The Big Ten is loaded with high-caliber teams as we head into Week 1 of the 2017 season, but how do the opening power rankings shake out?
At the end of the 2016 college football season, there was a viable case to be made for three Big Ten teams to make it into the College Football Playoff. The Ohio State Buckeyes, Michigan Wolverines and Penn State Nittany Lions all had cases to be made. Had the field been at eight teams, they all would’ve been in the mix for a National Championship. But alas, it was only Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes that had a shot.
That figures to be the case once again this season with those three teams in the mix for a title once again. This a conference that is traditionally one of the deepest and most dangerous in college football. However, that may be even more so the case this season.
With OSU, Michigan and Penn State in the Big Ten West, that division figures to be a bloodbath in the 2017 season. What’s more, there are other teams such as the Wisconsin Badgers, Nebraska Cornhuskers and Northwestern Wildcats that could make serious noise throughout the year.
However, it’s all projection until it’s put into practice on the gridiron. With Week 1 of the 2017 season now upon us, let’s take a look at how the Big Ten stacks up against one another in our opening conference power rankings.
Some people have hope for the Illinois Fighting Illini with Lovie Smith returning at head coach. I’m not among those people. This is a team that was decent on their best day last year, largely thanks to a stout pass rush. That pass rush has now been depleted and, though experienced in the secondary, the defense will almost surely take a step back from where they were a year ago.
Meanwhile, this is also a group that has major concerns on offense still, which was their Achilles’ heel a season ago. Yes, they have running back Kendrick Foster returning and two quarterbacks who have experience in Chayce Crouch and Jeff George Jr. to replace Wes Lunt. But nothing about this group inspires much confidence. If they’re going to be any kind of quality, they’re going to have to prove it before I believe it.
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights were, in essence, a joke one year ago. They were bad on defense and abysmal on offense. However, with some young up-and-comers on both sides of the ball, the best that they can hope for is just overall improvement from this group in the 2017 season.
Gio Rescigno at quarterback struggled early in the 2016 campaign for Rutgers, but put together a decent enough finishing run. He should be able to take a step forward with Jerry Kill arriving to bring life to the offense. What’s more, there is an experienced secondary on defense with some real talent at linebacker that should make the defense at least a bit better than it was a year ago.
All of that being said, however, this is likely going to be a team that continues to struggle. The struggles might end soon, but not as soon as the 2017 season.