Paul Mac’s Preseason Ratings
11 Indiana
10 Purdon’t
9 Minnesota
8 Northwestern
7 Michigan
6 Wisconsin
5 Illinois
4 Michigan State
3 Ohio State
1 Penn State and Iowa Big 10 champs.
If you watched much Big 10 football last year… congratulations… you sir or maam like watching football because other than Shonn Green and the Spread HD there just weren’t many bright spots in the entire conference last year. One such bright spot might be the emergence of the next bonified star QB at the Big 10’s premiere program.
I’m speaking of course of Western PA’s own Terrelle Pryor who some Ohio denizens feel is a Heisman candidate…. To which I must say… kindly back away from the beer funnel and or bong pipe for a moment. If he’s going to challenge the great Archie Griffin… he’s going to have to do it in his junior and senior seasons unless he plays well above board this coming season and can manage to channel Vince Young and upend the Trojans when they come to the Horseshoe on the 12th of September. It won’t be easy. They’ve lost 7 starters namely Beanie Wells the workhorse tailback who when healthy was electric and Brian Robiskie who was a big target for Pryor. James Laurinitis; Marcus Freeman and Malcolm Jenkins have been defensive stalwarts and now have matriculated to the NFL which is not to say that the defense isn’t in capable hands, it is but losing players the caliber of those players is going to leave some large holes to fill.
If they are going to compete this year SS Kurt Coleman and MLB Austin Spitler will be key against the run. The pass rush from ends Cameron Heyward and Thad Gibson will also be vital to their success.
Offensively the bucs are on the young side with quite a few second year players in key roles and virtually no proven wideouts. Dane Sanzenbacher caught 21 balls last season but only found the endzone once. With so much pressure on Terrelle Pryor to produce the Bucs are going to need to find playmakers at wide out and they think they have one with true frosh Duron Carter the son of all world former NFL WR Chris Carter. Personally while the talent is tremendous I feel the players they lost may prove too much to overcome at least early enough to matter against USC. If they can keep true to history and knock off Penn State in Happy Valley who have never beaten the Buckeyes twice in a row they’ve got a great shot at yet another Rose Bowl birth. If they don’t grow up quickly they could be looking at the Capital One Bowl and staring at another SEC foe.
Penn State may have an Octogenerian who has spent half his life occupying the head coaching job in happy valley but last year for the first time in ages the offense looked anything but stone age. The spread HD blistered opponents including a 46 to 17 drubbing of hapless Michigan and the scorched earth policy extended to East Lansing as well where they destroyed Sparty 49-18 on their way to their first Big 10 title since 07 and their first Rose Bowl since Ki jana Carter was relevant on the national scene. The Penn State offense finally was electric and they put up 506 pts while surrendering only 187 good enough for 8th in the nation in total defense and had they managed a better first half against USC in the Rose Bowl and you know say maybe shifted from cover 1 or had Aaron Maybin managed to say on side…..sigh but I digress. I watched this team all year and I felt like they were a better team than they mustered in the first half of the finale where Mark Sanchez carved up the weak secondary the hot knife to their warm butter and scorched toast. Yet another Big 10 failure on a national stage all too common this millennia.
Penn State ’s road is also much tougher than last season given that they have lost 13 starters even more than Ohio State . A big part of their scoring last season was on the three NFL caliber receivers Deon Butler ( Seattle ) Derrick Williams ( Detroit ) and Jordan Norwood ( Cleveland ) who combined for more than 130 receptions and 17 TD’s. Derrick Moye and 6’6 231lb junior Brett Bracket will have to do as well as Sr. TE Andrew Quarless. The really bad news is that their leading returning rusher Evan Royster 1236 yards 6.5 ypc 12 TD’s is also now their leading receiver and he had 0 TD’s through the air last year and only 17 receptions. The good news…. He’s back and so is Stephfon Green.
The reasons I feel Penn State will repeat as Big 10 champs this season are few but important. Daryll Clark is back and he was fantastic most of last season and a big part of Penn State ’s offense when it was prolific…. and unfortunately when it wasn’t as well (namely the big games). 19 touchdown passes last season but a few key picks against Iowa and USC and a lackluster game at Ohio State prevented a truly special season. He’ll have star incoming freshman Kevin Newsome breathing down his neck should he falter, but my guess is he’s got a really long leash. The young and rebuilt offensive line will be anchored by Center Stefen Wiesniewski but other than that they are really untested luckily they have 3 essentially garbage games against Akron; Syracuse and Temple to gel before Iowa comes to town.
On defense pass rushing mavin Aaron Maybin is gone and spending his winters now in Buffalo , NY and the secondary is a hot mess with Anthony Scirrotto gone as well. Drew Astorino is the only real bright spot to speak of but all is not lost on defense. Two 4 star corners Derrick Thomas and Darrell Givens were recruited at CB so if they play well in practice they could earn lots of playing time. Linebacker U comes through big time and this crew should be by far the best in the Big 10. Sean Lee is back from a knee injury will anchor the middle and should make plays all over the field Navorro Bowman somehow managed to avoid serious suspension or expulsion last season while leading the team with 106 tackles and standout Josh Hull will stuff runs from the strong side. Most of the pass rush will probably come from Jared Odrick in the middle.
The schedule for Penn State is really workable as they get their two toughest games in Iowa and Ohio State in Happy Valley . They seem to have trouble with Michigan always on the road and the closer at Michigan State will also be difficult They get a road game in Champagne the week after Iowa so that could also be a trap…. The real issue though is Iowa and Iowa early they have owned the Lions. Penn State is only 4-6 vs Iowa in the Ferentz era and they are 2-7 in their last 9 losing 3 of 4 in the friendly confines of Happy Valley . Beware Ricky Stanzi and Jewel Hampton!
Tomorrow I’ll discuss the Hawkeyes, Spartans, Juice Williams and Co… and perhaps Michigan and the rest of the B11… is just dull though John Clay should be the next great back to watch at Camp Randall .
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