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3 takeaways from the 2022 Big Ten football season

By Christopher Mangum

COLUMBUS, OHIO - NOVEMBER 26: Kris Jenkins #94 of the Michigan Wolverines celebrates a 45-23 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium on November 26, 2022 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OHIO - NOVEMBER 26: Kris Jenkins #94 of the Michigan Wolverines celebrates a 45-23 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium on November 26, 2022 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images) /
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Last weekend, Big Ten football saw one of the most thrilling weekends we have witnessed all year. Penn State won the Land-Grant trophy, Michigan killed Ohio State (again), and much more.

Now that we are done with the regular season let’s look at a few things we learned this year.

Big Ten West is embarrassingly bad

One of the few things that have remained true throughout the 2022 Big Ten football season is the imbalance in the divisions. The Big Ten West, in particular, is just terrible this year. In fact, it was about the same last year.

Iowa and Wisconsin — the West’s usual top teams — did not do very well this year. The Hawkeyes opened the season with a 7-3 win (two safeties, one field goal) over an FCS school and never looked back en route to a 7-5 finish. Wisconsin finished the year 6-6 and fired its coach mid-season.

This left a massive hole at the top of the Big Ten West for one of the division’s smaller schools to fill. Heading into the season’s final week, it felt as if the West did not want to have a champion this year.

In week 13, Iowa hosted 3-8 Nebraska with a chance at winning the division. The Hawkeyes choked the opportunity away, somehow handing the Huskers their fourth win of the year.

After eight games, the West Champion seemed to be determined. Iowa was ranked No. 16 in the initial CFP poll, boasted a 7-1 record, and had won seven straight games after a week 1 loss to Indiana. That was until Michigan State knocked off the Fighting Illini at home, leading to Illinois football’s collapse.

The Fighting Illini went from 7-1 and ranked to 8-4 throughout the season’s final weeks. Once again, this left a massive opportunity for one of the smaller schools, but no one was stepping up.

After improving to 8-4 with a win over Indiana, Purdue University was the one to claim the Big Ten West division title and must face 12-0 Michigan football in the Big Ten Championship game this weekend.

Surprisingly, five Big Ten West teams finished .500 or better: Wisconsin (6-6), Iowa (7-5), Minnesota (8-4), Illinois (8-4), and Purdue (8-4). That being said, there is a severe imbalance when the Big Ten East has teams going 10-2, 11-1, and 12-0. There are three top-10 Big Ten teams right now — all of which are in the East division In fact, the West has zero ranked teams right now.

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