Ranking the 2016 Opponents by Difficulty

[nickhawk]

Here is how I would rank the upcoming 2016 Football Opponents in terms of Difficulty in winning:

1. Michigan (Home) - Night game - could be College Game Day Matchup
2. Nebraska (Home) - They return a QB with plenty of experience
3. Wisconsin (Home)
4. Penn State (Away)
5. North Dakota State (Home)
6. Minnesota (Away)
7. Northwestern (Home)
8. Illinois (Away)
9. Purdue (Away)
10. ISU (Home)
11. Rutgers (Away)
12. Miami Ohio (Home)

 

[HawkGold]

Illinois and NW could be sleepers. NW is NW. Illinois is dangerous. They weren't that far away from being a good team last year. Some weaknesses Lovie can't fix that fast. They were weak in the defensive 2ndary and he can help there. Very experienced QB. Both teams could equal PSU or close. NW is crazy sometimes. IL had solid D Line and LBs. Good RBs. Awful receiving corp. Awful O Line which could be improved. Smith will begin to make IL look like...Iowa if he coaches like he did da Bears. I wasn't glad for this hire. The positive side is that as much as they pay him on the backside, if he fails, they will be in trouble. NFL does not equal college.

 

[ibahawkeye]

Here is how I would rank the upcoming 2016 Football Opponents in terms of Difficulty in winning:

1. Michigan (Home) - Night game - could be College Game Day Matchup
2. Nebraska (Home) - They return a QB with plenty of experience
3. Wisconsin (Home)
4. Penn State (Away)
5. North Dakota State (Home)
6. Minnesota (Away)
7. Northwestern (Home)
8. Illinois (Away)
9. Purdue (Away)
10. ISU (Home)
11. Rutgers (Away)
12. Miami Ohio (Home)

Seeing a game against an FCS team at home ranked #5 is just wrong.

I just can't make up my mind if I'm not respecting the Bison enough or schools like Minnesota, ILL and Purdue are a that big of a joke. We know Rutgers is a joke. Also, ISU always gives us fits.

So I'm good with most of your list but I'm going to move the Bison game down quite a bit.

1. Mich
2. Neb
3. Wisc
4. Penn St (away)
5. Minnesota (away)
6. Northwestern
7. ILL (away)
8. ISU
9. North Dakota State
10. Purdue (away)
11. Rutgers (away)
12. Miami Oh

 

[InGoodCo]

IMO

1. Michigan - top 10 team material depending what happens under center
2. PSU - cause it's on the road
3. Minne - cause it's on the road
4. Northwestern - 2nd best team in the division last year - return just as much as Nebraska and were light years ahead of them as far as being good at football.
5. Ill - cause its on the road
6. Wisci
7. Nebraska - who do they return? Armpunt? Not a single Dlineman - not much on the Oline - a possession WR and an unproven wr/punt returning stand out who is coming off major surgery... they had no one in the back field last season... Nerbaska is way to high on these lists IMO
8. ISU - cause they are ISU
9. North Dakota State - cause you have to worry about losing to FCS schools when you keep booking the best ones in the sport
10. Rutgers
11. Purdue
12 Miami of Ohio