When the dust settled in Week 3 of the college football season, The Big Ten East stood tall and smiled.
Each program from the division that played a game on Sept. 17 — Indiana is the lone one that did not — came out on the winning side. Ohio State throttled Oklahoma on the road by 21, Michigan beat Colorado by 17, Maryland topped UCF in overtime in Florida, Michigan State held on to beat Notre Dame in South Bend, Penn State pushed past Temple and Rutgers rallied to beat New Mexico.
Only Penn State and Rutgers are not unbeaten after three weeks of the season, losing to Pittsburgh and Washington respectively. Three teams from the division are ranked in the top-8 of the latest AP Poll, released Sunday. Ohio State is No. 2, Michigan checks in at No. 4 and Mark Dantonio's Michigan State Spartans are No. 8.
The Big Ten East's argument for best division in college football is strong. Former Ohio State assistant coach and current Big Ten analyst Glen Mason believes there isn't one better.
No. 2 Ohio State. No. 4 Michigan. No. 8 Michigan St.#B1G East is the best division, right?
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) September 19, 2016
Our analysts disagree. https://t.co/WJDeLrJfJi
Dave Wannstedt's argument is also fair. Louisville just housed Florida State 63-20 and vaulted to No. 3 in the rankings, which dropped the Seminoles down to No. 13. Last year's national runner-up, the Clemson Tigers, is the No. 5 team in the country but started at No. 2.
Three teams from one division in the top-13 is worthing noting, but Syracuse and Boston College are 1-2 while North Carolina State is 2-1. To round out the rest of the ACC Atlantic, Wake Forest is 3-0 but only has victories against Tulane, Duke and Delaware, an FCS program.
Indiana beat Florida International and Ball State before its off weekend and has a chance on Saturday to knock Wake Forest from the ranks of college football's unbeaten. Penn State shook off a rough outing and narrow three-point loss against Pittsburgh to beat Temple. How the Nittany Lions do in Ann Arbor this weekend is one of the first pieces to the puzzle on how the division will shake out come November.
Rutgers has miles to go before becoming an actual contender but Chris Ash's team bounced back from an embarrassing 48-13 loss at then-No. 13 Washington to win two straight. Things don't get any easier for the Scarlet Knights, however, as they host Iowa on Saturday and travel to Columbus the weekend after before playing Michigan.
Additionally, the Big Ten as a whole placed four marquee out of conference matchups on its schedule this year. It won all four.
The #B1G had four headliner non-conf. games in 2016:
— Saturday Tradition (@Tradition) September 18, 2016
No. 5 LSU
No. 14 Oklahoma
No. 18 Notre Dame
No. 22 Oregon
Yeah, make that 4-for-4.
In Week 3 alone, the Big Ten went 5-0 against Power 5 opponents. Nebraska upset No. 22 Oregon to move to 3-0 and Northwestern beat Duke to finally grab its first win of 2016. On the season, the Big Ten is 8-3 in games against Power 5 schools. The SEC, ACC and Pac-12 all sit at 5-5, while the Big 12 is a forgetful 3-6.
Iowa's home loss to FCS North Dakota State is a black eye, but the Bison received enough votes to check in at No. 27 in the AP Poll this week. North Dakota State won the last five FCS National Championships so that program is nowhere near normal.
Plus, let's not forget that Illinois lost to P.J. Fleck and Western Michigan at home by 24 and Purdue is still Purdue. But the Big Ten is 24-6 against all FBS opponents so far in 2016. Second best? The SEC, at 17-7. Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State are 7-0 against FBS opponents with the wins at Oklahoma by the Buckeyes and at Notre Dame by the Spartans serving as the main courses.
These four men are a combined 9-0 against FBS opponents so far in 2016.
The SEC still leads all conferences with eight teams in the latest AP top-25 but only has two — top-ranked Alabama and No. 10 Texas A&M — in the top-10. The Big Ten East's first three weeks of the season were mostly dominant and it shows. Ohio State owns four first-place votes while Michigan has one.
"It's legit. I was shocked when I came here in 2012 the disrespect for the Big Ten nationally," Urban Meyer said in July at Big Ten Media Days. "Then you look and I don't want to say deserved because that's harsh, but you looked at the draft picks, you looked at the recruiting cycles, you never saw Big Ten teams in the top-5, top-10. Now you're seeing it."
We will see if they stay there starting this weekend as conference play begins.
