1. Ohio State: Urban Meyer aka The Pontiff will take advantage of a rebuilding year in the B1G. While the Buckeyes will be ineligible for the postseason they will have the most talented roster in the country with a hungry coach ready to make a statement in his first year in the B1G. The relationship between Meyer and second year starting quarterback Braxton Miller will work out beautifully. Don't be fooled by the Buckeyes record of 6-7 last year. This is a tremendously talented team. Last year they were being coached by a guy in Luke Fickell that was way over his skis. That will certainly not be the case this year with Meyer.
2. Michigan: Brady Hoke turned out to be a much better hire than I ever imagined he would be. Don't get me wrong I thought Hoke would bring Michigan back to prominence, but I thought it would take him 2-3 years. Never in my wildest dreams did I see Hoke taking the Wolverines to a BCS bowl game in year 1. Hoke, most importantly is 1-0 against OSU. He also will return Heisman front runner Denard Robinson at quarterback. The OSU and Michigan rivalry is back folks! Meyer and Hoke will be around for a long, long time.
3. Wisconsin: The Badgers have a real question mark at the quarterback position after the one and done career of Russell Wilson. Joe Brennan and Jon Budmayer will battle it out for the starting quarterback position in spring practice and the fall. Keep an eye out for true freshman Bart Houston from California as well. The offensive line will be good for like the 20th straight year, the running back position will be loaded, and the defense will be opportunistic. This Badger team will actually be a typical Wisconsin team from over the last two decades. It will be a ground and pound, play action team that will get just enough plays out of the qb position to win 8-10 games.
4. Nebraska: Watching the Huskers play football is like doing your taxes. It bores you out of your mind, but you have to take them seriously. No sex appeal whatsoever, very regimented, regulated, and uninteresting, yet effective. Taylor Martinez will continue to throw the ball like LaMarr LaTrell from Revenge of the Nerds and make enough plays with his feet to keep the chains moving, sort of... The key for the Huskers will be finding that game changing #1 back that the program has lacked since the mid 90's. If they can find an elite back then look out!
5. Michigan State: Mark Dantonio has built himself a very formidable program. The Spartans lost a ton of players: Kirk Cousins, Jerell Worthy, BJ Cunningham, and Edwin Baker just to name a few. However, Dantonio has recruited exceptionally well the last few years and the Spartans should be able to reload. Stud, workhorse back Le'Veon Bell will be an absolute beast this year and if Andrew Maxwell can be a competent quarterback the Spartans will be very good once again.
6. Northwestern: I really like Kain Colter and I think he has a chance to be a special player for the Wildcats. He will be the most athletic quarterback the Cats have had in years with all due respect to Dan Persa and Mike Kafka. He will excel this year in Mick McCall's offense. This is one of those years Northwestern will be very dangerous with a shot to surprise many.
7. Penn State: The Nittany Lions won't be terrible, but this will be a transitional year. Everything is a mess in Happy Valley, from the new head coach, to the Sandusky scandal, to the quarterback controversy, to the uncertainty of what lies ahead. They will be strong along both lines of scrimmage and will have one of the best backs in the conference in Silas Redd and that should be enough to make the Nitts bowl eligible.
8. Iowa: The Hawkeyes will boast one of the best NFL quarterback prospects in the conference if not the country in James Vandenberg. However, Vandenberg was very inconsistent last year and will lose his favorite target in Marvin McNutt. The Hawkeyes will also have to find someone to protect his blind side after the graduation of Riley Reiff. Tailback Marcus Coker has decided to leave the program and the defensive line will be young. It should be interesting to see what happens in Iowa City this fall. Thsi team could realistically win as few as 5 games and as many as 10. Iowa is the toughest team in the league to prognosticate this fall.
9. Purdue: The Boilermakers will return quite a few letterman from a team that went bowling last year. That's all I've got...
10. Minnesota: I tweeted two weeks ago that if MarQueis Grey can complete 55% of his passes the Gophers will be bowl eligible. Q quickly responded "done!". I think the Gophers are on the right track, but I am genuinely concerned about head coach Jerry Kill's health. He seems to be doing better, but his health history is cause for concern. The Gophers need to find a playmaker along the defensive front, to help out what in my opinion will be a strong back seven. The Gophers also need a feature back, something the program has lacked since the departure of Amir Pinnix in 2007. Look for JUCO transfer James Gillum to emerge and approach 1,000 yards rushing.
11. Illinois: When Illinois announced the hiring of former Toledo head man Tim Beckman I must admit that I snickered. But the bottom line is I'm not sure if Beckman will work out, just because a guy doesn't bring a sexy name doesn't mean he can't coach. Beckman is a young, passionate, type A personality and I think that is exactly what the Illini program needs. It will take a few years, but I think eventually Beckman will be okay.
12. Indiana: I feel bad for the Hoosiers, they had a verbal commitment from Gunner Kiel, the nations top senior signal caller. Since then he decommited from IU and committed to LSU only to deccommit from the Tigers and eventually sign with Notre Dame. Edwin Wright-Baker is a nice athlete at QB who will put up nice numbers in Head Coach Kevin Wilson's offense. The Hoosiers will be fun to watch this year, but I don't see a lot of wins yet. The defense will still be a joke.
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