Good morning Buckeye faithful and welcome to your Tuesday Skull Session.
This quarter has gone by way too fast. I am not ready to be bored out of my mind with nothing to do this summer.
All I can do is pray that summer goes by as quickly as these past nine weeks have so I can get back to football season and all the shenanigans that come with it. But then, come next school year, I have to deal with semesters.
Oh well, I guess life can't be perfect. Let's just get rolling I guess.
BEST OF THE B1G. Lostlettermen.com ranked all 12 of the Big Ten's football coaches, and it's a no brainer who is in the #1 spot. The Buckeyes' Urban Meyer was ranked #1 overall in the rankings.
The article gives high praise to Meyer, claiming that Meyer has the best resume of any college coach aside from Alabama's Nick Saban. Plenty of praise is also given to Meyer for his past coaching jobs where he coached smaller, less-significant programs like Bowling Green and Utah to winning seasons and bowl games.
More importantly, though, Meyer is a fierce recruiter, a two-time national champion, and is great with the fans. Meyer is followed by Wisconsin's Bret Bielema, Michigan's Brady Hoke, Michigan State's Mark Dantonio, and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz.
If nothing else, this list does help you appreciate the depth and quality of coaches in the B1G conference right now. Especially when coaches like Bo Pelini and Pat Fitzgerald can't make the top five of this list.
B1G LINEMEN. Tom Dienhart of BigTenNetwork.com ranked his top 10 defensive linemen in the Big Ten for next season.
The Buckeyes were tied with Nebraska and Michigan State with the most amount of players on the list. Ohio State was represented at the #2 spot with John Simon and at the #4 spot with Jonathan Hankins.
The article praises Simon for his leadership qualities, including a line that mentions that Urban Meyer refers to Simon as, dare I say it, "Tebow-ish." Simon is poised to have a big year so long as he stays healthy and continues to work hard. He will have some continuity with Luke Fickell returning this season, which should help pick up from where he left off last year.
At #4, Hankins was noted for his commitment to changing his body and getting stronger in order to keep up his level of play. The article additionally mentions that, despite his size at 6'4, 317 pounds, the junior defensice tackle is quick off the line.
Other notables from the top five of the list are #1 William Gholston of Michigan State, #3 Kawann Short of Purdue, and #5 Michael Buchanan of Illinois. The schools represented on the list are OSU, MSU, Nebraska, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan, and Penn State.
Could this be Miller's year? (Photo via The Toledo Blade) THAT BRAXTON GUY. Soven Bery of The Bleacher Report made some predictions on how Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller will fair this season.
Bery predicts that Braxton will be one of the best quarterbacks in the B1G, throw more than 15 touchdown passes, throw more interceptions, run for over 1,000 yards, and beat Michigan in The Shoe in the last game of the season.
A lot of these predictions are pretty obvious, in my opinion. Yes, he will be one of the better quarterbacks in the Big Ten. In fact, you could say Miller was one of the best in the conference last season. Of course he is going to throw for over 15 touchdowns in the pass friendly Urban Meyer offense.
However, Miller running for over 1,000 yards will be difficult. I especially think this because the Buckeyes have some talent at running back and I don't forsee Meyer using his running backs as little as he did in the past. But with a full season to make defenders look silly, it's not out of the question to think Miller can surpass 1,000 yards on the ground. It really comes down to how much more mature of a passer he becomes.
Also, beating Michigan to cap off the season would be incredible. This game will pretty much be Ohio State's bowl game. And you bet that Meyer is going to have his team pumped up in anticipation for his first game against the Wolverines. The Buckeyes nearly beat the Brady Hoke's squad in their house last season, so it's not impossible to think Miller can pull this win off.
Either way, Bery makes the key point that needs to be made: Miller is going to be a force to be reckoned with next year and fans are excited about it.
THE NORTH WILL RISE AGAIN? Speaking of those fellas from Michigan, CollegeFootballNews.com's Pete Fiutak talks about what to expect from Ann Arbor this season.
Fiutak discusses how Michigan's season last year was completely misleading. Yes, they went 11-2, beat Ohio State, and won the sugar bowl, but they also nearly lost to Notre Dame, lost to Michigan State, barely beat a terrible OSU squad, and didn't even have to play Wisconsin. Michigan caught a lot of breaks last year and Hoke came out of it looking like a genius.
This year, though, this Michigan team has a different feel to it. No one could've predicted the Wolverines having that good of a season last year, but this year Michigan has its spark back. They legitimately have a chance to win the Big Ten as power houses like Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin rebuild.
Hoke has capitalized on this success by developing a great recruiting class and restoring life to the program. Now, it comes down to how they handle the pressure when Denard Robinson is considered one of the elite players in college football and the team is a favorite to win the conference.
LOS LINKS. SEC to launch cable channel with ESPN?... The Big East's ultimate fate... Bernie Fines wife to sue ESPN... Analysis of week 1 of the football season in the Big Ten... An outlook on Indiana head football coach Kevin Wilson.
