Projected S&P+ rankings for 2018 have Penn State at #8; 4 B1G East teams in Top 12

[Judge Smails]

Bill Connelly‏@SBN_BillC
2018 S&P+ PROJECTIONS: Ohio State and Bama are basically tied at the top, Washington’s ready, and ... good LORD, Big Ten East, you are ridiculous.



https://www.sbnation.com/college-fo...86/2018-college-football-rankings-projections

....five of the the Big Ten’s teams are projected in the top 12. And four of them are in the Big Ten East. Your projected top team, Ohio State, leads the way, but Trace McSorley and recent recruiting have Penn State predicted to remain at a top-10 level, and Michigan’s 2017 youth movement will be expected to pay off next fall. Oh yeah, and Michigan State returns more of last year’s production than any team in the country.

The East has four of the top 12 teams in the country. Not even the SEC West (four in the top 16) can match that.

 

[Nitt1300]

And we still have fans who are paying attention to Pitt. We have bigger fish to fry.

 

[itsofficial101]

Pretty strong evidence of how imbalanced the B1G is. You have 4 B1G East teams in the top 12 overall and 1 B1G West. The next B1G west team comes in at 36. Ummmm.....Should we just permanently put Wisconsin in the B1G championship game? They called all-time 2nd place in the division.

 

[pandaczar12]

Michigan State's team may be gutted by next fall if there is any justice in this world for those poor girls MSU allowed to be abused.

 

[wilbury]

Bill Connelly‏@SBN_BillC
2018 S&P+ PROJECTIONS: Ohio State and Bama are basically tied at the top, Washington’s ready, and ... good LORD, Big Ten East, you are ridiculous.



https://www.sbnation.com/college-fo...86/2018-college-football-rankings-projections

....five of the the Big Ten’s teams are projected in the top 12. And four of them are in the Big Ten East. Your projected top team, Ohio State, leads the way, but Trace McSorley and recent recruiting have Penn State predicted to remain at a top-10 level, and Michigan’s 2017 youth movement will be expected to pay off next fall. Oh yeah, and Michigan State returns more of last year’s production than any team in the country.

The East has four of the top 12 teams in the country. Not even the SEC West (four in the top 16) can match that.

Not going to happen. I agree the east will be strong next year but we'll cannibalize each other just like we did this year. Then, we'll get to the end of the year and everyone will say that the big ten wasn't as strong as we thought because teams have a couple of losses.

 

[Obliviax]

Not going to happen. I agree the east will be strong next year but we'll cannibalize each other just like we did this year. Then, we'll get to the end of the year and everyone will say that the big ten wasn't as strong as we thought because teams have a couple of losses.

At the same time, B1G swept their bowl games with the exception of those men from michigan (not the green ones).

 

[michnittlion]

Not going to happen. I agree the east will be strong next year but we'll cannibalize each other just like we did this year. Then, we'll get to the end of the year and everyone will say that the big ten wasn't as strong as we thought because teams have a couple of losses.

B1G has to be better in OOC games in 2018. In 2017, these were our "best" OOC games (doesn't say much):

Purdue winning at Missouri, Iowa winning at Iowa State, our home victory over Pittsburgh, Michigan beating 5-7 Florida on a neutral field.

 

[michnittlion]

At the same time, B1G swept their bowl games with the exception of those men from michigan (not the green ones).

True. No way to know that before the Bowl games, of course.

The B1G needs some big OOC wins this year. Not a ton of opportunities however. OSU vs. TCU, Michigan and Northwestern both play Notre Dame. Beyond that, eh. Our win over a mid-tier-ACC-at-best Pittsburgh team won't really move the needle.

 

[pandaczar12]

At the same time, B1G swept their bowl games with the exception of those men from michigan (not the green ones).

Maybe their heads were not in the game, with fellow Michigan Man Larry Nassar in the news?

 

[Nittany Security]

And we still have fans who are paying attention to Pitt. We have bigger fish to fry.

Well as long as we are still in the same state we have to kick them every now and then to make sure they are still breathing.

 

[mrtailgate]

B1G has to be better in OOC games in 2018. In 2017, these were our "best" OOC games (doesn't say much):

Purdue winning at Missouri, Iowa winning at Iowa State, our home victory over Pittsburgh, Michigan beating 5-7 Florida on a neutral field.

I think you meant to say Penn State Home victory and our neutral field victory over 5-7 Florida.

 

[Judge Smails]

Well as long as we are still in the same state we have to kick them every now and then to make sure they are still breathing.

 

[kgilbert78]

Last I looked, the money boys in Vegas had FOUR teams from the BigTen East among the top 8 in the COUNTRY wrt "chances to win the 2018 MNC".


That is stunning.

And, with what is going on at Maryland - its only gonna' get tougher.

Poor Rutgers...... they are likely to spend the next ten years walking around like a Navy Town Hooker on the Monday after shore leave.

And, I'll predict here now, none of them will--because the division will be so balanced that the best team(s) will have two losses before the Big Ten Championship game. Just like this season.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Not going to happen. I agree the east will be strong next year but we'll cannibalize each other just like we did this year. Then, we'll get to the end of the year and everyone will say that the big ten wasn't as strong as we thought because teams have a couple of losses.

Same as last fall, a war of attrition with Pyrrhic victories. Until there is a rebalanced of the divisions this will continue to happen. We can debate who should be moved but it is a disaster for the conference and while great drama it doesn't help us put anyone in the final 4 unless it is expanded.

 

[Nittany Security]

Now that's some good kickin..

 

[itsofficial101]

Same as last fall, a war of attrition with Pyrrhic victories. Until there is a rebalanced of the divisions this will continue to happen. We can debate who should be moved but it is a disaster for the conference and while great drama it doesn't help us put anyone in the final 4 unless it is expanded.

Hey, as long as "the game" is protected and Mich vs Mich St is on the slate, does the B1G really need to care about the National Championship? The B1G champion should not feel as though making the playoff is important. Better to be disrespected nationally and keep the annual a$$kicking of Michigan for tradition's sake.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Hey, as long as "the game" is protected and Mich vs Mich St is on the slate, does the B1G really need to care about the National Championship? The B1G champion should not feel as though making the playoff is important. Better to be disrespected nationally and keep the annual a$$kicking of Michigan for tradition's sake.

Why not make "the lame game" each team protected opponent, guaranteed each season? MSU vs UM could be the same. We should be playing UN as our final game each season as well. Finishing with rutgers is like having your desert in the middle of the meal and you salad at the end, like driving in reverse on the Interstate.

 

[PSU87]

Same as last fall, a war of attrition with Pyrrhic victories. Until there is a rebalanced of the divisions this will continue to happen. We can debate who should be moved but it is a disaster for the conference and while great drama it doesn't help us put anyone in the final 4 unless it is expanded.

Plus we're playing our one additional conference game compared to SEC.
We're playing MSU while Bama is playing Mercer.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Plus we're playing our one additional conference game compared to SEC.
We're playing MSU while Bama is playing Mercer.

Do you mean MERCY? Should change their name the day they play Bama.

 

[Breeze90]

SPLIT. THE. GOD. DAMN. B1G. DIVISIONS. UP.

 

[Judge Smails]

The B1G and the SEC have 10 of the top 16 teams. Big boy football.

 

[BobPSU92]

SPLIT. THE. GOD. DAMN. B1G. DIVISIONS. UP.

 

[BobPSU92]

It's the S&P 500. Being #8 out of 500 is pretty good.

 

[pandaczar12]

Since MSU must play UM, and OSU must play UM... how about they move PSU to the West... maybe swap out Wisconsin?

 

[Art]

Plus we're playing our one additional conference game compared to SEC.
We're playing MSU while Bama is playing Mercer.

Which is a major reason why Fox and Disney are paying the Big Ten the Big Bucks.

 

[PSU.:.]

Yep another year of Wisconsin with a auto bid to the BIG championship and another year with a BIG EAST champion.

 

[ram2020]

This is actually a big problem, the imbalance of the divisions. Has this concern been posed to the Delany? Honestly? I would even think the coaches in the Big would have a major problem with this.

 

[jbenedict]

The posters who speak of divisional imbalance I agree with 100% , absolutely, no question about it. What schools cosigned this arrangement and why? Where these people drugged? Who in their right mind would do this? This imbalance must have something to do with money always does. How, I don't know. How many more years do we have to be subjected to coach Paul Chryst put on his dumb and dumber ,Gomer Pyle, Andy from Mayberry act at the BIG championship! I am sick of it people and have a good weekend.

 

[mrtailgate]

The posters who speak of divisional imbalance I agree with 100% , absolutely, no question about it. What schools cosigned this arrangement and why? Where these people drugged? Who in their right mind would do this? This imbalance must have something to do with money always does. How, I don't know. How many more years do we have to be subjected to coach Paul Chryst put on his dumb and dumber ,Gomer Pyle, Andy from Mayberry act at the BIG championship! I am sick of it people and have a good weekend.

The alignment is based on these factors -

1- Insistence that Michigan and Ohio State game be preserved. Why that could not have been done if they were in different divisions is beyond me.

2- Similar to one, you can’t split Michigan teams so Sparty had to be slotted with Michigan.

3- Geographically, made sense to have PSU in East so it created 4 team logjam. Only reasonable solution would be to put PSU in West but then you break with Rutgers and Maryland who certainly want games each year with a PSU given past history of playing, logistics, etc.

4- Belief that Nebraska will resurface which I think they will. Still doesn’t completely level playing field but at least it makes Wisc not have a bye to get in.

BIG could keep game schedule and just put two highest ranked teams in regardless of where but Wisc still has good chance of being highest ranked since they don’t really have many potholes and will produce great records. I think the BIG likes having the gauntlet division and the juice behind it. Better solution would be to simply have power champs represented in playoffs with 6 teams leaving one wild card berth open for teams like say UCF this year.