RB Montee Ball rewarded fantasy owners with 4 TDs this past week. (Icon SMI)

Great opening week for the new look Big Ten.  Overall the schools went 10-2 for the week and had three players rush for over 100 yards.  Even more impressive were some of the debuts made at the quarterback position.  Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, Purdue and even a last minute substitution for Northwestern all started new quarterbacks from the previous season.

Who were the big playmakers of the week?  Who was the big disappointment?  How did Minnesota almost beat USC?  Lets take a look at the highlights from week one.

Wisconsin 51 -  UNLV 17
Welcome to Madison Russell Wilson.  I know all the attention was focused on how well he would play and overall, Wilson’s debut went well.  Now move over Russell, the star here appears to be Montee Ball.  Mr. 4 Touchdowns and 63 yards rushing.  He’s versatile also as one of Ball’s scores was on a pass from Wilson.  But Ball wasn’t even the leading rusher.  James White edged him out with 64 yards and a touchdown.  Wilson finished the night with 255 yards passing, 62 rushing and 2 touchdowns.  These Badgers look good.  Wicked Good! Read the rest of this entry →

QB Russell Wilson moves to Big 10 country to lead the Badgers (Icon SMI)

A new year is here and change has come to the Big Ten conference.  The Cornhuskers have arrived as well as a title game and two divisions now in the Big Ten.  It should be a great year for Big Ten fans but will it translate to performance for your fantasy team?  Let’s dig in and look at some of the players to grab and a few to let the others in your league take.

Starting in the Leaders division, the Buckeyes would have been the clear favorite to win this one but with player suspensions and a coaching change the Badgers have an opportunity to appear in the first title game.  Don’t be surprised to see Wisconsin take advantage of the Buckeyes situation this year and go for the Big Ten title game. Read the rest of this entry →

Can QB Kirk Cousins build on a great 2010 season? (Icon SMI)

A new year is here and change has come to the Big Ten conference.  The Cornhuskers have arrived as well as a title game in a two division Big Ten.  It should be a great year for Big Ten fans but will it translate to performance for your fantasy team?  Let’s dig in and look at some of the players to grab and a few to let the others in your league take.

We’ll start with the Legends division.  Nebraska joins this division and should be one of three schools contending for the title right away.  This should be the most exciting division this year with Michigan State and Iowa also fighting for the title.  Teams like Michigan and Northwestern that are both strong enough to be competitive and mess up the chances of anyone else planning to walk away with the title.

Michigan State Spartans:  Well this is easy.  Draft them all.  That’s right.  You want any key position player from the Spartans on your team this year.  The Spartans rolled to an 11-2 record last year and should be in a position to do the same this year.  The key players are back and they may well be the favorite to win the Big Ten Title.  QB Kirk Cousins returns for his Senior season.  Last year he only threw for 2800 yards and 20 touchdowns.  RB Edwin Baker also returns and should post similar numbers to last season.  Last year he rushed for 1200 yards and 13 touchdowns.  WR BJ Cunningham returns and last season he posted 611 yards and 9 touchdowns.  This group plays well together and they should continue to do excel this year.  Expect to see them playing for the Big Ten title and any of the Spartans players should help assist your fantasy team to a title as well.  The Spartan defense also returns many starters and should improve over last years average of 22.3 points allowed per game.  Look for K Dan Conroy to get plenty of points this year in an offense that should continue to average close to 30 points a game.   Read the rest of this entry →

QB Denard Robinson was a top fantasy contributor this season (Icon SMI)

As bowl season begins, it is time to look back at the Big Ten and pick a few fantasy studs from this year.  It’s hard to argue against this being one of the better years for Big Ten football.  There were a few surprises, a few familiar faces and lots of excitement this season.  Michigan revived its ability to be a team people talk about around the water cooler with perhaps the most surprising fantasy stud of them all, QB Denard Robinson.  Ohio State was poised to win the BCS title again until Wisconsin decided to announce to the rest of the country that its had different thoughts.  That surprise victory not only turned the chase for the Big Ten title upside down but it shook up the BCS title hunt as well.  Wisconsin continued to roll week after week by posting huge offensive performances.

But enough about memory lane, this is about the performers of 2010. Read the rest of this entry →

Will a big day by QB Denard Robinson give him claim to Fantasy Player of the Year? (Icon SMI)

It is a three team race to the finish for the Big Ten Championship.  Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin all enter the weekend with 6-1 conference record and will be looking to win this weekend to be able to claim a share of the conference title.  I am so glad the Big Ten is expanding and will finally put an end to this shared title business.  In five of the last ten seasons, the Big Ten title has been shared by multiple champions.  It is time for a title game to end this madness of trying to determine who will win the Big Ten.  On the other hand, it makes this weeks preview easy.

Michigan at Ohio State:

Earlier this year, I thought this could potentially be the last game that could trip the Buckeyes up on their way to a national championship.  Now I think this is the game where Michigan goes into Columbus and steals one away from the Buckeyes. Read the rest of this entry →