Lots of posts have been made about how the Big Ten (especially the Big Ten West) is having a terrible year compared to previous years. Lots of this speculation came from the fact that previous stalwarts like Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan State started the year terribly, which at the time was somewhat justified. After a few weeks, it's becoming increasingly clear, however, that new faces have emerged to represent the Big Ten.
Perhaps the most obvious one here is Illinois, led by Bret Bielema and one absolutely inexplicable OT loss to Indiana away from being undefeated. Bret just knows how to roll the Big Ten West, and he's brought the spirit of his old Wisconsin teams to Illinois with some newer offensive ideas and a salty defense led by young prodigy DC Ryan Walters, who may be the head coach at Colorado in a few months. This team is very good, and could be a likely opponent in the Big Ten Championship Game, as weird as that may sound. Their next three games are all winnable, against Nebraska, Minnesota, and Michigan State.
Who else might meet OSU in the B1G Championship? That would be this season's second big surprise, Purdue. Purdue came into the year with some momentum as Jeff Brohm's team had its first decent year under his tenure last year, going 9-4. They then proceeded to start 1-2, with close last-minute losses to both Syracuse and Penn State. We didn't know this at the time, but it turns out that both of those losses were to teams that are currently ranked and undefeated. Purdue is now 4-2 after gutting out another close win against a quality Maryland team. Purdue should be favored in its next three games against Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin before playing in a potentially pivotal ranked matchup for the B1G West against....Illinois.
Maryland also deserves a mention, after they played TTUN tough and just barely lost to Purdue. Their next three games are all also winnable, against Indiana, Northwestern, and Wisconsin. We could see their game against Penn State in November be a matchup of two ranked teams as well, and it would be great for OSU to potentially get another ranked win on their schedule late in the year.
Illinois snuck into the AP top 25 this week, with Purdue on the outside looking in while still receiving a decent number of votes. Purdue should also continue to look better if Syracuse stays undefeated (though they face a tough NC State team next weekend). Either way, these are the new faces of the B1G, and they're not bad!
