Mailbag question: Big Ten question

Mailbag question: Big Ten question

Looking at the Big Ten the past two weeks where do you rate most of the teams if you have watched all the games. To me OSU, PSU, WISKY and IOWA are at the top with a bunch of teams thrown in the middle and then some at the bottom.

The bad thing is that Purdue looks to be better than I thought and might not be a gimmie game anymore.

Jim R.

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Thanks for the question.

Ohio State is the class of the league, having the best balance between offense and defense at this time. OSU likely still has a significant talent level advantage over any other team in the Big Ten.

After OSU, there are three schools very close together; Penn State, Iowa, and Wisconsin are just behind Ohio State.

Then there is a third group that includes Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue, just behind the second group.

Though there is a gap, maybe the difference between the groups this year is not insurmountable and some upsets are likely. Every Big Ten game this year is up for grabs and teams need to come to play no matter the opponent.

Right now we can see Michigan splitting every game in the Big Ten, winning every game in the Big Ten, and also losing every game in the Big Ten. It is that close and depends on what teams show up on a given Saturday.

Sometimes the above might appear to be old coach speak (every game is important or take one game at a time), but this year in the Big Ten almost every game is up for grabs because there is no insurmountable team and many of the teams are close to identical.

Let us just be thankful that Michigan is not in the SEC conference. The Big Ten is down right now and that is why it seems like everybody is about the same, especially the mid-pack, where Michigan abides.

When making our predictions for the Michigan State game, some changed their opinion three or four times before making the final pick and some decided not to even have a pick in print. As was stated by many of the contributors, the MSU game was a very tough pick. And some contributors could not stand the thought of picking the Sparties, not even by a point.

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Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine