The Big 10 Preview: A fan's, handicapper's,(and gambler's) musings on college football(and other stuff).

Iowa's one weakness would seem to be at OL. That is the area where Coach Frentz got his experience, and he always seems to get the job done there. Eight starters back on defense, including 27 sacks in the DL. Ferentz is incredible ATS(against spread)in 2 categories: 58-36 vs. conference teams; 30-19 as home fav.;25-16 as an away dog. Awesome numbers...38 points per game in '09 for MSU, and they do get QB Cousins back.. on defense they get back 6.5 starters, including a tremendous leader at LB Greg Jones, who had 145 tackles, 9 SACKS, and,oh yeah, was a 1st team All-American...I think Northwestern will be good this year, but, we will just have to see how well new QB Persa performs. He has an expd. offensive line, as well as decent talent position players. Their very experienced linebacking corps should lead...OSU will be a contender again this year. They have 14 starters back, a Heisman candidate at QB, good linebackers, strong cornerbacks, and a coach who simply wins his conference games(59-13 vs. Big 10). For those of us who follow such things, coach Tressel is also a phenomenal 43-28 ATS in conference games. I will not pick them to win the National Championship because I believe QB Pryor will cost his Buckeyes one or two games with sub-par performances...Joe Pa's hiring Bobby Bowden to be his Offensive coordinator. Why not?Even with Bowden, PSU's problems exist in two key areas: QB and Linebackers. They are very inexperienced at both. I originally felt PSU could beat an over-rated Alabama team, but the Nits' inexperienced LBs will have too much trouble handling 'Bama's tough offense. If their new QB(Newsome?) can survive, PSU will still be a good team...Purdue should stink this year. What did I write about bad teams? You can make good money on bad teams... If OSU doesn't win the Big 10, Wisconsin will. GREAT OFFENSE that will just batter opposing defenses. The Badgers have to hope the defense contributes close to what they produced last year. Last year Wiscy returned 4 starters on def. This year they return 6+ starters, so I'll predict the Badgers will do enough on defense to make a real run at the Big 10 title. They play their two major rivals for that title, OSU and Iowa, on consecutive weekends in Oct.