40 writers agree, Chryst will shine among first-year B1G coaches

The Big Ten West has become the butt of jokes on the Twitter dot com and a few other internetly places. Think of the league as a teeter-totter. On one side, you have all the burly kids from the Big Ten East. On the other, there's the lil' fellas.

There's an imbalance and it was punctuated mightily in last year's Big Ten title game. Wisconsin went in as a slight favorite and came out as chumburger in a brutal 59-0 defeat at the hands of Ohio State.

Ohio State is the defending national champion and picked by many to win it again this year. Mark Dantonio has Michigan State poised to be the state of Michigan team for a long, long time. James Franklin is recruiting like Superman at Penn State. Michigan has Jim Harbaugh.

The Big Ten East side of the teeter-totter is planted into the ground. The Big Ten West side can stand up, walk around and jump on the thing. It's not budging, not this year.

Adding oddness to the B1G West is the fact that its two premier programs - Wisconsin and Nebraska - will have new coaches.

Paul Chryst, a former Wisconsin quarterback and coordinator who grew up in Madison, returns to Badgerland after a 19-19 record in three years at Pittsburgh. He takes over a program that has played in three of the first four Big Ten Championship Games.

Mike Riley, a Prius-driving West Coaster formerly of Oregon State, takes over for Bo Pelini at Nebraska (a right sizing for Pelini maybe, who is now head coach at FCS Youngstown State).

Of course, Jim Harbaugh is at Michigan, his alma mater, which became a seething sinkhole of lost attendance and mediocre football during Brady Hoke's misbegotten term as head coach.

In the last 25 years, Nebraska is second among current Big Ten teams in winning percentage, Michigan is third and Wisconsin is fifth.

The East, with the silver gold rush that is Ohio State, can handle this. While it's waited for Michigan to be Michigan, Dantonio has translated his personal force majure into Michigan State. Even with Michigan blinking, the East is a beast.

The West is a different story. The league is wide open. Yes, that in and of itself can be compelling. You likely will get a round-robin showdown for the league title in November. That might even include Iowa.

Will the West champ be able to land a punch in the Big Ten title game on Dec. 5 at Indianapolis? There are questions and there are slings and arrows. The West will have to endure this until it proves it can hang with the East. This is where we're forced to allow the season to unfold and see if that can happen. Until then . . .

'My Big Ten West ballot would look like:

1) I guess Wisconsin?

2) Maaaaybe Nebraska?

3-6) LOL <throws darts>

7) Purdue. Definitely Purdue.”

- Matt Brown, SBNation college football writer

As part of the cleveland.com Big Ten preseason poll, 40 writers from around the conference were asked to pick whether Riley, Chryst or Harbaugh would win more games in year one.

The results?

' Paul Chryst - 34.5 votes

' Mike Riley - 5 votes

' Jim Harbaugh - 0.5 votes

One voter thought Harbaugh and Chryst would tie, with Wisconsin and Michigan each winning nine regular-season games.

Of the three new coaches, Harbaugh has the name recognition. You hear the name, you think baggy khakis and a blue baseball camp with a block M on it. You also might remember that one Super Bowl that Harbaugh almost won with the San Francisco 49ers. Maybe Harbaugh faces the most rebuilding? Or maybe it's the fact that Michigan is in the beastly East. Probably that, no?

The last poll question was what are reasonable expectations for Harbaugh in year 1?

The average was 7.15 victories.

That was the average of the 40 voters who were asked to project Michigan's win total in the 12-game regular season.

' 5 wins - 1 vote

' 6 wins - 5 votes

' 7 wins - 23 votes

' 8 wins - 9 votes

' 9 wins - 2 votes

By the way, Bruce Feldman of Foxsports.com ranked Michigan's nonconference schedule as the eighth-toughest among power conference teams. Harbaugh eventually should get Michigan back to competing for Big Ten titles. In year one, he might finish third among the new guys.

The Gazette's Scott Dochterman and Marc Morehouse participated in this poll. Here are our answers to these questions:

Scott's answers

How many games in the 12-game regular season will Michigan win in Jim Harbaugh's first year?:

7-5 (4-4 Big Ten)

Which first-year coach will win more games? Mike Riley at Nebraska, Paul Chryst at Wisconsin or Jim Harbaugh at Michigan?

: Mike Riley at Nebraska

Marc's answers

How many games in the 12-game regular season will Michigan win in Jim Harbaugh's first year?

: 6-6 for Harbichigan

Which first-year coach will win more games? Mike Riley at Nebraska, Paul Chryst at Wisconsin or Jim Harbaugh at Michigan?

: Mike Riley at Nebraska (Stealthy good hire, most to work with)

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com