In Reply to: We have a couple really tough consecutive games on the schedule. posted by hotspot on March 27, 2026 at 18:51:53
And they didn't fire their coach.
They do have a bye before our game, but with ND, at Penn St, and Mich st, they could be 2-3. If they slip up and lose to Eastern Michigan, they will fire him during that bye week (he's 7-6, 5-7, 4-8 at Wisc).
In 2025 Massey ratings (1-136), here is our 2026 schedule:
UCLA in 2025: #72
Cal 71
SDSU 68
Purdue 88
Maryland 74
Oregon 4
Wisconsin 52
Michigan St 64
Nevada 120
Minnesota 54
Illinois 29
Michigan 19
USC 14
Our Non Conference lacks a second patsy, but we dodge two of the three monsters (OSU, Indy), and only play 2 of the 5 "good teams" that are rated between 14 and 20 (missing PSU, Iowa, and Wash).
Given that there are 18 teams, you have a 50% chance of playing each team (I know it doesn't work like that, but go with me on this for now). So playing 1/3 of the great teams and 40% of the good teams makes me think this is an average to easy B1G conference schedule.
If you replaced SDSU or Cal with San Jose St, I would call it easy.
If we are in the middle of the also ran group, we should run 3-3 against those, beat NV and go 1-1 vs Cal/SDSU. That puts us at 5-4, with tough U$C and Michigan games that are more likely losses, and a very likely loss vs Oregon.
So bet the under if you think we will be as bad as last year. If you think the new coach brought in new talent and better coaching (obviously yes on both counts), then we could go 4-2 against the pack and 3-0 in non conference. Beat $C and its 8 wins. I will take that.