed 46% of his passes. The offensive line is young but talented (every projected starter is either a 4 star or 5 star recruit). Expect Running backs Wes Brown and Trey Edmonds to get plenty of carries. Defensively it is going to take Durkin a few years to recruit the talent necessary to play a 3-4 defense. The Terrapins are favored in their first four games of the year and could pass last year’s win total in the seasons first month.
Rutgers: When your basketball coach, football coach and Athletic Director all get fired for personal conduct recently then your entire athletic department needs an overhaul. A few years ago a video surfaced of Rutgers men’s basketball coach Mike Rice being verbally and physically abusive towards players the entire story and video can be found here. The Former Athletic Director Julie Hermann was accused of verbally attacking players while at Tennessee, then made several inappropriate comments concerning the Star-Ledger. The entire story can be found here. Former football coach Kyle Flood was under controversy over contacting a professor about football players grades. Welcome to Rutgers Chris Ash! The offense has life returning starters at quarterback, running back, wide receiver and four offensive linemen. Defensively Rutgers finished 112nd in total defense. The Scarlett Knights return plenty of experience in the trenches with seven players that appeared in ten games including five-star recruit Darius Hamilton. The linebacking crew and secondary are majority sophomores and will improve in the near future. The hiring of Ash is going to take years to pay dividends but Rutgers is taking steps to re-build the football program.
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