Right: The once-suspended quarterback Kellen Lewis, who was recently reinstated, should be Indiana’s starting signal-caller when the season begins Aug. 30.
Athlon Sports Photo

This is the second in a series of previews on the 11 teams in the Big Ten in the order I predict them to finish.

INDIANA
Predicted finish in Big Ten: 10th, 1-7

Early last year, then-assistant head coach and offensive coordinator, Bill Lynch, was put in charge of spring practices for an ailing Terry Hoeppner, who took a leave of absence from his duties at Indiana to tend to his health issues.

On June 15, 2007, Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan named Lynch head coach for the 2007 season as Hoeppner continued to battle brain cancer. Five days after that announcement, Hoeppner died due to complications from his illness.

One thing that Hoeppner tried to instill to his players was “Play 13,” symbolizing the Hoosiers desire to play in a bowl game. While Indiana did not make it to the postseason with Hep at the helm, Lynch was able to do so as Indiana played inspired football by finishing the 2007 regular season with a 7-5 record.

For the first time since 1993, Indiana played a thirteenth game last season as the Hoosiers took on Oklahoma State in the Insight Bowl, falling to the Cowboys 49-33.

Lynch has 13 starters returning, seven on defense and six on offense, one of which may or may not be junior quarterback Kellen Lewis, who was suspended indefinitely back in March for breaking an unspecified team rule but was recently reinstated.

Lynch said during the Big Ten media days that there’s going to be competition in fall camp for the starting quarterback job. Oh really? Is that so?

It’s going to be a competitive camp because one of the things that happens, if you miss spring practice, you miss all those opportunities to get better, but it also gives somebody else a chance to prove they can play. Ben Chappell is a guy who can play very, very good. He’s a different kind of quarterback. He’s a big strong thrower. He doesn’t have the same ability to make plays with his feet like Kellen, but they’re going to compete when they get there.”

Lewis re-wrote the IU record books for both passing and total offense as a sophomore. He threw for a school-record 3,043 yards with 28 touchdowns in 2007 while also leading the team with 736 rushing yards and nine more scores.

Chappell, also a junior, threw just two passes in two games last season, one of which was completed and the other was intercepted.

Even though Lewis’ favorite target, James Hardy, skipped his senior season to enter the NFL, he will still have two very capable receivers in junior Andrew Means, who hauled in 48 passes for 559 yards, and Ray Fisher, who had 482 yards on 52 receptions and four TDs.

In the backfield, senior scatback Marcus Thigpen and junior powerback Bryan Payton also return. Combined, they both rushed for 949 yards and four touchdowns.

In 2007, the Hoosiers averaged 31.7 points per game, good for third-best in the Big Ten, but the defense yielded 28.5 points per outing, ranking IU ninth-worst in conference.

Top returning defensive player is junior right end Greg Middleton, who led the nation with 16 sacks last season. Also back in the fold is the top tackler from a year ago, junior strong safety Austin Thomas, with 112 total stops in 2007.

One thing that Indiana has going for it entering the 2008 season is that play a very weak schedule. The Hoosiers being this year’s campaign by playing Western Kentucky, Murray State, and Ball State all at home before taking on Michigan State to begin conference play in Bloomington. In all, IU will play eight of their 12 games at Memorial Stadium. And the Crimson & Cream does not have to play either Ohio State or Michigan this season.

Given the cream puff schedule, Indiana could get to six wins and be bowl-eligible, but it appears that only two of those will come in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers toughest stretch of the season is their last three games, taking on Wisconsin at home before traveling to Penn State and Purdue.

Big Ten Schedule

Sept. 27 vs. Michigan State, Loss
Oct. 4 @ Minnesota, Win
Oct. 11 vs. Iowa, Loss
Oct. 18 @ Illinois, Loss
Oct. 25 vs. Northwestern, Loss
Nov. 8 vs. Wisconsin, Loss
Nov. 15 @ Penn State, Loss
Nov. 22 @ Purdue, Loss

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Right: Sophomore quarterback Adam Weber returns after tossing 24 touchdowns to go along with 19 interceptions, last season.
AP Photo/Paul Battaglia

This is a first in a series of previews of the 11 teams in the Big Ten in the order I predict them to finish.

MINNESOTA
Predicted finish in Big Ten: 11th, 0-8

Quickly, can you name the Big Ten school that has gone the longest without a Rose Bowl appearance?

That would Minnesota, who last played in Pasadena 47 years ago when the Golden Gophers defeated UCLA 21-3 back in 1962, led by the first African American named All-American at the quarterback position, Sandy Stephens.

But that was the golden age of gridiron glory for Gopher football as Minnesota won a national championship in 1960, and made consecutive trips to the Rose Bowl in ’61 and ’62. The last time the Maroon & Gold laid claim to a Big Ten championship was in 1967.

While the 60s may have been the pinnacle of Minnesota football, last season was definitely a low point after the Gophers sustained the most losses for one season in school history by going 1-11 during the 2007 campaign.

Second-year head coach Tim Brewster does have 15 starters coming back from last season as the Gophers play their 29th and final year at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome before moving into TCF Bank Stadium, an on-campus facility seating 50,200 fans.

Sophomore quarterback Adam Weber returns as a starter after passing for 2,895 yards and 24 touchdowns as a freshman last season. But he also threw 19 interceptions a year ago, a number that has drop as the Gophers ranked last in the Big Ten in turnover margin (-15). Weber is also the top returning rusher after gaining 617 yards on 146 carries with five more scores in 2007.

Junior Eric Decker, who hauled in 67 passes for 909 yards and nine TDs last year, is Weber’s top returning receiver.

Defensively, the Gophers are led by senior inside linebacker Deon Hightower, who recorded 70 stops last season.

Minnesota has four very winnable games to start the season before traveling to Columbus to take on the Buckeyes in both team’s Big Ten opener on Sept. 27. While the Gophers may enter Ohio Stadium with a record of 4-0, they may not win another game the rest of the season.

One thing is for sure, if Minnesota wants to be competitive during conference play, the defense has to vastly improve. Last season, the Gophers finished dead-last in the Big Ten and at or near the bottom among all 119 Division I-A teams in all four major statistical categories. Minnesota ranked 109th in scoring defense (36.7 ppg), 114th in rushing defense (229.3 ypg), 115th in passing defense (289.3 ypg), and 119th in total defense (518.7 ypg).

Big Ten Schedule

Sept. 27 @ Ohio State, Loss
Oct. 4 vs. Indiana, Loss
Oct. 11 @ Illinois, Loss
Oct. 25 @ Purdue, Loss
Nov. 1 vs. Northwestern, Loss
Nov. 8 vs. Michigan, Loss
Nov. 15 @ Wisconsin, Loss
Nov. 22 vs. Iowa, Loss

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Right: Ohio State running back Chris “Beanie” Wells was tabbed by the media as the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. SI Photo

It’s official. The other 10 teams in the Big Ten can just stay home because the Ohio State Buckeyes are going to run away with their fourth straight conference title and could be the first team ever to win back-to-back-to-back outright crowns.

But, according to the media, there are a few teams that might get in Ohio State’s way during the course of league play.

Wisconsin, which went 9-4 overall last year and had a 5-3 mark in the Big Ten, was picked second. Bret Bielema and his Badgers return 17 starters from last season, including junior running back P.J. Hill and senior tight end Travis Beckum.

The media chose Illinois as the third-best team in the Big Ten after the Fighting Illini also went 9-4 overall and 6-2 in league play last year, and head coach Ron Zook has 13 starters returning from a team that played in the Rose Bowl that include junior quarterback Juice Williams, senior defensive end Will Davis, and junior cornerback Vontae Davis.

The media contingent of the Big Ten Confernce only selects the top three teams.

Ohio State running back Chris “Beanie” Wells was named the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year while teammate and linebacker James Laurinaitis was tabbed Preseason Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season.

Ohio State’s Wells headlines the conference’s offensive players this season after an impressive 2007 campaign that saw him rush for 1,609 yards, a total that ranks fourth-best in OSU single-season history. The junior also scampered for 15 touchdowns last season and was tabbed a first-team All-Big Ten selection and a second-team All-American by The Sporting News.

Laurinaitis received the Big Ten’s top preseason defensive honor after concluding his junior season as a consensus All-American, Butkus Award winner and the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. He is the second OSU linebacker in the last five years to earn back-to-back preseason accolades after A.J. Hawk was named the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005. Laurinaitis led the team with 121 tackles and added two interceptions and five sacks in 2007.

In other news, reserve defensive back was granted his release to play elsewhere according to Tim May of The Columbus Dispatch.

Clifford was arrested earlier this month when he punched a pair of employees at a Cincinnati sports bar.

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Right: Bengals’ quarterback Carson Palmer takes a break from his football duties to pose with a new feminine hygiene product from Proctor & Gamble. P&G Photo

Earlier this morning for a reason unknown to me, my radio was tuned to 610 WTVN-AM and not at its’ customary position of 101.1 on the FM dial.

Surprisingly while listening to 610, I was not force-fed conservative political talk, but sports with Matt McCoy, who does a very good job when I do tune in to that station during football season. During his show, McCoy played a segment from a Los Angeles radio station where former Southern Crackifornia and current Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer bashed the Buckeyes.

On Thursday, a KLAC-AM 570 sports talk show hosted by Petros Papadakis and Matt “Money” Smith known as Petros & Money, or PMS for short, interviewed the only Bengal on the roster who has not been arrested in the last 12 months during their afternoon drive time slot.

The city of Cincinnati, which is located in the state of Ohio, not Kentucky, is where Palmer’s paychecks come from, but it didn’t seem to matter as he made some pretty boisterous statements.

By the way, Palmer hopes to be at Ohio Stadium next year to watch his Trojans put a thumping on the Buckeyes, as long as the Bengals play a home game the day after.

Here’s the interview in its’ entirety from KLAC-AM 570 on the PMS Show.

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Right: Sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford leads my No. 1 team in the nation. Sports Illustrated Photo

As the sweltering heat settles in throughout central Ohio, it seems that the arrival of football season and its’ cool autumn air is far off in the distance. Yet, Ohio State’s season-opener is now less than six weeks away, and fall camp begins in just two weeks on August 4. The 2008 Big Ten Football Media Days at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago is slated to start next Thursday, July 24, so this year’s gridiron edition is actually just around the corner.

So for the next 12 days, sit back with a cold beverage as I give you my college football previews. Today I start with my preseason Top 25 college football teams in the nation. Starting on Monday, I will countdown the best teams in the Big Ten.

1. Oklahoma Sooners

I’m not necessarily saying that Oklahoma has the most talented team in the country, but with their schedule and if OU’s defense plays as well as their offense should, head coach Bob Stoops and his Sooners will have a date with Ohio State in the BCS National Championship game in Miami come January.

Sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford is the real deal after throwing for 3,121 yards and 36 touchdowns during his freshman campaign. He also was the nation’s top-rated passer last season (176.5). His top returning receiver is senior wideout Juaquin Iglesias, who hauled in 68 of Bradford’s passes last year for 907 yards and five scores. In the backfield, the duo of sophomore DeMarco Murray and junior Chris Brown combined to rush for 1,375 yards while reaching paydirt 22 times in 2007.

2. Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio State was supposedly a year away from contending for a national title last year, but wound up in the championship game anyway. This year’s team has two legitimate Heisman Trophy contenders and several preseason All-Americans, so the Buckeyes should be back for a third-straight year.

Senior quarterback Todd Boeckman, who threw for 2,379 yards and 25 touchdowns last season, needs to manage the game better and avoid the mistakes and turnovers that plagued him during latter stages of the 2007 season. He will get some help as freshman signal-caller Terrelle Pryor will see action as a change-of-pace to Boeckman with his mobility. Junior running back Chris Wells will get plenty of chances toting the rock, too, after rushing for 1,609 yards and 15 scores last year.

The defense will be one of the best in the country led by senior linebackers James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman, along with senior cornerback Malcolm Jenkins.

3. Georgia Bulldogs

Talent-wise, Georgia may be the best team in the country, but their schedule is brutal. The Bulldogs play at Arizona State, at LSU, and at Auburn, plus they will take on the Florida Gators in Jacksonville, Fla., dubbed “The World’s Largest Cocktail Redneck Party.”

The Bulldogs return 17 starters on both sides of the ball including the best quarterback in the SEC not named Tebow, junior Matthew Stafford, who threw for 2,523 yards with 19 touchdowns, and one of the best running backs in the nation, sophomore Knowshon Moreno, who gained 1,334 yards on the ground with 14 scores as a freshman.

The defense is led by senior linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, who had 93 total tackles in 2007, but the Bulldogs’ strength lies in the defensive line. Junior defensive tackle Geno Atkins had 7.5 sacks last season.

4. Southern California Trojans

USC enters the 2008 campaign without a proven quarterback. Head coach Pete Carroll named junior Mark Sanchez the starter after beating out Arkansas transfer Mitch Mustain following spring practice. Last season, Sanchez filled in for an injured John David Booty, starting three games while playing in three others and threw for 695 yards while tossing seven touchdown passes and five interceptions.

Sanchez, part of the 2005 recruiting class, was the top-rated, pro-style quarterback prospect that year ahead of other notables such as former Ohio State QB Rob Schoenhoft (No. 6) and Texas’ Colt McCoy (No. 15).

Mustain was the second-best, pro-style quarterback prospect from the class of 2006, one slot below Georgia’s Matthew Stafford. He split time with Casey Dick as a true freshman for the Razorbacks and threw for 894 yards with 10 touchdown passes and nine interceptions.

Carroll has a stable of swift running backs that include the top returning rusher, junior Stafon Johnson (98 carries, 673 yards, five TDs), along with sophomores Joe McKnight and C.J. Gable.

The Trojans’ defensive unit may be the best in college football. Leading the way is senior defensive tackle Fili Moala, senior linebackers Brian Cushing and Rey Maualuga, and junior free safety Taylor Mays.

If USC can get by Ohio State, they could easily find themselves in the BCS title game, and like the Buckeyes, their schedule is pretty much downhill after September 13, though the Men of Troy will have to end the season at crosstown rival UCLA, who should be better this season.

5. Florida Gators

Florida has been picked by Athlon Sports as their preseason No. 1, but I don’t understand why.

Sure, the Gators return Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Tim Tebow and running back/wide receiver/hot dog vendor Percy Harvin, but while the defense returns eight starters, it’s largely the same unit that gave up 41 points to Michigan in the Capital One Bowl last January, and they will have to vastly improve as the season wears on to compete for any titles.

…and the rest of my preseason top 25…

6. Clemson
7. Missouri
8. West Virginia
9. LSU
10. Texas
11. Kansas
12. Auburn
13. Arizona State
14. Wisconsin
15. Oregon
16. BYU
17. Texas Tech
18. Illinois
19. South Florida
20. Tennessee
21. Virginia Tech
22. Wake Forest
23. Fresno State
24. Alabama
25. Michigan State

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