Worst Big 10 Perfomance

[buckeyeabroad]

My choice is Illinois. Second in the B10 last year. Great recruiting class the year before that. Those guys should be contributing as juniors (or sophomores?) now. Zook continues to demonstrate his game coaching cannot match his recruiting.

Wisky is a close second. After their appalling loss the scUM they fought us hard but lost at home in the first time in years. From then on, their season spiraled down out of control. They appear in danger of slipping back into pre-Alvarez form.

[Golden]

Very interesting points about Illinois & Wisky, but.......

my vote goes to Michigan, more specifically R².

I have never seen a Michigan football team play as poorly
as the one that took the field this year. My goodness, they
have the talent & athletes. RichRod tried to force his backyard
offense down their throats rather than use the skill sets that
the players posses.

Of course, playing a walk on QB in his first start didn't help
the cause either.

Michigan - definitely.

GLB

[victor2111]

Michigan knew this wasn't going to be a great season...most were probably of been happy with 8-4 or 7-5.

Illinois lost their best player on OFF and DEF from last year and wasn't rated too highly to start the year

Wisconsin was a top 10 team that finish 7-5, lost to UM and barley beat a I-AA in Cal Poly by one point in OT where Cal Poly kicker missed 3XP in the game and 1FG.

Wisconsin is my answer. Terrible year for them when they were rated very highly.

[buckeyeabroad]

I agree GLB but gave them the benefit of doubt for having a new "coach". NExt year, if scUM does not come in above 500, then they deserve it.

Compare them to Minnesota. Now, I do not think Minny was very good this year, but they're bowl bound and who would ahve guessed that after last year's dismal performance under the new coach. A lot of Gophers even were screaming for Mason's return! Now look.

So I say ttun and RR get one more year. If no success after that, they'll be the Conference street sleeper.

[buckeyeabroad]

Illi just wasn't going anywhere with Juice at the helm, were they Vic? He's too inconsistent.

[victor2111]

Nov 28, 2008 11:14:12 GMT -5 @buckeyeabroad said:

Illi just wasn't going anywhere with Juice at the helm, were they Vic? He's too inconsistent.

I liked Juice since the first time I saw him and he is a solid player but he is inconsistent.

What killed Illinois was losing Mendenhall and Lehman. Mendenhall was a beast and had A LOT to do with their success. Losing Lehman hurt them also because he was the leader of their D.

When you lose 2 KEY players then it really hurts your team when you had a surprise season the year before.

[silverbullet97]

This was a good question. Michigan was a good candidate. The new coach stubbornly tried to force square pegs in to round holes. What is even more concerning, is that comments by some Michigan players seem to indicate that there were other players that did not come to play this year.

On the other hand, Wisconsin was supposed to be a good team yet they were worse than Michigan at times.

[thevictors09]

How can you possibly vote for any team besides WISCONSIN? Their fanbase has claimed to be the "real" BigTen champs two yrs ago when OSU and Wisky didn't play and MICHIGAN was their only loss ... the team was ranked NUMBER SIX in the pre-season and had a losing season, returning hoards of starters and a coach that many were calling the "next big deal."

Even as horribly as MICHIGAN performed at times, the team was competitive in many, many games that could have had the team 6-6 with losses coming only against those teams like PSU, OSU and even MSU ... but not against Toledo, Purdue, Northwestern or even Utah in week 1.

[buckeyebikerbabe]

Honestly......I think it's us. Wisky had a miserable yr, but this was the year we were so loaded with returning talent that we were supposed to be a shoe-in to go back to the NC and win it. I know Beanie being out in the early part of the season didn't help, but DAMN.....this should have been our year!

[buckeyeabroad]

Dec 17, 2008 11:28:15 GMT -5 @thevictors09 said:

How can you possibly vote for any team besides WISCONSIN? Their fanbase has claimed to be the "real" BigTen champs two yrs ago when OSU and Wisky didn't play and MICHIGAN was their only loss ... the team was ranked NUMBER SIX in the pre-season and had a losing season, returning hoards of starters and a coach that many were calling the "next big deal."

Even as horribly as MICHIGAN performed at times, the team was competitive in many, many games that could have had the team 6-6 with losses coming only against those teams like PSU, OSU and even MSU ... but not against Toledo, Purdue, Northwestern or even Utah in week 1.

Plus, consider head-to-head competition.