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2011 Big Ten Legends Division Race

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A good move for the conference, retaining the 'Huskers traditional Friday-after-Thanksgiving time-slot with a rival.

SI.com

Nebraska, Iowa to meet Friday after Thanksgiving


IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Iowa and Nebraska will meet on the Friday after Thanksgiving in each of the next two seasons.

The schools announced Monday they'd face each other in Lincoln on Nov. 25 and in Iowa City on Nov. 23, 2012.

The Cornhuskers are leaving the Big 12 for the Big Ten. They were originally set to host their new border rivals on the final Saturday of the 2011 regular season.

But Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne says in a statement that he's pleased the Big Ten has allowed the Huskers to continue their tradition of playing the day after Thanksgiving.

Nebraska began playing Oklahoma on Thanksgiving or the next day in the 1960s.

The Huskers had played Colorado, set to join the Pac-12, on the Friday after Thanksgiving every year since 1996.

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CFN with brief comments on each team.

Legends.buzz

Michigan
- The coaching change has meant a change in philosophy. While Brady Hoke and new offensive coordinator Al Borges will still use Denard Robinson as a runner, the Rich Rodriguez era will likely be swept aside in a hurry with the running backs getting more involved than before with a bit more of a traditional attack. In the West Coast offense, Robinson isn?t going to be asked to throw the ball down the field all that much and will need to get the ball out of his hands in a hurry, and he also won?t have to carry the entire workload. Borges and Hoke are planning on spreading it around and won?t pin the hopes of the entire year on just one guy.

Nebraska
- Welcome to the new league. The Huskers are expected to step in to their new league and challenge for the Big Ten title right away. The team is undergoing some major internal changes with a few big coaching hires that will be under the microscope all offseason. The big move was at offensive coordinator where Tim Beck comes in for Shawn Watson, and the plan is to run a version of the spread and to attack even more. Head coach Bo Pelini is looking for more explosion, and Beck plans to provide it. With a few other coaching changes, things are being shaken up even though the team didn?t exactly have a bad 2010.

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Legends.Attitudes

Michigan

Michigan, your long national nightmare is over. Brady Hoke will benefit from not being Rich Rodriguez, and all he has to do is be decent and the bouquets will be flowing in. However, lost in the coaching change and lost in all the RichRod bashing was that this was supposed to be the year when everything came together. With ten starters returning on offense, Denard Robinson to play around with, and with nine starters back on D, the expectations will quickly be cranked up. After all, this is Michigan, and yes, with Nebraska coming to The Big House, the Legends really is winnable.

Nebraska

Get ready to be everyone?s big game. Nebraska is used to be in the spotlight, but it?ll be a bit different now as every game in the Big Ten will be magnified. It all starts on October 1st at Wisconsin, and it doesn?t slow down from there with Ohio State coming up the following week and with dates at Penn State, Michigan, and Iowa in November. Give Bo Pelini credit; he?s not taking it easy. 10-4 with a Big 12 North title would be phenomenal at most places, but losing three of the final four games didn?t sit well and the attitude, evidenced by several assistant coaching changes, is that nothing less than greatness will do.

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CFN.Positions

Michigan

The entire defense. Every story about Michigan this offseason will involve Denard Robinson in some way, and while he won?t put up the record numbers he did last year, he should be even more effective now that he won?t have to do everything for the offense. The question will be whether or not defensive coordinator Greg Mattison can turn chicken spit into chicken salad and make the Big Ten?s worst defense decent. The call will be out to simplify, simplify, simplify. The D is full of veterans and has real, live athletes. Mattison will try to keep things basic to start and won?t try to do anything too funky. Make plays. That?s it.

Nebraska

Quarterback. Taylor Martinez, Taylor Martinez, Taylor Martinez. One of college football?s breakout stars over the first half of last year, his toughness was question and injuries became a power. The job is open for battle with passing option Cody Green looking to show a bit more in the new offensive system, and newcomer Jamal Turner is reportedly worth the hype and more. The passing game was 113th in the nation averaging just 151 yards per game, and the coaching staff is looking to change that immediately.

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CFN.Questions

Michigan

The offense will go through a mega-change, but does that mean it?ll be better? Rich Rodriguez might be a punchline and his era will go down as a stunning disaster, but lost in all the failures and all the problems was that the offense actually worked. Michigan led the Big Ten and was eighth in the nation in total yards and was 13th in rushing. Fine, so it didn?t work late with Ohio State and Mississippi State shutting things down, but it was still a dangerous attack that was just starting to find its legs. The new Michigan attack needs to be better against the stronger teams and it needs to be more consistent, but if you told Brady Hoke right now that his offense would finish the year averaging 239 rushing yards and 250 passing yards per game, he?d probably take it.

Nebraska

Can the defense start getting into the backfield more? The 2009 defense, led by Ndamukong Suh, finished second in the nation in sacks, 28th in tackles for loss, and ninth against the run. The Huskers also closed out the year No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense. Last year, Nebraska was 45th in the nation in sacks, a pathetic 112th in tackles for loss, and 63rd against the run. Overall, the defense wasn?t bad, but Nebraska under Bo Pelini isn?t doing what it?s supposed to unless it?s blowing up offenses by camping out in backfields. Pierre Allen is gone, but everyone else on the two-deep defensive line returns.

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OH HSKR FAN;1912943; said:
Will a 5-3 conference record get the Huskers to Indy? This is on the assumption that we lose to Wisconsin, Ohio State and Penn State but run the table against the other Legends teams.
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I really doubt any 5-3 team gets a sniff this year - I think somebody will go 7-1. To make the CCG, it should take at least a 6-2 record most years.
 
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SI.com

Leading rusher Eskridge leaving Gophers


MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- New Minnesota football coach Jerry Kill says leading rusher DeLeon Eskridge is leaving the program because he needs to be closer to home in San Francisco to attend to a family matter.

Eskridge rushed for 698 yards and seven touchdowns last year for the Golden Gophers. Kill says he felt it was in Eskridge's best interests to leave the program before his senior season.

Kill also announced Friday that tight end Tiree Eure was leaving the program because "it just didn't work out."

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Tony Gerdeman looks at the Gophers under new coach Jerry Kill.

Ozone

Returning Starters
Eight on offense, six on defense and the punter.

Schedule
Sept. 3 at USC (L)
Sept. 10 New Mexico State (W)
Sept. 17 Miami (OH) (W)
Sept. 24 North Dakota State (W)
Oct. 1 at Michigan (L)
Oct. 8 at Purdue (L)
Oct. 22 Nebraska (L)
Oct. 29 Iowa (L)
Nov. 5 at Michigan State (L)
Nov. 12 Wisconsin (L)
Nov. 19 at Northwestern (L)
Nov. 26 Illinois (W)


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knapplc;1967824; said:
I think Sparty is in for a rude awakening when they play us. We've shut down offenses better than theirs under Pelini these past three years.
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Sparty's miracle run last year puffed them up pretty good. They feel that they should win every game now. I think winning more than 8 games would be a great season for them after almost running the table last year. They should have lost 2-3 more games and didn't play OSU.

Hope OSU changes their attitude on October 1st.
 
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NateG;1967841; said:
Sparty's miracle run last year puffed them up pretty good. They feel that they should win every game now. I think winning more than 8 games would be a great season for them after almost running the table last year. They should have lost 2-3 more games and didn't play OSU.

Hope OSU changes their attitude on October 1st.
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I hope you do, too. Just leave some scraps for us to beat up on, too.

EDIT - and to be clear, I have nothing against Sparty. We have no history with them, and I have no animosity towards them. They happen to be in the way of our Legends Division crown, and therefore they must go down.
 
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FWIW I read a great letter to the editor in today's Dispatch that finally helps me remember which teams are in which division. All you have to do is remember Legendary Iowa.

The Legends division has Iowa and all the teams that start with M or N.

Everybody else is in the Leaders division.


Now if I could only think of a way to remember the Great Lakes.
 
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Oh8ch;1969144; said:
FWIW I read a great letter to the editor in today's Dispatch that finally helps me remember which teams are in which division. All you have to do is remember Legendary Iowa.

The Legends division has Iowa and all the teams that start with M or N.

Everybody else is in the Leaders division.


Now if I could only think of a way to remember the Great Lakes.
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Easy, it's a 2 parter:

1st part is...SHOE (Superior, Huron, Ontario, Erie)

2nd Part is...fuck Michigan
 
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