2012 BCS and B1G Bowl Projections - Opening Call

Personally I think TCU upends 0U at home this year more likely- Interesting fact: TCU has three defensive coordinators (two former) that have called the defense that has beaten 0U in their first shot on staff. I think they get blitzed in Fort Worth, but 0U wins the conference at 11-1

Ah, fuck it. I agree, UM is good. But they are going to have to prove that they can actually, you know, beat Michigan State before we give them anything. ANYTHING.

Heheh, you’re funny.

if this year was any indication, it seems like the losers of the CCG (MSU/UGA) are inevitably destined (unless they’re undefeated) to drop to the #3 slot. So we could, conceivably, see Sparty miss the BCS again if they lose the CCG.

If there’s anything we’ve learned the past few years, it’s that early losses are easily forgotten, and that name recognition makes up for losses (viz. Alabama over Okie State).

That said, I don’t see Michigan winning out…I think M will go 8-4 (losses to Alabama, at Nebraska, and at Ohio State, and either at Notre Dame or against MSU).

I do agree with the MSU as the early Rose Bowl favorite, though as CCG champ, not as an at-large.

Gopher positivity this early will always get a rec from me.

If yes, could be a tougher slog.

will have 3-4 starters back. The rest will be playing on Sundays. Michigan is getting Alabama in exactly the right week.

That’s the date to circle for Purdue. Win that, finish 5-3, and I think the tiebreaker will get you through to Indianapolis.

7-5 (5-3) PU makes to the B1G game where they play 11-1 MSU (who lost to NU-L but beat UM).

PU fans at the Oildome put LSD in MSU’s gatorade and PU wins 5-3.

PU goes to the Rose and 11-1 UM (with a loss to MSU) goes to the NC where they rematch against the Tide (whose single loss is to UM).

MSU goes to the Insight Bowl.

since it’s the only rivalry game the Hawkeyes care about…

I think it has something to do with Michigan losing fewer games than you guys.

The system is definitely screwed up though, VTech getting picked as an at large was mind boggling in the first place.

They have a grad assistant check the scores and fill out their polls.

NINE WINS AREN’T GOOD ENOUGH! BO PELINI IS A BLACK EYE ON THE SCHOOL! SOMETHING ABOUT TOM OSBORNE BEING BETTER THAN PELINI! – vocal minority

I think 9 wins is a good neutral pick. Painful, but until this team shows some maturity and Nebraska gets a handle on playing through the rather physical Big Ten, I can’t see picking up that 10th win.
In a three loss scenario, here’s how I see it: I think we split Sparty and Buckeyes (I lean towards beating MSU and losing to Urban Meyer), a loss against Michigan (so those who are still on the fence about not liking Michigan can finally join the rest of us; also Greg Mattison is a heck of a coach), and I think we maybe drop the third to either Iowa or Northwestern.

My optimistic view is that we lose to OSU and Michigan, and miss out on the B1G game due to the tiebreaker against Michigan but get rewarded with an at-large bid to the Rose Bowl, since Michigan heads to the BCS game and Ohio State has to sit at home (kind of like we were thinking we might do this season until our team decided to show its brash and youthful side). Nebraska gets to 11-2 on the season, and people shut up about Bo Pelini’s coaching ability and spend the off-season fantasizing about a run at the last AQ-stimulated mythical national championship. There’s just not enough cupcake in our schedule for me to see us challenging for an NC this coming season.

I think either Alabama or Southern California facing Michigan in the mythical championship game, with Michigan winning by a touchdown or more.

I said Michigan would win 8 games. They won 7. I missed.
Last year I said Michigan would win 10 games and go to a BCS bowl. They did.

Good point about Penn State over Illinois. Depending on the state of the program/support for the new coach, that could happen. If people are unhappy about 7-5 and grumbling, it might not.

and the 5-game losing skid PLUS losing a ton of multi-year starters, do you really want to be so blindly optimistic about this?

They still play Minnesota, Indiana, and Illinois in the B1G and Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Boston College, and South Dakota in non-con. Only two of those squads went 6-6 this past year, and Vanderbilt’s record was boosted by some pretty weak competition. There’s at least six wins in there, and Northwestern always surprises someone in the B1G – usually from corn country.

jNW getting to six wins requires winning ALL of those games against inferior opposition, something you’ve failed to do every season (including 2008 when you lost to Indiana) or losing only one and getting the yearly upset jNW is so good at (and I fully expect to happen). But that is just barely getting to .500 and a bowl, like this year. All that Bama’s prediction requires is that jNW’s inexplicable luck against Iowa and/or Nebby runs out and that they don’t win all six of the other games you list. Certainly not much of a stretch.

If he pulls out another 6-6/7-5 campaign, he’s going to get picked up the same way Mike Riley was picked up for getting a winning season at Oregon State. FAST.

read the rules section. I do believe that we’ll see the Insight picking ahead of the Gator this and next year.

UM can go 2-3 in those 5 games, I think that’ll be a success story considering the schedule. That should, given an uneventful run through the rest of the schedule, should give a 9-3 record, and yes…most likely the Capital One Bowl.

Considerably soft.

Iowa State is Marshmallow soft.

Note that this will probably be 30+ wins after next year, and note that it will still be referred to as luck.

On a fun side note, no coach has defied the recruiting press quite like Mark Dantonio. Le’Veon Bell was a two-star running back; Jerel Worthy a three-star defensive tackle; Kirk Cousins barely a three-star QB, B.J. Cunningham barely a three-star wide receiver. Greg Jones was only three stars, and Joel Foreman was two! A two-star offensive lineman! He started ALL FOUR YEARS! And this is just scratching the surface of the silliness.

So, pardon me if I barely even take recruiting site’s opinions with a grain of salt.