I'm beginning to think that the Big Ten and ACC have swapped places this year. In recent years, it's often times felt as though the Big Ten has been pretty top heavy, while the ACC has had some fairly decent teams throughout the conference, but none able to be a serious title game contender. To this point in the season, it's felt like while the ACC is rather top heavy with the likes of Florida State and Clemson, the Big Ten is mediocre to above average throughout much of the conference.
On the positive side for the conference this past Saturday, Penn State was able to come away with their first victory of the season in pounding Navy and Northwestern moved to 3-0 with a 22-13 win over Boston College.
Then there's the down side. The front-runner of the conference - Michigan State - was handled fairly easily by Notre Dame on Saturday night. Ohio State - the new front-runner (who isn't eligible for a bowl game due to a team infraction) - had trouble putting away a Cal team which had lost to Nevada and needed some scores in the 4th quarter to defeat I-AA Southern Utah. Wisconsin was a missed field goal away from falling to Utah State, beating the Aggies 16-14. Then unbeaten Indiana lost to Ball State. In the end, we're down to just three unbeatens in the conference: Ohio State (not bowl eligible), Northwestern and Minnesota. These three teams went a combined 15-23 last year. Granted - I think Ohio State is improved from a season ago and Northwestern has always been pesky under head coach Pat Fitzgerald, but Minnesota was 3-9 a year ago. No, things are not looking good for the Big Ten so far this season. To this point in the year, I believe there's a fine line which divides the top three major conferences from the bottom three. At the top (in random order) are the SEC, Big XII and Pac-12 and at the bottom (in random order) are the Big East, ACC and Big Ten.
This next weekend: The Buckeyes will host UAB, Wisconsin will host Mike Price's UTEP Miners, Iowa will host the Chippewas of Central Michigan, Michigan State will host Eastern Michigan, Nebraska will host I-AA Idaho State, Northwestern will host I-AA South Dakota, Penn State will host Temple, Illinois will host Louisiana Tech, Minnesota will host Syracuse and Michigan will travel to South Bend to take on the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Of the ten teams from the Big Ten playing this next weekend, nine will be playing their non-conference games at home. The teams the Big Ten will be playing out-of-conference this weekend include two from Division I-AA. Excluding Notre Dame, the other seven opponents have a combined record of 5-12. Outside of Michigan possibly losing to Notre Dame, any other loss by the conference this coming weekend will prove to be yet another devastating blow for it this season.
On the positive side for the conference this past Saturday, Penn State was able to come away with their first victory of the season in pounding Navy and Northwestern moved to 3-0 with a 22-13 win over Boston College.
Then there's the down side. The front-runner of the conference - Michigan State - was handled fairly easily by Notre Dame on Saturday night. Ohio State - the new front-runner (who isn't eligible for a bowl game due to a team infraction) - had trouble putting away a Cal team which had lost to Nevada and needed some scores in the 4th quarter to defeat I-AA Southern Utah. Wisconsin was a missed field goal away from falling to Utah State, beating the Aggies 16-14. Then unbeaten Indiana lost to Ball State. In the end, we're down to just three unbeatens in the conference: Ohio State (not bowl eligible), Northwestern and Minnesota. These three teams went a combined 15-23 last year. Granted - I think Ohio State is improved from a season ago and Northwestern has always been pesky under head coach Pat Fitzgerald, but Minnesota was 3-9 a year ago. No, things are not looking good for the Big Ten so far this season. To this point in the year, I believe there's a fine line which divides the top three major conferences from the bottom three. At the top (in random order) are the SEC, Big XII and Pac-12 and at the bottom (in random order) are the Big East, ACC and Big Ten.
This next weekend: The Buckeyes will host UAB, Wisconsin will host Mike Price's UTEP Miners, Iowa will host the Chippewas of Central Michigan, Michigan State will host Eastern Michigan, Nebraska will host I-AA Idaho State, Northwestern will host I-AA South Dakota, Penn State will host Temple, Illinois will host Louisiana Tech, Minnesota will host Syracuse and Michigan will travel to South Bend to take on the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Of the ten teams from the Big Ten playing this next weekend, nine will be playing their non-conference games at home. The teams the Big Ten will be playing out-of-conference this weekend include two from Division I-AA. Excluding Notre Dame, the other seven opponents have a combined record of 5-12. Outside of Michigan possibly losing to Notre Dame, any other loss by the conference this coming weekend will prove to be yet another devastating blow for it this season.
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