As for Ohio State, this will be the Big Ten debut of a 2015 recruiting class that includes one five-star commit (Jaquan Lyle) and three four-star recruits (Daniel Giddens, Austin Grandstaff, A.J. Harris). Over the last two years, they’re 24-3 with losses to Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oregon, none of them blowouts. Steve Miler and Rashad Frazier did a fine job filling in at the other end spot previous year.
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In terms of their conference campaign, Maryland will welcome teams such as Michigan, Ohio State, and Wisconsin to College Park. Michigan State lost to Russian Federation, 93-75 on Friday. He has 60 points in the three games. While a number of the games over the first two days are a bit lackluster, this should be an extremely physical and typical Big Ten beatdown involving two of the conference’s better teams. That home date with the Buckeyes and a grudge match against Oregon at home loom large for Sparty’s CFP hopes. And there’s a decent chance that a veteran quarterback, a stacked defensive line and a proven coach like Mark Dantonio make it even simpler and just win the conference outright.
The Penn State Nittany Lions round out the regular season with perhaps the hardest game of the year when they travel to East Lansing to take on the mighty Michigan State Spartans. “I’ve never seen Michigan State be out-toughed as a team”. Forget for a moment, though, about November and consider only what would happen if Minnesota beats the Horned Frogs next week in Minneapolis. Sure, but it’s not inconceivable behind a shutdown secondary and an experienced quarterback in Mitch Leidner, who will limit mistakes and an energized atmosphere. A win over TCU, which rolled to a 30-7 victory over the Gophers last season in Fort Worth, would qualify. “But I think both of them are such good people and good teammates, they’ll be supportive of each other”. No, I don’t give Minnesota much of a shot to win at Ohio State. Their biggest enemy might be themselves and the pressure that comes with attempting to win back-to-back titles. While J.T. Barrett, Cardale Jones, Ezekiel Elliott and Braxton Miller – not to mention arguably the best O-line in football – are under a microscope, the Buckeyes’ defense deserves its share of credit, too, for not just taking Ohio State to a national title a year ago but setting it up for a repeat performance this season. This is QB Tommy Armstrong Jr.’s third season as a starter, and I expect him to take another step forward.
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Michigan State is a legitimate contender for the College Football Playoff. While there’s some questions on if Fran McCaffery can help Iowa take the next leap up the Big Ten totem pole, they’re still one of the stronger teams and will likely have a fired up home environment as they host one of the best teams in the Big Ten year in and year out. It learned how to play under extreme pressure when just winning the Big Ten championship game wasn’t enough, it had to win it big time. The Badgers open up in the national spotlight against Alabama in Cowboys Stadium on the first weekend of the season. New coach Chryst will have to find a passing game to get there, but if we’re scanning nooks and crannies for possible dark horses, let’s start in Madison.
