Now just 5 days from the beginning of college football, its time to unveil the 2012 Big Ten-Legends Conference projections! The Minnesota Golden Gophers are in action first, of all Big Ten teams. The Gophers will travel to Sin City, Las Vegas, to take on the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels at 11:00 PM EST on Thursday, August 30. On Friday, defending Legends Division Champion, the Michigan State Spartans, will host Mountain West favorite Boise State Broncos at 8:00 PM EST on ESPN.
On Saturday, the Northwestern Wildcats get their season started with a trip to the Carrier Dome to take on the Syracuse Orange at noon on ESPN2. At 3:30 PM EST, a pair of Legends Division teams are in action with the Nebraska Cornhuskers facing the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on ABC/ESPN2. The Iowa Hawkeyes open their season at a neutral site, facing the Northern Illinois Huskies at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL on ESPNU. College GameDay is in Arlington, TX for the showdown between the Michigan Wolverines and the defending BCS Champion Alabama Crimson Tide, with the game set to start at 8:00 PM EST on ABC, with Brent Musberger and Kirk Herbstreit calling the game.
|
Projected |
Team |
Overall |
Conference |
|
1t |
Nebraska |
(10-2) |
(6-2) |
|
1t |
Michigan |
(9-3) |
(6-2) |
|
3t |
Michigan State |
(9-3) |
(5-3) |
|
3t |
Iowa |
(9-3) |
(5-3) |
|
5 |
Northwestern |
(8-4) |
(4-4) |
|
6 |
Minnesota |
(3-9) |
(0-8) |
Meet the favorites . . .
(1) Nebraska Cornhuskers
Nebraska travels to Michigan State, Michigan gets Michigan State at home. Both the ‘Huskers and Wolverines travel to Ohio State. The difference really comes down to the Cornhuskers hosting Michigan. If you looked only at the score last year, you saw a complete beat down of Nebraska at the hands of Michigan. In reality, the game was virtually even at halftime. One other big difference is that Nebraska plays Wisconsin – Michigan does not. Should Nebraska lose to Wisconsin, things could get very interesting.
(2) Michigan Wolverines
Many sportsbooks have the over/under win total for the Wolverines at 8.5 or 9. Michigan could very well go under on the win total, especially with games against Alabama, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa, and Ohio State. Michigan is a much better team than last year, but the win total likely won’t reflect that. Still, this team has a good shot at making the Big Ten Title game – games against Nebraska and Ohio State should decide their fate.
(3) Michigan State Spartans
The two keys for the Spartans are the veteran offensive line and a solid defense. Despite losses of receivers and a record setting quarterback, the Spartans shouldn’t make that big of a step back. Assuming the quarterback play can come anywhere close to what Cousins did in his time in East Lansing, Michigan State could even be a Legends Division contender. Historically, Michigan State has struggled with Ohio State, struggled with Wisconsin on the road, and start an inexperienced quarterback in Ann Arbor. That doesn’t even include their recent struggles in Minneapolis against the Gophers. Michigan State should end up with at least 8 wins, maybe even more.
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