Cornsider the league’s uninspiring nonconference slate in 2022 as a harbinger of things to come. After a heady 2021 full of terrific matchups, the list shortens quickly this season.
Purdue at Notre Dame came in No. 12 last year. This year, that game might be fourth.
Michigan doesn’t play a Power Five team in its nonconference slate, opting for Colorado State, Hawaii and Connecticut. The Wolverines will do the same in 2023, playing East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green.
https://huskerextra.com/news/football/mckewon-on-metrics-the-dig-at-nebraska-in-athlon-and-nonconference-games/article_248bc9e3-ba46-5249-8c93-ef073be20f96.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_Husker_Extra&fbclid=IwAR35kC74CWYsg6VuxQ9T7BYOH0f-s7qSvt6BHj1X63CLQOxoYHsQwKN5sr4Nebraska’s Sept. 17 tilt with Oklahoma comes in at No. 2, just behind the jewel of the nonconference schedule, a Sept. 3 primetime battle between Ohio State and Notre Dame.
On the bottom end of the nonconference games, you’ll find some truly embarrassing matchups with bad FCS and FBS programs. Nine league teams — including all of the Big Ten West — will play a FCS team, and the Big Ten has a weird, continuing affinity for UConn, which might not finish in the top half of the Missouri Valley or Big Sky in FCS.
Of course, the MAC meal plan is full effect, and New Mexico State appears on Minnesota and Wisconsin’s plate.
We’ve shortened the list this year to the 10 best games and the five worst but, rest assured, there are more snoozers than thrillers.
The top 10 1. Ohio State vs. Notre Dame, Sept. 3: College Football Playoff knockout game.
2. Nebraska vs. Oklahoma, Sept. 17: Husker fans froth up any time OU comes to town, and most of them can still hear the Oklahoma band’s “Boomer Sooner” in their heads, too.
3. Penn State at Auburn, Sept. 17: Big one for PSU coach James Franklin, who got an expensive new contract after 4-5 and 7-6 seasons.
4. Michigan State at Washington, Sept. 17: The Huskies are in the midst of a big rebuild, but they’ve lost one home game to a Big Ten team in 50 years. Keep an eye on it.
5. Iowa vs. Iowa State, Sept. 10: There’s not quite the heat around this Cy-Hawk game as last season. Hawkeye fans tire of this game, especially when they’ve won seven straight.
6. Wisconsin vs. Washington State, Sept. 10: Fun contrast of styles as Wazzu features quarterback Cam Ward, a transfer from Incarnate Word who threw for 47 touchdowns last season in FCS.
7. Purdue at Syracuse, Sept. 17: If the Boilers are for real, they beat the Orange handily by two scores or more. If not ...
8. Minnesota vs. Colorado, Sept. 17: The Gophers humiliated the Buffaloes 30-0 last season in Boulder. The rematch will be much more interesting.
9. Indiana at Cincinnati, Sept. 24: The Hoosiers should have a winning record entering this game. The Bearcats, who open with Arkansas, will be trying to make a second straight run at the College Football Playoff.
10. Illinois vs. Virginia, Sept. 10: Expect points. Lots of them. The Cavaliers won 42-14 last season.
The bottom five 5. Michigan vs. Connecticut, Sept. 17: The Huskies have finished 4-32 the past four years — they skipped the COVID-19 season entirely — and new coach Jim Mora won’t have that program in shape by Week 3 in Ann Arbor.
4. Indiana vs. Idaho, Sept. 10: Indiana, awful in 2021, beat the Vandals 56-14. A similar result in 2022 seems likely.
3. Purdue vs. Indiana State, Sept. 10: The Sycamores lost 44-0 to South Dakota State and 44-2 at North Dakota State last season. Those are KU circa late-’80s kinds of scores.
2. Wisconsin vs. New Mexico State, Sept. 17: Jerry Kill is the new coach in Las Cruces, and he’s inherited a program only slightly better than UConn. After playing at Minnesota and UTEP in games two and three, the Badgers will be the Aggies’ third straight road game. It won’t go well. Set the line at 50.
1. Rutgers vs. Wagner, Sept. 10: Wagner hasn’t won a game since Sept. 28, 2019. Last season, the Seahawks were outscored 424-141. Rutgers should beat Wagner by roughly as much as Maryland has beaten Howard in recent seasons. Those scores: 52-13, 79-0 and 62-0.