Happy Sunday college football fans and welcome to the second installment of the Power 5 previews. Ok, preview is a little strong. It’s really just a comparison of conferences by the GCR’s calculation of a preseason strength of schedule (PS SOS) for each team then averaged for the conferences. We started months ago with the FCS then moved through the Group of 5 and discussed the weakest scheduled Power 5 conference a few days ago with the ACC. This post’s topic will be about a conference that has been 1st or 2nd in PS SOS the last few years, but dropped all the way to fourth this season. Mostly because the West division was not very…successful in 2022. Maybe when the season kicks off in 13 days, the fate may change.
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If you haven’t figured it out by now, welcome to the Big Ten 2023. The current 14 members averaged just 8.0583 compared to a Power 5 standard of 8.1979. That’s not to say all of the teams are getting off easy this year: 4 teams have top 20 schedules and 2 in the top 10. But that is offset by 6 teams below 8.000 and 2 below 7.000. In the table below (N) indicates a neutral site game, (G) indicates a Group of 5 opponent and (F) indicates an FCS foe. Here they are from 1st to 14th:
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| Team/ Conf Rank | PS SOS/ Rank | ’22 Recd/ SOS Rank | ’23 Opp’s Record | Conf Home | Conf Away | Non-Conf Home | Non-Conf Away/ Neutral |
| Ohio St (1) | 9.205/ 8 | 11-2/ 14 | 92-60 (.605) | (33-18) Maryland, Penn St, Michigan St, Minnesota | (34-29) Indiana, Purdue, Wisconsin, Rutgers, Michigan | (16-9) (F) Youngstown St, (G) W Kentucky | (9-4) Notre Dame |
| Indiana (2) | 9.197/ 9 | 4-8/ 19 | 86-68 (.558) | (27-23) Ohio St, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Michigan St | (47-21) Maryland, Michigan, Penn St, Illinois, Purdue | (4-19) (F) Indiana St, (G) Akron | (8-5) (N) Louisville |
| Michigan St (3) | 8.948/ 14 | 5-7/ 3 | 96-57 (.627) | (36-16) Michigan, Nebraska, Maryland, Penn St | (36-27) Iowa, Rutgers, Minnesota, Ohio St, Indiana | (24-14) (G) C Michigan, (F) Richmond, Washington | — |
| Minnesota (4) | 8.771/ 18 | 9-4/ 68 | 89-67 (.571) | (37-27) Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan St, Illinois, Wisconsin | (28-24) Northwestern, Iowa, Purdue, Ohio St | (15-11) (G) East Carolina, (G) Louisiana | (9-5) North Carolina |
| Michigan (5) | 8.221/ 31 | 13-1/ 44 | 83-69 (.552) | (27-24) Rutgers, Indiana, Purdue, Ohio St | (37-26) Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan St, Penn St, Maryland | (19-19) (G) East Carolina, (G) UNLV, (G) Bowling Green | — |
| Purdue (6) | 8.167/ 34 | 8-6/ 23 | 85-69 (.552) | (39-25) Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio St, Minnesota, Indiana | (26-25) Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, Northwestern | (17-11) (G) Fresno St, Syracuse | (3-8) Virginia Tech |
| Northwestern (7) | 8.158/ 35 | 1-11/ 11 | 86-66 (.566) | (44-22) Minnesota, Penn St, Maryland, Iowa, Purdue | (23-27) Rutgers, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois | (10-13) (G) UTEP, (F) Howard | (9-4) Duke |
| Illinois (8) | 8.117/ 39 | 8-5/ 58 | 80-73 (.523) | (27-35) Penn St, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Indiana, Northwestern | (33-19) Purdue, Maryland, Minnesota, Iowa | (14-12) (G) Toledo, (G) FAU | (6-7) Kansas |
| Rutgers (9) | 7.948/ 46 | 4-8/ 61 | 75-74 (.503) | (25-25) Northwestern, Michigan St, Ohio St, Maryland | (43-22) Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Penn St | (7-27) (G) Temple, Virginia Tech, (F) Wagner | — |
| Wisconsin (10) | 7.754/ 53 | 7-6/ 53 | 77-76 (.503) | (28-34) Rutgers, Iowa, Ohio St, Northwestern, Nebraska | (29-23) Purdue, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota | (13-13) (G) Buffalo, (G) Ga Southern | (7-6) Washington St |
| Nebraska (11) | 7.342/ 71 | 4-8/ 49 | 74-78 (.487) | (38-23) Michigan, Northwestern, Purdue, Maryland, Iowa | (29-21) Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan St, Wisconsin | (6-18) (G) N Illinois, (G) LA Tech | (1-11) Colorado |
| Penn St (12) | 7.249/ 75 | 11-2/ 26 | 76-75 (.503) | (29-22) Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Rutgers | (33-30) Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio St, Maryland, Michigan St | (14-23) West Virginia, (F) Delaware, (G) UMASS | — |
| Iowa (13) | 6.988/ 85 | 8-5/ 42 | 72-79 (.477) | (34-30) Michigan St, Purdue, Minnesota, Rutgers, Illinois | (23-27) Penn St, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Nebraska | (11-14) (G) Utah St, (G) W Michigan | (4-8) Iowa St |
| Maryland (14) | 6.753/ 96 | 8-5/ 29 | 73-73 (.500) | (36-16) Indiana, Illinois, Penn St, Michigan | (25-36) Michigan St, Ohio St, Northwestern, Nebraska, Rutgers | (12-21) (F) Towson, (G) Charlotte, Virginia | — |
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Yes, football fans, you read the table correctly. The Big Ten only has 8 true non-conference road games scheduled this season. Since most Power 5 road games (though not all) are against other Power 5 teams, that is another factor in dropping them to a relatively weak PS SOS position.
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That’s it for today. Tune in Wednesday for the 3rd most difficult conference in college football. Until then, if you have comments, issues, suggestions, or questions, drop them in the comments. If you like what you see, please share with others. Thank you as always, G.
