College Football Best Bets - The Big Ten

After 17 years of coaching, I have finally decided that I’m a Bret Bielema guy. I’ve listened to a few interviews and he seems like a coach that gets it. I also like what he’s done since arriving in Champagne five years ago.

The Fighting Illini are coming off a 9-4 season and despite a lot of turnover on the offensive line, they're bringing back most of their weapons. But every weapon needs the rock, and someone has to sling that rock.  Who's that, you ask? A 6'3 225 lb with 4 years of college football expereince but the name of Katin Houser. 

I really like what Houser did at ECU last year. The Pirates went 8-4, and in three of those losses, he still played a pretty efficient game. The only bad one was against BYU but that Mormon's defense was gnarly. Houser seems like a prime QB to take a big step in his last season playing college football, and I think he can thrive in this Illinois offense with fifth year coordinator Barry Lunney Jr.

The schedule also shapes up very well. If Illinois can beat Duke in Week 2, there is a very real chance Illinois is sitting at 5-1 heading into their BYE week. To finish the season they avoid two very tough atmospheres by getting Nebraska and Iowa at home. Their back end road opponents are Maryland, UCLA and Northwestern.

Give me another 8-4 season (at minimum) for Bielema.

The Matt Rhule experience has not been exactly what the good people of Lincoln, Nebraska had hoped for. The Huskers are 19-19 during Rhule's three years as head coach. But the experience that was even more disappointing was the Dylan Raiola experience. A QB cosplaying as Patrick Mahomes was simply never going to work, and it didn’t. 

In comes Anthony Colandrea from UNLV. I think everyone is SLEEPING on this guy. I watched (and bet on) UNLV a few times last year - this kid was very exciting. A dual threat QB who passed for 3,500 yards and 23 touchdowns, while also running for 600 yards and 10 touchdowns. Yet you haven’t heard a peep about him because he doesn’t mimic the same stupid mannerisms as Mahomes.

Good. Keep sleeping. Including you Nebraska fans. Don't get cocky after reading this article. I want the entire fanbase to keep their heads down coming into this season. The only thing I want you to do is get familiar with Katy Perry because Matt Rhule is about to ROAR.

When Wisconsin announced they were hiring Luke Fickell a few years ago, I loved it. I honestly thought it was going to be one of the best coaching fits of my lifetime. Every year I make a large 3 unit wager on a win total. Without any research, I thought that wager was going to be Wisconsin. They also announced they were hiring UNC’s Offensive Coordinator Phil Longo. Things were changing in Madison. The ground and pound offense was transitioning into the air raid offense. But not so fast my friends...

I was listening to VSIN all summer and every fucking guest they had on to talk College Football also loved Wisconsin. Uh oh. I started to get nervous. I hated how trendy the Badgers had become. So then I decided to do a little research. They got some transfer QB from SMU but I can’t remember his name. Anyways I watched Wisconsins spring game and this fucking loser threw 4 interceptions. Could have been 5. He was awful. I said “I’m OUT”. Sure enough, Wisconsin was bad and soared under their win total.

It hasn’t been good for Wisconsin at all during Fickells tenure, but he does have excuses. A lot of injuries to the QB position and continuously one of the hardest schedules in the Big Ten. This year he’s got QB Colton Joseph from Old Dominion and a much easier schedule. All things pointing in the right direction for the Badgers...right?  

Nah. No thanks. Look, I’m sure Colton Joseph is a fine player and the Badgers might see SOME improvement, but I think Fickell is a turd, and it’s time for him to get flushed.