5 things we learned from wild Week 1 of College Football season

Big Ten hierarchy?

There isn’t a change at the top. Ohio State is the favorite and much like Clemson in the ACC, until someone proves otherwise, the Buckeyes should be expected to win the Big Ten.

But the first week of the college football season showed us that the top challengers may be different than we expected.

Wisconsin was a preseason darling. The Badgers often are in part, because they aren’t in the same division as the Buckeyes and are always solid. Graham Mertz and his potential also added to the hype.

But in a top-20 showdown with Penn State, it was the 19th-ranked Nittany Lions — fresh off a 4-5 season — that left Madison with a 16-10 win, thanks to three key takeaways.

It was a massive win for James Franklin and showed that last season was a fluke. Penn State had won 11 games in three of the past four seasons, prior to last year, and has been the biggest threat to the Buckeyes in the conference.

That appears to be true once again in 2021 and Penn State looks like a double-digit win team.

Iowa football also made a statement in Week 1. Indiana was another preseason favorite, but the Hawkeyes ran over the Hoosiers like it was November.

The Hawkeyes were playing as well as any Big Ten West team down the stretch in 2020 and with quarterback Spencer Petras, running back Tyler Goodson and a bunch of other offensive talent, Iowa looks poised for a run at the top spot, although we shouldn’t discount the Badgers just because of one loss.