2015 Michigan State Spartans Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/17/2015

Sparty has become a juggernaut in the Big Ten. After decades as an entertaining-but-underachieving sideshow in the league, Michigan State has become a Top 10 staple. And if Ohio State slips up at all this season then the Spartans are the team that may be best equipped to win the Big Ten title.

2015 Wisconsin Badgers Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/17/2015

The Badgers are on to their third coach in four years - not counting Barry Alvarez's cameo in the bowl game - with Paul Chryst now taking over after Gary Andersen's surprising departure. Wisconsin is learning new systems on both sides of the ball and trying to replace All-American back Melvin Gordon. But they should again be a factor in the Big Ten.

2015 Michigan Wolverines Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/17/2015

Jim Harbaugh brings his khakis and unblemished track record of success to Ann Arbor to try to resurrect a Michigan program that has floundered since the start of the 2008 season. Harbaugh has a veteran team to work with and will be installing new systems on both sides of the ball; systems similar to the ones he used to reinvigorate Stanford from 2007-2010.

2015 Nebraska Cornhuskers Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/17/2015

Bo Pelini was definitely a weird dude who was never fully embraced in Lincoln. However, all he did was lead the Cornhuskers to seven straight seasons with nine or more wins and exactly four losses. That wasn't good enough. Now Pelini is gone, and Mike Riley managed to fail his way upwards from Oregon State, taking over a stacked Nebraska program.

2015 Penn State Nittany Lions Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/17/2015

I was down on Penn State last year, but this team definitely exceeded my expectations, winning seven games and being incredibly competitive in nearly all of their losses. In fact, four of their six losses were by either five points or less or in overtime. They are much more experienced this year and plenty motivated after their bowl ban was lifted. But they still have a gap to close with the other elite teams in the league.

2015 Minnesota Golden Gophers Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/17/2015

Jerry Kill has very quietly done a great job of rebuilding the Minnesota program, leading them to back-to-back eight-win seasons. They are a respectable 22-19 in their last three years compared to a putrid 20-42 mark in the five seasons prior. And perhaps more than any team in the league, the Gophers are the Big Ten's X-Factor this year.

2015 Iowa Hawkeyes Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/17/2015

I really have no idea how Kirk Ferentz still has a job. Iowa had one of the easiest schedules in the country last year and was basically handed nine regular-season wins. Instead they flopped their way to 7-5 and then got wrecked by Tennessee in the bowl game. I don't see how this season is going to be any better.

2015 Northwestern Wildcats Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/17/2015

This is a crucial season for Pat Fitzgerald in Evanston. Northwestern posted six straight regular seasons at .500 or better from 2007-2012, capped with a 10-win campaign in 2012. But they've had back-to-back losing seasons and are struggling to keep up in a rapidly-changing league.

2015 Maryland Terrapins Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/17/2015

Last year I predicted that the Terps would be more competitive in the Big Ten than they were being given credit for. They responded with a respectable 4-4 league record and a 7-5 regular season that featured wins at Penn State and Michigan. It was a great rookie campaign for the program in their new home. But it's going to be much tougher sledding in Year 2 in the Big Ten.

2015 Illinois Fighting Illini Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/17/2015

I was one of the only football handicappers in the country that was buying Illinois stock last year, easily predicting that the Illini would sail over their season win total. They didn't disappoint, winning six games and making it into a bowl game. They have a load of starters back. But a more difficult schedule should keep them from coming close to that number of wins this year.

2015 Indiana Hoosiers Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/17/2015

Last year the Hoosiers entered the season thinking they had enough firepower to snap their seven-year bowl-less streak and make their second postseason appearance in 22 years. However, quarterback Nate Sudfeld got injured early, and they gave away a must-win game against Bowling Green in Week 2. Things got away from them in league play, and Indiana was a dead-man walking by November.

2015 Purdue Boilermakers Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/17/2015

I came up short with my prediction for Purdue last year as I thought they would get to four wins and go 'over'. A one-point loss at Minnesota and a touchdown defeat at Indiana in the season finale prevented that from coming to fruition. I don't think they'll get that close again this year.

2015 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/17/2015

I predicted last year that Rutgers would easily surpass their modest expectations in their first trip through the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights have been a quietly solid program for a decade now. They recruit tough, hard-nosed, physical kids to come to Jersey, so they will have no problem banging heads in this league. However, this would've been a rebuilding year no matter what conference they were in, and the Knights should struggle in 2015.

2015 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/16/2015

A 7-1 start to the 2014 season meant the Irish had gone 28-6 under Brian Kelly since the start of the 2012 season. But then the train came off the tracks with the Irish losing four straight games to close the regular season. The Irish salvaged some pride with a bowl win over LSU. But the season evoked a lot of mixed emotions for Irish backers, with them falling short of their 7.5 season win total mark.

2015 BYU Cougars Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/16/2015

I correctly predicted that BYU would stay 'under' their season win total last year, winning just eight games against an 8.5 total. They were impressively streaky last season, sandwiching a four-game losing streak between a pair of four-game winning streaks that included upset wins at Texas and Cal. The season ended with an OT bowl loss against upstart Memphis.

2015 Army Black Knights Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/16/2015

I felt that Army blew a golden opportunity for a bowl-eligible season in 2014, sliding to just four wins despite an extremely experienced squad. Losses to bad teams like Wake Forest (by 3), Yale (in overtime), and Kent State (by 22) really sabotaged what could've been an excellent year.

2015 Cincinnati Bearcats Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/16/2015

I was on the Cincinnati bandwagon last year, predicting at least eight wins and an easy 'over' against the season win total. They did me one better, taking nine victories into their bowl game against Virginia Tech. Now I think they can do it again, and I'm not in a hurry to bet against a school that has been one of the most undervalued groups in the country over the past decade.

2015 Central Florida Knights Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/16/2015

I expected a much bigger hangover for the Golden Knights last year after their dream 2013 run (12-1 with an upset BCS Bowl win). However, UCF overcame the loss of Blake Bortles and shook off a brutal last-second loss in Ireland in the opener against Penn State to tally nine wins and post another solid year.

2015 South Florida Bulls Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/16/2015

The fact that South Florida, as recently as 2008, was a legit Top 10 team in the country now seems like some strange fever dream. The forgotten stepchild of Florida football has gone a combined 9-27 over the last three seasons, and they don't seem like they are close to a breakthrough in Willie Taggart's crucial third season in Tampa.

2015 East Carolina Pirates Season Win Total Picks and NCAA Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 7/16/2015

Ruffin McNeill's Pirates got off to a blistering start to 2014, winning six of their first seven games and scoring back-to-back upsets of Virginia Tech - in Blacksburg! - and North Carolina. They posted a respectable 5-3 showing in their first season in the American Athletic (stepping up from Conference USA), and they played Florida tough in a bowl loss last December.