If you missed any portion of our Big Ten Football Preview, or if you're a masochist and want to read any of it over again, consider this your one-stop shop for the wealth of solid information, mindless speculation, and occasional snark.
Predictions from our lovely FanHouse staff will be coming at the end of August. For now, as you enjoy our other conference previews, here's a look back at what we learned about the Big Ten.
The 2006 season was full of mediocrity, with two top teams proving how overrated they were by getting pounded in their postseason games. Or something. Oh, and it appears that we're really going to miss having John L. Smith to kick around.
Ohio State. Nemesis. Implacable foe. In recent years, deliverer of exclusively woe and pain. How I hate thee. Now for a totally unbiased and fair preview!
WHY THEY'LL WIN
Jim Tressel has built what's perhaps the nation's finest program in his six years as Ohio State's head coach. Flip one result -- last year's Not Fiesta shellacking -- and he would have two national championships and four BCS wins in a brief half-dozen years (though one of the latter was a freebie against Notre Dame) plus, of course, those five wins over Michigan. As it is he's got one MNC, three BCS wins, five Michigan victories, and a partridge in a pear tree. As we speak thousands of tiny busts of the man are being carved out of crushed Bud Light cans across the state of Ohio, and it's hard to dispute anything about that tableau except for some personal grooming habits and a profusion of "I'm With Stupid" t-shirts.*
So, yeah, they'll win because that's what Ohio State does of late. More specifically, they'll win because they have a ton of starters back from a defense that was statistically amongst the nation's best despite two rough outings to end the year, including freakish man-beast defensive end Vernon Gholston, by FanHouse's accounting the fifth best player in the conference, and jam artist corner Malcolm Jenkins. Oh, and there's that Laurinaitis guy. Despite being the #1 most overrated player in the Big Ten, he's not exactly bad.
Bells peal across the Midwest at the departure of Troy Smith and his Heisman-winning ways, but a reconstituted offense will lean heavily on a power running game spearheaded by enormous, fast Chris "Beanie" Wells. You may be thinking that anyone nicknamed "Beanie" can't be that intimidating. You would be wrong. And though the offensive line was sieve-o-licious against Florida, most of its key actors return chastened and ready to plow.
There's also the matter of the schedule. Washington, even on the road, is hardly a Texas-level challenge these days, and the rest of the nonconference schedule is tomato cans. Even a thoroughly mediocre Ohio State team isn't likely to end up worse than 9-3.
*(Sorry. Hey, I said OSU may be the finest program in America. I have to get in some shots or my head will explode.)
On, Wisconsin? I guess you'd have to say they were in 2006, what with those 12 wins and all. Can they do it again in Bret Bielema's second year?
WHY THEY'LL WIN
This team is set up for a title run. The running game is strong on the shoulders of P.J. Hill, who will run behind an offensive line that returns four starters. Among them are underrated center Marcus Coleman and mauling guards Kraig Urbik and Andy Kemp. It's going to be another huge offensive line, with at least four starters listed at 300 pounds or bigger.
Top receivers Travis Beckum, Luke Swan, and Paul Hubbard are all back. Beckum came out of practically nowhere to lead the team in catches and yards in his first year as a tight end. Swan and Hubbard are former walk-ons who have come on as receivers while also serving as great blockers. Swan is more dependable, and Hubbard is the better athlete.
The defense will be led by end Matthew Shaughnessy, tackle Nick Hayden, linebackers Jonathan Casillas and DeAndre Levy, and cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu. That core of four great players is as good as any you'll find in the Big Ten. Casillas and Levy will more than make up for the loss of MLB Mark Zalewski, and Elijah Hodge, the new starter in the middle, won't exactly stink up the joint. Shaughnessy should have a big year, as he continues to add bulk to his 6-6 frame. He has gone from looking like a situational pass rusher to being an every-down player for the Badgers.
The kicking game could be among Wisconsin's best ever. Seniors Taylor Mehlhaff (kicker) and Ken DeBauche (punter) have both earned All-Big Ten honors in their career. Mehlhaff led the league in touchbacks last year, though he'll be challenged by the decision to move kickoffs back to the 30-yard-line.
Michigan, O Michigan, ye of the constant accusations of underachievement despite possessing the best record in college football over the past decade. My alma mater. My blog niche. My harsh, harsh mistress. Please don't suck this year.
WHY THEY'LL WIN
This part is easy: four potential All-Americans (Chad Henne, Mario Manningham, Jake Long, and Mike Hart) return on the offensive side of the ball. All save Hart are holy locks for the first round next year, assuming Manningham decides to enter early, and that's not even a full accounting of the myriad riches on the offense. There is also lanky emerging star Adrian Arrington, a version of Jason Avant with some extra deep threat attached, senior left guard Adam Kraus, a lock to be all-conference, and young offensive linemen Justin Boren and Steve Schilling, guaranteed to be stars sooner or later. There are even rumblings that tight end Carson Butler, kicked off the team for an assault he was later acquitted of, may return, which would shore up the one weakness on offense: jumbo blocker types at FB and TE.
Most of that killer defense (save the last two games, yes) is gone, but guided missile Shawn Crable returns for his senior year along with fireplug defensive tackle Terrance Taylor. With Taylor on the defensive line will be two five-star recruits at defensive end, Tim Jamison and Brandon Graham (a man who Mike Hart described as "Lamarr Woodley but faster"), and defensive tackle Will Johnson, who played extensively and well last year. Sometimes Michigan even lifted leviathan Alan Branch for Johnson on third and short. Like, whoah. It won't be last year's thumping death machine, but it will probably be the best line in the conference anyway.
On special teams, there is Zoltan the Inconceivable, a punter who is awesome and named Zoltan Mesko. He will punt opponents to death.
As we move into previewing individual teams, you'll notice that there are three different categories for teams. It's actually pretty self-explanatory.
First up, we have The Dregs of the league. These are the programs that simply don't have the tradition lately. It's been a struggle to build winning teams, and/or perhaps they have gone through some coaching changes that have set the program back a bit.
I'm not going to make a blanket statement about a team not having a chance to make a bowl game, but for the schools listed among The Dregs, the climb will be the toughest. Essentially, the teams mentioned after the jump are the underdogs of the Big Ten.
Sorry, there's no Budweiser sponsorship on this one. Unlike that contraption, this is a real hot seat.
In the real world, we know that not everyone will coach forever, like the guy to the right has. The old saying is that coaches "are hired to be fired". These days, you're lucky if you can survive back-to-back years that don't meet everyone's expectations. You could almost argue that everyone is on the hot seat, but we're not going to do that. It's too easy.
When selecting three Big Ten coaches who are on the hot seat, the first thing to do is list the veteran coaches who are definitely NOT on the hot seat:
From there, we can eliminate the coaches who were hired to replace fired coaches in the last year. You don't fire a first-year coach that you just hired unless he gets arrested. That would mean that Mark Dantonio and Tim Brewster are "safe", and it leaves us with four candidates for three positions on the hot seat. Join us after the jump to find out who made the cut.
Someday, I'll explain to all of you why I don't like the Heisman Trophy. In other writings on other blogs and such, I've referred to it as the H*i*m*n ever since Larry Fitzgerald sat in that room and watched someone else win it. That was the tipping point, but it was only a tipping point.
With that in mind, I'm here to remind you of one thing. This is not a "Top Five Heisman Trophy Candidates in the Big Ten" list. If it were, I wouldn't be writing it, because I can't stand the term "Heisman candidate" and I try my best to avoid using it.
Instead, we have compiled a list of who we believe are the top five players in the Big Ten entering the 2007 season. Maybe one of these guys will go on to win the Heisman, but I'm guessing not, since none of the five are quarterbacks (ooh, foreshadowing!). Maybe the running back on the list can do it, but that's not as likely as a quarterback would be.
Anyway, I'm babbling a bit. On to the list. Remember, it's just a subjective list. Meant for discussion. I don't need to see comments about how I don't know anything about football, or how I'm just a stupid (name of Big Ten school you don't like here) fan. Jump with me, and enjoy the list.
This is the sort of thing that leads to serious comment flaming complete with people calling other people "loosers!!!!" so if we could just clarify: it's not that any of these players are actually bad. They're just not as good as popularly acclaimed to be, either by rave-prone announcers or star-dazed recruitniks or awards-granting committees or All Big Ten teams. All of these players would start on most teams in the league and said teams would be happy to have them; they just aren't all that with bag of chips and salsa and guacamole and etc etc etc.
1. James Laurinaitis, LB, Ohio State
It's not that Laurinaitis is a bad player. He's not. He flows well sideline-to-sideline and if you don't get a blocker on him he will find you and tackle you. He's good on his zone drops, too. But what he is not is an all-conquering "animal" -- ha! -- that can destroy you by idly considering ways in which he would like your head to implode. Nor does he have hypno-toad eyes which force quarterbacks to throw the ball directly to him, copious evidence from last year be damned. But don't tell this to Brent Musberger, whose orgasmic rendition of the James Laurinaitis show in this year's Texas-Ohio State matchup established the middle linebacker as the country's best... for some reason. Never mind that Texas wasn't actually that good at running the ball last year or that Colt McCoy was still in freshman embryo mode and was reduced mostly to checkdowns and screens. By the time these facts became clear, it was too late: the legend of Laurinaitis was born.
Simply, if you get a hat on the guy he's done. Both Michigan and Florida eliminated him from their games just by blocking the guy and put up 39 and 41 points, respectively. He should improve this year, and I'd even put him on an All Big Ten second team behind true monster Dan Connor, but he is not the be all and end all of linebackers.
The word "underrated" is pretty subjective. I've heard arguments over the years where people were deciding whether a person was "overrated" or "underrated", and both came away having made very good points.
So what is an underrated football player? In the opinion of this humble correspondent (sorry, Bill O'Reilly), it's not an easy thing to determine. You're looking for relatively unsung contributors on super teams, perhaps a player who is "stuck" behind a superstar on the depth chart (I'm talking about Anthony Gonzalez instead of Ted Ginn, for example). Perhaps there is a really good player who is stuck on a terrible team, or a guy who leads a terrible team to at least some semblance of mediocrity.
There isn't a single right answer.
Later this week, Brian Cook will take a look at the polar opposite. He'll take a look at the overrated players. Perhaps, we'll find one of you out there who thinks one of the guys we've selected for the "underrated" list is actually overrated, or vice versa.
After the jump, you can check out our list of the top five underrated players in the Big Ten.
Instead, we attempted to integrate only the biggest of the big losses at tOSU. After all, they weren't the only Big Ten team to lose a key face or two from 2006. They're just the most notable.
Any list of "Biggest Shoes to Fill" has to start with the guy who won the Heisman Trophy, especially when the vote was as lopsided as it was for Troy Smith last year. Smith has moved on to the NFL, and his replacement tops our list of the biggest shoes to fill in the Big Ten.
If you missed any portion of our Big Ten Football Preview, or if you're a masochist and want to read any of it over again, consider this your one-stop shop for the wealth of solid information, mindless speculation, and occasional snark.
So, yeah, they'll win because that's what Ohio State does of late. More specifically, they'll win because they have a ton of starters back from a defense that was statistically amongst the nation's best despite two rough outings to end the year, including freakish man-beast defensive end Vernon Gholston, by FanHouse's accounting the fifth best player in the conference, and jam artist corner Malcolm Jenkins. Oh, and there's that Laurinaitis guy. Despite being the #1 most overrated player in the Big Ten, he's not exactly bad. 
This team is set up for a title run. The running game is strong on the shoulders of P.J. Hill, who will run behind an offensive line that returns four starters. Among them are underrated center Marcus Coleman and mauling guards Kraig Urbik and Andy Kemp. It's going to be another huge offensive line, with at least four starters listed at 300 pounds or bigger. 
This part is easy: four potential All-Americans (Chad Henne, Mario Manningham, Jake Long, and Mike Hart) return on the offensive side of the ball. All save Hart are holy locks for the first round next year, assuming Manningham decides to enter early, and that's not even a full accounting of the myriad riches on the offense. There is also lanky emerging star Adrian Arrington, a version of Jason Avant with some extra deep threat attached, senior left guard Adam Kraus, a lock to be all-conference, and young offensive linemen Justin Boren and Steve Schilling, guaranteed to be stars sooner or later. There are even rumblings that tight end Carson Butler, kicked off the team for an assault he was later acquitted of, may return, which would shore up the one weakness on offense: jumbo blocker types at FB and TE. 
As we move into previewing individual teams, you'll notice that there are three different categories for teams. It's actually pretty self-explanatory.
Sorry, there's no Budweiser sponsorship on this one. Unlike that contraption, this is a real hot seat.
Someday, I'll explain to all of you why I don't like the Heisman Trophy. In other writings on other blogs and such, I've referred to it as the H*i*m*n ever since 
It's not that Laurinaitis is a bad player. He's not. He flows well sideline-to-sideline and if you don't get a blocker on him he will find you and tackle you. He's good on his zone drops, too. But what he is not is an all-conquering "animal" -- ha! -- that can destroy you by idly considering ways in which he would like your head to implode. Nor does he have hypno-toad eyes which force quarterbacks to throw the ball directly to him, copious evidence from last year be damned. But don't tell this to Brent Musberger, whose orgasmic rendition of the James Laurinaitis show in this year's Texas-Ohio State matchup established the middle linebacker as the country's best... for some reason. Never mind that Texas wasn't actually that good at running the ball last year or that Colt McCoy was still in freshman embryo mode and was reduced mostly to checkdowns and screens. By the time these facts became clear, it was too late: the legend of Laurinaitis was born.
The word "underrated" is pretty subjective. I've heard arguments over the years where people were deciding whether a person was "overrated" or "underrated", and both came away having made very good points.
Some teams lose a ton of talent practically every year. USC is the poster child these days, and Miami has been in the not-too-distant past.
