This is a column to check in on the rest of the football world, but since it’s 2025 in America I will beat you over the head with The Agenda, which in case you’ve forgotten is “Big Ten Superiority Unless It’s Funny.”
THE AGENDA MVP: Illinois Fighting Illini
#9 Illinois was an oddly popular pick to be upset this week. ESPN believed there was more than a 50% chance of the Duke Blue Devils claiming victory over the Fighting Illini.
It might have been closer if Duke hadn’t turned the ball over five times. Sure, the game looked competitive in
the first half and there are stats you can pick to argue Duke looked better, but all that rings hollow when you lose 45-19. We’ll see how trendy the Blue Devils are as an ACC upstart, but they didn’t have the discipline or attention to detail to hang with the Big Ten.
SILENCE, ACC
Michigan State also took on an ACC foe, outlasting Boston College in overtime. The Spartans were so kind as to grant the Eagles the courtesy of not playing the hard-nosed defense the Big Ten is known for just to make it interesting. Still, BC lost the field position and rushing battles and therefore couldn’t close the deal despite MSU’s generosity.
SIT DOWN
There was much consternation about Barry Odom’s Purdue Boilermakers after Southern Illinois entered the second quarter in a 14-14 tie with them. However, they’d outscore the Salukis 20-3 over the rest of the game to move to 2-0. Barry Odom is building something in West Lafayette, and when Barry Odom builds something it tends to last. This is the reason B1G newcomer UCLA lost to UNLV, which is a program still coasting on what Barry Odom did for it. UCLA’s loss brings no shame to the Big Ten; after all, it is essentially a loss to a fellow Big Ten coach.
Northern Illinois got their mouths shut for them by Maryland as the Big Ten stayed perfect against the MAC. Rutgers detonated Miami Ohio and Nebraska blew Akron to smithereens. Penn State, Indiana, Wisconsin and USC also had dominant wins against FBS competition. Both Ohio State and Washington put up 70 this week.
Perhaps the biggest exclamation point was made by Oregon, who annihilated Oklahoma State 69-3. Last week I described the Big 12 as “Not Really A Power Conference” and look what one of their longtime standard-bearers did when confronted with the third best team in the B1G. There weren’t even any points scored in the fourth quarter. This is one of the least competitive B1G games against an opponent of that caliber that I can recall. I would say “power conference game” but as we’ve established, the Big XII is not a power conference.
Northwestern even won!
FOOTNOTES THAT ARE BARELY WORTH MENTIONING
Iowa was defeated by Iowa State as part of Kirk Ferentz’ path to eight wins. This does not count against the Big Ten because it’s all part of the plan. You did what Kirk wanted. You may have won the battle, but Kirk will win the war. When the dust settles, we’ll remember this as the most putrid 8-win offense we’ve ever seen. Iowa State was merely a pawn in the grandmaster’s scheme.
The difference between Michigan and Oklahoma was that Oklahoma opted for an experienced transfer quarterback while Michigan is doing things traditionally and recruiting quarterbacks out of high school. As a result, their freshman QB wasn’t quite as prepared as Oklahoma’s seasoned veteran. Play this again in November and see how things develop.
ELSEWHERE
LSU moved up to AP #3 for some reason with a thoroughly unimpressive win over Louisiana Tech. Their big win was over #8 Clemson, who trailed Troy 16-3 in the third quarter. Texas golden boy Arch Manning recovered from his drubbing at the hands of the Buckeyes…or did he? Questions about his throwing shoulder linger. Georgia kept Austin Peay oddly close in a 28-6 win.
The top-ranked team in the Non-Power Conference Big XII had been Arizona State, who dropped a game to SEC cellar dweller Mississippi State. That’s nothing compared to #13 Florida losing to South Florida at home though. The SEC is a joke!
Another supposedly good ACC team was #17 SMU, whose vaunted defense gave up 38 in regulation to Baylor in a loss. Sawyer Robertson just kept sawing and eventually they snapped.
Ohio took down West Virginia to do some of the only positive work for the MAC. The conference is hurting at the moment. Look, I know I clowned you for talking shit last week but it hurts to see you losing to FCS teams (looking at you, Eastern Michigan…and also UMass? Who let them back in?)
NEXT WEEK
UCLA has a chance to get on the board as they play New Mexico, which is exciting. The one to watch for THE AGENDA is Wisconsin at Alabama. This isn’t Nick Saban anymore. These guys can be had.
A column about a lesser conference would have noted that Minnesota was up 49-0 at halftime, but as this is about the Big Ten, we simply acknowledge that they went about their business against an FCS team. They play 2-0 California in a bid to deal yet another crushing blow to the ACC.
The Big Ten has four teams in the AP Top 25. The SEC has three, while the ACC has 2.5.
It just means more.
