The Big Ten struggled on Thursday night as several teams had a difficult time against lower-level teams. College football is unique in that you have no pre-season games like the NFL or scrimmages like you see in High School, so week ones can be sloppy. Over the years, plenty of teams have struggled, then come out the following week and look much better. The other part of the story with the Big Ten was that none of their marquee teams played Thursday night.
Rutgers struggled all night and could not stop a pesky Ohio team. They won 34-31 but had to kick a field goal late to win the game. Getting out-gained at home against a MAC team is not a good look for Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano. Entering year 7 of Schiano’s 2nd stint at Rutgers, you expect more from his team.
The other, concerning week one game was Wisconsin, which has one of the toughest schedules in the country, so opening against Miami (Ohio) was important to look sharp. They struggled most of the game as they were up only 3-0 until late in the 3rd quarter. The other alarming concern is that their starting quarterback, Billy Edwards, left the game with an injury. Back-up quarterback Danny O’Neil struggled as his replacement. They eventually pulled away and secured the win 17-0, but it was still a concerning opener for them.
Minnesota struggled against a pesky Buffalo team, but Buffalo is a good team coming off a 9-win season. I wasn’t as concerned with Minnesota as PJ Fleck’s team pulled away for a 23-10 win.
The biggest game of the night for the Big Ten was Nebraska, entering its third year under Matt Rhule’s regime. In Rhule’s last two stops at Temple and Baylor, they broke through in year 3. He won 10 games at Temple and 11 games at Baylor in his 3rd season. Nebraska fans are hoping that Rhule can do that this year for the Cornhuskers as Rhule enters year 3. In a back-and-forth game, Nebraska survived a late Cincinnati attempt at knocking them off when they won 20-17.
For Rhule and Nebraska, it was an important win to win a close one-score game. Coming into this game, Rhule was 2-9 in one-score games. This game was ugly at times, but they survived to finish with a huge week one victory.
On Saturday, defending National Champion Ohio State will open its season against Texas in the marquee matchup for the Big Ten. This is a matchup of the number 1-ranked team in Texas and the number 3-ranked team in Ohio State. After one night of games, the Big Ten looked shaky, but it still has plenty of games to prove its worth.
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