Big Ten football got off to a great start to the 2017 college football season. The conference went 10-2 in non-conference play in Week 1.
There are still many unanswered questions surrounding teams around the country, including those in the Big Ten Conference. Still, one thing is for certain—the league had a great opening weekend that could be the start of big things to come.
Entering the 2017 college football season, the Big Ten had four teams ranked inside the top ten of the USA Today Coaches poll and four inside the top 11 of the AP poll. Those four teams (Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio State) dominated their opponents by a combined score of 193-48.
No. 2 Ohio State opened up the season with an early test against the Indiana Hoosiers. Fighting off the atmosphere and high expectations, the Buckeyes shrugged off a sluggish start. They used a strong second half to defeat the Hoosiers 49-21.
Defending conference champion Penn State took care of an early season cakewalk. They defeated the Akron Zips at home 52-0. No. 9 Wisconsin also used a strong second half and 59 unanswered points to defeat Utah State 59-10.
BIG TEN!!!!!!!!!
— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) September 2, 2017
Michigan emerges with marquee win
Perhaps the biggest win of the weekend was Michigan’s 33-17 victory over the Florida Gators in Arlington. Granted, the Gators were missing 10 players, but the Wolverines trotted out a lot of new faces. They had just five returning starters from their 2016 squad. Still, the Wolverines’ defense was key, not allowing a single offensive score and shutting down Florida. Despite the young roster, head coach Jim Harbaugh has Michigan back in national prominence once again.
The Big Ten will go 10–2 in non-conf openers. The two losses featured Purdue (!) and Rutgers (!) putting up fights vs ranked favorites. pic.twitter.com/4tLK1g3SIq
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) September 3, 2017
Of the two non-conference losses the league saw, Rutgers and Purdue put up major fights against highly ranked opponents. The Scarlet Knights, who did not win a conference game last year, hung around with the Washington Huskies for most of the game. They even led after the first quarter before falling at home 30-14.
On Saturday night, the Purdue Boilermakers went all the way down to the final possession with Lamar Jackson and the No. 16 ranked Louisville Cardinals. It was a back-and-forth game that had the Boilermakers in front more than once. The Cardinals would score last and hold a seven point advantage all the way to the final seconds in West Lafayette.
Related Story: Louisville survives scare from Purdue
Of course, we cannot forget the Maryland Terrapins dropping 51 in Austin, Texas and spoiling head coach Tom Herman‘s debut with the Texas Longhorns. The Terps defeated the Longhorns 51-41 behind the excellent quarterback play of both Tyrell Pigrome and Kasim Hill.
Other Big Ten Scores
- Minnesota 17, Buffalo 7
- Illinois 24, Ball State 21
- Iowa 24, Wyoming 3
- Michigan State 35, Bowling Green 10
- Northwestern 31, Nevada 20
- Nebraska 43, Arkansas State 36
The conference did have some scares as Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern and Nebraska all had some late-game challenges in order to pull out the win. Nonetheless, a win is a win and the conference should be in good shape moving forward as they welcome in some more high-magnitude non-conference games before heading into league play.
Next: 5 takeaways from Michigan's win over Florida
College Gameday will be in Columbus next week as the Buckeyes welcome in the Oklahoma Sooners in a top ten showdown. Other Power Five matchups include Minnesota at Oregon State, Nebraska at Oregon, Pittsburgh at Penn State, Indiana at Virginia, Northwestern at Duke, and Iowa at Iowa State.