What are the five key questions going into the season that need to be asked at Big Ten football media days?
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Big Ten Team Previews, 5 Things To Know
East Indiana | Maryland | Michigan | Michigan State
Ohio State | Penn State | Rutgers
West Illinois | Iowa | Minnesota | Nebraska
Northwestern | Purdue | Wisconsin
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Big Ten Media Days
July 18-19, Chicago, IL
5. Q: What’s next for the Big Ten under Kevin Warren?
Not everything was perfect during the reign of retiring Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany.
Could the conference have done a better job of handling the Penn State nightmare? Uhhhh, you think?
There were a whole slew of other PR problems to deal with from member schools. Ohio State had a massive issue last year. Maryland had a massive issue last year. Michigan State had a really massive Larry Nassar issue, and …
During Delany’s tenure, the Big Ten became really big, really rich, and really powerful.
The schools are taking treasure baths from all the cash flowing in. The Big Ten Network is doing fine, the TV contracts are strong, and the league is dominant in terms of reach and exposure.
No pressure, new guy. Just replace the man who was a legend at changing the business and landscape of major college athletics.
New commissioner Kevin Warren – the 55-year-old COO of the Minnesota Vikings – is inheriting a monster.
While he’ll mostly be in charge of keeping it all going, in this job, he’ll have the leverage and muscle to be a Delany-like power broker to shape college athletics as we know it just when several major issues are on the table.
Start with the College Football Playoff. These things tend to go in cycles on the field, but if the Big Ten is firmly established as the second-best football conference going, it’s a problem when it’s been three years in a row – after Michigan State got pasted by Alabama four seasons ago – without the champion being in the show. It’s not a good look for the Big Ten, or for the College Football Playoff.
This is where Warren can carve out his own niche right away – figure out the CFP expansion plan that makes sense for everyone – especially the Big Ten – and don’t fight it as much as Delany did.
Under Warren, the Big Ten will have the chance to be an innovator when it comes to creating the best way to better compensate and take care of the revenue-producing players – or else the courts might just figure it out first.
Speaking of getting paid, considering the massive alumni bases – and how Michigan fans, particularly, are among the biggest line-movers – the Big Ten has to be proactive in handling the sports betting tsunami beyond the talking points of it all supposedly being bad for college sports.
Is expansion going to be back on the table? Almost nothing is too crazy to try at this point to try if you’re the Big Ten. Texas? North Carolina? Syracuse? – Why not give it a shot?
Why not try to be the progressive leader on as many main issues in college athletics and the Big Ten as possible from Day One?
Again, no pressure, Commissioner Warren, but before you leave to be the next Commissioner of the NFL, just solve every big talking point in college athletics and keep making millions upon millions of dollars for the Big Ten.
Or just do the latter. For now, that’s good enough.
NEXT: Who has the bigger/weirder/more unpredictable/more interesting quarterback storyline?
4. Q: Who has the bigger/weirder/more unpredictable/more interesting quarterback storyline?
Iowa QB Nate Stanley is terrific. He’s a decent mid-level pro prospect and a sure-thing, rock-solid starter who’ll once again fly under the radar. And why? The Big Ten is going to have quarterback storyline after storyline all throughout the season.
Shea Patterson is absolutely, positively the Michigan starting quarterback … sort of. All bets are off when it comes to quarterbacks and Jim Harbaugh. Dylan McCaffrey could become a big, big part of the Big Ten race.
Is Justin Fields amazing? He had better be, because the Ohio State quarterback situation is a toothpick thin behind him.
Is Brian Lewerke going to give Michigan State an offense this year? Is Artur Sitkowski going to give Rutgers an offense this year?
Sean Clifford at Penn State … let’s go. True freshman Isaiah Williams at Illinois … let’s go. Virginia Tech transfer Josh Jackson landing at Maryland … really, LET’S GO.
Indiana is shockingly loaded with depth and talent – get ready for that to be a big deal across the national landscape when it comes to having a solid No. 2 guy – helped by Jack Tuttle transferring in from Utah.
Minnesota might just be a sneaky-good player in the Big Ten West race, but it needs Zach Annexstad or Tanner Morgan to be great.
Wisconsin is absolutely a player in the Big Ten West race, but it needs super-recruit Graham Mertz to be great.
Clemson transfer Hunter Johnson might just be the most talented quarterback Northwestern has had since … ever? He is if you believe the recruiting rankings.
Elijah Sindelar has the potential to put up astronomical numbers considering Purdue’s receiving corps. Adrian Martinez has the potential to put up astronomical numbers considering Scott Frost’s Nebraska offense.
This is going to be a blast.
NEXT: Can Ryan Day really be reasonably expected to do THAT right away?
3. Q: Can Ryan Day really be reasonably expected to do THAT right away?
No, but … win 12 games a year, win the Big Ten title, at least flirt with the College Football Playoff, beat Michigan – not necessarily in that order.
Welcome to the full-time Ohio State head coaching gig, Ryan Day. Just win everything.
He’s got the most talented team in the league, he’s got the infrastructure. he’s got the support, and he’s got the most unfair expectations possible heaped on his shoulders.
Hey, just be another Lincoln Riley – you know, the young innovative head coach who replaced an all-time legend who left a superpower too early. There’s your comp – easy peasy.
Yeeeeeesh.
Fortunately for Day, he really does have the talent in place.
RB JK Dobbins should go off behind a fantastic-looking offensive line. The receiving corps is unfairly deep and good, and Justin Fields – speaking of pressure and expectations – was considered by the various services to be either a better prospect than Trevor Lawrence or No. 1A after signing at Georgia last offseason.
The defense has to be a whole lot better, but the NFL is going to spend the next decade paying current Buckeye defenders a whole lot of money.
Day will get a very, very, teeny-tiny, itty-bitty free pass this year. No one with a rational brain will expect him to be another Urban Meyer – or Lincoln Riley – and there really are a whole slew of excellent Big Ten teams to deal with on a challenging schedule.
With that said …
Ryan, win 12 games, win the Big Ten title, at least flirt with the College Football Playoff, beat Michigan – not necessarily in that order.
NEXT: Who the hell is going to win the West?
2. Q: Who the hell is going to win the West?
Like you saw Northwestern coming.
Start with this – Illinois isn’t going to win the Big Ten West title.
It’ll be a whole lot stronger in what seems like Lovie Smith’s 14th-straight youth movement season, and the schedule works out, but no, Illinois isn’t going to win the Big Ten West title.
Purdue would need something amazing to happen for it to take down the division championship. It’ll be dangerous, and Jeff Brohm has assembled a ton of good young talent, but no. Purdue isn’t going to win the Big Ten West title.
Northwestern is going to be even better. It upgraded at quarterback, the lines are strong, and the defense should be every bit as good as last year’s version, but no. Northwestern isn’t going to win the Big Ten West title – it’s not winning all the close games again.
So who’s in the mix?
Does Nebraska have the defense to hold up enough so the offense can do its thing? The Huskers might have to get into a whole lot of shootouts, but they don’t have to go 10-2 to pull this off. A few well-timed wins – they get Wisconsin, Northwestern and Iowa in Lincoln – and with no Michigan State, Michigan or Penn State to deal with, they’ll be dangerous.
Iowa is going to be really, really good. Great coaching, great lines, and a veteran quarterback with fringe NFL skills. That’s all a good place to start.
Minnesota doesn’t have to play Ohio State, Michigan or Michigan State from the East, and it gets Wisconsin and Nebraska at home. The star power might not be there on a national scale, but PJ Fleck has the guys – the running backs are great and WR Tyler Johnson is a real, live top 50 pro prospect. Throw in the attacking defense and good lines, and yeah, the Gophers are going to be dangerous.
And then there’s Wisconsin.
Last year’s team underachieved at a huge level, and now the national love appears to have gone away. It all comes down to the quarterback situation.
The offensive line will be fine, It lost a ton of talent, but it’s Wisconsin – there won’t be any massive issues.
Jonathan Taylor is the reigning Doak Walker winner, the receiving corps is the best the Badgers have had in years, and the no-name defense is going to put a ton of names on the post-season all-star teams.
Going back to Question 3, this might be the key to the Big Ten West season. Is star recruit Graham Mertz really that good right out of the box? Jack Coan got in some work, and he was serviceable, but Wisconsin is too big and too good a program to think about anything less than a Big Ten title, and Mertz has the talent to be the missing piece.
And then watch as Northwestern makes everyone look silly again by making it back-to-back titles.
NEXT: Coach Harbaugh … about Ohio State … ?
1. Q: Coach Harbaugh … about Ohio State … ?
All the guy did was come within a game of going to the Big Ten Championship and likely the College Football Playoff – losing to a team that went 13-1, won the Rose Bowl, and dropped six games in four years – but you know what’s coming …
“Coach Harbaugh, talk about … what happened against Ohio State/what do you need to do to beat Ohio State/how close are you to beating Ohio State/with Urban gone, is this the year you’re going to beat Ohio State/do you feel any extra pressure this time around after not beating Ohio State/do you have the team to beat Ohio State/does the game being in Ann Arbor mean this is the year you’re going to beat OhioStateOhioStateOhioStateOhioStateOhioState …. ?”
Big Ten media days needs Jim Harbaugh to beat Ohio State just so the narrative and tone can change next year.
There are several terrific Big Ten coaching personalities – James Franklin might be the best coach to interview outside of Dabo, PJ Fleck is … interesting, and Kirk Ferentz is an absolute delight – but when Harbaugh was on early in his Michigan coaching career, he was a dream come true when it came to quotes and content.
He still is when he’s able to turn it loose, but when the entire focus is about his high-profile failures and not his three ten-win seasons in four years, or his wins over Michigan State, Penn State, and Wisconsin last season, or course he’s going to be a bit salty.
But it has to be asked. The collective Big Ten media would and should be fired without getting a quote or three about the failures against Ohio State, the blowout loss to Florida, and going four straight seasons without winning a Big Ten championship. Harbaugh will oblige, and he’ll discuss it all, but he won’t be able to go full Harbaugh – and that’s when the good stuff is there.
But it’s the main storyline. It’s the Big Ten season. No matter what else happens, no matter how good Michigan is along the way, it’s all going to be about November 30th.
Even if the Wolverines end up winning the Big Ten title and go off to the College Football Playoff, lose to Ohio State, and next July in Chicago …
“Coach Harbaugh, you had an amazing season … talk about how the Ohio State loss … ”
Big Ten Team Previews, 5 Things To Know
East Indiana | Maryland | Michigan | Michigan State
Ohio State | Penn State | Rutgers
West Illinois | Iowa | Minnesota | Nebraska
Northwestern | Purdue | Wisconsin
