Looking ahead, which teams do you think will have a better or worse record in the B1G than they did in 2018? Here's the order they finished in 2018 with each team's 2019 cross-division games plus Bill Connelly's S&P+ ranking for each of the 130 FBS teams based on overall returning production as a non-partisan metric for predicting year-over-year performance:
B1G East
- Ohio State, 8-1 (@Nebraska, @Northwestern, Wisconsin), S&P+: 62/130
- Michigan, 8-1 (@Wisconsin, Iowa, @Illinois), S&P+: 68/130
- Penn State, 6-3 (Purdue, @Iowa, @Minnesota), S&P+: 100/130
- Michigan State, 5-4 (@Northwestern, @Wisconsin, Illinois), S&P+: 48/130
- Maryland, 3-6 (@Purdue, @Minnesota, Nebraska), S&P+: 70/130
- Indiana, 2-7 (@Nebraska, Northwestern, @Purdue), S&P+: 12/130
- Rutgers, 0-9 (@Iowa, Minnesota, @Illinois), S&P+: 87/130
B1G West
- Northwestern, 8-1 (Ohio State, Michigan State, @Indiana), S&P+: 72/130
- Wisconsin, 5-4 (@Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State), S&P+: 29/130
- Purdue, 5-4 (@Penn State, Maryland, Indiana), S&P+: 103/130
- Iowa, 5-4 (@Michigan, Penn State, Rutgers), S&P+: 49/130
- Nebraska, 3-6 (Ohio State, @Maryland, Indiana), S&P+: 93/130
- Minnesota, 3-6 (Penn State, Maryland, @ Rutgers), S&P+: 10/130
- Illinois, 2-7 (Michigan, @ Michigan State, Rutgers), S&P+: 16/130
The easiest place is to start at the extremes:
- I just can't see Northwestern winning eight B1G games again.
- With all the changes and new faces, is this the year Ohio State loses more than one B1G game?
- Logic/law of averages suggests Rutgers does better than 0-9 but it's only 87th in returning production--its game at Illinois could again decide who's in the B1G's basement.
- People seem high on Nebraska but its S&P+ ranking isn't great, nor is Penn State's.
- Indiana and Minnesota both have a lot of production back plus favorable cross-division schedules.
If B1G teams were stocks, which would you buy and which would you sell?