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Thursday Morning Brews: Big Ten East Battle Royale

Michigan hasn't backed down all year, and now it's crunch time for the division title.

By Nick Bodanyi
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Hitting the Links Is Fire & Brimstone

Bret Bielema Proposes Big Ten/SEC Challenge

Bielema is currently in second place for the role of college football's resident Spurrier. The #1 personality in college football would of course be Les Miles, though it's worth mentioning that Miles is feeling a little heat down in Baton Rouge after two straight losses. Still, he's almost certainly not going anywhere, but I do have to give props to Zac Ellis' hot seat article in mid-August that included both Richt and Miles, two memorable and unusual choices. If you're looking for a gander at how right and wrong sports writers were in their preseason hot seat picks, I found this piece more satisfying.

Harbaugh Recruits With Birthday Cake

Jones, a 6'0", 207-pound Florida recruit, packs a really mean punch, great instincts, and quick feet. The cake didn't stand a chance.

Michigan Searches For Depth On The Defensive Line

It would be crazy, but somehow wouldn't surprise me if Harbaugh burned Bryan Mone's redshirt to save the season. The staff will just have to evaluate where the line is at and what they need to win.

LeBron Downplays Harbaugh's Impact

I heard LeBron has the best airline rewards credit card out there.  With the points he collects, he always gets to travel at no penalty.

Jay Harbaugh Talks About His Position Group

Jake Butt hasn't been getting enough touches. Even so, his 500 yards more than doubles his career output. He'll also need some more touchdowns in order to get All-American recognition (he has two), but something tells me he'll be used a lot against Ohio State in particular.

Michigan State-OSU May Come Down To Michael Thomas

The Ohio State wide receiver is a good all-around player, and he will get his chance to play on Sundays. But Michigan State's DBs have enough potential to not write them off in this battle.

Vegas Doesn't Like Iowa In Playoffs

I've been very complimentary of Iowa in recent weeks, but I don't either. This is a solid, well-built team on both sides, without many flaws and a chip on their shoulder. But this is the kind of team to lose 21-14 to LSU, not win 38-20 against Alabama.

The flip side of the coin: physical corners and a strong run defense can help you surprise people, and there are a lot of athletic backs in that backfield to carry the ball. Plus, Clemson, Alabama, and Ohio State all have young receiving corps.

BSD Film Room: Young Linebackers

I had mentioned on Tuesday that Penn State is sorely missing Mike Hull. This breaks that down in a lot more detail.

Presser Bullets: Michigan State

Recruiting is touched on very briefly. Here is a slideshow of the top recruits the Buckeyes will host, and here is a pared-down list of the eleven recruits that Eleven Warriors thinks could still end up in the '16 class. The Buckeyes are double-digit favorites.

How Can Anyone Stop Joey Bosa?

Bosa will be able to pick on MSU's right tackle Kodi Kieler, who (along with LG Brian Allen) is one of the weaker spots on MSU's O-Line.

Nebraska Learning To Get Up, Fight Back

I had expected a lot more from the Huskers offense this year. The offensive line has been a big part of that, and Tommy Armstrong hasn't take much of a step forward in his redshirt junior year, despite working with Danny Langsdorf, the quarterback coach who helped to revive Eli Manning's career after a rough age-32 season.

% Pass Yards/G Yards/Throw Rating Rush Yards/Game YPC Total TD/G
 Total TO/G
2015 54.7% 256.0 7.57 131.8 27.8 3.5 2.7 1.3
2014 53.3% 207.3 7.81 133.0 54.2 4.9 2.2 1.3

In the one game that Tommy Armstrong missed, back-up Ryker Fyfe threw for 407 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions against Purdue. There will be a lot of competition for the starting role next year.

Breaking Down The Strike Zones For Big Ten Quarterbacks

ESPN has been able to chart quarterbacks' throws, and they have some really cool info from it.

Take Two: Big Ten's Second Best Running Back?

Jordan Howard is about as good of a running back as Tevin Coleman was last year. If that sounds extreme, here's a little stat to support it: Howard missed two and a half games earlier this year, but here would be his total yards if you extended his production to a 13-game slate: 2,262, with 2,078 rushing and 184 catching. If you extended Tevin's production from 12 games to 13, it would be less - 2,189. The flip side of that coin: Tevin played injured for almost two-thirds of the season.

Joel Klatt: CFP Committee Is "Basically Cooking The Books"

The CFP is getting some heat, and Jeff Long's explanations - which gifted us "quality loss" and "game control," among other things - have not helped.

Sitting Down With Two Senior Maryland O-Linemen

This is a casual and brief sit-down with two veterans that I got good vibes from. Not to be too critical, but a lot of the credit for Maryland's running game is the lightning and thunder of Wes Brown and Brandon Ross. The line has been very unimpressive.

Three Matchups For UW vs. NU | Has Northwestern Been Lucky?

Any swoon Northwestern might have won't compare to the 2013 team, which started 4-0 and ended up 5-7. But if the Wildcats lose to Wisconsin and then Illinois, they'll be stuck with a painful off-season ahead.

Goldberg is a big piece to Wisconsin's defense; it might be a tough day sledding for Justin Jackson.

Chris Godwin Touchdown

Out of all of Penn State's talented receivers, Chris Godwin and DaeSean Hamilton are the only ones with at least 140 receiving yards. It's a talented group, but they've played frustrated, and made their share of mistakes - not unlike Devin Funchess near the end for Michigan. The off-season will be really good to them.

Peeking Back At The Coaching Staff of '83 Iowa

Hey, a couple of those guys turned out to be pretty good.

A Summary of Harbaugh

Penn State fans are preparing for this week by catching up on Halloween, Michigan recruiting, and all other things Harbaugh.

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