Ohio State will play its first Big Ten game of the season on Saturday when it travels to Seattle to take on Washington. For all the success the Buckeyes have had under Ryan Day, the last time they won a Big Ten title came back in the shortened 2020 season. Even though Ohio State has made two playoff appearances and won a national title since then, the Buckeyes have failed to make it back to Indianapolis in early December. As the current top-ranked team in the country, Ohio State is a favorite to make it to the Big Ten Championship
Game this year. Along with the Buckeyes, Oregon and Penn State are considered serious threats to make it back to the conference title game. This Saturday, the Ducks and Nittany Lions meet in State College in a rematch of last year’s Big Ten title game. Even though the loser won’t be eliminated from contention to return to Indianapolis, they’ll certainly have no margin for error during the rest of the regular season. Along with Oregon and Penn State, who were expected to be serious contenders to win the Big Ten this year, there are some sleepers who are establishing themselves as threats to win the conference crown this season. Today we want to know which team that flew under the radar heading into the season has done a great job at putting the rest of the conference on notice so far this season.
Today’s question: Which Big Ten team is an under-the-radar threat to Ohio State this season?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: Indiana
With this choice, I have to start off by eating some crow. If you follow my picks against the spread that drop on Thursdays, I thought Illinois was going to beat Indiana on Saturday. I didn’t even realize until over the weekend that I had been calling Indiana’s quarterback Francisco Mendoza when his name is actually Fernando Mendoza.
I definitely was not putting enough respect on the Cal transfer quarterback’s name. All Mendoza did against the Fighting Illini was complete 90 percent of his passes and toss five touchdowns, establishing himself as a serious Heisman Trophy contender. Mendoza has already thrown 14 touchdowns, while not tossing any interceptions through four games this season.
Along with Mendoza, the running game has been getting after it for the Hoosiers, with four players already rushing for at least 200 yards this season. The ground game is led by Kaelon Black, who has 306 yards rushing and two touchdowns. The wild card is Khobie Martin, who is averaging nearly nine yards per carry and has found the end zone four times.
Just as scary as the offense is for the Hoosiers, the defense has smothered opponents so far this season. Defensive back D’Angelo Ponds looks like a star after his performance over the weekend against Illinois. On the defensive line, Indiana not only has Mikail Kamara, who had 10 sacks last season, but also Tyrique Tucker and Mario Landino, who each have three sacks this year. Then, at linebacker, Aiden Fisher and Isaiah Jones continue to make big plays.
The key to the success of Indiana is head coach Curt Cignetti. After taking over in Bloomington following the 2023 season, Cignetti has instilled confidence and cockiness into a program that has long been the laughingstock of the conference. To go from the cellar of the Big Ten to the College Football Playoff in just a year is incredible. Now Cignetti wants to show everyone that last season wasn’t a fluke.
The Hoosiers do have a couple of tough road games at Oregon and at Penn State later in the season, but if they can find a way to split those games, they should be able to make the Big Ten Championship Game. Right now, Indiana is a team nobody wants to play since Cignetti has his team playing with a chip on their shoulder. There can be a serious argument made that, at this moment, the Hoosiers are the most dangerous team in the country.
Matt’s answer: USC
I know, I know. Every year, someone tries to convince us that “USC is back!”, only for Lincoln Riley’s squad to underwhelm and finish at a disappointing 9-3 or 8-4 during the regular season. And yet, here I am telling you to keep an eye out for the Men of Troy.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that USC is one of the best three, five, 10, or even 15 teams in the country, but I do think that they would potentially sneak up on the Buckeyes… and perhaps even more so, on Buckeye fans.
Through four games, the Trojans have gone undefeated, winning by an average score of 52.5 to 20.25. And while yes, two of their games were against cupcakes, two were against Big Ten opponents, Michigan State and Purdue. Obviously not the cream of the conference crop, but Power 4 wins nonetheless.
USC is leading the B1G in offensive yards per play by 1.1 yards over second-place Oregon. While the Trojans are averaging 9.19 ypp, the Buckeyes are in fifth at 7.79. While the team’s defense continues to be a bit underwhelming, Riley looks to have found a quarterback he can rely on in Jayden Maiava, who leads the league with 305.8 passing yards per game.
The Trojans are the type of team that could sneak its way into Big Ten title contention with just one huge road win. While it is easy to dismiss them as not being nearly as good as they were in generations past, and to overlook them because they are so far away from Columbus, with two league wins already under their belts, they travel to Champaign to take on a humbled Illinois squad this weekend, then have a bye before welcoming Michigan to the Coliseum on Oct. 11.
While I think USC could easily drop either of those games, I would not be surprised if they won either of them. Currently, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Trojans are a 6.5-point favorite over the Illini. If Riley’s team can navigate its next two games, it will have relative walkovers in three of its final five B1G games with a road test against Nebraska — which USC should win — thrown in the mix as well. Then, the team will have to find a way to win a penultimate regular-season game in Eugene against Oregon.
If USC survives the battles with Illinois, Michigan, and Nebraska, and can then pull off the road upset (assuming it is still considered an upset on Nov. 22), then clearly, they should have a ticket punched for Indianapolis. While I am certainly not going to put money on USC squaring off with the Buckeyes in the Big Ten Championship Game, if you are looking for an under-the-radar team to keep an eye on, I think the Trojans certainly qualify.
They have a fun offense, a competent-ish defense, and a schedule that avoids two of the three biggest dogs in the league. That’s about as much as you can ask for from an upstart squad in an 18-team conference.
