I'll make the boring prediction of a Michigan-Wisconsin championship game.

The Leaders division is weak, outside of Wisconsin. I get that Ohio State could be good but I think they are a year away. Also, they don't really matter here, because they are banned from the postseason. I have no idea what will happen with Penn State. Purdue should be better but that doesn't mean they actually will be. This has been the year that the rebuilding should be over with. The optimist says they can go 8-4. The realist says 6-6 is going to happen again. If they lose another weak out of conference game again they should fire Danny Hope on the spot. Losing to Notre Dame is expected at this point. Indiana and Illinois are just looking to make progress. They both should be better.

The Legends division looks tough. Northwestern and Minnesota are going to face a tough time I think. Michigan is the class of the division. I'll put Nebraska second. Iowa will be a factor. The biggest dropoff will be Michigan State.

This was just my quick first look. These predictions will become easier once the Big Ten Network starts worrying about delivering news and gives over optimistic predictions for every team at their fall practices.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Excluding Indiana. Especially since Gunner Kiel took his head out of his ass and wisely decommitted from IU.

Sept. 1st..... Michigan vs. Alabama in Dallas. That is the way to start the season.

I am a huge Wolverines fan but think unless they play the perfect game they will get
beat but I just like seeing a matchup like this early in the season. Great scheduling.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Agree. The first week is pretty good.

Thursday: South Carolina at Vanderbilt(at least it's something)
Friday: Boise State at Michigan State
Saturday: Notre Dame vs. Navy in Dublin(9am)
Michigan vs. Alabama
Monday: Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Didn't realize all the matchups. Thanks for posting. I have a college football mean on right now.... well for a few
minutes anyway... Also seeing commercials for this new NCAA game where you can place a Heisman winner on
your roster. Pretty slick idea.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I'm hoping for improvement from the Illini this year. For instance, this year instead of winning the first 6 games then losing the next 6 as has become the norm, they will spread out their six wins over the course of the season.

Glanced at the schuledule and with a weak early season schedule against cupcakes
they have home games vs. Penn St., Indiana, Minny and Purdue. Not bad. Now when
they go on the road they are likely going home with their legs between their tails.....
on the road at Wisky, Michigan, and OSU. One more roadie vs. Northwestern could
be a battle to get into a shitty bowl.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I actually like Purdue to win their division and make the Big 10 title game against Michigan.

I know Wisconsin is good, but this transfer QB isn't Russell Wilson, so the offense will be down a little.

What?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

It could happen.

I don't know about winning the division, but there is a fairly plausible scenario here to make the title game.

1) Purdue beats Wisconsin at home on homecoming.
2) Ohio State beats Wisconsin. Bonus points if Purdue beats Ohio State, but it's not required.
3) Wisconsin and Purdue beat the other teams.

Obviously, that requires Wisconsin to be significantly worse than last year and Purdue to meet expectations of being better. I don't think it will be happen, but Purdue is likely the only team to challenge Wisconsin from going to another title game.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I worry that Michigan is going to come back to earth a little bit this year, they're looking at two loses in September alone(Alabama and @ Notre Dame) and I saw a stat that last year they recovered 75% of all fumbles, so it looked like luck helped that defense look better than they were and it wasn't that good to begin with... But outside of @Nebraska their conference schedule looks pretty easy, so maybe they can make a nice long run...

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Which of these do you think are certain losses for the Cats?

Sept 1 @ Syracuse
Sept 8 vs. Vanderbilt
Sept 15 vs. Boston College
Sept 22 vs. South Dakota
Sept 29 vs. Indiana
Oct 6 @ Penn State
Oct 13 @ Minnesota
Oct 20 vs. Nebraska
Oct 27 vs. Iowa
Nov 10 @ Michigan
Nov 17 @ Michigan State
Nov 24 vs. Illinois

I predict a 3-1 non-conference, and losses @Penn State, Nebraska, Iowa, @Michigan, @Michigan State.

They should beat Illinois, but it's a "rivalry" game and Illinois may be playing well by the end of the season.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Alabama will beat Michigan by about 50 if Denard Robinson continues to just chuck the ball up in the air everytime he throws a pass. That guy is the worst QB in the nation when he throws the ball.

I think their only certain losses MSU and UofM. I think we could be competitive with Nebraska, Iowa, and Penn State and have a good chance of beating the rest of the slate.

4-8

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I must have missed where NW vastly improved in the offseason.

I will go on record right now that NU loses the first game of the season in the Carrier Dome

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I could see them winning any of those games too, but I have a feeling Nebraska could be tough given what happened last year.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

NU never vastly improves in the offseason.

I'm with you. It's nice that two huge programs are facing each other to start the season, but I'd be pretty surprised if Michigan is within 3 TD's in the 4th quarter.

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Sounds like a bet...

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

Does anyone vastly improve during the offseason? It's not like we're talking pros where you can sign a couple skill position guys and boom... you have a better team.

A couple of NU thoughts for this year:
Another year under Kain's belt should help
The defense really couldn't be worse than last year
A healthy Mike Trumpy and the addition of Malin Jones into the rotation should improve the nonexistent RB position
Arguably one of the better WR corps in the B1G

The negatives are clear:
No Persa, No Dunsmore, No Ebert.

The non-conference games are tougher than usual. Vandy is actually improving recruiting at a rapid pace. BC usually puts a decent squad together. Syracuse can't stay bad forever, can they? We luckily don't have dOSU or Wisconsin, which is REALLY nice. Other than back-to-back Michigan and Michigan State away game, I can't really suggest any of those games aren't winnable (liking my double negatives?). Obviously Nebraska and Iowa are probably losses too, but within a margin for error, where one of those games could go our way.

Should be a fun season regardless.

BTW, too early to talk about women's lax?

Saw Fitzgerald at the Cubs game yesterday with his kids. Looked like he was ready to suck this season.

Did he say that his schlong was "thiiiiiiiiiiissssss big!"

I think they could go 4-4 and still make the title game UCLA-style. I don't trust Wisconsin at all. Penn State is bad.

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Fire Phil Emery

The defense is worse though, which is scary. I can't remember a non-Indiana defense as bad as Northwestern's will be next season. Plus Northwestern's offense doesn't really fit Kain Colter's skill set (he will be a wide receiver by November so it doesn't matter too much. I like Simean [sp?]).

The conference is terrible, especially since Ohio State doesn't count. Should be much better in 2013.

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Fire Phil Emery