This upcoming weekend Ohio State faces Indiana for a potential spot in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Every week after the Big Ten games, I will bring you some B1G thoughts on everything that happened! This will include analysis, stats, key players, moments, and more. With the Big Ten expanding from 14 teams to 18 teams in 2024, we will have a bunch of storylines to follow.
Ryan Day and Ohio State are all in for the 2024 season. Is Oregon a national championship contender or will they stumble in their first Big Ten season? How do the former members of the Big Ten West fair in the new divisionless format?
This article tracks all these storylines and more as the Big Ten hopes to win back-to-back national championships. Check out the I-80 Football Show for more in-depth analysis and to preview the next week of B1G games.
Ohio State vs. Indiana in another top-five Big Ten showdown
Ohio State welcomes Indiana with a spot in the Big Ten championship game on the line, just as we thought. In August we could’ve never predicted this, but we’ve been heading to this major collision for weeks now.
Indiana, a team with no expectations, has been dominant across an easy schedule racking up multiple double-digit wins. Ohio State, the team with the assumed $20 million roster and national championship expectations, lost to Oregon and struggled against Nebraska but seems to be on the right track.
For both of these teams, this is the start of a playoff run — a top-five showdown followed by the Big Ten Championship in two weeks and the start of the 12-team College Football Playoff in three.
Indiana has questions due to playing an easy schedule. Will they be able to compete against someone of Ohio State’s caliber with a roster built for this moment, or will they prove the doubters wrong in a non-competitive showing? Ohio State has shown some flaws, especially at cornerback, and Indiana may just have the quarterback and wide receivers to attack this area.
On the other side of the ball, Ohio State and Jim Knowles must be salivating at the Michigan tape, where Indiana’s offensive line got dominated and had constant pressure on Kurtis Rourke all game.
This is why the games are played on the field. No matter what happens, both of these teams should be in the 12-team playoff regardless of what the national media pundits are saying about inserting two-loss SEC teams.
It should’ve never come down to this Nebraska… I believed in you!
Nebraska was primed for a big season. I predicted that they could easily win nine games, but instead they are once again in November needing a win to be bowl eligible while it feels like their season is slipping away from them.
Nebraska is 0-9 since 2019 in games that would clinch bowl eligibility. Last season, after winning their fifth game in October, Nebraska lost all four games in November by less than seven points. This year Nebraska reached five wins in only six games, but has since gone on a four-game losing streak. Matt Rhule historically excels in his second season at a program, which makes this season even more confusing.
Nebraska brought back a large chunk of their roster, added key pieces in the transfer portal, and brought in five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola. This year was supposed to be different. Instead, Nebraska is sliding and must win against Wisconsin or Iowa in their final two games to reach a bowl game.
The Cornhusker faithful have held down this program through years of mediocrity, and as soon as they had a real reason to hope, the rug gets pulled out from underneath them. Nebraska must first find a way to win one of their last two games, but this offseason Rhule needs to take a long look at his program. This year, with an easy schedule, was supposed to be full of wins, and instead they’re in the same place they were last year and throughout the Scott Frost era.
Welcome to bowl eligibility! It’s pretty nice on this side.
Washington and Rutgers, welcome to bowl eligibility.
Washington reaching bowl eligibility in their first season in the Big Ten is a major win after having their roster decimated by the NFL Draft and the transfer portal after head coach Kalen Deboer left the Huskies for the Alabama job.
New head coach Jedd Fisch took over a team with almost no returning starters, and found a way to be competitive in a new conference. Reaching six wins is a far cry from reaching the national championship, but it’s a step in the right direction.
After beating Maryland last Saturday, Rutgers reached back-to-back bowl games for the first time since going to four-straight from 2011-2014. This time they reached six wins with two games left on their schedule, both of which are winnable games, meaning eight wins are still on the table.
Many laughed at Rutgers bringing back Greg Schiano, but he continues to prove he is the one guy who can consistently win games for the Scarlet Knights. With the expanded playoffs, so much focus is put on who makes the 12-team field, but making a bowl game is still a positive for most of the country.
Rutgers and Washington should be proud of their accomplishment. Now it’s time to see how many more wins they can add before their seasons comes to an end.
Sorry, Phil. It had to be done!
Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell finally took steps to right the first wrong he committed as the Badgers head coach by firing offensive coordinator Phil Longo.
Fickell had a winning formula at Cincinnati, a formula that attracted many big jobs to him before he took the leap and accepted the Wisconsin vacancy. Immediately after accepting the job, he turned his back on his formula and what made Wisconsin successful by hiring Longo and trying to bring an offensive system to Madison that was never going to succeed.
Outside of the poor fit of an offensive scheme to the talent available, Longo tends to forget about the run game even after their starting quarterback got injured early in the season. In his last game calling plays, Wisconsin gashed Oregon in the running game, but when the game got tight at the end, Longo forced a backup quarterback to try to win against the No. 1 team in the country.
Longo should never have been hired, and it may have set Wisconsin back a few years but Fickell finally took a step in the right direction. With games against Nebraska and Minnesota left, Wisconsin can salvage this season, but heading into the offseason he needs to get back to his roots and hire a coordinator who will run the damn ball!
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