Big Ten Roundtable

1. Time to break out the crystal ball. I want to know what happens at the END of the season. Give me your offensive and defensive Players of the Year in the Big Ten along with Coach of the Year and why.

Offensive POY: Mike Hart. Michigan will continue to give him plenty of carries as he will determine how far this team will go this season.
Defensive POY: Dan Connor. Overshadowed the past few years by Paul Posluzny, it's his time to shine this season
Coach of the Year: Mark Dantonio. He's done a great job in getting the Spartans to 3-0 and I don't think we'll see a John L. Smith type collapse this year

2. With the upsets, close games, and head scratchers so far, every game we thought was going to be important has changed. Michigan State is 3-0, for Pete's sake, and they look good doing it. Pick the three games on the Big Ten Schedule that will determine the Big Ten Champion. Bonus Points for not picking three games on your own schedule.

1. Wisconsin at Ohio State - the obvious choice as the top front runners for the Big Ten collide on November 3rd
2. Penn State vs. Ohio State
3. Penn State vs. Wisconsin

3. How many games, this season, have you been to? How many games have you tailgated at? If you have tailgated, name your beverage of choice. If you answered no to the previous questions, hang your head in shame, or at least give a good story about watching the game in enemy territory and giving the bouncer the finger when he asked you to quiet down.

So far I have been to three college football games this season, the first one was not a Big Ten contest as I was up in Berkeley for California-Tennessee. Drinking consisted of Miller Lite during the Michigan-Appalachian State game, then once I got to Berkeley I drank whatever my Cal friends gave me because I really needed it.

Second game was Michigan-Oregon, no tailgating because I had plenty to drink the night before. The third game was last week's Michigan-Notre Dame where due to our losing streak I switched it up and drank at a game I was attending which consisted of a Miller Lite and 3 Irish Car Bombs at the Brown Jug.

Bitter/Angry Bonus Question!

4. As the Big Ten Season kicks off, the Conference is in somewhat of a difficult position nationally. Needing some momentum after a horrid BCS performance, the Conference needed some momentum early in the season. It hasn't gotten it. The first three weeks have been abysmal. Is this just a down year for the Big Ten, is there a change Nationally that the Big Ten just hasn't picked up on, is there some truth to the "Big Ten Style of Play" that everyone harps on, or has college football simply caught up? What so you think and why? I may be beating a dead horse, but no one looks good this year and I'm at a loss as to why.

I think it's a combination of factors as partially it is a down year, the other part being the Big Ten Style of Play IMO. Watching plenty of Pac-1o games out here as well as SEC contests there is definitely a difference in the offense in the Pac-10 and defense in the SEC. The offenses in the Big Ten don't play nearly as fast as they do out west, and the defenses are not up to the level of those in the south right now. But it will adjust itself as every conference goes through these times, much like the Pac-10 was going through a few years ago.