Best Big 10 Teams Going Into the 2018 College Football Season
The Big 10 may not be as dominant in 2018, with teams losing key players in the NFL draft. Regardless, there’s always at least one dominant team, and others who are pretty good. Here, we’re looking at the top ten best Big 10 Teams going into the 2018 college football season.
The Ohio State Buckeyes are the athletic teams that represent The Ohio State University, named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, the Ohio Buckeye. 2017's Big 10 winners ended up missing the playoffs. Now, J.T. Barrett, or however you spell it, is in the NFL, along with top corner Denzel Ward. Should we expect a drop from them this year? I don't think so. Ohio State has been consistently good for years, and a few players leaving won't really do any bad for them in the long run.
Ohio State's playoff hopes may be in trouble depending on what happens with the Urban Meyer investigation in the Zach Smith incident that came out of seemingly nowhere. Now his future in coaching at Ohio State is in jeopardy.
Wisconsin's only major loss from the draft this year was Troy Fumagalli. Other than that, their roster looks the same. They already have one of college football's top running backs in Jonathan Taylor, who is entering his sophomore year. Can he win the Heisman this year? We'll find out soon enough and see what Wisconsin will do this year.
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It is widely known for its men's basketball program, which has won two national championships. Not many of their wins in 2017 were routs. A lot of them were very close, including that game against Penn State which they won. They were better than their Michigan counterpart last year. Can they manage to get into the top 25 again?
Surprised how low they are? Well, they lost two major offensive playmakers in the draft. What'll they do now? How will 2018 pan out for them? Will they regress and fall into obscurity?
The Michigan Wolverines comprise 27 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisional Collegiate Water Polo Association. The second half of 2017 really killed off Michigan, with three straight weeks of losses to Wisconsin, Ohio State, and South Carolina. I say don't panic yet. While Michigan State is the better team right now, I wouldn't be too concerned.
The Iowa Hawkeyes are sports teams that represent the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. 2017 was a surprising year for Iowa. They finished at 8-5 and even managed to make it into the top 25 at one point during the season. But a lot of their losses came against tough Big 10 rivals. That's their weakness, but can they improve upon that in 2018?
Not too shabby, Northwestern. You surprised me last season, but can you come away with a winning record this year? You have tough opponents.
The Purdue Boilermakers represent Purdue University, which is located in West Lafayette, Indiana. They compete in the Big Ten Conference and are known for their strong men's basketball program. Their colors are black and gold, and their mascot is named Boiler Pete. The Purdue Boilermakers may not be a true contender this year, but they can at least come away with a winning season.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represents the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Among the 128 Division I-FBS teams, Nebraska is one of ten football programs to win 800 or more games. The Nebraska Cornhuskers finished with a 4-8 record in 2018, which was not surprising, but still better than a few teams in the Big 10.
I went through a few teams who could've made it here, but Minnesota seemed to be the best choice. They just have a better chance of winning than other bad Big 10 teams. Sure, Minnesota really hasn't been that good for a while, but someone had to make this list.