College football is back and Week 0 was exciting as Georgia Tech defeated No. 10 Florida State, but now there is a full football schedule in Week 1 and fans couldn’t be more excited.
College football has undergone a major change this season and the Big Ten is part of that change. Four new teams have joined the conference: Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA. They now have the most teams in their conference with 18 teams and are doing away with divisions.
There are plenty of questions about each team, and those questions will help them in their quest for the Big Ten title and hopefully a College Football Playoff appearance.
Can Purdue be more than a cupcake team?
Purdue is one of the bottom teams in the Big Ten and many of the other conference members aren’t that scared of them. The Boilermakers need to work on becoming more dangerous in the conference.
How will Curt Cignetti adapt to a power conference in the FBS?
Curt Cignetti was a great coach at James Madison and did well when he brought the Dukes into the FBS. Cignettie had a lot of success with James Madison and when he was hired at Indiana, many of his players followed him.
However, the teams James Madison played were not the same caliber as the teams in the Big Ten. Cignetti will have to get used to playing in the Big Ten to be successful in Indiana, but he has some solid players on his roster that could cause some disruption in the conference.
Can Jonathan Smith be successful in his first year?
Michigan State is starting over with Jonathan Smith as head coach. After Michigan State fired Mel Tucker in September, they played with an interim coach and the Spartans brought in Smith as his replacement in November 2023.
Michigan State has some young talent that needs to be coached, and Smith is the man to do just that. The Spartans have had success in the past playing spoiler for other teams. Smith was successful at Oregon State and will hopefully bring that success to the Spartans.
DeShaun Foster?
There are so many questions about DeShaun Foster at UCLA, especially after his appearance at Big Ten Media Days where his opening remarks were, well, interesting. Foster comes in with no head coaching experience and UCLA has struggled mightily in recent seasons.
Chip Kelly decided to leave the Bruins late in the season, meaning the coaching choices were limited. Foster could come along and surprise everyone, but he’s simply the biggest question for UCLA. The Bruins are in a new league with a new head coach with no experience, a year with a big question mark.
Can Northwestern repeat its success from 2023?
Northwestern came out of nowhere in 2023 and reached an 8-5 record, which no one expected. Now the biggest question is can they do it again? They can repeat their success, especially since they lost some players in the transfer portal who were a big part of that successful season.
Can Illinois be consistent?
Illinois had a great season in 2022, then dropped off badly in 2023, so the question is whether or not they can be successful. Inconsistency is one thing that can hurt a team the most in college football.
Illinois must find a way to build on its 2022 success or the team will have no chance of winning the Big Ten title and will have no choice but to wait for the basketball season.
Can Minnesota compete in this new era of football?
Minnesota needs to enter this new era of football that includes conference realignment, NIL, and the transfer portal. Minnesota has never been a team with a huge cash flow and unfortunately in this day and age of college football, money counts for a lot and brings a lot of players to the team. In order to compete with all of these teams, they need to find a way to compete.
How does Maryland react to the loss of key players?
Maryland lost their best player from last season, Taulia Tagovailoa, when his request for another year of eligibility was denied. They also lost several players to graduation and the NFL, so they are in a bit of a rebuild.
The question is how Maryland will respond to losing many of its best players. How will it work to continue to be a threat in the Big Ten?
Was Kalen DeBoer the reason for the recent success?
Washington made it to the National Championship, then lost to Michigan in a big way, then lost the coach Kalen DeBoer who had led them out of the trenches to Alabama. Now Washington is in a new league with a new head coach, but the good news is they have a head coach with experience and success.
Washington brought in Jedd Fisch from Arizona after DeBoer left for Alabama, a coach familiar with that Husky team, but the question is whether or not DeBoer was the main reason for their success the past two seasons.
Can Rutgers just go unnoticed?
Rutgers seems to be a team that many people easily forget about. However, the Scarlet Knights know how to keep a low profile and win six to eight games each season. It seems like the Scarlet Knights are already capable of keeping a low profile. Can they do it again, but this time keep a low profile and find themselves at the top of the Big Ten?
Can Nebraska just win games?
Nebraska has been the laughing stock of the Big Ten for several years, especially in the Scott Frost era. However, they are looking better this season, and that is largely due to their new quarterback Dylan Raiola, who is also a rookie and could prove to be a flop.
Nebraska has struggled to win games for years, so the big question is can they put it all together now. They have the right stuff and a big-name quarterback, and now they just need to figure out how to put it all together.
Can Luke Fickell do what he was brought in to do?
Wisconsin watched Luke Fickell lead Cincinnati, a Group of Five team, to the College Football Playoff for the first time ever and was convinced he was the one who could take their program where they wanted it to be.
Fickell was average in his first season with the Badgers, but he was getting used to coaching in a power conference. Fickell has shown he can take a team with perhaps more average players to the top, but now he needs to walk the talk as a sophomore and show everyone he can do it in the Big Ten.
Can USC succeed without Caleb Williams?
Life after Caleb Williams will be tough for UCS, but let’s not forget that Williams didn’t lead the Spartans to a Pac-12 title or even the Pac-12 title game. Still, life after Williams won’t be a bed of roses.
Williams was the most important part of the UCS team and there is no replacement for him. Can the Trojans succeed without Williams? Yes, Lincoln Riley is a very talented coach, but this is the third conference he has coached in and they seem to be getting tougher and tougher.
Can the offense simply do its job?
There’s no sugarcoating how bad Iowa’s offense was last season. They were the worst in the Big Ten and one of the worst in college football. The Hawkeyes battled many injuries last season, including one to quarterback Cade McNamara and tight end Luke Lachey.
There is no doubt that Iowa has a good defense, it is one of the best in the country. They can continue to have a dominant defense, but defense alone cannot get them back to the Big Ten Championship. The offense simply has to do its job at least 50% of the time to give the Hawkeyes a chance.
Will there be a championship hangover?
Michigan lost its head coach to the NFL and the majority of its starting players, and is dealing with one investigation after another. But they won the national championship last season and no one can take that away from them.
Often times in sports you experience a championship hangover, and with so many pieces of the championship team missing, Michigan could easily struggle this season. Sherrone Moore has shown he can win, but that was only three games, now he has to do it for a full season, which is much harder.
Will Drew Allar finally produce something?
Drew Allar came to Penn State as a five-star recruit and Nittany Lions fans had high hopes for him. However, Allar was disappointing in his first season, especially considering how much he was hyped before the season began.
Penn State now has the best chance to win the Big Ten championship since divisions in the conference have been eliminated. He has the weapons around him, now Allar just needs to show he can be the player Penn State recruited him to be.
Can Oregon live up to expectations in the Big Ten?
Everything is going well for Oregon right now. They’re in the Big Ten, they just got the favorite for the Heisman Trophy in Dillon Gabriel, and Dan Lanning has proven that he’s a proven winner. Everyone’s betting on Oregon.
Can the Ducks handle the pressure? They’re in a new conference and that will bring its own challenges. They could be the team to beat Michigan and Ohio State, but they can’t let that go to their heads yet, as they haven’t played a single down in the Big Ten.
Can Ohio State overcome the hurdle of the national championship?
Ohio State enters each season as the team that supposedly has the best roster, the best team, the best coach, and just the all-around best. However, they haven’t won a national championship since 2014, the first season with the College Football Playoff.
The Buckeyes have a new quarterback in Will Howard, who transferred from Kansas State, and one of the best wide receiver groups in the country. Everything points to them winning the national championship, but can they finally do it? Ryan Day still has something to prove.
