Big Ten Preseason Rankings: Michigan State Spartans Again?
The Big Ten has obviously had its share of disappointment over the past few years due to the way the conference has fallen off the college football map.
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It was exposed heavily two years ago and made a slight comeback last year, but if you analyzed the Power Five conferences from top to bottom, you have to make a case right now for the Big Ten being above the ACC. Forget about reaching the level of the Big 12 and especially the SEC or Pac 12.
To be fair, the conference also got hit with a few bad breaks. The Penn State scandal is most notable, but Ohio State’s probation was a minor hit as well. But the Buckeyes are back and the Nittany Lions are on the way back.
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Now, the conference takes another hit with the its potentially best player, Braxton Miller, going down with a season-ending injury.
There’s still plenty of reasons to be excited about the Big Ten restoring its rightful place as one of the top three college football conferences this year, though. For starters, the Buckeyes still are a powerhouse team, Penn State is only going to get better, the Michigan Wolverines have the talent to get back to near the level they were once at, Wisconsin and Nebraska aren’t going anywhere, and don’t sleep on the two newcomers, Maryland and Rutgers. Especially Maryland, who has almost every starter back after suffering injury-plagued seasons for two years in a row.
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Finally, there’s Michigan State. The Spartans are loaded this year and have played the biggest role in restoring honor to the conference after an epic Rose Bowl win last year. Yet they continued to get no respect this offseason until Miller went down. Remember, this team would have been in the playoff if it were held last year, and there aren’t a lot of people who went anywhere.
The Spartans, Buckeyes, Wolverines, and Nittany Lions all play in the new Big Ten East, and that’s where this will start.
The East is by far the toughest division, which is really unfortunate for Maryland and Rutgers because they could have made a giant splash in the conference otherwise. Just wait until Penn State and Michigan reach their full potential with MSU and OSU already there. The Big Ten may not become the toughest conference in college football, but the Big Ten East could compete with either SEC division.
And if the winner of that division survives the grueling schedule in it, then they are very well-positioned for the College Football Playoff.