Storylines to Watch for at Big Ten Media Days

Big Ten media days is July 26 – 27 this year and college football fans can’t wait to see what the conference of realignment has to say. The biggest storylines will have to do with the addition of Los Angeles to the conference, but there will be plenty of other ones to watch out for too.

USC/UCLA

The biggest storyline for both schools is how competitive will they be when they finally join the Big Ten in 2024?

USC last season at 4 – 8 had their worst record since 1991 when they went 3 – 8. It was a season with flashes of greatness but mostly full of a team, which didn’t seem to have any sense of direction. It was just “can our top level skill players carry us today?” every week.

However, as Lincoln Riley prepares for his first season, there’s already a buzz around the program. Whether it’s the transfers, the spring game or the California sun, the USC faithful is confident. They should be fully loaded by the time they join.

UCLA last season was 8 – 4, their best season since 2015, when they went 8 – 5. Their year was full of inconsistency, from their highs of beating USC and LSU. To their lows when getting beat by Fresno State and Arizona State.

There’s more question marks surrounding them when they join the Big Ten, the reason being, will they have found a new quarterback by then? Their current QB, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, is a fifth year senior. While Chip Kelly is now settled in at UCLA, nothing matters if this position is still up in the air.

Michigan

The most pressing storylines to watch for at their media day is, how will they replenish the defense from a year ago? And how will they improve their physicality in all phases of the game?

They had one of greatest seasons in school history by winning 12 games for only the third time in school history and the first time since 2011 they had at least 11 wins. They also beat arch rival Ohio State, won the Big Ten and made the College Football Playoff. The Wolverines come into the upcoming season with a lot of confidence and self belief.

However, they lost two of the greatest pass rushers in program history and it will leave a big hole in one of the lesser talented groups during the Harbaugh era. Pass rushing can cover up for a lack of talent, we’ll see how they make up for it.

They also got beat handily by the defending champ Georgia Bulldogs through physically dominating play. If Michigan wants to compete with the big boys in the SEC, they must become a more physical team.

Ohio State

The storylines for the Ohio State Buckeyes at their media day session is, how much is revenge motivating them this season? And can they reclaim the Big Ten title?

Last year was a down one, for a team with as much recent success as the Buckeyes have enjoyed the last couple decades. Most programs would jump at an 11 – 2 season, not them, they have their eye on something bigger.

They come into this season with the most drive (whether they beat Michigan the season before or not) they’ve had since 2012 (lost in 2011 40 – 34) and 2004 (lost in 2003 35 – 21). Although 2011 doesn’t really count because Ohio State was decimated by a tattoo “scandal”, which cost them their head coach and starting quarterback.

They’ll be favored coming into next season, we’ll see if they can start another historic run.

Michigan State

The storylines for Michigan State at their media day is, Can they recapture the magic of last season? How will they try to close the gap between them and Ohio State?

After going 2 – 5 during the pandemic season they returned to the top of the Big Ten by going 11 – 2 and beating in-state rival Michigan. They also beat Penn State and were impressive in the non-conference games, beating Miami on the road and Pittsburgh in the Peach Bowl.

Nobody saw the Spartans being this good this time last year, the expectations are now sky high. Transfers defined last year and we’ll see if they do it again this season. They also have to prove they can hang with the Buckeyes, it’s not ideal to lose 56 – 7 to a competitor at the top of the Big Ten.

Iowa

The storylines for Iowa at their media day is, will they be consistent this year? And do they have a quarterback this year?

They went 10 – 4, having the 7th at least ten win season during head coach’s Kirk Ferentz 23 year tenure in Iowa City. They had impressive (at the time) wins over Indiana, in-state rival Iowa State and Penn State.  All were highly ranked at the time they played them.

Coming into the season I wonder if they can play well all season long. While they had those big wins, in hindsight those teams ended up not being very good.

The biggest problem for them last season is in their four losses, three of them were Big Ten conference blowouts, including losing the Big Ten Championship to Michigan 42 – 3.

They also had a quarterback issues last season. The old adage, “If you have two quarterbacks, you have none” sums it up. We’ll see whether it’s redshirt junior Spencer Petras or redshirt sophomore Alex Padillas.

Minnesota

The storylines for the Golden Gophers at their media session is, Will star running back Mohamed Ibrahim stay healthy? And, can they avoid slipping up against teams with less talent?

Last year’s season is the fourth time since 1906 they had at least nine wins in a season. They beat rivals Nebraska and Wisconsin and also won the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.

Their offense was out of sort throughout the season and it had to do with Ibrahim’s absence. He’s what makes the engine run and without him quarterback Tanner Morgan was relied upon more often than he should. He’s not a bad QB, but he’s not consistent enough to count on.

Even with how impressive their season was all things considered, including the history of the program, the season was a disappointment because of who they got upset by.

They lost to 4 – 8 bowling green 14 – 10 and 5 – 7 Illinois 14 – 6 at home. With those wins they would have entered a bowl game with ten wins, with an opportunity to add another 11 win season to the program’s history.

Wisconsin

The storylines for Wisconsin at their media session is, can they perform more consistently against top conference competition? And can sophomore quarterback Graham Mertz be more of a “game manager” for the Badgers?

For their standards, last year was disappointing. Yeah they beat Purdue and Iowa, but they loss badly to Notre Dame and Michigan. They also lost nail biters to Penn State and Minnesota.

Mertz was a roller coaster and it hurt them down the stretch. He threw for 1,958 yards with 10 TD’s and 11 interceptions and had a completion percentage of 59.5. Just not good enough for a school like Wisconsin.

They’ll be favored in the west as they are the standard of the western division, now we’ll see if they can continue the proud tradition of success started by Barry Alvarez when he was hired in 1990.

Purdue

The storylines for Purdue this media day is, can they improve their record after last year’s 9 – 4 season? And has senior quarterback Aidan O’Connell firmly secured his starting role? Last season he didn’t have it until October.

The highs of last season were their victories over two top five teams (at the time) in the span of a month. #2 Iowa 24 – 7 and #3 Michigan State 40 – 29. The lows of the season were the blowout to Ohio State and the two heartbreakers against Notre Dame and Minnesota.

Last year was their first nine win season and best season since 2003. Recent history would suggest no, they can’t maintain this momentum but with a returning senior QB who threw for 3,712 yards with 28 TD’s and 11 interceptions and had a completion percentage of 71.6, anything is possible.

While it should be safe to say O’Connell is the starting QB. Head coach Jeff Brohm, if last year is any indication, has no issue with making a QB change in the middle of the season.

Penn State

The storylines to watch for at big ten media days for the Nittany Lions is, can they return to the four year stretch where they had three 11 win seasons and one 9 win season? And can senior QB Sean Clifford be more consistent?

After a great 5 – 0 start they then proceeded to lose six of their last eight games. This is the second year in a row where everything seemed to go wrong. During the pandemic year they went 4 – 5.

Their highs last season were beating Wisconsin to open the season and beating Auburn for their famous “White Out” night game.

Their lows was all the heartbreaking losses down the stretch. Whether it was Iowa 23 – 20, Illinois’ nine OT game 20 – 18, Ohio State 33 – 24, Michigan 21 – 17 and Michigan State 30 – 27. They were in all those games, they just couldn’t get the job done.

Clifford’s season stats actually look really good on paper. He threw for 3,107 yards with 21 TD’s and 8 INT’s and had a completion percentage of 61.0.

However, he played poorly in four of the losses and two of the victories. With games as close as they were last year, if they have any chance of competing, Clifford has to be good in the high leverage moments. It only takes one mistake by the QB to determine a game.

Maryland

The storylines to pay attention to during Maryland’s session is, can they avoid multiple blowout losses? And how long will it take to improve the defense?

Last year’s 7 – 6 was their best season since their first in the Big Ten in 2014, where they also went 7 – 6. The season also was impressive because over the last two decades they have eight winning seasons, and they are all spread out.

Even though the season, considering Maryland’s history, was good, all six of their losses were not even close. The closest loss they had was 17 points to Penn State 31 – 14. The worst loss they had was 49 points to the Buckeyes 66 – 17.

Yeah they beat the teams they were supposed to beat, but it’s all moot if the program can’t take the next step, being competitive with the “big boys” of the conference.

If last season was any indication, their offense wasn’t the problem. Redshirt sophomore Taulia Tagovailoa (younger brother of Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa) threw for 3,860 yards with 26 TD’s and 11 INT’s and had a completion percentage of 69.2.

The problem lies in the defense. They don’t have enough talent to keep them in games against tough competition. Success is not sustainable if the offense has to play perfect every week.

Illinois

The storylines to focus on for the Illini is, how big of a leap can the team make after all of last year’s struggles? And is this rebuild possible?

The high of their season was the nine overtime upset of Penn State on the road. It was unique because it tested out the new two point conversion rule, where teams have to attempt one after the first overtime.

The low of the season was their home loss to the University of Texas at San Antonio. This was one of those games where a big university pays a smaller school opponent to visit them for a “free” win. Illinois had another thing coming, and it further illuminated just how big this project is for second year head coach Brett Bielema.

The expectation is to show more growth from the team and to further shape the roster into Bielema’s eyes. The ideal leap is they win all their non-conference games, beat the programs on their level and be competitive with the bigger schools

Many said the same things about former coach Lovie Smith, but I’m unsure how possible this is. Over the last 40 years they have had 16 winning seasons, and four in the last two decades. What exactly are they returning to?

Although, the same question was raised when Barry Alvarez started at Wisconsin and they have had nothing but success over the last 30 years. All it takes is one coach to change a program.

Rutgers

The storylines to focus on at Rutgers media day availability is, can head coach Greg Schiano build their program again? Can the build take less than four years?

Their highs of the season were their only two conference victories, over Illinois 21 – 14 and Indiana 38 – 3. The low of the season was getting blanked by struggling Penn State late in the year.

Rutgers has not been able to get the attention of the New York area, which was one of the reasons the Big Ten was so eager to add Rutgers in 2014. They thought they would be able to utilize the NY market, they were sadly mistaken.

Rutgers has had one winning season since joining the conference in 2014 and it’s hurt their recruiting. They’ve been bad enough where the appeal of the Big Ten brand isn’t enough to convince a recruit to attend.

Times have changed since Schiano was last at Rutgers and he built them when they were a member of the Big East. It took him four years todo it, how long will it take when the competition and standard of play is way higher?

Nebraska

The storylines to watch for when Nebraska has their media session is, can they turn all their one possession losses into wins? Will Nebraska ever return to the level of the elites?

The highs of the season were how close they were to achieving greatness. Eight of their losses were by one possession and one of them was by nine points. The low of the season was after their sixth straight loss, one loss is tough to swallow, six in a row is unbearable.

They can turn those losses into win, but will they? There still is a talent gap between them and the top of the conference. The problem is they won’t get recruits unless they win, but they also won’t win unless they get better recruits.

They need some luck in order to show the high school football players, they can become great again. Every team has a little luck during a season, Nebraska just happened to have none.

I’m not sure if they can return to the elite of college football. From 1969 to 2003 they had only two seasons where they had four or more losses. They went 9 – 4 in 1998 and 7 – 7 in 2002. Since then they have had ten winning seasons, nine of those teams had four losses and one had five.

It’s been a gradual fall from grace for them, they went from consistently getting about ten wins a seasons to averaging seven wins a year.

Northwestern

The storylines to look for during Northwestern’s media availability is, do they have a QB? And how long will this particular rebuild take for head coach Pat Fitzgerald?

The high of the season was their lone conference victory against Rutgers. The low was after their blowout loss to rival Illinois, their sixth in a row.

Their QB situation last year was even worse than Iowa, they used three different ones throughout the season. This year it’s just senior Andrew Marty and sophomore Ryan Hilinski, senior Hunter Johnson transferred back to Clemson.

They both weren’t very good for the Wildcats in their time last season. Marty threw for 707 yards with 6 TD’s and 6 INT’s and had a completion percentage of 60.0. Hilinski threw for 978 yards with 3 TD’s and 4 INT’s and had a completion percentage of 54.0. We’ll see how much they’ve improved.

Fitzgerald is the master of the rebuild, in his 16 years in Chicago he’s been asked to rebuild the team about four times. He always gets the best out of every new cycle of players.

However, two of the last three seasons they went 3 – 9. The other season they went 7 – 2, but it was the pandemic year. They have to be careful, if the program starts to struggle consistently, it could be a long time before they become relevant again.

Indiana

The storylines during the media days for Indiana is, do they have a QB? And was the pandemic season a fluke?

The high of the season was leading eventual CFP bound Cincinnati entering the fourth quarter, they led 24 to 23. Now they ultimately lost, but it’s impressive a 2 – 10 team could hang with them. The low of the season was the eight game losing streak, which should have been a ten game losing one because they slipped past Western Kentucky 33 – 31.

Out of the four QB’s who played with Indiana last year two are gone. Michael Penix Jr. transferred to Washington and Donaven McCulley switched to wide receiver (according to Indiana play-by-play announcer Don Fischer).

Out of the two remaining, junior Jack Tuttle threw for 423 yards with 2 TD’s and 5 INT’s and had a completion percentage of 51.7. While sophomore Grant Gremel threw for 269 yards with 1 TD’s and 1 INT’s and had a completion percentage of 55.2. We’ll see if these guys take advantage of this opportunity.

It sure feels like the pandemic season and the season before were one offs. The last 27 seasons only three times did they have a winning record. Two of those seasons came in two of the last three years. It’s only going to get harder for Indiana head coach Tom Allen when USC and UCLA join.

What storylines do you think I missed?

Make sure to check out Gridiron Heroics for our Big Ten coverage, here are our most recent articles about Minnesota’s culture and how Michigan views the new competitors from Los Angeles.