Week 8 BCS/AP/Big Ten Rankings

Week 8 is over with, and I think my blood pressure is finally starting to come down. The Paul Bunyan Trophy is home where it belongs after a hard fought Michigan victory over Michigan State. Yes, it was a great game by two very well matched teams, and the  better one prevailed. Drew Dileo had a great game catching passes when they needed to be caught, and Brendan Gibbons and Matt Wile were clutch as well. The Michigan State offense was just as anemic as we previously thought, and Michigan's defense held Le'Veon Bell in check. That's not the only game that was better than advertised--look at Purdue and Ohio State. After leading for much of the game, Purdue knocked out Braxton Miller in the 3rd quarter (symptom free and out of the hospital later that evening) and still lost the game in overtime to their backup QB.

Previewing Big Ten Football: Wisconsin

Write it in stone: Wisconsin will be the winner of the Leaders division in 2012. This can be attributed to multiple things. The strength of their team. Montee Ball. OSU going through their sanctions and not being able to compete for it. Penn St as well. Having Illinois and Indiana in your division. That leaves only Purdue to compete with, and Purdue can't hold a candle to Wisconsin right now. Yet as this season is beginning to unfold, there will be similarities and differences. Here's what Wisconsin has ahead of them in 2012.


2011 Record:  11-3, 6-2 Big Ten

Returning Starters: Offense – 5, Defense – 6

Bret Bielema is becoming one of college football's elite coaches. He's entering his 7th season coaching the Badgers, where so far he has a record of 60-19 (.759). Last season, he led Wisconsin to back-to-back Rose Bowls for the first time since 1999 and 2000. Bielema coached Wisconsin to victories in 17 of his first 18 games, making it the best Big Ten coaching start since Fielding Yost, who went 55-0-1 when he started. Consistency in coaching is huge in any sport, and a consistent winning coach is one to treasure, and that's also why he received a contract extension earlier this year. One major change, coaching wise, is that there will be 6 new assistant coaches. The biggest change of all is Matt Canada replacing Paul Chryst as the offensive coordinator. Chryst left to take the head coaching job at Pittsburgh, and all of us wish him well there. Wisconsin is also losing their wide receivers, linebackers, and offensive line coaches. That's a huge loss for any team that it trying to hold onto a specific identity.