Big Ten West After Week 9

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RememberMurray said:
You said you were impressed with Mertz's passing in the Iowa game. So I posted the stats of the 3 QBs who played in that game.

I can see why you were all agog over Mertz; the numbers tell the story.
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Mertz has been absolutely terrible. I said "but Mertz impressed me with throwing today. Did well in the intermediate game and kept the chains moving on some of their drives". He impressed me because he wasn't terrible and my metric was not his stat line -- merely that he did well in the intermediate game on some drives. I assume you could have sussed out that it meant that he didn't do well on all drives and that he didn't do well on long throws -- which I don't know if he had any but his longest completion was 22 yards.
 

noamfromm said:
Mertz has been absolutely terrible. I said "but Mertz impressed me with throwing today. Did well in the intermediate game and kept the chains moving on some of their drives". He impressed me because he wasn't terrible and my metric was not his stat line -- merely that he did well in the intermediate game on some drives. I assume you could have sussed out that it meant that he didn't do well on all drives and that he didn't do well on long throws -- which I don't know if he had any but his longest completion was 22 yards.
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Well, I'm glad to hear that the thing that impressed you with his throwing was not reflected in his stat line, because his numbers were somewhat putrid.
 

RememberMurray said:
Well, I'm glad to hear that the thing that impressed you with his throwing was not reflected in his stat line, because his numbers were somewhat putrid.
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Thank you for monitoring metrics by which people use the word impressed and whether people opine on midseason rankings. Without your indefatigable posting we would be lost in a sea of confusion.

p.s. I hope your were as unimpressed with Morgan after his somewhat putrider stats from yesterday.
 

noamfromm said:
Thank you for monitoring metrics by which people use the word impressed and whether people opine on midseason rankings. Without your indefatigable posting we would be lost in a sea of confusion.

p.s. I hope your were as unimpressed with Morgan after his somewhat putrider stats from yesterday.
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Actually, you make an excellent point about Morgan. His stat line, like Mertz's, was not impressive.

Morgan was better in completion % (70% for Morgan, 50% for Mertz), and yards per attempt (7.9 for Morgan, 4.7 for Mertz).

But Mertz threw 1 TD and had 0 INTs, while Tanner had no TDs and did throw the one INT.

Interesting fact: Northwestern's defense ranks #4 in the B1G against the pass, and Iowa's defense ranks #6 against the pass. I never would have guessed that.

 

Plato said:
The stars aligned for MN this year with a veteran QB, offensive line, an adequate defense and a very easy schedule compared to WI and IA.
If MN cannot win the West this year when will they?
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I for one hope there won’t be such a thing as “West” and “East” for much longer. So, perhaps it’s this year or bust?

Those shouldn’t really be “winnable” things. Win the conference. We can do that!
 


MplsGopher said:
I for one hope there won’t be such a thing as “West” and “East” for much longer. So, perhaps it’s this year or bust?

Those shouldn’t really be “winnable” things. Win the conference. We can do that!
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Do you really hope the division format is abolished?

I see the division setup as the one window of opportunity for a Wisconsin, an Iowa or a Minnesota to — once in a blue moon — catch lightning in a bottle and edge out Ohio State for a rare conference title.

Realistically, the other teams just can't compete with the Buckeyes in recruiting on a year-to-year basis. Ohio State will always have superior talent.

Which means winning the championship of the West (lesser) division, and then putting it all together for one "miracle on Ice, Lake Placid" moment in Indianapolis is really the only way any other B1G school can beat Ohio State for the conference crown.

I also thoroughly enjoy the rivalries that are fostered by Minnesota playing in the West division. I would hate to see the division format done away with.
 

noamfromm said:
I always appreciate you posting statistics without commentary in your responses. Where are you going with that stat lines of the quarterbacks who played in that game?
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None of them played well against good defense. Rather we see Petra's than the little I saw from Padilla.
 

Dakota2 said:
None of them played well against good defense. Rather we see Petra's than the little I saw from Padilla.
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You raise an interesting question(s): of the B1G West teams still in contention (Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, maybe Purdue), which one has the best QB?

Also: which one has the best offense?
 

RememberMurray said:
You raise an interesting question(s): of the B1G West teams still in contention (Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, maybe Purdue), which one has the best QB?

Also: which one has the best offense?
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As the famous saying goes, "Offense wins championships"
 



RememberMurray said:
You raise an interesting question(s): of the B1G West teams still in contention (Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, maybe Purdue), which one has the best QB?

Also: which one has the best offense?
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Best QB - maybe the slight nod to O'Connell over Morgan but not by much.

Best Offense - Minnesota and it isn't all that close.
 

I'm A Maroon 2! said:
As the famous saying goes, "Offense wins championships"
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All of those teams have good defenses. So it may come down to which one can move the ball on the others.

Iowa has now failed miserably against both Purdue and Wisconsin. The Hawkeyes scored 14 points in those two games.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Best QB - maybe the slight nod to O'Connell over Morgan but not by much.

Best Offense - Minnesota and it isn't all that close.
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I agree. The question will come down to this: can Minnesota's run-heavy offense continue to excel against Iowa's and Wisconsin's defenses?

I think our passing game has at least a bit more potential to pick up the slack than Iowa'a passing game or Wisconsin's, should the run game falter.
 

RememberMurray said:
I agree. The question will come down to this: can Minnesota's run-heavy offense continue to excel against Iowa's and Wisconsin's defenses?

I think our passing game has at least a bit more potential to pick up the slack than Iowa'a passing game or Wisconsin's, should the run game falter.
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I think we can run the ball on Iowa and win the game. I agree that our passing game is better than both teams and I suspect we'll need to pass about 25 times to have a shot against Wisconsin's great defense.
 



noamfromm said:
I think we can run the ball on Iowa and win the game. I agree that our passing game is better than both teams and I suspect we'll need to pass about 25 times to have a shot against Wisconsin's great defense.
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Minnesota and Iowa can both play good to (at times) excellent defense.

Wisconsin's defense is scary-good, though. A cut above.
 


noamfromm said:
Ideally Mertz can give us the ball a couple of times and neutralize their defense.
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I was very surprised he had 0 turnovers vs Iowa. Really his minimal turnovers is the reason they've been winning compared to early in the year. I mean he gave ND 14 points directly on picks and I think he had 5 or 6 turnovers total that game alone! If any team can force him into turnovers, may see those same losses pop back up.
 


I'm A Maroon 2! said:
I was very surprised he had 0 turnovers vs Iowa. Really his minimal turnovers is the reason they've been winning compared to early in the year. I mean he gave ND 14 points directly on picks and I think he had 5 or 6 turnovers total that game alone! If any team can force him into turnovers, may see those same losses pop back up.
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In Penn State and ND he was playing from behind or tied. Iowa was behind by two scores and he didn't have to force anything. Just gotta keep ourselves in the game.
 

noamfromm said:
In Penn State and ND he was playing from behind or tied. Iowa was behind by two scores and he didn't have to force anything. Just gotta keep ourselves in the game.
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Great point. Also, with being ahead, their defense can pin their ears back and go after the QB more. Fast start may be crucial to a win.
 

RememberMurray said:
Do you really hope the division format is abolished?

I see the division setup as the one window of opportunity for a Wisconsin, an Iowa or a Minnesota to — once in a blue moon — catch lightning in a bottle and edge out Ohio State for a rare conference title.

Realistically, the other teams just can't compete with the Buckeyes in recruiting on a year-to-year basis. Ohio State will always have superior talent.

Which means winning the championship of the West (lesser) division, and then putting it all together for one "miracle on Ice, Lake Placid" moment in Indianapolis is really the only way any other B1G school can beat Ohio State for the conference crown.

I also thoroughly enjoy the rivalries that are fostered by Minnesota playing in the West division. I would hate to see the division format done away with.
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Don’t see the division format going anywhere. If anything, maybe we’ll see four divisions if the conference adds two more schools. Two semifinal games before the championship game. Might as well follow the NFL’s lead and just keep expanding the number of games and number of teams qualifying for the postseason. $$$$$$$$!
 


RememberMurray said:
I agree. The question will come down to this: can Minnesota's run-heavy offense continue to excel against Iowa's and Wisconsin's defenses?

I think our passing game has at least a bit more potential to pick up the slack than Iowa'a passing game or Wisconsin's, should the run game falter.
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Yes our run offense can continue to excel. But we won't dominate Hawk and Becky without well-timed passing to keep them spread out. I think Fleck has been sneakily building toward that.
 

I'm A Maroon 2! said:
Great point. Also, with being ahead, their defense can pin their ears back and go after the QB more. Fast start may be crucial to a win.
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I don't even think we need to start fast -- just keep pace. In the Penn State game it was a tight one score game throughout which forced Mertz to keep throwing.
 

btowngopher said:
Interesting, didn’t know Wisconsin goes to the championship every year.
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Yes. The Northwestern Wildcats — who are the defending B1G West champions — will be especially surprised to learn that Wisconsin wins the championship every year. The Wildcats might even be shocked to learn this.

Pat Fitzgerald: "Wait... what, now?!"
 

RememberMurray said:
Actually, you make an excellent point about Morgan. His stat line, like Mertz's, was not impressive.

Morgan was better in completion % (70% for Morgan, 50% for Mertz), and yards per attempt (7.9 for Morgan, 4.7 for Mertz).

But Mertz threw 1 TD and had 0 INTs, while Tanner had no TDs and did throw the one INT.

Interesting fact: Northwestern's defense ranks #4 in the B1G against the pass, and Iowa's defense ranks #6 against the pass. I never would have guessed that.

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Iowa is much better against the pass.
Teams have thrown for 60 more yards against Iowa on 37 more attempts.
Iowa is better in ypa.
Iowa has 16 INT (Northwestern 4).

It's really not even close.
 

It may have also been mentioned here, but Iowa was without bith starting CB vs UW. May have helped Mertz look reasonable.
 

Iowa's offense has looked inept before and they've turned it around to get more than enough out of it to beat Minnesota many times before. That staff hates Fleck and going back through Ferentz's tenure they've made a point to have something special for Minnesota. Minnesota hasn't won a game between these two teams where both had something significant to play for in terms of rankings/bowl priority/etc in Ferentz's tenure. The only way to guarantee a trip to Indy as of now is to win both rivalry games...can that finally happen? Lord knows Minnesota has found a way to lose both many, many times. Outside of doing that, Minnesota will need somebody else to beat the rival that they lose to. I was disappointed Nebraksa lost to Purdue for this very reason. Minnesota needs them engaged and motivated as they are probably the team with the best chance to help them out in terms of winning the West.

Posters make very valid critique's of both Iowa and Wisconsin, but until I see Minnesota actually come out and be the more motivated/physical/prepared team in these rivarly games I am personally going to be dreading them.
 

Plato said:
The stars aligned for MN this year with a veteran QB, offensive line, an adequate defense and a very easy schedule compared to WI and IA.
If MN cannot win the West this year when will they?
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Minnesota had OSU (5-0), @Indiana (0-5) and Maryland (2-3) (crossover opponents 7-8)
Iowa had Indiana (0-5) @Maryland (2-3) and Penn St. (2-3) (crossover opponents 4-11)
Wisconsin had Penn St. (2-3), Michigan (4-1) and @ Rutgers (1-4) (crossover opponents 7-8)

IMHO, Wisconsin probably had it hardest but not by much. But Iowa's schedule was hands down the easiest which is why they were ranked so high...they played Indiana when they were ranked (which obviously was a mistake because they were unranked soon after the season started) and Penn St. when they were ranked #4 (which was obviously a mistake because they are at the bottom of the rankings now) and they played Iowa St. when they were ranked #9 (which was obviously a mistake as they are unranked now) which made everyone think they were awesome (which was obviously a mistake).

So we can win the west this year but it isn't because we had an easy schedule relative to Wisconsin and Iowa, it's because we are darn good and because Iowa sucks.
 

CoMn said:
Minnesota had OSU (5-0), @Indiana (0-5) and Maryland (2-3) (crossover opponents 7-8)
Iowa had Indiana (0-5) @Maryland (2-3) and Penn St. (2-3) (crossover opponents 4-11)
Wisconsin had Penn St. (2-3), Michigan (4-1) and @ Rutgers (1-4) (crossover opponents 7-8)

IMHO, Wisconsin probably had it hardest but not by much. But Iowa's schedule was hands down the easiest which is why they were ranked so high...they played Indiana when they were ranked (which obviously was a mistake because they were unranked soon after the season started) and Penn St. when they were ranked #4 (which was obviously a mistake because they are at the bottom of the rankings now) and they played Iowa St. when they were ranked #9 (which was obviously a mistake as they are unranked now) which made everyone think they were awesome (which was obviously a mistake).

So we can win the west this year but it isn't because we had an easy schedule relative to Wisconsin and Iowa, it's because we are darn good and because Iowa sucks.
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You have to forgive Plato....sometimes he forgets that he is pretending to be a Wisconsin and Minnesota fan (not possible).

Big Ten schedule wise the three teams are pretty comparable with their crossovers. Wisconsin got it slightly tougher but they didn't get Ohio State.

Of the 3 teams Iowa definitely has it easiest. Wisconsin's full schedule is probably the toughest due to playing Notre Dame, but in terms of the all important conference games it really isn't that different.
 

It’s crazy how sentiment changes considering Iowa was thought by some to be not only the West favorite but maybe Big Ten favorite as well three or four weeks ago. Now Iowa has skidded into the ditch, Ohio State has found it’s rhythm, and poor Indiana is 0-5 in conference. Penn State has faltered. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan State surging.

This thing will probably go down to the wire and outlook will change week to week, no doubt.
 

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