Written by Lloyd Ribner III (@Ribner3)
Outside of the Grand Ballroom at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago
With the media converging on Chicago this week the writers
decided it was a good time to vote and announce their opinions on the upcoming
Big Ten season. While there are always
biases and agendas amongst media members, the fact remains that they cover
these teams daily, have access that most can only dream of, and for the most
part attempt to hide those prejudices as much as possible.
While preseason polls and voting does not actually mean a thing, that does not
stop our eyes from glancing to see where are team was ranked, or our coach was
selected. There is something about
rankings that interests us, even if we say we don’t want to be. It’s a human condition, and heck, its plain
fun to see your schools name above their rivals.
The Big Ten media had some good news for the Hoosiers as
well as some “bad news”. I believe that
the bad news should really be tempered if you take a step back and look at it,
which we will do in just a moment. But
first the good stuff!
Hoosiers Named Big Ten Team Most Likely To Surprise in
2013
That’s right, the conference media is giving the Hoosier
program its due. Those who cover the
teams voted Indiana into the top spot under the category “Big Ten team that
will be the most surprising this season”.
They did it in resounding fashion as well. The Hoosiers received half of the 26 overall
votes, more than doubling the support for second place Northwestern who
received 6 votes.
In addition there were not any decanters, as the Hoosiers were one of four
teams, along with Illinois, Ohio State and Purdue, to not receive a vote for
“Big Ten team that will be most disappointing this season”.
Indiana being a surprise team won’t come as a shock to
Hoosiers fans that have raised their expectations heading into 2013. However, knowing that the rest of the
conference recognizes the growth of the program should be a feather in their
cap.
Here are the full voting results of both polls:
Big Ten team that will be most disappointing this season
1.
Michigan State 6
2.
Michigan 5
3.
Northwestern 4
3.
Iowa 4
5.
Nebraska 3
6.
Penn State 2
7.
Minnesota 1
7.
Wisconsin 1
Big Ten team that will be the most surprising this season
1.
Indiana 13
2.
Northwestern 6
3. Michigan State 2
4.
Purdue 2
5.
Iowa 1
6.
Wisconsin 1
7.
Minnesota 1
Coach Kevin Wilson Gets Shutout of Best Coach Balloting
Alright,
so the headline looks ugly, and to be honest, can we really blame them? During the first two years of Wilson’s tenure
he has compiled a 5-19 record with just two Big Ten wins to his name. On paper it is far from inspiring. However, when you delve deeper into the
issues facing the program, and the personnel turnover the head coach had to
deal with, you know that the head coach had more to do than just win on
Saturdays.
Furthermore,
the voting for this award is rather slanted, and hard to break into. Voters pick their top three candidates and
the votes are tallied up. First and
foremost I think it would be rather difficult for anyone to knock Ohio State’s
Urban Meyer, who received 21 of the 26 first place votes, off his perch. Then you have the underdog story of Pat
Fitzgerald at his alma mater Northwestern, as well as the trials and
tribulations paired with a major program that Bill O’Brien has to deal with.
That
being said coaches like Brady Hoke, who has supposedly returned the luster back
to a legendary Michigan program and Nebraska’s Bo Pelini who is one of just 11
coaches in history to win nine games in each of his five years were both
sitting outside of the top-4.
Basically
what I am trying to say is, this is a tough list to crack. So it shouldn’t be looked at as a negative
that Kevin Wilson didn’t make the list.
Instead, the more tempered approach would be that him not being included
on the list at all will lead to even more votes for Big Ten coach of the year
should the team cooperate with the medias expectations and shock the
conference.
Here
are the full voting results:
Best coach balloting (voters picked top three)
(First-place votes) Total points
1. Urban Meyer, Ohio State
(21) 71
2. Pat Fitzgerald,
Northwestern (4) 44
3. Bill O’Brien, Penn State
(1) 15
4. Mark Dantonio, Michigan
State 10
5. Brady Hoke, Michigan 9
6. Bo Pelini, Nebraska 2