Rankings and SOS of remaining opponents

[Michchamp]

The Good: we play our two toughest remaining opponents at home

The Bad: Illinois gets a bye week to prepare for us

here are the sagarin numbers:
<table border="1"><tr><td>Team</td><td>Ranking</td><td>Schedule Strength</td></tr><tr><td>MICHIGAN</td><td>84.4 (17th)</td><td>60th</td></tr><tr><td>Iowa</td><td>69.4 (65th)</td><td>105th</td></tr><tr><td>Illinois</td><td>76.1 (43rd)</td><td>52nd</td></tr><tr><td>Nebraska</td><td>85.6 (12th)</td><td>38th</td></tr><tr><td>ohio</td><td>79.8 (29th)</td><td>19th</td></tr></table>

Looks like Iowa is winnable, Illinois will be tough because of the bye, Nebraska and ohio are both good, and we will have to play well to stay in those games and win. ohio's schedule strength is kinda surprising, but they have played a front-loaded schedule so far, playing MSU, Nebraska and Wisky.

being pessimistic, I think we finish 2-2, losing @ Illinois and split with Nebraska/Ohio. We could beat all four though if we get the breaks.

 

[Michchamp]

our SOS hasn't improved much over the last couple weeks, going from 69 to 60.

Nebraska got a big bump from playing MSU.

I wonder if we would've been better off playing Nebraska earlier in the season, like where we played Minnesota, or Northwestern? It seems like we've kinda hit a plateau in terms of the improvement we can expect to see in our offense and defense by this point, so I don't know if we benefit from facing them later in the season

 

[wolverine304]

If we are able to beat nebraska or ohio then we should beat illinois easily, even with a bye week.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

If we beat all four I'll shit bricks have happiness.

 

[Michchamp]

If we beat all four I'll shit bricks have happiness.

uh... what the hell are you saying?

 

[wolverine304]

Lol you get your own code language for free with a honda civic. I think "have" means "of"

 

[Monster]

If we beat all four I'll shit bricks have happiness.

agreed. the way it's going we'd probably end up with penn state in the championship game.....VERY winnable. but then again, psu has nebraska at home followed by osu and wisky on the road. lol going to be tough.

 

[wellmanadam]

Lordy, where can I place a bet that PSU will NOT be in the BIG champ game? They just don't seem to be very good. It's all smoke, mirrors, and an easy schedule for those guys.

Nebraska and OSU are both turning out to be improving as the year goes on. Those will both be tough games, and a split sounds about right to me. No idea which is the win, tho. We will struggle against both defenses; the template for beating Denard is well known and easily executable; he just needs to complete some good passes out of good play calls from Gorgeous Borgres.

No matter who is in the BIG champ game, I will be seriously disappointed if it is a rematch game. That just doesn't belong in college football.