Illinois Football Preview

Here is my final Big Ten Football preview. To see previews for all 11 teams go to www.comradio.psu.edu, they should be up soon.

Illinois Fighting Illini

LAST SEASON: In 2008 Illinois went a disappointing 5-7 overall and 3-5 in the Big Ten. They finished in a three-way tie for sixth in the conference with Wisconsin and Minnesota. Sitting at 5-4 with a shot at a bowl game, the Illini lost their final three games to Western Michigan, Ohio State and Northwestern to fall short of bowl eligibility. This of course came one season after their trip to the 2007 Rose Bowl.

Wisconsin Football Preview

Here is the other Big Ten football preview I promised. To check out all the other Big Ten football previews go to www.comradio.psu.edu in the near future, as all 11 teams should be up by the start of classes at Penn State, which is August 24.

Wisconsin Badgers

LAST SEASON: In 2008 Wisconsin went 7-6 overall and 3-5 in the Big Ten, which left them in a three-way-tie for sixth with Illinois and Minnesota. The Badgers ended the season on a sour note with a 42-13 loss to Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl. In 2006, the first year under Brett Bielema, Wisconsin went 12-1, but saw their record drop to 9-4 in 2007 and then to just seven wins in ’08. They played a school-record six games that were decided by three points or less, collecting a 3-3 record in those games. The major problem for Wisconsin was mistakes and penalties, which cost them some of those close games.

Iowa Football Preview

I was asked to write two Big Ten Football team previews for Comradio’s website (www.comradio.psu.edu) so i figured I would throw them up on the blog as well. I don’t know when they will be released on comradio’s website, probably when all 11 are in so why not get a sneak preview with it right here.

Here is the preview for the Iowa Hawkeyes 2009 season. Wisconsin’s preview will be coming soon.

Iowa Hawkeyes

LAST SEASON:  In 2008 Iowa went 9-4 overall and 5-3 in the Big Ten to finish 20^th in the final rankings of the USA Today and AP polls. The 5-3 record left them in a tie for fourth with Northwestern in the end of the year Big Ten standings; however Iowa was the only Big Ten team to pick up a bowl game victory with their 31-10 defeat of SEC foe South Carolina in the Outback Bowl. Going into 2008, Kirk Ferentz was at a crossroads of his coaching career at Iowa, but Ferentz rallied his program from a 3-3 start to go 6-1 to end the season. The big victory of the season came when the Hawkeyes knocked off a previously unbeaten and third ranked Penn State squad 24-23 on a last second field goal to ruin Penn State’s National Title hopes.