Hoosier State of Mind: 2026 Big Ten Preview

[00:00:03] Sports Reports, no gimmicks, no clowns 2-5, Mr. Loddickle, we run this town Real talk only, no chasing, no doubt From the east to the west, it's the order we shout Mic check, lights flash, game time, stay ready Two vets in the zone, keep the pressure real heavy Big hits, big plays, yeah, we breaking it down Truth rings in your speakers, every word is the crown From the north side hustle to that southern flame Midwest grind West coast in the game Sports Talk Kings Yeah, we wear that crown Turn it up, let them know It's about the crown

[00:00:33] Sports Reports, no gimmicks, no clowns 2-5, Mr. Lottical, we run this town We'll talk only, no chasing, no doubt From the east to the west, it's the order we shout Yes, it's Tuesday night, y'all Sports Reports is ordered in your ears Those are the sounds you're hearing I am your unorthodox statistician Going left so much you thought I was south par Go by the name of 2-5 Tonight is a Big Ten preview

[00:01:16] The last conference to win the last three national titles How about that? We're going to get into Previews, Predictions Who's going to make the college football playoff You know, a little bit of storyline Starting out But like, review, subscribe, share, rate Do all the free things Do all the good things Liquid Death in hand Don't forget to listen to say less Say more And let's get right to it And oh, by the way We are everywhere That you get your podcasts

[00:01:46] So as I mentioned The Big Ten The last three seasons Won the national title And you know, there's a funny narrative Going around, right? Because at one stage The SEC was the dominant conference You know, after the year 2000 You know, you had Auburn With an undefeated season You had Bama winning national titles You had Florida LSU Winning national titles And then we had to acknowledge That the SEC was the best conference Okay

[00:02:15] So now in the Big Ten You know, the last three years Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana Won the national title But the SEC is still saying No! We're the best conference out here Does not compute So the thing is The SEC is 2-7 In the 12-team playoffs And if you think about it A lot of those games are against each other You know, you had Alabama over OU Last year, for example In the first round

[00:02:45] You had Ole Miss And Georgia Both got a bye Played each other In the second round And then Ole Miss lost to Miami Who went on to play Indiana For the national title So the Big Ten Might not play as tough An out-of-conference schedule As the SEC does But does that really matter When you get to the playoff Because all those games Are out-of-conference You still get a little break You know, in between If you get a bye

[00:03:11] And we don't need to get a bye And we don't need to get a bye And we don't need to get into the Teams with a bye What their record has been Since the 12-team playoffs started But the point is Is that This is the new era Of college football NIL You know, paying for your players And everything Legally that is You know, so you get a team Like Indiana Who come out with Kurt Signetti

[00:03:35] You know, he was at James Madison You know, he was at James Madison He's just a winner He comes to Indiana They win 11 games Year one Only losses were to Ohio State And Notre Dame Any other team In the nation We clap our hands For them For Indiana We said Told you they wasn't that good They come back last year First team to go 16-0 in history How about that? Kurt Signetti Maybe the best coach In the country At least top three or four

[00:04:02] So that's Indiana Now, the impressive thing About Indiana Is if you go back Historically Indiana's at the bottom Of the barrel You know, they were lower Than Kentucky Lower than Vanderbilt And dare I say And I'm not coming for my guy Residente But lower than South Carolina And here's Indiana Hoisting a national title trophy How did they do it? People say Well, they had old dudes Okay

[00:04:32] Wake Forest and Northwestern Have old dudes Every three years They're not winning National titles These days They aren't even Winning conferences It's just a way To knock Indiana Because their name Is Indiana Alright So Heather Denich Got on TV yesterday Saying that the SEC Wants to leave Interesting enough You know, Mr. Logical and I Have been talking about The NFC AFC style

[00:05:02] League For the SEC And the Big Ten Now, right now It sounds like The SEC Is the only ones That are You know, feeling this way Kirby Smart Came out today And said He's always felt that way You know, it wasn't slander, man I was just speaking a fact That's all it is You said you liked the truth I'm giving you the truth You know, you know, so But what does that leave The Big Ten? Because I don't think The Big Ten Would sit by idly The only problem is If the SEC and Big Ten

[00:05:31] Were were To try to blow This joint Were to try to blow This joint So to speak Then litigation Would pound them Into the ground It's always like You know, me living here In Texas And people saying Why isn't Texas independent? We want to go back To be in our own country And all that kind of stuff Like that And it's like Well, yeah Until you got taken over So, you know So from that standpoint The SEC might be on an island By itself But we know that the Big Ten and SEC Have been arguing

[00:06:01] Arguing with Congress And with the other Two Power Four Conferences About this new Protect College Sports Act You know, more to come on that So what's big In the Big Ten this year? Penn State Life without James Franklin So let's recap that James Franklin 104-45 Record at Penn State Now remember He got there In some dire times You know, there was the whole scandal Bill O'Brien took over Went to the NFL James Franklin Came in from Vanderbilt

[00:06:31] Through his time 104-45 But they only won One Big Ten title Now while you might Turn your nose Down at that And say That makes James Franklin Overrated Here's a little something For you Penn State joined The Big Ten in 1990 They have four titles Since that time So that's 36 years For y'all doing math out there Four titles James Franklin has won The reason I say Don't hold your nose Up at James Franklin Is because he In only one of those

[00:07:01] Other four titles Are outright Titles Are outright Titles They have to Share the other Two So James Franklin In his time At Penn State Did things that Penn State Only did Once In the other 35 Years of being In the Big Ten Now Does that mean That James Franklin Is a great Coach And that Penn State Is going to miss him Yes and no So yes He's a great Coach No I don't think They're going to Miss him In the

[00:07:31] The way That you would Think when You listen To his head Coaching Record Now it's Always funny And I'm not Going to Stay too long On this Cover your ears Rez I'm not Going to stay Too long On this But when we Talk about Somebody like Say LeBron James Who has a Losing record In the NBA Finals We talk about He wasn't favored The super teams That he had to Compete with The teams that Got together To stop him Right So you Want me to Bang on James Franklin For losing to Ohio State In Michigan

[00:08:01] Everybody loses At least To Ohio State Maybe not Michigan So much But Michigan's Been good Over the last Ten years Or so You know And that Big Ten Title That James Franklin Won You know 2016 So we're ten Years Sitting away From that Enter Matt Campbell A guy who took Iowa State To the Big 12 Title Game And I know A lot of you Are going to Sit out there And say You know Iowa State Big 12 Whoop-de-woo Whoop-de-woo Whoop-de-woo

[00:08:29] Who cares about that Iowa State Hasn't Even won A conference Since 1912 He had Them on the Brink Just two Years ago Every year Iowa State Was a Contender To bite You in the butt Just like Their neighbors In Iowa City They're a team That you Didn't want to Play I think he's Going to bring That same Attitude to Penn State You know This year Penn State 40 Transfers 24 Of them From Iowa State So I don't Say that To say That Penn State

[00:08:59] Is going to Win the Big Ten Is Going to Win the Big Ten They're Going to Be a Big Ten Contender But they're Going to Be a Damn Good Team And I think They will Be in the Future To come James Franklin You know Made the Playoff One Time He was One Possession Away From a National Title Game Drew Aller With that Late Interception Against Notre Dame Notre Dame Went on To Ironically Play Ohio State For that National Title Could You Imagine Penn State And Ohio State Playing For that National Title And James Franklin With the Recognition

[00:09:29] The Deputation That He Has Especially Against Ohio State And Ryan Day Looking For His First National Title Could You Imagine The Pressure The Talk And The Nerves Going On In That Game To Some Degree I Feel Like We Were Cheated I'm Sorry We Were You Know Can Michigan Just Get Back To Football You Know A Couple Of Years Ago It Was Jim Harbaugh With With Hamburgers And Cheeseburgers You Know He Got Suspended A Few Gains Had The Coach From The Hotel Room

[00:09:59] They Say He Was

[00:10:28] Worse Things Than He Was Worse Things Than He Did On The Field Allegedly You Know I Ain't Gonna Recap The Story If You Don't Know The Story By Now You Don't Want To Know It But Now You Know Ward Manuel You Know The Michigan AD Is Out At The End Of The Year So It's Been A Tumultuous Last Couple Of Years For Michigan They've Been Punished By The NCAA Fined They've Won A National Title You Know Harbaugh Left And Went To The NFL Sherron Moore Went To Jail And Here We Are With Kyle Winning

[00:10:58] You Know You Have And Here We Are With Kyle Winningham Coming In From Utah You Know You Know Of Pac-12 Championship Fame Utah That Is So Michigan Is Gonna Be It's Normal Tough Hard Nose Knock You In The Dirt Football Team We'll Just Have To See If Bryce Underwood Can Put It Together Wisconsin Where Are They Right Now Luke Fickle Right You Know We Thought He Was On His Way Out And Then They Pulled Off Upsets At The End Of Last Year They Beat Illinois They Beat Washington Top 20

[00:11:28] 25 wins, you know, for a guy that was supposed to be out the door. So he gets extended. Here we are again, starting the process all over again. But if you look at Wisconsin's schedule, which we will later, you will see that, hey, he might be sticking around at least another year, if they can put it together. Will USC finally make the playoff? That is a question that I never thought I would have to ask about the Trojans or Trojan Angelus, as I like to call them, because of their

[00:11:56] blue blood status, because of who they are. USC, especially when you go back a mere 20 years ago, it sounds like such a long time now, but you go back to the Pete Carroll days, they were always in the mix, always a national title threat. They were winning national titles. Lane Kiffin comes in, and then they've been kind of doing the plateau hills up and down thing all throughout the years

[00:12:20] to include the Clay Helton era. But now they have Lincoln Riley, you know, who still hasn't won a playoff game, who had all these quarterbacks, right? Going back, you know, Jalen Hurts, Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield. It didn't, you know, he comes over here to USC, Caleb Williams won the Heisman. You know, he's got Jaden Maieva right now, who's probably going to be a top 10 to 15 NFL draft pick

[00:12:47] next year. So can USC get over the hump to make the playoff? If they are, this is the year to do it. Because as you look around, you know, Ohio State is still loaded, right? But they lost so much, but a team like that, they reload. You know, Indiana starting over at quarterback, starting over with a lot of defensive pieces, a lot of great players, but still starting over. You know, like at some point,

[00:13:15] it was different when you were talking about schools like Alabama and LSU reloading in Ohio State, because they're bringing back their already great five-star players. Whereas with a team like Indiana, you're bringing in transfers. At some point, it has to go awry, or it has to not be as great as it was the previous year. Oregon, can they get over the hump? You know, we've been waiting for

[00:13:41] Oregon for about 15 years now. Remember, they made that national title game against Cam Newton. They made the national title game the year that Ohio State beat everybody with their third-string quarterback. You know, so Oregon has been on the brink. You know, now, Dante Moore's back for another year. You know, they picked up Coy Parish from Minnesota, you know, playmaker, special teams,

[00:14:06] Oregon's loaded, you know, so the Big Ten all around has a lot going on for it. USC and Ohio State are two of the youngest teams in college football. The difference is Ohio State has Julian Sand, who's a Heisman candidate. They have Jeremiah Smith, who's a Heisman candidate. You know, they have Ryan Day, who got the monkey off his shoulder and got the national title. Now, we're

[00:14:31] just waiting for Lincoln Riley to join the party. But there's no Makai Lemon. Jacoby Lane's gone. But USC has a new defensive coordinator who we'll get into just a little bit later. But all that to say, hey, how about those Hoosiers? You know, so the Big Ten, it doesn't just stop there. You got UCLA.

[00:14:58] Why is UCLA important? And of course, your first answer might be because they have Nico Iyema. No, that's not the correct answer. The correct answer is because Bob Chesney is their new head coach. Coming in from where? James Madison. Sound familiar? Bringing some transfers with him? Okay. Now, I'm going to tell you what I did not say. I did not say UCLA is going to win the Big Ten.

[00:15:25] I did not say UCLA is going to make the college football playoff. But what I am telling you is UCLA is going to sneak up and get somebody. And they might just get to somebody. And it might start week one over in Berkeley. So yeah, that's what's going on around the Big Ten. There's lots to get to. So let's just jump right in. So I'm going to start this off. Oh, and before I do, let me recap

[00:15:51] real quick. And I apologize in advance to the Pitt Panther fans because somehow I forgot to talk about you all the other night when I did my ACC preview. I got you finishing fifth for those of you that care. But my ACC championship game was Miami over Louisville. Let's see what we end up with with the Big Ten. So Oregon, this is a team that I just talked about waiting for Oregon to get over the

[00:16:17] hump. Dan Lanning as Oregon's head coach. 48-8. He's the new Ryan Day as far as just looking at him and say, let's get it done, pal. What are you waiting for? But you go back 48-8, right? One of those losses is to Ohio State in the playoffs where they got their pants pulled down. You know what I mean? One is or two are to Washington and Michael Penix. You know, so it's not like he's out here losing to

[00:16:46] Northwestern. He's out here losing to Oklahoma State or any of these teams like that. When Dan Lanning loses, he makes it count and he loses to the best of the best. Now, when it comes to, you know, at the end of the day, why hasn't Oregon got over the top? And it's easy to say Dan Lanning choked

[00:17:10] in big games. I don't believe that. You know, I just think that sometimes teams lose games. You know, everybody that loses isn't a choker. Sometimes the other team is just better. When they lost that game to Ohio State in the playoff, for example, two years ago, they had beat Ohio State in the regular season at Autzen. Ohio State was coming out for blood on that day and Ohio State was the best team in the country. So when they lost that game, you could call it a choke because they were the only undefeated

[00:17:39] team in Ohio State. They had beat Ohio State, so you could call it a choke. But if you were watching football, if you were keeping up, you knew that wasn't a choke. Ohio State was just a buzzsaw and they paid it forward by winning the national title. So the thing about Oregon this season is they got a lot of turnover, but it's on the coaching staff. So Will Stein, the offensive coordinator who came here

[00:18:05] right from the Alamo, you know, he's gone. He's the head coach at Kentucky. So then, you know, defensive coordinator Tosh Lapoi went to his alma mater. So he's back at Cal, you know, to be the head coach there. So that's how you know you got a good thing going is when you lose your coordinators in the same year, especially like you look at a team in the NFL like the Philadelphia Eagles, constantly coordinator changeover. That means people are trying to get your secrets. They're trying to

[00:18:33] get your sauce and they're trying to get on your level. So like I mentioned his record, right? He is one in five against teams that ended in the national title game. Can't make it up. They won the Big Ten the first year in the conference. And of course, that playoff came. So it was a little bit bitter. You know, they did lose the Autzen. I mean, in Autzen to Indiana

[00:18:58] last year, 30 to 20. Thought it was a fluke. Got back to the playoff. First play of the game, right? Right. Dante Moore with the pick six. So Oregon gets into these big games. They get off to slow starts. But the good news is that Dan Lanning has the defense generally that keeps them in the game that that keeps them competitive in these games to where it doesn't get away from them.

[00:19:25] So last year they did win two playoff games, albeit I know one of them was against James Madison. But they shut out Texas Tech. You know, who was a sweetheart last year? The media sweetheart last year. Won the Big 12. A lot of people had them as a surprise team in the playoffs. You know, but it wasn't. But you know, it just wasn't to be. Oregon's bringing back to Corey and Moore, one of the best wide receivers in the country. You know, he was a true freshman last year.

[00:19:51] He showed an elusive playmaking ability, hands that you would die for. They're getting Evan Stewart back from injury. So when you look at that already, Evan Stewart came into last year as someone who had a lot of NFL hype. People thought he was going to be one of the first receivers off the board last year. He got hurt. So you're adding that back into a talented roster. You know, you can't complain about that. Oregon's on its way. You know, they went and got Iverson

[00:20:20] hooks from UAB. Ask my fantasy football team how much we love Iverson hooks. You know, so Oregon, bang, bang, bang. Who do you take away? You know, I think the Corey and Moore is too much of a playmaker, you know, gets separation pretty easily. Evan Stewart is a playmaker. And then you got Iverson hooks. I don't know who you're going to stop. You got to try to force them to run the ball. But guess what? You can't do that either. Because they got Jordan Davidson and De'Aire Hill back. Combined,

[00:20:48] seven yards per carry, 20 touchdowns, over 1,300 yards combined together. On defense, they bring back so much. They bring back Bear Alexander, Mateo Alphabet. Of course, that's Uyangale for those of you out there. And Brandon Finney. I brought up Coy Parrish coming in. You know, the only thing better than having Coy Parrish is if they still had Dylan Fenneman. So I think that

[00:21:17] Parrish had a sophomore slump, so to speak, last year. And even with that, he had 82 tackles from the safety position, three tackles for losses. He had an interception, three pass breakups. And guess what? He averaged 26 yards per kickoff return. So everywhere you look across this roster, speed, speed, more speed. You know, so now the question about Oregon is going to be,

[00:21:42] with the new coordinators, how does that look? How much does the offense change? Dante Moore, you know, is a great quarterback. He's probably going to be the number one pick in the draft, probably would have been this year too, in my opinion, if he would have came out. And guess what? If all else fails, you got Dylan Mahomes on the bench. I mean, Dylan Raiola, that is, of course. You know, they brought in Carl Williams from Baylor to help out the defense. This might be

[00:22:09] the best defense in the country for all intents and purposes. But can the coordinators get the best out of them? All right. So let's go over to Columbus. You know, last year was an odd year for Ohio State. You know, week one, they brought the Longhorns in. Arch Manning, right? Won that game 14 to 7. It was a snail type game where all you saw was conservative play. Ohio State knew that Texas couldn't move the ball

[00:22:39] on their defense. So they decided, hey, you know what we're going to do? We're just going to sit on this. We're not going to turn the ball over. We're not even going to score until we have to. You know, and, you know, Arch Manning had a chance late in that game on fourth down, you know, to, you know, force the action, maybe get into overtime. But he just couldn't make the play. Ohio State's defense was just that good. Sorry, y'all. It's getting hot in here. You know,

[00:23:06] but then, you know, after that game, they won the rest of their regular season games by a score, like a combined score of 39 to 8, basically. So you couldn't even score touchdowns against Ohio State. You know, they lost to Indiana on a field goal in the Big Ten title game. You know, but, you know, and the thing about that was Ohio State showed that when they had

[00:23:32] to get punched in the mouth or they had to respond, it was a little tougher than they thought. You know, so they were able to get out on teams early, put them in a sleeper hold, and just choke them out for half the game before they ran up the score on you. But when Indiana pushed them back, they didn't have an answer. You know, Indiana came in there, they were the number one and two defenses in the country in that Big Ten title game.

[00:24:00] And Indiana forced Ohio State to try to make plays and they couldn't. That's where being conservative all year bit Ohio State in the butt. Now, Mr. Logical likes to talk about how Julian Sand doesn't challenge the defense down the field. That was by design. I do think that Julian Sand can challenge defenses down the field. There just wasn't a need to. If I'm holding you to eight points, why put the ball in danger?

[00:24:28] Now, you do have Jeremiah Smith, so you want to get him involved in the action. No Carnell take this year, but you do have Chris Henry Jr. coming in. So, you know, that's going to be a plus, obviously. You got my guy Devin McEwen from right there, UTSA, coming in. So the Ohio State receiving core is not going to miss a step. They got Bo Jackson back in the backfield. They got two transfers at tight end. You know, Kyle Parker from LSU.

[00:24:58] I'm sorry, they brought Kyle Parker in. He's a wide receiver. They got tight end Hunter Velsing from Northwestern and Mason Williams from Ohio U. So Ohio State is still going to be able to dictate their score. They're going to be able to move the ball up and down the field against most of their opponents. Now, they do have Oregon coming in, you know, at some point this year, you know, as we look at the schedule here. So, you know, looking at this, they get the Texas game in week two down here in Austin.

[00:25:28] And then it's pretty much all cruise control until week seven. So, you know, they should beat Illinois. They should beat Iowa. They should beat Maryland. Then they get Indiana by week USC Oregon. Whoa. Now, two of those games on the road, the IU and the USC game, both on the road, Oregon game at home. Now, we talked about Oregon a second ago. Don't forget, Oregon opens up with Boise State.

[00:25:58] We saw that two years ago, right? Ashton Jensie, Oregon needed a punt return and a kick return for a touchdown to put that game away. And they still only won by three. So, Oregon has to go to USC. USC hasn't beat Oregon in eons, you know. But the rest of Oregon's schedule looks pretty manageable outside of this trip to Ohio State. They get Washington at home. So, who makes the Big Ten title game between these two teams?

[00:26:26] Now, you know, Ohio State lost a lot on defense as they do just about every year. You know, Sonny Stiles, Lorenzo Stiles, so on and so forth. But they brought in Terry Moore from Duke and Earl Little from Florida State for the defensive backfield. And, you know, from that thing, you know, Earl Little is one of those guys who's kind of a soul of a defense kind of player. So, I like that pick up a lot.

[00:26:52] Ohio State overall, you know, had three defenders picked in the first 11 picks of the NFL draft. And, of course, you know, there was Reese as well. But the schedule is tougher this year, so that's going to be the problem. You know, when you go back to the playoff game, Ohio State ran into some of that same issue with Indiana. Miami wasn't afraid of them. Miami had the speed to contain them. And Ohio State just tried. They got behind.

[00:27:20] And then they had to try to turn it on real quick after being conservative all year. They only ended up with three possessions in the second half because Miami just pushed them all around. Remember last year on Sports Reports' Order when I was asking, yo, is Miami the best team in the country? Because they can win in the trenches. And that's how you win football games. People laughed at me, called me all kinds of names. Who played in the national title game? Who beat Ohio State? Just saying, you know.

[00:27:47] But Ohio State's going to be good again this year. You know, so looking at it, I can see Ohio State finishing anywhere from 9-3 to 11-1. That's going to be dependent on Bryce Underwood. That's going to be dependent on Oregon. And then, you know, the Indiana game. So, like, I think that Ohio State has the ability to come out buzzsaw status like they did against Oregon in that playoff game two years ago.

[00:28:16] So, Indiana better be on the lookout for that. Speaking of Indiana, 27-2 the last two years. You know, 11-2 the first year with Kurt Signetti. Lost to Notre Dame in the first round of the playoff. And last year they brought it home 16-0. You know, they lost a lot of talent. You know, Amar Cooper, Kalen Black, Elijah Sabrat, D'Angelo Ponds, Aiden Fisher. They lost a lot. You know, but then, of course, they brought it back, right? Who did they get?

[00:28:46] Josh Hoover out of TCU to replace Fernando Mendoza, who, by the way, went number one in the NFL draft. You know, Hoover, 9,629 career yards, 71 touchdowns, but he got to clean up those 33 interceptions. You know, now, with that being said, if Indiana's going to have a downfall, I think that's what it's going to be is the Josh Hoover turnovers. You know, they went out and got Turbo Richard at BC, who I talked about during the ACC preview.

[00:29:17] You know, he reminds a lot of people of Kalen Black. So, you know, and I think he might be a little bit better. You know, then you got Ryland Nowakowski tight end left in the NFL draft. So, Indiana's offense is going to be a makeshift in progress. The difference is that, as Kurt Signetti does, they bring in talent. They went and got Nick Marsh from Michigan State, another one of my favorite fantasy football players.

[00:29:44] You know, he's my favorite wide receiver this year in college football. The same way that I looked at Denzel Boston and Antonio Williams last year, I just love watching him play. They still bring back Charlie Becker. So, those two on, you know, that go back to Oregon, right? I talked about the Corey and Moore and Evan Stewart. So, now you got Charlie Becker over here. You got Nick Marsh over there. Defense is going to be in trouble. All right. They got Shaz Preston from Tulane.

[00:30:12] You know, the O-line is still going to be good, but the D-line could see a little regression. You know, because they were just great last year. That doesn't mean they're going to fall off a cliff, but they were just that good last year that you imagine that they can't be as efficient this year. Even though they have Toby Usanami, who a lot of people are loving. You know, everybody's been raving about him in and outside of Bloomington.

[00:30:37] So, I think that the defense has the potential by the end of the year to be as good as last year's defense. But, you know, you got to look at that schedule, right? And as Indiana always does, somehow they get away. These – Indiana's the team that the SEC is talking about when they talk about your non-conference schedule. Look at this. North Texas, you know, Western Kentucky, even though that's my school, I ain't going to say too much about them.

[00:31:03] You know, Buffalo, then you get Northwestern and Rutgers. Indiana could be 6-0 heading into that Ohio State game, and that's at home. But then they get Michigan back-to-back. You know what I mean? Then at the end of the year before Purdue, they get USC and Washington back-to-back. So, tougher schedule than they had last year. But this is the Indiana Hoosiers that we're talking about. You know, I think they get clipped by Ohio State. You know, that's first and foremost. You know, I think they can handle Michigan.

[00:31:33] That USC game becomes real interesting. But we're talking about USC going from west to east. Remember, they lost to Illinois last year. Just two years ago, they went on the road and lost to Maryland of all teams. So, that Washington game at the end of the year with my guy, DeVon Williams, weapon X, that's going to be the game that decides if Indiana makes the playoffs or not. So, I think you could literally end up in a situation where Oregon is 11-1 or 10-2. Ohio State's 11-1 or 10-2.

[00:32:03] And Indiana's 11-1 or 10-2. So, if Oregon played Indiana, we would have ourselves a little round robin. But the only way we could get that matchup would be the Big Ten championship game. Now, USC, we talked about them. They're bringing in Gary Patterson as defensive coordinator.

[00:32:25] So, all you fans out there that know Gary Patterson from TCU, you know that his defenses are humming. Now, I question whether he's going to bring the 4-2-5 that he's known for. And, you know, if he is, that's going to be a different look for the Big Ten.

[00:32:44] Now, with the USC talent, California speed, that could be a dangerous defense because DeAnton Lynn had them playing lights out at times last year and overall over the last couple of years during his tenure. So, they're not upgrading per se. They're not downgrading. They're just keeping it smooth and changing philosophy.

[00:33:06] You know, Jaden Maieva, fifth-leading passer in the nation last year, 3,700 yards, 3,711 to be exact, 24 touchdowns. You know, but how does that look without Makai Lemon and Jacoby Lane? Now, he does have Tanook Hines. If you don't know that name, get the tapes ready. You know what I'm saying? Jay-Z had hot 97. He's only 16! You know, Tanook Hines is going to be that next great USC receiver.

[00:33:34] You know, last year he had a game against Oregon, six catches, 141 yards, and a touchdown. Wayman Jordan is back in the backfield from injury. They also bring Kate Miller back. That might be the best one-two punch at running back in the conference. If not, it's at least top three. So defense is always going to be the question with a Lincoln-Riley team. But Prophet Brown and Alex Graham are back at safety this coming year. Both missed time last year.

[00:34:02] So that took some of the sting out of that Trojan defense. You know, so secondary overall is going to be the biggest hole I see on the team. And Jontez Williams coming back from an ACL. I'm still mad at USC. Because why the hell is Notre Dame not on this schedule? I already had to deal with this with Michigan. And they're talking about the earliest they could play Notre Dame possibly would be 2030. So look at the schedule.

[00:34:30] You know, they start off with San Jose State. You know, they get Fresno State. Louisiana, Rutgers at home. Or I'm sorry, on the road. So they should be 4-0 heading into that Oregon game. But then they get Washington back-to-back. They're losing one of those, if not both. You know, the good news is they're both at home. Before they go to Happy Valley. So think about that for a second.

[00:34:57] You know, you got Oregon, Washington. Then you travel to the East Coast, to Penn State, to Happy Valley. You know, then you come off your bye. You get Wisconsin and Ohio State. Cool. But then you get another bye. So basically, over the course of a six-week period, you're getting Oregon, Washington, Penn State, Ohio State, and Indiana. And then, of course, you close the year, you know, at Englewood.

[00:35:27] You know, with Bob Chesney, who I just talked about. So this is not an easy schedule for USC, even though you may look at some of the teams and say they should win that game. Well, USC should have done a lot of things over the last couple of years that they haven't done. So Lincoln Riley is on show and prove time with me. But as I look at this, you know, like I said, they split the Oregon-Washington game. More likely to beat Washington. Even though I'm not so sure. You know, they should beat Penn State.

[00:35:55] But with USC traveling east, you just never know. So USC could be looking at 8-4 here if things just slip off the rails. I think a 9-3 USC could make the playoff. It just depends on who those three losses would be to. So if you're USC and you lose to, say, Oregon, Ohio State, Indiana, it's going to be hard for me to keep a 9-3 USC out of the playoff.

[00:36:21] I mean, hell, Bama got in with a 21-point loss to Georgia in their last game before the playoff. So now I'm going to keep USC out for losing to these three teams? I think not. But we'll see where we get there. Washington, my God, Weapon X, DeMond Williams, and all the drama. Remember, he was leaving Washington. He got into the portal, said, do not contact me. And, of course, what did everybody do? Everybody said, that damn Lane Kiffin.

[00:36:50] So allegedly this all happened, you know, and DeMond wasn't necessarily involved in this. A lot of this was just schools trying to poach. He lost his agent over it. You know, it sounds like his teammates are okay and on a good page with him, but where do those fans in Seattle stand with DeMond Williams at this point? Is DeMond Williams on get us to the Big Ten championship game time, right?

[00:37:19] And there's a lot to love about Washington. He threw for 3,056 yards last year, 25 touchdowns, ran for another 611 and six touchdowns on the season. The Huskies were seventh in red zone percentage last year in the nation. Problem is Denzel Boston's gone. Jonah Coleman's gone. You know, they were fourth in scoring offense and fifth in total offense in the Big Ten.

[00:37:46] Now, they do have four starters back on the offensive line. So when you're a quarterback that's small like DeMond Williams, you need all of that help on that offensive line that you can get, creating those lanes for you to get out into the open to make plays. You know, but, you know, we'll see if they can establish a running game. Last year in their four losses, you know, Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

[00:38:14] Those were the four best defenses that they played against last year. They averaged 9.3 points in those games. Now, I remember because I tooted my horn about Miami earlier. Now I got to keep it real because I did pick Washington that upset Ohio State last year. It wasn't to be. You know, they had everything going their way until that big field goal and the momentum just came out the sails and Washington just never really got started. So that's going to be the next question. Without your playmakers in Boston and Coleman,

[00:38:45] are you going to be able to generate offense against the better teams on your schedule? They do have to go to Autzen. And I don't know who made these Big Ten schedules. Maybe they were listening to the SEC. But, you know, these back-to-backs are nuts because they play Indiana the week before that. You know what I said? And then they, you know, so I don't know. Washington's in a tough spot here. They do start with the Apple Cup. They do start with Utah State and Eastern Washington.

[00:39:13] So 3-0 before they play Minnesota. I'll get into Minnesota in a little bit. Go to USC. So then if you look at it, everything after the USC game should be manageable. You know, Iowa, tough team, of course, but it's at home. You know, at Purdue, no need to worry about that game. You know, Nebraska's a question mark, even though it's in Lincoln. Penn State, question mark. Michigan State, probably going to be near the bottom of the conference.

[00:39:42] And then you get those two games. So realistically, Washington, and I'm not trying to be disrespectful to anybody, but their season comes down to those three games. If they could go 2-1 in those games, Washington might get to Indianapolis. They might get to the playoff. I don't think they will. But it's on the table. Ryan Walters had that defense humming last year, and Washington still has one of the best linebacking cores in the country.

[00:40:08] They lost to Cario Davis and Price Lock at the corner. So not as good as last year, but a better schedule. You know, because as I mentioned, they had Ohio State last year. Not present. So we'll see. Penn State, you know, we talked about Matt Campbell at the opening here. Guess what? He brought in DeAnton Lynn from USC as the defensive coordinator. So I like that.

[00:40:36] But 40 total transfers he brought in to Penn State, 24 of them from Iowa State. What does that mean? That means continuity. It's one thing to bring in transfers. Like last year, Purdue brought in 54 transfers with a new head coach. You know what I mean? So Penn State's bringing in a lot of transfers with a new head coach. But these are guys that know his system. They've played for him. They know what it's about. And he's bringing in his quarterback, Rocco Beck.

[00:41:04] He's bringing in Carson Hansen, his running back. So Penn State is not going to be trying to figure things out. I think they're going to hit the ground running. And how could they not if you look at the schedule? You know, Marshall to start out. Temple. Now, I will say, and don't laugh. I will say Penn State better beware of that Temple game. I don't know what the line is yet, but I'm already taking Temple to cover.

[00:41:34] Buffalo, Wisconsin, Northwestern. So Penn State should, and that's the operative word here, should, unless they get got by Temple, they're 5-0 heading into that USC game. You know what I mean? But then they get Michigan the week after at the big house. They go on a bye. You know, they get Washington after Purdue.

[00:41:58] So Penn State is another one of these teams that's going to be somewhere between 7-5 and 9-3. Possible 10-2 with a break or two. Now, with that being said, anything less than eight wins, disappointment. You know, so not only did they bring in Rocco Beck and Carson Hanson, they brought in four of Rocco Beck's targets. But they do have four new starters on the offensive line. So that might get off.

[00:42:28] But like I said, look at the early schedule there. There's no need to panic. You know, let the defense carry it away because they will. James Peeples running back in from Ohio State as well. I think Penn State's going to be a good team. I think they're going to be a team that knocks off somebody that's going to be in this playoff race. Whether that's Washington, that's going to be tough because it's in Seattle.

[00:42:53] You know, whether it's Michigan at the big house again, USC, travel. You know, so like there's room here for Penn State to get to 10-2. I just don't see it for this year. But going forward, Matt Campbell, I feel, is one of the best head coaches in college football. A lot of people are going to disagree with me because he coached at Iowa State. So where's his wins? Where's his playoff wins? Where's his playoff appearance? Watch them work.

[00:43:22] Minnesota. I like Minnesota this year. One of my surprise teams. Now that doesn't mean, like I said, that doesn't mean contender. But Drake Lindsey at quarterback, you know, redshirt junior coming in 63% completion percentage. I'm sorry, sophomore. Three-to-one touchdown to interception ratio. He did just get busted for DUI, so we've got to clean that up. But Darius Taylor is back. They throw Darius Taylor the ball so much, even though he's a running back,

[00:43:52] that he could finish this season top 10 in Minnesota receptions ever. You know what I mean? Don't kill me, Gopher fans, because I know ski you, ma, row the boat. But a lot of years, Minnesota is Iowa-like. This year, I think that they're the Iowa that we're used to but with a better quarterback. The question is going to be depth concerns on their lines, both lines, offense and defense.

[00:44:20] You know, but they do return 71% of their offense, 65% of their defense. So they got that going for them. Coy Parrish, we talked about him going to Oregon. That's going to be a problem. How could it not be? But they still have Kerry Brown roaming around. They still have Maverick Baranowski, who was sixth in the Big Ten in tackles last year. They have Big Ten sack leader Anthony Smith back.

[00:44:46] But they lost all their defensive tackles of note. You know what I mean? So Minnesota is going to be one of those teams, as a P.J. Fleck team, as you can expect from a P.J. Fleck team, you're going to know that you played them. They're going to make you feel them, as the old cliche goes. So looking at the schedule here, that Mississippi State game in game two, I mean week two, that's going to be the one that sets the tone for the season.

[00:45:14] Not because it's an SEC team, but because Mississippi State should be a lot better. You know, Jeff Lemmey with another year at the helm. The offense is going to be humming. You know, so if you could get that game, you could be 3-0 headed to Seattle. Now, I don't think you get out of Seattle unscathed. You know what I'm saying? But you get the little brown jug, you know what I'm saying?

[00:45:40] And, you know, like this year, can Minnesota beat Michigan? You know, I don't see why not, you know, with all the questions with Bryce Underwood. And get that little brown jug back. And, yes, I do have questions about Bryce Underwood still. But, you know, so getting that little brown jug would go a long way to make Minnesota fans happy and to build a good season. You know, they're 25-78 with three ties against Michigan.

[00:46:09] You know, they're on a five-game losing streak in the series. That series is a little more intense than you would think because you think of Michigan, Ohio State. I think of Minnesota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida, Roysdale, and Paul Bunyan's axe. But after the Michigan game, it gets manageable for a second. You know, you get Purdue. You should win that. So you could be looking at 4-2 right out the gate. You get Iowa at home.

[00:46:38] You go to Indiana. Chalk that up. You know, UCLA is a toss-up. Can you get Penn State? You should get Northwestern. You should get Wisconsin. You know, it's at Camp Randall, but late in the year, snow, all the good things. Look, Minnesota is an 8-14 in my opinion.

[00:46:59] You know, outside of Washington, Indiana, and Michigan, there's not a team on this schedule that perks your attention and you go, we can't beat them. You know, maybe UCLA can get them just because of the Bob Chesney effect. Maybe Penn State gets them just because of that continuity I was talking about with Matt Campbell. But that's late in the year where Minnesota is going to be able to figure out their lines by the time they get to that game.

[00:47:29] So don't look crazy if you see Minnesota sitting there at, say, 7-3 with an outside mathematical chance to get to Indianapolis. Iowa. They got the second oldest coach in the nation, 71-year-old Kirk Ferentz, only coach that's older, Bill Belichick. You know, he's been coaching at Iowa since I was in high school. Legitimately. I'll be 45 next month.

[00:47:58] Iowa. Iowa. There's a couple of things you can always depend on with them. Tough in the trenches. Great tight end play. Locked down corners. And a run game. Those are the things you can always count on with Iowa. Who's going to be their quarterback? Hank Brown is more of that Kirk Ferentz-type quarterback. You know, but he's getting pushed throughout camp, you know, with Jeremy Heglinski.

[00:48:26] And, you know, last year they had Mark Granowski who made plays. You know, he came over from South Dakota State. That's the kind of guy that's just a winner. And, you know, Iowa looked competent on offense. Hell, they even got up to 119th in offense. And, though you may laugh, you know, there's been years where the service academies have had receivers catch more passes than Iowa receivers. So that's progress as far as I'm concerned.

[00:48:53] They're bringing back Kamari Moulton, 80 yards per game on the ground, 5.2 yards per carry. You know, now they are replacing three starters on the offensive line to include Logan Jones, who won the Remington Award as the best center in the country. They're replacing eight starters on defense, but in Phil Parker I trust. You can usually pencil in Iowa for seven wins at the very least. You know, I think that they start off 3-0 before they go to the big house.

[00:49:20] Northern Illinois, Iowa State, and Northern Iowa. Now, Northern Iowa has been known to put a scare or two into the Cyclones and the Hawkeyes, right? So market it in pencil. But they go to the big house, and then it goes to hell. You know, they go big house, Ohio State at home, at Washington. L-L-L. L-L-L-Cool J. Then you get your bye week at Minnesota, Wisconsin.

[00:49:50] So two rivals back-to-back. Northwestern always gives Iowa problems. Even when Iowa's a great team and Northwestern is middle of the pack or worse, Northwestern still steers the bejesus out of Iowa. So, you know, as I look at this schedule, it's manageable outside of those three games. The problem is that those three games are back-to-back-to-back. So that can start habits that you don't like. You know, if fans have been calling for Kurt Ferentz to step down for years upon years,

[00:50:20] he just won't. He's stubborn. You know what I mean? So, but you got to, you know, they got to go 3-0 in the non-conference to give their self any chance at all. Nebraska, my Cornhuskers. You know what I'm saying? And, you know, I know y'all know me as a Florida State fan, but I am a Nebraska student. Matt Rule. So year three was last year. That's the year that you're supposed to get the Matt Rule stimulus, right?

[00:50:49] Dylan Raiola goes down. He held on to the ball when he was there too much and got all kinds of sacks. You know what I mean? Now he's backing up Dante Moore. So what do you do? You bring in Anthony Calandria, you know, of Virginia and UNLV fame. You know, last year, you know, 66%, 3,459 yards, 23 touchdowns, 9 picks. That is in 14 games.

[00:51:16] That was an improvement of the Anthony Calandria that played at Virginia. Now he had Dan Mullen, you know, over there. So how's it going to look with Dana Holgerson? You know, Emmitt Johnson's gone to the NFL. So Mekhi Nelson and Isaiah Mazze played a lot last year. Well, I'm going to say a lot, but they got snaps. But I'm looking at Jamal Rule. No relation to Matt, different spelling. That's who I have my eye on.

[00:51:44] Wide receiver is going to be a bunch of guys trying to step up. Jacob Gill was the leader coming back. 24 catches for 278 yards. So everybody else has less than that or transfers that they're trying to incorporate into their offense. Now, defense. Another new defensive coordinator. Of course, Tony White left Florida State last year, you know.

[00:52:11] So now you got Orange coming in from San Diego State. Guess what? Another 4-2-5. Nebraska was third against the pass last year, 98th against the run. So balance is the word. Now, Orange comes in from San Diego State with the 11th total defense last year. But, of course, that was against a Mountain West schedule. But they did beat Cal last year. So take that for what it's worth.

[00:52:39] Nebraska has a veteran defensive line with Vincent Shavers Jr. You know, Owen Chambliss is a great player. And I think the Blackshirts might be on their way back. So looking at the schedule, right? They got a run here. Could they go 5-0? Now, the question is Michigan State. Because with Pat Fitzgerald there, Michigan State's probably going to beat somebody that they shouldn't and be a little bit better than they're being thought of as being.

[00:53:07] You know, Maryland could be a surprise team. We'll get to them here shortly. You know, could that be a team that ruffles up Nebraska early before you get that again, right? Indiana, Oregon, back-to-back, just like Washington. You know, said at least Washington gets them in the last two games of the year. But Nebraska gets them in week 6-7. They come out the bye and get Washington. They get Ohio State as well. So it's going to be a long year for the Huskers.

[00:53:34] If the Huskers can get to 7-5, I think that's a successful season. You know, but it may be closer to 6-6. UCLA, I talked about them earlier. Bob Chesney in. Brought Wayne Knight along for the ride. 1,200-yard games in two years at James Madison. He brought in Saheer West on the defensive line. You know, he was a freshman last year.

[00:53:58] You know, he had a five-tackle for loss, three-sack performance in the SEC title game. Don't be like that, Riz. You know, that was the game that clenched the Clowage football playoff for the Dukes. You know, Wayne Knight, I mentioned 6.6 yards per carry. He got recruited by Ohio State during the portal season and went to UCLA instead. You know, look, the secondary, UCLA, Cole Martin, Roderick Pleasant, Scooter Jackson.

[00:54:28] You bring in Tal Johnson from Utah. Might be one of the best secondaries in the Big Ten. You know, Nio Iamaeva, you're on the clock. You know, it started off rough last year. Had a pretty decent year as the season went on. You know, they brought in Samaj Morgan from Michigan. Hopefully that helps them out, but Samaj is inconsistent. But the good news about Samaj, if he holds on to the ball, danger.

[00:54:58] So, Niko's going to have to be more persistent because when you look back at UCLA last year, you know, they lost to New Mexico State. I'm sorry, New Mexico. You know, that's not fun. That's not what Niko should be doing out here. They lost to UNLV. You know, that's okay. That's better. But you still don't think that a guy like Niko. Because remember, that first year at Tennessee, Niko led them to the playoff. Now, granted, their defense had a lot to do with that, but still.

[00:55:26] But right out the gate, UCLA gets a trip to Berkeley. That game is going to be one of the better games of the early season. You know, it's in week one at Berkeley. You know, old rivalry renewed. You know, two quarterbacks. You know, Ian Malieva and I'm not even going to try it. Cal's quarterback. San Diego State week two is interesting. You know, Coach Sean Lewis, you know, he's got a good thing going down in SoCal.

[00:55:54] Then UCLA gets Purdue and Maryland. So could you be 3-1 coming out of that? And if you are 3-1 coming out of that, what does that say about the rest of your season? You go to Autzen. Chalk it up. You know, then you get Wisconsin, Michigan State, Nevada. So you could literally be in a world where UCLA is sitting here at, say, 6-2 after eight games.

[00:56:24] So the bowl game within itself would be an accomplishment. But Bob Chesney ain't going to stop there. You know, you go to Minnesota, you get Illinois, and then you get the Michigan-USC closure. So UCLA, I think their range is a bowl game at the minimum, 6-6. A break here and there, that's a 9-3 team. You know, if Wayne Knight hits the ground running, Sahir remains form. Because you always got to question these guys that come from the G6, right?

[00:56:54] You know, coming from that level of competition to come up against Big Ten offensive lines. That's always going to be a question until you see it in concept. I think they'll be fine. I think if I'm UCLA, I think I could beat Cal. If I'm UCLA, I'm 4-0 heading into Autzen in my mind. You know what I mean? And then, you know, like realistically, if I'm UCLA, I could look at this schedule and go, why can't I beat 9-1? You know what I mean?

[00:57:23] Now, go ahead and laugh, but then think about what Indiana did. Kurt Signetti coming in from James Madison. You know, Bob Chesney is a winner too. Go check it when he did at Holy Cross. So UCLA is not going to be a pushover even though they wear that soft-ass color. All right. Wisconsin. The Badgers. I mentioned they finished last year two wins against Illinois and Washington. Luke Fickle got extended.

[00:57:53] You know, so now they got a whole new offense. You know, Colt Joseph in from Old Dominion at quarterback. I don't know the last time Wisconsin had a quarterback that, you know, like Graham Merrill maybe. You know, where was the last time Wisconsin had a quarterback? Graham Mertz. You know. Well, like, besides Graham Mertz, when did Wisconsin have a quarterback that a defense had to fear?

[00:58:22] You know, they had Billy Edwards last year who, yeah. So Wisconsin's always going to be able to run the ball. They're going to emphasize toughness. You know, they opened the season at Lambeau Field. And I know Mr. Logical hates that. Neutral site is his worst two words when it comes to college football. But they opened with Notre Dame. So you could chalk that up as a loss, I think. Right. You know, then you get some cupcakes before you go to Happy Valley.

[00:58:52] So could you be three and two after that Michigan State game? Now, when you look at it, Wisconsin has the schedule to be successful. You know, last year they had Alabama at Michigan, Ohio State, Washington, Illinois, at Oregon, at Indiana. I'm looking at this schedule this year. You got Notre Dame. We'll call Happy Valley tough based on the environment. But it's still early enough in the season that Penn State might have questions.

[00:59:22] You know, you get USC at home. And then after that, like, who in those last four games puts fear at you? So Wisconsin could be an 8-4 team that's really a 5-7 team in principle because their schedule made them 8-4. I know that makes all the SEC fans mad, but it is what it is. They did grab Abu Sama from Iowa State, Abu Sama III, that is.

[00:59:52] So I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to give Wisconsin 8-4 just based on the schedule alone. All right. The Illini, 119 games the last two years. Luke Altmaier out. Caten Hauser in from East Carolina. 66% passing. 3,330 yards. 19 touchdowns. 6 interceptions. Okay. You know, Aiden Lowry and Khalil Valentine back in the backfield for Illinois.

[01:00:18] But together they got just short of 1,000 yards. Now 196 to be exact. Hank Beatty's gone, so transfer receivers. But the defense. Now I know I've been talking a whole lot of 4-2-5, but this time Illinois is bringing in a 3-3-5 with Bobby Hawk, who you might remember as the former coach at Montana. You know, can they catch the conference off guard?

[01:00:44] You know, because I think a lot of teams and a lot of people, myself included, are going to be down on the Illini. But Brett Nilema is a great coach. You know, can they make it work? Looking at the schedule, you get an early start. You can start out 3-0 before you get to the Illini-Buck game. Then after that, who knows? So could Illinois be sitting at 5-1 after the Michigan State game?

[01:01:11] Could they be 4-2 if they lose that Duke game? You know, then you get Oregon at Maryland, Nebraska, UCLA, you know, Iowa. Like, this is a manageable schedule, too. You know, so Illinois has the schedule. I don't think they have the personnel. So that same way I was talking about Wisconsin being an 8-4 team, you know, or a 5-7 team with an 8-4 schedule,

[01:01:37] I think that Illinois is a 5-7 team with a 9-3 schedule. So I think it works both ways, but just not so good on the Illini side of things. Maryland. So I've been asking for Mike Loxley to be fired for at least three years, maybe four, maybe five. He's 37-49 at Maryland.

[01:02:03] Maryland, as an entity, is 39-58 in Big Ten games since joining the conference back in 2014. Malik Washington. He showed flashes last year. He looks like he has the potential to be a star. Malik, do me a favor. Stop throwing those three-yard crossers, you know, and those sideline passes that you can put a little bit of touch on. Stop Brett Favre-ing it because you don't got the receivers to be doing that.

[01:02:32] There's no Antonio Freeman, Desmond Howard, Donald Driver, Greg Jennings coming through that door. So Maryland was one of the nation's leaders in drops last year, and I think that was a big reason why. You know, and then on top of that, they couldn't run the ball. You know, their leading rusher is back, you know, DeJuan Williams, but what does that mean? He only averaged 3.9 per carry. We're talking about college football. You know, 3.9 in the NFL is pretty decent.

[01:03:00] That's a first down if you get that every play. But in college football, you're sunk. You're stuck in the mud. You know, as a team, they were last in the Big Ten, 104 yards rushing per game. You know, on the defensive side of the ball, Sidney Stewart is back. Zaheer Mathis is back. Maryland is going to be able to get after the quarterback. They're going to make life hell. They got Dante Joyner in the back with Jamari Glasker.

[01:03:28] Those are two NFL corners following the steps of Deontay Banks. You know, now Maryland has to find a receiver, you know, which I think they might. They might. From Old Dominion comes Naeem Abdul Raheem Gladden, who could be that next, right? You had Darius Hayward-Babe, Raheem Jarrett, Stephon Diggs. He could be the next of that lineage, you know, but it's going to be if the offensive line can protect them.

[01:03:56] Now, when it comes to Maryland, there's always something that I have to mention because it hurts my soul being a resident Marylander, or I should say I was born in Maryland, lived in Maryland. You know, 44-3-1, that's the record of Penn State against Maryland. You know what sucks about that is that Penn State's only on a four-game winning streak against Maryland. That's like being in a basketball game and going on an 8-0 run and you're still down 16.

[01:04:25] You know, so, look, Maryland, the schedule lines up for them to be able to get Virginia Tech early. James Franklin, I think Virginia Tech wins. But for all intents and purposes, you get them early enough to where we can question it. You get UCLA a little early. You know, that was a good game that came down to the wire last year. I don't think they can win at Nebraska. They're definitely not winning in Columbus. But then you get runkers.

[01:04:55] So, if I'm Maryland, could I be looking at 4-2 to start out? Maybe not. But, you know, the rumor or the thing about Maryland is that we always see is that they usually start 4-1. You know, they start 5-0 and then they finish 5-7 or something along those lines. Then they get Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin. All toss-ups at this stage. Maryland, I'm telling you, I'm not saying this out of bias because of hometown love. Maryland's loaded.

[01:05:25] They got talent. You just got to get it together. They brought in Clint Trickett as their offensive coordinator, moved Pep Hamilton over to an advisory role. Mike Loxley might be a little bit involved in the play calling, but I don't think if you're Clint Trickett, you come to a school like Maryland if you're not going to have dominion over the play calling. But, you know, so Maryland, I'm looking at 7-5 if everything goes right. 6-6 at worst. But this is Mike Loxley we're talking about.

[01:05:55] So, we might be looking at 4-8 for real. Rutgers, the New Jersey Knights, if you will. Greg Sciano. Now, I know that he went to the NFL for a quick stank with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You know, I know he was around. He was on Ohio State staff. He hasn't beaten a top 25 team since 2009. You know, they lost Aether and Callie McManus.

[01:06:24] You know, he plays for my commanders now. Seventh-round draft pick. That was the first Rutgers quarterback to get drafted since Mike Thiel in 2009 who also got drafted in the seventh round. But if you look around this Rutgers offense, weaponry, weaponry, weaponry, weaponry. You know, Dylan Lonergan, you know, he was recruited by Nick Saban at Bama, four-star quarterback.

[01:06:52] He's battling it out with A.J. Saras right now, whose dad is coaching at Princeton. They have a lot of offensive line experience coming back. You win trenches, you can win games. Kyle Huff. He's going to be one of those chic names that you hear throughout the year, 6'6", 225. He can get off the line. He's going to make DVs look bad.

[01:07:18] You got Ben Black with his blazing speed, but you got to get him to hold on to the ball. Arthur Raymond – or I'm sorry, Antoine Raymond, you know, running back. Going to get a lot of touches. He's going to carry a heavy load. Problem is, is that there's another side of the ball. If they were just playing 7-on-7, Rutgers had a chance to finish top six in the Big Ten. But then you got to play defense.

[01:07:43] So out of all Power Four teams last year, they were dead last in total defense. Dead last. You know, they did bring in Ty Morris from Rice, who I like a lot. Saw him in person against UTSA last year. Nine and a half tackles for loss on the season. 88 tackles. Kaj Sanders, I need to step up.

[01:08:05] You know, he has all the talent, versatility, instincts, the proverbial Swiss Army knife at safety. But he just couldn't put it together. Very inconsistent last year. They had the heartbreaker against Penn State. 40-36 last time they beat Penn State. Because, of course, I had to bring it up since I didn't want Maryland to be the only ones to get shit on. So they haven't beat Penn State since 1988. So how does it all shake out for the Scarlet Knights this year?

[01:08:35] You know, they got to go 3-0 out of conference if they have any ambitions to make a bowl game. They got to go 3-0. UMass. BC, who I think is going to be either last or next to last in the ACC. Lost to USC. But remember, USC coming east. You know, and then they get Howard. They get Howard, the Mecca. But they should win that game before they get Indiana. Come out of the bye week at Maryland at Northwestern.

[01:09:05] Those are both toss-ups. Like, can you get the 5-2 going into that Michigan game? I'm just saying. It's on the 4-2. It's on the table. You know, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Penn State, Michigan. Now look. Looking at this schedule, if I'm Rutgers, I'm thinking 8-4, 7-5. But it's all going to come down to that defense. So unfortunately, I see 5-7. Northwestern.

[01:09:33] In October, Ryan Field opens back up. You know, $862 million in renovations. You know, it's going to be ready to rock and roll. Now, this is the part of the show that is just hilarious to me. Because desperate times call for desperate measures. They brought in Preston Stone last year from SMU. It didn't go so well. Who could have predicted that, right?

[01:09:59] A guy coming off injury that got benched for Kevin Jennings, right? Okay. You know who Northwestern's new offensive coordinator is? He is 62-year-old Chip Kelly, who, of course, got fired by the Raiders, removed from winning the national title at Ohio State two years ago. Who's their quarterback, Coach? Gets even better. Gets even better. Jerry Neuheisel. Remember him?

[01:10:27] You know who got to be the interim offensive coordinator for UCLA last year after, you know, they moved on and had UCLA beat Penn State. That was the game that pretty much got James Franklin fired. So, like, Northwestern is going to be interesting, if nothing else. To top it all off, they went and brought one of the most volatile quarterbacks in college football in to be their starter.

[01:10:52] Aiden Childs, who I loved a couple years ago at Oregon State, has all the talent in the world, just can't hold on to the ball. You know, he keeps giving it to the other team, making bad plays. The IQ never developed. But I had high hopes for him at Michigan State because he was coming with Jonathan Smith, who I thought was a good coach. I still do. He just didn't fit at Michigan State. But we'll see what happens there. On the defensive side of the ball, another one of these secondaries, right?

[01:11:21] Robert Fitzgerald, Josh Fussell, and Braden Turner. You know, you bring in David Walker. Like, this is a secondary that can hold teams in check if, because there's the question mark, the defensive line, the tackles, you know, can they get through on anybody? The line itself. But I don't even think it matters. It doesn't matter how good Aiden Childs is when you really think about it,

[01:11:49] because if you're looking at what I'm looking at, you see at Indiana, you know, you know, with Penn State back-to-back, you know, you got at USC, at Oregon, back-to-back. You close at Nebraska and Michigan at home. So, I think that just looking at that schedule, and then I didn't even mention that team with the green O. So, like, if you're looking at Northwestern already, you're already five losses, I believe,

[01:12:19] before you even think about anything else. You're losing to Indiana, Oregon, Ohio State. I'm going to say Minnesota and Penn State, you know, and that still doesn't include Iowa yet, Michigan, like – oh, I'm sorry, Illinois. I was looking at the Ohio State column, my bad. Illinois. So, like, I don't know, man. This is a tough schedule for a bad team. So, I'm going three and nine.

[01:12:47] I think Chip Kelly will give us some fireworks, him and Jerry Neuheisel together. But it ain't going to go so well. Closing it all out, last two teams here, you got the Boilermakers, formerly known as the Spoilermakers, now known as Spilled Milk, Spoiled Milk. Because if you look at this, right, here – this is the skinny on the Boilermakers. 18-game Big Ten losing streak.

[01:13:14] Their only wins in the last two seasons are Ball State, Southern Illinois, and Indiana State. And for those of you keeping track, yes, that was two FCS teams and a MAAC team. So, that means that in the last two years, they are three and 21. You know, last year, they got shut out by Northwestern. They lost by 53 to Indiana, 56 to 3.

[01:13:43] They gave up another 56 to Notre Dame. Somehow, though, Bryce Underwood, Purdue only lost by five at the big house. You know, in those last two years as well, you also heard me say that. No power four wins to go along with that 18-game Big Ten losing streak. So, Barry Odom in year two, who I think is a really good head coach. He came over from UNLB. He has to be questioning himself. All money ain't good money.

[01:14:11] I know that you get to coach in the Big Ten, but I don't know. This ain't the job. Because you brought in 54 transfers last year. You brought in some more transfers this year. You know, which got good turnover at receiver with the transfer portal. You get Ryan Brown for another year, so hopefully he can put it together. He's put on a little bit of weight. They had the 17th total defense in the league. There's 18 teams.

[01:14:39] You know, the last three years, Purdue has given up, you know, a total of 30 points per game in each of those seasons. At least 30 points per game. They're a working process. In other words, there's always next year. So, looking at the schedule, you know, they get the week one win. Wake Forest could be a toss-up. But then they go out to Englewood. Notre Dame coming. At Illinois.

[01:15:09] Look, I ain't even got to read the rest of this. Look, if Purdue wins four games this year, that is an accomplishment. So, they could win the opener. They could start 2-0. They could. I doubt it. Because I think Jake Dickert, you know, has something going at Wake Forest. So, you know, I think, you know, the other options for wins, they usually play Illinois pretty well. Maybe Maryland.

[01:15:37] Michigan State, maybe you catch Iowa slipping. You know, like, do you play Iowa? Do you play Iowa late in the year, though, so they might figure it out by then? This is a bad team. Michigan State. So, you got Pat Fitzgerald. You remember him? Northwestern head coach fired for the hazing incidents, allegedly. Got a job. Now, this is one of those moments, right? I'm not going to be that guy.

[01:16:05] But I'm going to just say, I don't think if Pat Fitzgerald looked like me, he'd be a head coach right now. And I'm going to just leave it at that. Michigan State hasn't made a bowl in four years. Now, granted, bowl games aren't the sacred things that they used to be, and there's so many of them, you should still feel bad for not making one. Lots of depth concerns all over this roster. They did bring in Cam Edwards from UConn, 1,240 yards last year.

[01:16:30] You know, their quarterback, you know, Alessio Mili Vucevic, I think is how you say it. Chip on his shoulder. Pretty good quarterback. With Pat Fitzgerald's coaching, Michigan State could be a lot better. But I wonder if they could get out of week one unscathed against the Rockets. The good news is that Jason Candle is in Hartford and not in Toledo. Okay.

[01:16:57] So, Michigan State gave up 37 sacks last year. No depth on defense. Even though I do like Jordan Hall, Mike Linebacker, he's the leader of the defense. I like Nakai Martinez at safety, and they got his buddy Charles Brantley over from Miami. So, Michigan State has pieces sprinkled throughout their roster. Right? They're just sprinkled out, but this isn't – I don't know how good they're going to be.

[01:17:26] It's too – like, I can sit up here, blow smoke up your ass, and say, hey, I see this is an eight-win team. That'll surprise people. I can say, hey, they're going to win three games. To be honest, I have no idea. But looking at the schedule, you know what I mean? I'm interested in week three, not because I think they could beat Notre Dame, but Michigan State-Notre Dame was one of those games of my childhood. Rivalry that should be played more often than it has been. But 2-0, I'll give them Toledo and Eastern Michigan. You know, Nebraska's a toss-up. Wisconsin's a toss-up.

[01:17:57] Illinois, Northwestern. So, if you're Sparty, if you could start 3-3, you feel real good 4-2 would be even better. Right? You know, you go to UCLA, chalk that up as a loss, I think. At Michigan, loss. You know what I'm saying? Washington, Oregon, loss. Loss. So, you know, it just doesn't go well. But I can see 5-7. I'll do that. I'll split the baby and go 5-7. So, capping it all up.

[01:18:29] Who does 2-5 think makes Indianapolis in the Big Ten Championship game? Now, last year, I went out on a limb. And I didn't pick Ohio State to get to the Big Ten title game. Last year, I chose Indiana and Penn State. I thought Penn State was going to get over the hump last year. Obviously, Drew Alla got hurt. Some other things happened. Whatever. You know what I'm going to do this year?

[01:18:59] I'm going to still not pick Ohio State to get to the Big Ten title game. Give me Indiana and Oregon in the Big Ten title game. Give me Oregon as your Big Ten champion. But give me those three teams as the playoff teams. Oregon, Michigan. I'm sorry. Ohio State, Indiana. Those are my three playoff teams.

[01:19:19] Now, somebody between USC and Michigan has an opportunity to get a fourth playoff spot. Everything breaks to the right a little bit. Washington could be in that mix. Like I said, I don't like the closeout with Indiana and Oregon at Austin. For Washington, I think that pretty much ends their chapter.

[01:19:43] But, you know, Michigan here, if you look at that Michigan here, you know, if they could get that Oklahoma win in week two. They played Oklahoma well last year. Sheryl Moore just called a shitty conservative game that had no – like – and look, I get it, right? It was Bryce Underwood's first start. He's a five-star quarterback that you paid, what, $12 million for? Don't put him on the field if that's the game plan.

[01:20:09] Now, I'm not saying that you got to come out here and try to be Patrick Mahomes, try to be Josh Allen. But that game was winnable. Now they have a coach and they have an offensive coordinator with Jason Beck that is coming in. You know, you got Marshall back at running back, you know, six yards per carry, 920 yards. You know, the freshman, Savion Hyder. Oh, I can't wait to see this guy play football.

[01:20:39] I cannot – I can't wait to see Donovan McCulley at receiver. Michigan has talent. It's just going to be the question of can Bryce Underwood make it happen? You know, defensively, you know, they brought in Jay Hill as defensive coordinator from BYU. He's going to mix up zone and man and keep quarterbacks confused, especially the younger ones, creative blitzes. You know, Michigan's always going to play good defense for the foreseeable future.

[01:21:06] You know, they also have a guy – and I'm about to be a little hyperbolic right here. And, you know, like if you were watching Sports Reports Disorder, you know how I feel about Will Johnson. You know, I think Jair Hill has potential to be better. You know, Michigan's also got John Henry Daly coming off of ACL from Utah with Kyle Winningham. You know, 48 tackles, 11 and a half sacks, two forced fumbles.

[01:21:34] You know, he'll be a redshirt junior this year. You know, going back to my original point about Sherron Moore, Michigan had 52 red zone opportunities last year and scored 32 touchdowns. So that's going to be the question. You got Bryce Underwood, get him in the end zone. The threat of Bryce Underwood should be enough for play action to work. And I think Kyle Winningham will bring that.

[01:22:02] You know, he's a great coach that brings toughness. He kind of reminds me of what Iowa fans would like Kirk Ferentz to be. So Michigan is going to be in the mix. But when I look at it, I can't say for sure that they beat Oklahoma. I think that that Minnesota game could get hairy up in U.S. Bank Stadium. You know, Indiana's a tough game, but it is at home. You go to Auton, I'm chalking that as a loss.

[01:22:32] And you go to Ohio State, I'm chalking that as a loss. So I got Michigan sitting at 8-4. But if all goes wrong, it could go 7-5, but I'm going to go 8-4. But give me Oregon over Indiana again in the Big Ten title game. And then, of course, we'll get into national title picks and playoff picks at a later date. But I will be back on Friday. You know, hopefully Mr. Logical will be back. But Friday is Big 12 time.

[01:23:02] One of the best conferences every year as far as the conference race goes. Besides last year, Texas Tech kind of ran away with it. But most years, there's five to six teams that could win the Big 12 legitimately. You know, I don't think I didn't notice Colorado on that Northwestern schedule either. You know, and they played Georgia Tech to start the year. So we're going to talk about Coach Prime. We're going to talk about Kansas State, Avery Johnson. Another year of me trying to believe in him.

[01:23:30] But, you know, in the meantime, don't forget on Thursday to check out Say Less, Say More live. You know what I'm saying? YouTube and all the places. Live on TikTok even. But like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things, do all the good things. Liquid death in hand. I love you. Thank you for your support. Thanks for everything. You know, you guys have been great, especially over the last month and a half, two months or so.

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