With the Big Ten expansion, the league will have at least one immediate competitor for the conference championship come college football season 2024. As one of the greatest offseason winners, Oregon enters the competition with the talent, coaching, and resources needed to compete with the best Big Ten teams right away. In addition to offering tremendous potential, USC, Washington, and UCLA expand the conference to 18 clubs.
The top teams in the conference are expected to send several teams each year to the 12-team College Football Playoff, which includes some of the nation’s most competitive teams for national titles. Michigan and Ohio State are two of the most prestigious universities in the Big Ten, and they each have a national championship under their belts from the past ten years. Although there are many strong and fiercely competitive programs in the conference, not all of them are at that elite level.
Using on-field performance, program stability, talent acquisition, and resource pools as criteria, Late Kick host Josh Pate evaluated the strength of every Big Ten football team over the previous three years to determine each program’s standing in the conference standings.
“Rutgers could be a big mover,” said Pate. Look at that timetable. This season, does Rutgers play Ohio State? No. This season, does Rutgers play Michigan? No. This season, does Rutgers play Oregon? No. How did they manage to do that? .. There it is, off the coast of Rutgers, a tiny scarlet shark fin.
Pate: “Jonathan Smith is going to assume command. He’s an amazing head coach. However, he arrived there only five minutes ago. Their consecutive losing seasons make the year 2021 seem like a very long time ago.
“Nebraska has been 3-9, 4-8, 5-7 on the field… They’ve been, if you can put it that way, improving. However, they currently have two consecutive top-25 recruiting classes. In addition, they have the necessary tools, stability, and the ideal head coach in Matt Rhule on board. Therefore, I ranked Nebraska No. 10. I believe there is grounds to suppose that all three of those Tier 4 programs are in ascension mode.
The decision of where to place Maryland was difficult. Since they’ve been parked in the East, you probably aren’t aware that they’ve had two seasons of 7–6 and then two seasons of 8–5. They stand to gain the most from the dissolution of this division system as they were the ones who could have won the West but were unable to travel there. Every year, they have played Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State. Right now, they’re more of a top-30 to top-40 recruiting program.
“When we’re sitting here doing this again this time next year, I believe Wisconsin will be north of Tier 4 and north of No. 8.” They could climb quickly. Under Luke Fickell, they are presently among the top 25 recruiters. They had three successful seasons in a row. I believe they are only beginning to explore their potential under Fickell. In the not too distant future, I believe that will be a big-boy program. They are ranked eighth as a result of their actions. I believe what they will become has the potential to propel them even higher than that.
Pate: “It’s important to consider that the head coach who was in charge of that left, and the coaching staff was completely dismantled. It’s not a knock on Michigan, though; it’s still a fantastic program. I have admiration for both Sherrone Moore and the program’s general status… Over the previous three years, they are 40-3. While recruiting-wise, back-to-back classes outside of the top 10 are intriguing, this has been a program in development. It has never been necessary for Michigan to have top-five recruiting classes.‌
