After Week 1 of the Big Ten season 17 of the conference’s 18 teams are 1-0. Thus, you probably won’t see a ton of movement in this week’s poll with a few exceptions. Got to give credit to Ohio State for a huge win over formerly #1 Texas at home, and they will likely have a good chance to stay there until they face off against Penn State later in the year. Northwestern—-not a great start guys. Dropping below Purdue is never a good thing. Week 2 is full of mostly awful games for the conference—with
we will say 2.5 exceptions. Maybe do something else during the day on Saturday?
#1 Ohio State Buckeyes (Previously #2)
Win 14-7 over #1 Texas
The Buckeyes leapfrog Penn State on their basis of their 14-7 win over the #1 Longhorns at the Horseshoe. Julien Sayin looked fine, but the Buckeye defense is what will keep this team as national title contenders all the way through January. They host Grambling this week in a game that will likely be so lopsided there is no line.
#2 Penn State Nittany Lions (Previously #1)
Penn State easily took care of Nevada 46-11 last Saturday, but they get jumped because of OSU’s major ranked win. No biggie. They host Florida International as 42.5 point favorites. Another yawner incoming.
#3 Oregon Ducks (Previously #3)
Oregon cruised to a 53-13 win over a good FCS team in Montana State. They should make it two blowout wins in a row when they host an Oklahoma State team that only beat UT-Martin by 20 last weekend. The Ducks are 29.5 point favorites at home in the most lopsided spread by leaps and bounds of any Power 4 vs Power 4 matchup this week.
#4 Illinois Fighting Illini (Previously #4)
Illinois put a whooping on Western Illinois in a 52-3 beatdown last Friday. The #12 ranked team in the nation gets a tougher task this week heading on the road to play ACC foe Duke. Illinois is just 2.5 point favorites with the Blue Devils coming off of a 45-17 season opening win over Elon.
#5 Indiana Hoosiers (Previously #5)
Indiana leads of the next group of teams who earned hard fought victories, but maybe they weren’t quite as easy as they thought. The Hoosiers knocked off Old Dominion 27-14 in Bloomington in a game that actually was more comfortable than the score would tell. This week the Hoosiers host Keenesaw State as 35.5 point favorites.
#6 Michigan Wolverines (Previously #6)
Underwood got his collegiate career off on the right foot by throwing for 251 yards and touchdown in the Wolverines 34-17 win over New Mexico at the Big House. It gets much tougher for the #15 ranked Wolverines this week as they head to #18 Oklahoma for a prime time ABC kick with College Gameday on site in Norman. The true freshman is going to get a quick taste of an SEC defense. The Sooners are favored by 4.5 points.
#7 Iowa Hawkeyes (Previously #7)
It was a normal slow start for the Hawkeyes in their season opener against Albany on Saturday. The Hawkeyes would pull away to win 34-7, but the score was tied midway through the second quarter. Iowa’s highly touted transfer from South Dakota State Mark Gronowski did not look good throwing for just 44 yards on 8/15 attempts in the win. It gets much harder this week as they go on the road to Ames for the annual ¡El Assico! battle against their in-state rivals in Iowa State. The game gets the Big Noon Saturday treatment, Dave Portnoy and all as the Cyclones are favorited by 3.5 points.
#8 Minnesota Golden Gophers (Previously #8)
Minnesota did what they needed to do to win. It was a typical ugly season opener for a PJ Fleck coached team, but Drake Lindsay looked good, Darius Taylor did Darius Taylor things and the defense played great for all but one drive in the 23-10 win over Buffalo. This week Northwestern State comes to the Bank off of their first win in 33 games, but there is no Vegas line for this game as it should be disappointing if Minnesota doesn’t win by 30+ and the second string doesn’t play most of the 4th quarter at a minimum.
#9 Nebraska Cornhuskers (Previously #9)
We keep Nebraska here at #9 because they did have to go on the road and play a Power 4 team. Yeah Cincinnati isn’t that good, but the Huskers did work out a 20-17 win and statistically dominated the Bearcats. No need to drop them for that. The Huskers host the Akron Zips Saturday night in their home opener in Lincoln as 34.5 point favorites.
#10 USC Trojans (Previously #10)
USC absolutely dominated an outmatched FCS Missouri State team 73-13 in the Colosseum last Saturday night. Former Gopher QB Jacob Clark was 16-24 for 147 yards a TD and two picks in the loss for the Bears. The Trojans host Georgia Southern on Saturday night as 28.5 point favorites.
#11 Michigan State Spartans (Previously #11)
Sparty didn’t wow anyone in beating Western Michigan 23-6 to open the season, but as Minnesota would agreee a win is a win even if it’s ugly. The level of competition takes a step up this Saturday as ACC foe Boston College comes to East Lansing for a Saturday night NBC game. The Spartans are 4.5 point favorites at home as former BC QB Thomas Castellanos is in Tallahassee upsetting Alabama rather than playing for BC this season.
#12 Washington Huskies (Previously #12)
Washington defeated Colorado State 38-21 in a game that ended well after 1 am on the east coast last Saturday night. This Saturday night’s game against UC-Davis will be even later with a 10 PM central kickoff time.
#13 Wisconsin Badgers (Previously #15)
Did the Wisconsin offense look impressive in their 17-0 win over Miami, Ohio on Thursday night. Oh heavens no. Billy Edwards Jr was hurt early in the 2nd quarter and missed the rest of the game as backup QB Danny O’Neil did good enough to not lose. But the Badger defense did look good, and that gets them the two spot bump. Well than and poor performances from the next few teams. It should be another easy one in Camp Randall as the Badgers are 28.5 point favorites over Middle Tennessee State. Enjoy it while you can Badger fans…
#14 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (Previously #13)
The Scarlet Knights had are closest brush to an upset loss against a MAC team as Ohio gave them all they could, but cam up short 34-31. The Bobcats were the better offensive team, but Rutgers went 5-5 on 4th down conversions and that made the difference. Miami, Ohio heads to New Jersey this week and will look to see if they can score against this Big Ten team. Rutgers is favored by 15.5.
#15 Maryland Terrapins (Previously #17)
Maryland always seems to play well in September. They kept that streak going again as they jumped all over Florida Atlantic and cruised to a 39-7 win. True freshman QB Malik Washington looked good in his first action. They host Northern Illinois this Friday night as 17.5 point favorites.
#16 UCLA Bruins (Previously #14)
Oh UCLA. Despite a new QB, it was more of the same as Utah came to the Rose Bowl and absolutely dominated the Bruins picking up a 43-10 demolishment of UCLA. Not a great start. Will Week 2 be better as the Bruins hit the road at UNLV Saturday night? UCLA is a 2.5 point favorite.
#17 Purdue Boilermakers (Previously #18)
Purdue matched their 2024 season win total in just one game last Saturday throttling Ball State 31-0. Can they double it this week when Southern Illinois comes to West Lafayette? I’m thinking yes.
#18 Northwestern Wildcats (Previously #16)
Poor Northwestern. Getting decent hype then come out week one and lay an egg losing at Tulane 23-3. Then news came out that Tulane wanted to honor the 20th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by wearing the same jerseys they did their first game after the storm in 2005—-and Northwestern said no. That’s some bad karma right there. They host Western Illinois on Friday night who in-state rival Illinois just beat 52-3 last week? Can Northwestern even get to half that score? We shall see.
