5 Bold Statements

I am going to make 5 bold statements regarding the 2011 Big Ten Football season.

1. Marcus Coker will lead the Big Ten in rushing. 
With Iowa's lack of depth at the position, Coker will get every opportunity to be a workhorse and he will not disappoint.  With the departures of Adam Robinson and Jewel Hampton, Coker will be the feature back in Iowa's rush heavy offense and with his size (6'1" and 230 lbs) he will have little trouble handling the workload.  Iowa should once again be strong along the offensive line, as they usually are and Coker showed promise late in the year, rushing for over 200 yards in an Insight Bowl victory over Missouri.

2. Illinois will once again fail to make it to the postseason two years in a row.
We have read this book before.  The Illini come off a surprisingly successful season to high preseason expectations only to fail miserably.  For whatever reason the Illini are unable to put together back to back successful seasons.  That is one of the reasons the Illini are still considered a lower echelon Big Ten program.  They return Nathan Sheelhaase at QB, but lost RB Mikel LeShoure, DT Corey Liuget, and LB Martez Wilson to the NFL.  Ron Zook has also not given us any reason to believe.

3. Minnesota will have one of the top 5 rushing offenses in the Big Ten
Minnesota finished 10th in the league in rushing last year averaging just 135 yards per game, but they return their top 3 rushers from last year, RB's DeLeon Eskridge and Duane Bennett, and QB MarQueis Gray.  Couple that with three promising redshirt freshman running backs in Lamonte Edwards, Devon Wright, and Donnell Kirkwood and the Gophers should have no shortage of weapons to run the football.  Head Coach Jerry Kill and Offensive Coordinator Matt Limegrover have always made running the football a priority and they should have no trouble turning around Minnesota's fortunes on the ground. 

4. The Big Ten will lack a dominant team
The Big Ten's run of sending two teams to BCS bowls will come to a screeching halt.  I don't see any team competing for a national championship this year.  Ohio State looks great on paper, but the 5 game suspensions to their star players and head coach have really turned me off.  Michigan State has trouble putting together back to back great seasons, Wisconsin has to replace many key players, and Nebraska showed signs of being an average football team late last year.

5. Michigan will continue to be a mess defensively
The Wolverines hired former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Greg Mattison to try to fix what has been ailing the program for the last two years, a lack of defense.  Despite the talents of the 61 year old Mattison who also coached the defensive line for the 2006 National Champion Florida Gators, if you have don't have the personnel it's tough to coach em' up I don't care who you are.  Richrod left Mattison and Head Coach Brady Hoke with a bunch of undersized players that will get pounded to the turf once again.