2006 Big Ten College Football Predictions & Season Preview


June 5, 2008 | Posted By Larry Cook

Check out our 2007 Big Ten Football Predictions!

When putting together the 2006 Big 10 football preview it was tough not to notice that three teams have legitimate shots at national glory. We’ll take a look today at what to expect from the top three teams in the conference this year.

Let’s get started with the team that everyone thinks is going to win the conference and maybe play for a national title come January in the Ohio State Buckeyes. Pinnacle is listing the Buckeyes at +700 to win the BCS crown and Bodog has the team at even money to win the Big 10. If you take a look at their schedule you will find a lot of big games that they are going to need to win in order to make either of those two things happen. The first is September 9th when they head to Austin to take on Texas. This is one of their two losses from a year ago, but things go a little bit differently this year as Texas won’t have Young to scramble around on the defense. The next big game is September 30th when they head to Iowa to take on the Hawks. This is going to be a night game in front of a national audience, one that could go either way. The final question mark on the schedule is when the team hosts Michigan on November 18th. Always important, this year it could be even more so the case if both of these squads enter it undefeated and with the Big 10 title on the line. Ohio State is the most talented of the bunch, but these three games are the ones to circle.

Bodog has Michigan as the next team to beat and they are getting 2 to 1 odds for their backers, but Pinnacle has them as heavy dogs, +2933, to win the national title. There are four games on Michigan’s schedule that Wolverine fans need to hold their breath over. The first is September 16th when they head to South Bend and take what probably is the best team in the nation in Notre Dame. That will be a tough game to handle, but has no effect on this year’s Big 10 standings. Next up is October 14th and October 21st when they head to Penn State and then play host to Iowa. Both of these two teams are going to be difficult matchups this season, but Iowa is the better of the two and they get the advantage of playing at home with the Hawks. We see them with a strong chance to skate by which would set up a great matchup at Ohio State on November 18th. The Buckeyes will have the edge on talent and being able to draw on their home crowd, but this series is always tight and anything can happen with Michigan’s ability.

Iowa is closely behind Michigan when it comes to talent and Pinnacle has shown us just that by placing them at +3195 to win the title this year, while Bodog has them fourth in the Big 10 at 6 to 1. This might be the best value shown on the board as the team is more than capable of beating Ohio State at home and at Michigan. With only two real big games on the schedule, this team could quite possibly sneak under the radar and perform to the lofty expectations that were supposed to be bestowed on last year’s squad.

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