Big Ten football power rankings: Post-spring 2023 edition

Bret Bielema did a really solid job in his second year with Illinois, going 8-5 but this came after a 7-1 start. The Illini looked to have the Big Ten West in the bag but they stumbled against Michigan State, Purdue, and Michigan in back-to-back-to-back games.

Illinois has expectations of making a bowl game now which wasn’t the case in the Lovie Smith era and Bielema is a much better coach that what fans have been used to.

I can see this team winning 7-8 games, at most, but Luke Altmyer will need to have a huge year at quarterback for the Illini to top last year’s win total.

I’m not really understanding the Maryland hype that seems to be spreading throughout the Big Ten fanbase this offseason. Sure, Taulia Tagovailoa is back at quarterback, but he seems to make some key mistakes in big situations and that has cost the Terps some big wins.

Tagovailoa will still be one of the best quarterbacks in the conference this year and he’ll have near-1,000-yard rusher Roman Hemby behind him.

The defense loses some key players and I just don’t think Maryland ever strikes fear in anyone on this side of the ball.