B1G Games of the Year - Who's in Them and How Will They Do?

The Southpoint College Football "Games of the Year" list is out, along with the spreads. The good news is, the B1G is well represented. The bad news is that some fans ain't going to like the way Vegas views the games...

You can see the whole list here, but we'll high-grade the B1G games below. Here's how the B1G stacked up in the games:

Team	Number of GotY
Michigan State	6
Ohio State	6
Iowa	5
Wisconsin	4
Michigan	4
Penn State	4
Nebraska	3

Way to go conference. We made about 29% of the games of the year. And our flagship teams are the Buckeyes and the Green and White of Michigan's little brother. Huh...who'd a thought Sparty would be tied for the most GotY? Not the Buckeyes, I promise you.

I guess it could be worse. Northwestern could be in a high profile game...again. Rocky Top says, "Hey Y'all!" [MNW: And Stanford says "body clocks." We can't all lose to Temple, you know.]

Michigan State Spartans

Let's start with Michigan State's slate of games.

Team	MSU's Line
Ohio State	+9
Notre Dame	+6
Michigan	+2
Penn State	-1
Wisconsin	-5
BYU	-5.5

MSU is a dog against Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Michigan. They are favored against Penn State, Wisconsin, and BYU. The lines against Michigan and Penn State are basically a push (LOL Wisconsin).

This smells disrespectful, Sparty fans. A push against Coach Hype? A six point dog to Notre Dame? You deserve better, like Connor Cook in the NFL draft.

Ohio State Buckeyes

Ha ha ha...the Buckeyes are tied with Sparty for the number of GotY.

Team	Ohio State's Line
Nebraska	-12.5
Penn State	-9
Michigan	-5
Michigan State	-4.5
Wisconsin	-4
Oklahoma	+6.5

The lines here are interesting, more for how Vegas sees the other teams. So, Wisconsin is less of a dog than either of the two Mitten State teams? Check...

The Buckeye's are rebuilding...err reloading all across the board. The one major exception is at quarterback. I guess that's why the Sooners are the favorites in that game.  Kick their ass, Buckeyes.

Iowa Hawkeyes

Iowa sits prominently on the national stage, with five GotY.

Team	Iowa's Line
Iowa State	-17.5
Wisconsin	-4
Nebraska	-2
Penn State	+1
Michigan	-4.5

With the exception of the Iowa State game, these are much tighter lines than I expected for a relatively intact Iowa team that won the west last year. The Long Legend has his work cut out for him this season.

"Hawkeyes on my Belly" guy feels disrespected.

MNW: Wait. Northwestern-Duke isn't a "nationally prominent" game, yet an Iowa fapfest that has recently featured the Long Legend of Steele Jantz and a 9-6 slopfest is?

Yeah. OK. I'm sure this super reputable publication nailed all these.

Wisconsin Badgers

The Badgers are in four GotY...but aren't expected to win any of them.

MNW: Good.

Team	Wisconsin's Line
Iowa	+4
Ohio State	+4
Michigan State	+5
Michigan	+13

One interesting omission here is the LSU game on September 3...I guess nobody gives a crap? I don't know...but somehow it isn't a GotY. That's stupid, because it pits two good teams from the two biggest rival conferences in an early season tilt.

I mean if you are going to put Pitt/PSU or Iowa/Iowa State on here, then LSU/Wiscy should be as well.

The lines are inconsistent for Wisconsin's games. It's weird. Michigan is favored by 13 points? Really?

Yeah, I know they lost the second coming of Pat Fitzgerald, Joe Schobert. And yeah, they have to replace some offensive linemen.  But we know that Wisconsin ALWAYS has more interior linemen. Plus they have two legitimate stars in Corey Clement and Vince Biegel coming back.

If I'm playing the Badgers in one of these games, I'm taking it seriously.

MNW: Yeah, the fact that Wisconsin-LSU isn't on this list says about all you need to know about this actually being a "good list."

Michigan Wolverines

It seems that the Las Vegas Sports Book folks love them some Michigan. They are favorites in three of four GotY (including a stupidly large spread over Wisconsin). The only game they aren't favored in is against OSU at the Shoe.

Team	Michigan's Line
Wisconsin	-13
Iowa	-4.5
Michigan State	-2
Ohio State	+5

We're going to get an overdose of Maize and Blue this season, if Coach Tantrum's team lives up to the hype. Personally, I don't think they pull this off. That's a tough slate of games. If they pull two wins out of those four, I'll be impressed.

Penn State Nittany Lions

Well look at that...Coach Hype's team is in four GotY. Like Wisconsin, they aren't getting any love.

MNW: That's because they're not very good. Like, how is this hard? I get that part of today's theme at OTE is "fap-fap-fap we've been a solidly average team for the last decade but #unrivaled #tradition" but let's be real. This list involved some drunk baboon pointing at a schedule and looking for programs that are good (Ohio State, the Michigans) and programs with an overinflated sense of self (what up, bae).

Team	PSU's Line
Iowa	+1
Michigan State	+1
Pitt	+7
Ohio State	+9

Although they aren't favored, those lines are pretty tight. Looking at you Iowa and you too Sparty.

Honestly, I think this is generous. Penn State has to replace an NFL-Caliber quarterback and three of its four defensive linemen. Its offensive line is still a giant, gut-wrenching question mark. And they are installing a brand new offense.

Should they only be 1-point underdogs to Iowa and Sparty? I don't think so.  The Pitt game will also be interesting. Vegas has a hard-on for Pat Narduzzi. The question is...does he have the talent to make the Pitt Panthers relevant?

I guess we'll see. Frankly, I think Penn State curb stomps those mouthy bastards.

MNW: Like, we ask if Pitt is relevant and still take it seriously that this is a "game of the year"? OK then.

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Well hello there, Corn-stars. Nice to see that Vegas hasn't forgotten you. The Huskers are in three GotY:

Team	Nebraska's Line
Oregon	+2
Iowa	+2
Ohio State	+12.5

Like Penn State, Nebraska is in games that it isn't expected to win. But there is a giant asterisk on these games and really the entire season...It has to do with the single burning question in all our minds:

Can Tommy Armstrong become an elite quarterback?

Fan or not, you have to give this kid credit for being a stud. He has all the physical tools to be a monster this year. He's a big kid who can sling it and run it. He has the supporting cast that forces defenses to play everyone, not just key on him.

But he is inconsistent about everything except turnovers.  That's the one thing you could count on. Over the past few years, you just knew Tommy was going to give the ball up. And in close games, that was the difference between winning and losing.

MNW: I get that replacing Vernon Adams is supposed to be tough, but I'm genuinely surprised at just a +2 margin for Oregon. Even if Tommy Armstrong can be an elite QB, are we really assuming the Blackshirts are gonna stop the Ducks? I can maybe convince myself of that (and would gladly be proven wrong), but I just don't see it.

What does it all mean?

Don't put too much faith in what you see here. [MNW: Because it's a really shitty list.]

Remember, if the spread is a field goal or less, it's basically a toss-up. The odds really start to plummet when spreads break two touchdowns. However, what you can take away from this is perception.

The games they picked to feature and the spreads assigned, show you just how folks outside our universe view our teams. They love UM and OSU. They are kind of meh on Iowa and MSU. And they think Wiscy, Penn State, and Nebraska are door mats.

Do we care? Nah. Just go win those out of conference games. That will shut them up.

MNW: I think there's a point there in the "doormats" comment. It's likely that Penn State won't be a doormat, and irregardless of how Wisconsin's a terrible cesspool of inbreds and Nebraska's coming off a 6-7 season, they should be decent-to-good in 2016.

But I will once again take umbrage at this idea of "Games of the Year." For Chrissakes, Cal-San Diego State makes their list of "best games." Are you kidding me? Oh no, but I'm sorry, I'll be stopping what I'm doing on the 22nd of October to watch Texas (5-7, 4-5 Big XII in 2015) take on Kansas State (6-7, 3-6). Riveting.

It's probably a fool's errand to be annoyed at something like that, and no doubt this feeds into Townie's discussion of "brands" today, but perhaps on some level winning 10 games the season prior (in before "worst 10-win team evahhhh" comment) doesn't get you all that far anymore. Then again, Penn State hasn't been burdened with winning more than 9 games since 2009, so why do I know?

Your Friend (and his curmudgeonly associate),

Townie