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The Herbies: Kirk Herbstreit makes B1G predictions
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Kirk Herbstreit is regarded as one of the best college football analysts around the sport. So when he makes his preseason predictions, people tend to listen.
The ESPN analyst announced his favorite preseason picks for the 2018 season, or otherwise known as The Herbie Awards. He had plenty of B1G talk throughout his preseason mentions.
Here are some of the B1G names and favorites that made Herbstreit’s lists, which included several categories:
- Ultimate game-changer: Nick Bosa, Ohio State
- Most exciting player: Trace McSorley, Penn State
- Best tandems: Rashan Gary/Chase Winovich, Michigan
- Throwback players: Joe Bachie, Michigan State
- Breakout star: Tarik Black, Michigan
- Rodney Dangerfield (no respect): Brian Lewerke, Michigan State
- All-intangible: Joe Bachie, Michigan State
- Most unselfish: Tommy Stevens, Penn State
- Ultimate Herbie: Khari Willis, Michigan State
- Ultimate Herbie: Trace McSorley, Penn State
- Biggest shoes to fill: Miles Sanders, Penn State
- Welcome back: Tarik Black, Michigan
- Welcome back: John Reid, Penn State
To go along with those individual favorites for the 2018 season, Herbstreit also picked his favorite atmospheres, the top games and his conference favorites.
- Herbstreit listed Beaver Stadium (Penn State) and Kinnick Stadium (Iowa) among the best atmospheres in college football and labeled the student sections at Penn State and Wisconsin as some of the best in the country.
- Two of the games Herbstreit is most looking forward to is Ohio State-Penn State and Michigan-Michigan State.
- Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin were listed among having the best bands.
- Herbstreit is picking Nebraska to take a step forward this season
- Minnesota will be the surprise team from the conference
- Herbstreit’s B1G Championship Game pick: Penn State over Wisconsin.
That’s the brief — actually very brief — version of the 2018 preseason Herbies. To check out the full preview, you can visit ESPN.com.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB