Off Tackle Empire, for Big Ten coverage

Now that players have declared for the NFL and signed with their future colleges, it seems to be an appropriate time to revisit these projections. I'm tempted to move Michigan back to the couch after their signing of Greg Robinson, but I won't go that far. You watch, there will be a game that they lose this year because his defense will play to soft in coverage in the 4th Quarter. He will defend the scheme by stating that it would have worked if the players executed properly. He will be wrong,of course. I lived in Kansas City during his reign of error, and watched his flailings in Austin and Syracuse. UM will regret this hire. I still think that 2009 is the start of the return of the Big Ten. For a comparable year, look back to 2000. My guess is that no team goes 8-0 in conference. I also predict that no team finishes with less than 2 total losses (and only Ohio State does that). As a result, the Big Ten only puts one team in the BCS. And as a result of that, the Big Ten has its first really good bowl season in a long time. The National Championship Game will be played in Pasedena. After the two bowls that have their champions taken replace their teams, the selection order is Fiesta, Sugar, Orange. On to the picks... National Championship: Florida v. Texas Rose: Ohio State v. Oregon Fiesta: Alabama v. USC Sugar: Notre Dame v. Nebraska Orange: Virginia Tech v. Rutgers Capital One: Penn State v. Ole Miss Outback: Michigan v. Tennessee Champs: Iowa v. Georgia Tech Alamo: Illinois v. Kansas Insight: Michigan State v. Baylor Motor City: Wisconsin v. Western MIchigan Papa John's: Minnesota v. UConn Independence Bowl: Northwestern v. Auburn On the Couch with the Queso Bowl: Purdue & Indiana I think that the order from 3-9 is interchangeable. I see a lot of 8-4 and 7-5 Big Ten teams.