Phil Steele unveils 2024 Big Ten power rankings, season preview
Agree with Phil Steele’s 2024 Big Ten forecast?
badgerswire.usatoday.com
Interesting piece, counts them down from 18 to 1 in the conference
Phil Steele 2024 Big Ten Power Rankings
- Thread starter royboy
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badgerswire.usatoday.com
Interesting piece, counts them down from 18 to 1 in the conference
I wish we had Michigan on this years schedule.
Their defense will still be solid but they got wiped out on offense. I think they had around 13 or 14 players drafted - most of them offensive players. Also, I don't think they'll have the depth like Oregon, PSU or OSU so a few injuries could really hurt them
And like it or not, that goof-ball Harbaugh was the top coach in the B1G and one of the very best in the country. They'll miss him.
And of course the sign-stealing, and recruiting cheating also factored into the equation
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I expect USC's defense to be improved with D'Anton Lynn as their new DC.
Wow, rough for Washington to go from national championship runner up to predicted 11th in conference. I get it with the turnover but that is still a huge drop.
This won’t happen no way they are going to be 3rd best team in conference we go thru this every year and every year they are wrong as long as James is the coach forget it . I thinking 5 th at best, OSU, Oregon, Michigan and USC in front of us, next year probably 6th or 7 coaching is killing us. Do you think the board will finally wake up and unload James? I doubt it
I didn’t realize that posters on this board had the authority to hire or fire Franklin clown.
I don't think that poster is a PSU fan. I've never seen him post anything positive about PSU and it almost is exclusively bashing PSU.
If and when we get a real coach I will gladly post positive things it’s the same every year and this year won’t be any different
If that happens, then they could be a real factor not only in the B1G but also nationally.
not a lot of respect for Wisconsin. also, Nebraska ascends and USC was built around their QB who they will have to replace. Washington lost a lot, including their great HC.
Looks like the lynchpin game for PSU, assuming we win the games we should (WVU, and the lower B1G) will be USC Oct 12th.
Looks like the lynchpin game for PSU, assuming we win the games we should (WVU, and the lower B1G) will be USC Oct 12th.
For the life of me, I can't figure out scUM and Harbaugh. They were pedestrian for his first ~6 years. We all mocked him for being 3-4th in the East every year despite his salary. He takes a giant pay cut during C0VID, hires Connor Stallions, and all of a sudden, they own OSU win the B2G and then a Natty.
It wasn't like Harbaugh was a new coach. He had success at Stanford, then success with the 49ers. He's a wierdo and ultimately got run off, but he found success at past stops. Point is that Harbaugh didn't magically figure it out, like a new coach might as they learn and grow. So what happened in AnnArbor? What caused the abrupt rise from mediocrity to being elite? From the outside, the sign-stealing is the only visible difference. Was that it? Was it the sign stealing or something else that allowed them to make the jump?
Sign stealing was a great combo with dominant line play. If you control the LOS and know what your opponents' calls are then it's a lethal combo. You know where to attack them and their line play can't screw up your plan.
I bet the Big 10 schedule makers thought they were setting up a murderer's row for PSU with 8-5 UCLA, @ 8-5 USC, @ 7-6 (usually better and always physical) Wisconsin, 11-2 Ohio St, and 14-1 Washington all right in a row.
Looks like Ohio St is the only team we are an underdog to in that now and only USC and Ohio St are projected to contend for the league title out of that group.
Don't get me wrong, that's still a very tough stretch with no easier teams mixed in but it isn't quite what the schedule makers had planned for us.
Yep...+ Urban Myer got kicked to the curb, free agency gutted Alabama, and Washington was good but not great. Washington largely got in because the suits wanted TX over Fl State after their star got hurt in the last game.
It is a real opportunity for PSU, to be honest. Those teams carry elite reputations but are kind of rebuilding this year. We don't play Oregon or Michigan. So beating those teams will look great on paper.
Agree. It was back around 2019 where many of the top analyst stated that his time may be up and that PSU was clearly No 2 in the B1G.
Day is a massive step back from Myer. Ohio St's recruiting has actually gotten even better but they are sending about half as many players to the NFL since Meyer is gone. They aren't developing their players well. Hairball, as much as I don't like him, did.
Maybe some of what you said and also maybe the coaches he brought in on both sides of the ball 3-4 years ago were an upgrade over the previous ones. I think Michigan will miss the coaches that left and went with JH more than JH himself.
Disagree. Meyer won 1 NC at OSU. 2 years ago, Day was probably a missed field goal from the NC. Meyer had a bad habit of losing games OSU was heavily favored in. A Purdue game comes to mind. Michigan also was not as good in the Meyer era as they have been in the Day era. Sign stealing has helped that, but the UM team that won the NC was probably their best team in at least the last 20 years. Day is on the hot seat, but his team is loaded, especially on D. I really think OSU's toughest games this year will be Oregon and Penn State.
Maybe but the game of the year is UM. How did that work out between the two of those coaches?
How did what work out between what 2 coaches? I think OSU beats UM this year. I don't think it will be that close. PSU and Oregon are both on the road, OSU is at home against Michigan.
Meyer did drop a game here or there that was mind boggling but he more often than not came through in the big games. Day doesn't and usually puckers up. In fact, Day's record against teams with even comparable talent is absolutely horrible.
How is it possible that you guys have lost 3 straight to Michigan and to nearly every SEC team you've played under Day? Many of those teams had significantly less talent that Ohio St. You've had more 5 stars than the rest of the conference combined for a decade with little to show for it and nothing of significance since Day took over.
I agree. And he coached during the AL/GA/Clemson juggernauts. tOSU had quality players but not at the clip that Day is getting. Day has done less with more, so far, IMHO>
He has and it centers around lack of player development and big game coaching tightness. They recruit essentially the same as Alabama and Georgia. Georgia has outproduced Ohio St's NFL draft picks by 96% in the last 4 years! That is flat out insane.
And elite talent kids are for some reason still signing up half as good of player development under Day. Heck, PSU with 3 and 4 star classes has outproduced Ohio St's 4 and 5 star studded classes in NFL draft picks by 26% over the last 4 years. It's like the HS players and their parents haven't yet figured out that Ohio St is doing a horrible job of getting top talent to the NFL since Day took over.
this is better for PSU than I would have thought given this is the meat of the post-JS sanction years. We'd probably have doubled that number (from 4 to 8) if not for the Sandusky years. Jow would have passed away in 2012 and we'd have had a great coach to succeed him. Maybe Myer.
I find it strange that you rail against OSU football on a Penn State site, but whatever. Now, I will address your questions.
1. 3 losses to Michigan: the first 2, sign stealing probably played a large role. Last year was the best Michigan team in probably 25 years
2. Losses to SEC teams: SEC teams are very good. 2 years ago OSU was a missed field goal from knocking off Georgia. Before that no one beat Alabama in a typical year.
There is also something that I don't think you realize. Yes, OSU gets a lot of talent. The problem is many of the top players are there for only 3 years. The first year they get up to speed. The second, they play and build their rep. During the third year, they often play not to get hurt or opt out. What this does is leave OSU with a talented, but young and inexperienced team. That shows in the big games. This is the first year where many top OSU juniors are coming back, they usually don't. OSU is loaded, we will see what happens.
Especially Conor Stallions. How UM got away with that nonsense basically unscathed is a mystery, and ridiculous.
another year, another OC, another year, another loss to OSU and likely at least one other. They are who they arePhil Steele unveils 2024 Big Ten power rankings, season preview
Agree with Phil Steele’s 2024 Big Ten forecast?
Interesting piece, counts them down from 18 to 1 in the conference
Actually, UM was instantly competitive under Harbaugh, even against Meyer (2 close losses that may have turned on 1 play) - even with a "meh" QB.
But things started to fall apart when the O-line had to be rebuilt (further exacerbated by successive meh QBs) and his longtime DC'S scheme (Brown) was incapable of slowing down, much less stopping Day's O.
That all changed when Harbaugh got an assist from older bro and got 2 Ravens defensive assistants to be DC in succession (the 1st, going back to the Ravens to be DC and now, the HC of the Seahawks).
Biggest difference was fielding the college equivocal to the Ravens D - built to defend high flying passing offenses.
Too many have given Penix too hard a time for his struggles against what was essentially an NFL level D scheme-wise.
Likewise, all the so-called experts who did the same to Purdy in the SB loss to the Chiefs.
They should all refresh themselves with who the DC for the Chiefs is and what he did to the Brady-led Pats (twice) when Brady was a grizzled vet and not a young QB still learning like Purdy.
Day has made 2 key mistakes.
1st was hiring a long time, loyal and popular defensive assistant who was in no way ready to call the plays on D.
The 2nd was fielding subpar O-lines (good, but not natty winning level).
Seems like Day fixed the former, but the latter is still up in the air.
Also, but for a missed kick and injury to their top weapon (to an already depleted WR corp), the Bucknuts probably would've gone on to beat UGA and then win the natty.
dOSU's O was getting stagnant under Myer with his preference for running QBs (there's a reason why dOSU QBs kept failing in the NFL, going back to the Tressel days).
Remember, it was under Meyer that they passed on making Joe Burrow the starter.
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Just goes to show that if you're a HC who can handle one side of the ball, you have a huge advantage because you only need to make 1 correct coordinator hire, instead of 2.
Reid and Spags is the best O/D coaching tandem in the NFL.
CEO coaches like Franklin and (formerly) Fitz have struggled when they made the wrong hire(s).
Fitz has long struggled in hiring the right OC (in large part due to his overly conservative, turtling ways - which especially doesn't work when you repeatedly cannot field even an average O-line).
But things really hit the low point (was reminiscent of the "Dark Ages" when the then President of the university was intent on starving sports) when Fitz hired his incompetent buddy to replace Coach Hankwitz as DC.
Pretty much can't win when both sides of the ball stink.
We saw that with the Eagles last season when their HC made 2 bad hires, and with the Steelers with Canada as OC (most recently reminiscent of Iowa).
Reid and Spags is the best O/D coaching tandem in the NFL.
CEO coaches like Franklin and (formerly) Fitz have struggled when they made the wrong hire(s).
Fitz has long struggled in hiring the right OC (in large part due to his overly conservative, turtling ways - which especially doesn't work when you repeatedly cannot field even an average O-line).
But things really hit the low point (was reminiscent of the "Dark Ages" when the then President of the university was intent on starving sports) when Fitz hired his incompetent buddy to replace Coach Hankwitz as DC.
Pretty much can't win when both sides of the ball stink.
We saw that with the Eagles last season when their HC made 2 bad hires, and with the Steelers with Canada as OC (most recently reminiscent of Iowa).
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good post...and of course, we cannot forget that UM illegally stole offensive signals so they knew the plays.
Few things to consider.
- You always have to account for some transition period between head coaches, although this was some what minimized between Day and Urban.
- Ohio State's team is now 100% Days recruits, so the next couple years will really determine how he is doing developing players.
- Covid and super seniors created a gluttony of players/talent, you saw this is in a lot of sports throw off the median.
- Ohio State had several players come back for this year that would have been drafted last year.
- This years draft could see a TON of Ohio State players drafted.
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