Category: Big Ten football

What Big Ten football program does ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum think will surprise?

Paul Finebaum names his team to watch in the Big Ten.

ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum believes that one Big Ten team is primed to surprise some people in 2023. And that team comes from the Big Ten’s other division.

You know, that division out West.

Finebaum, the nation’s foremost college football insider recently said that he believes it is highly likely that two Big Ten teams make the College Football Playoff. Last year, the Big Ten sent two teams (Michigan and Ohio State) to the playoff.

When asked last week what Big Ten team will surprise people this season, Finebaum didn’t even hesitate.

“Wisconsin. I’m a monster fan of Luke Fickell,” Finebaum said.

“I think they have a chance at maybe a great year. Playoffs? Hard to believe they are ready to do that. But I do think they can make it to the Big Ten Championship Game or be in the conversation.”

Midway through the 2022 season, Wisconsin fired head coach Paul Chryst, naming Jim Leonhard as interim head coach. Leonhard, despite doing a strong job given the circumstances, was not retained.

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Fickell, who led Cincinnati to the CFP two years ago, was hired to lead the Badgers.

Wisconsin started the season with a 38-17 win over Buffalo

Last week, Finebaum also said that he thinks the Big Ten is more likely to land two teams in the CFP than the SEC.

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“I’d go with two. I think the Big Ten has a much higher probability of getting two teams in than the SEC,” Finebaum told Rutgers Wire.

“I happen to think Penn State is a sleeper. They’re somewhat overshadowed by Ohio State and Michigan. I look at Ohio State as a team from a talent standpoint that is almost as good as even Georgia in terms of talent.

“And I know that will anger some Michigan fans. I’m still concerned about Michigan’s ability to win big games. I may never get the taste of that TCU game out of my mouth.”

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Exclusive: Who does Paul Finebaum is the top target for the Big Ten in conference expansion?

ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum says that the Big Ten will look to target two ACC programs next.

In the world of college sports and conference expansion, change seems to be the one true constant. The ACC is expanding and the Big Ten never seems far removed from the idea.

But what is next for the Big Ten in all of this? And who is the Big Ten’s top target when they expand next?

Especially with what the ACC did this week…

ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum talked this week about the future of college football and in particular, conference expansion. With the Big Ten adding UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington in 2024, the Big Ten now sits at 18 members.

Does the Big Ten look to add two more teams to raise their membership to 20 universities? Finebaum thinks that if the Big Ten does expand, two ACC programs would be the target.

“I happen to think North Carolina is number one for both leagues, they bring so much to both leagues. Is it Miami? You’re also talking about broad areas. I don’t think geography matters more. Brands matter more,” Finebaum told Rutgers Wire.

“The Big Ten essentially has become a television network. I compliment them for having a myriad of programming but I don’t understand the logic beyond that. Greg Sankey made a good point: SEC is contiguous. At least you can look at a map and say it isn’t the SEC but I get it. The Big Ten makes no sense. This is what happens when you have the decisions made with television networks.”

North Carolina, given their national brand in basketball, makes sense for the Big Ten. They add the growing media market of North Carolina to the Big Ten’s portfolio.

They are an AAU member and are also strong in football.

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Finebaum then made an interesting analogy to the current geography of the Big Ten, one that Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz would agree with.

“This part of the house doesn’t comport with the next part. It is a hodgepodge. One part looks like this, another part looks like that,” Finebaum said.

“I congratulate the Big Ten on what they’ve done but now it’s the NFL”

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Exclusive: Paul Finebaum on if the Big Ten or the SEC will have more CFP teams

Paul Finebaum talks Big Ten outlook for the College Football Playoff.

Last season, the Big Ten shocked the SEC with two teams selected to the College Football Playoff. ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum believes that the Big Ten is once again more likely to land two teams in the playoff than the SEC.

Finebaum believes that the trio of Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State all have a shot of making the four-team playoff field.

Asked this week by Rutgers Wire which conference is more likely to get two programs in the CFP, Finebaum pointed to the depth of the Big Ten as playing a factor in his prediction.

“I’d go with two. I think the Big Ten has a much higher probability of getting two teams in than the SEC,” Finebaum told Rutgers Wire.

“I happen to think Penn State is a sleeper. They’re somewhat overshadowed by Ohio State and Michigan. I look at Ohio State as a team from a talent standpoint that is almost as good as even Georgia in terms of talent.

“And I know that will anger some Michigan fans. I’m still concerned about Michigan’s ability to win big games. I may never get the taste of that TCU game out of my mouth.”

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Finebaum is referring to Michigan’s 51-45 loss to TCU  last season in the Fiesta Bowl, which served as the semifinal of the CFP.

In terms of teams that could surprise this year, Finebaum highlighted three programs he thinks could exceed expectations.

“I think Kentucky has a chance to surprise people. Texas A&M – again an SEC school but they could certainly do that with the talent they have,” Finebaum said.

“I think Notre Dame can have a really good year too.”

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Big Ten Conference Announces U.S. Integrity Partnership

Availability reports are coming to the Big Ten.

During the 2023 football season, the Big Ten will be cracking down on sports betting. On Friday, the conference announced that it was partnering with U.S. Integrity to start “a gameday student-athlete availability report for all football competition.”

The partnership will also provide educational resources to help prevent student-athletes, coaches, and staff from engaging in sports betting.

According to the Big Ten’s release on Friday, USI will now partner with the Big Ten to provide availability reports for student-athlete participation:

“Big Ten institutions are responsible for submitting gameday availability reports prior to every contest this season. Information will be submitted by schools no later than two hours before scheduled kickoff times to the conference.”

The conference will then disseminate the information via various channels.

USI is one of the leading companies in its field and provides the highest level of protection. The company’s mission is to grow the legal, regulated sports betting market by offering solutions that ensure betting integrity in every sport. That is key for the Big Ten, which consists of 350 teams in 42 different sports.

“The well-being of our students, coaches, and staff, as well as the integrity of our competitions, are of paramount importance,” said Petitti in a statement.

“Enhanced transparency through availability reporting and partnering with U.S. Integrity strengthens our efforts to protect those who participate in our games as well as the integrity of the games themselves. I’m grateful for the collaboration of our schools, coaches, and administrators.”

Additionally, USI works with some of the U.S.’s largest professional sports leagues and collegiate conferences. The company is based in Las Vegas and New York. The announcement comes with the fall sports season just getting started.

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Stanford and Cal to the ACC? Five (not-so) bold conference expansion predictions

A look at five predictions for conference expansion for the Big Ten, ACC and SEC.

This has certainly been a crazy month for college conference expansion, headlined by Oregon and Washington heading to the Big Ten.

That, along with the Big 12 making four new additions from the old Pac-12, as well as the ACC, potentially making a move out west, means that conference expansion is unlikely to die down anytime soon.

With the Big Ten now at 18 programs, it looks likely that two more schools will be added at some point, with the conference potentially going to divisions to help streamline travel and logistics.

The Big Ten likely will want to add more assets now while the getting is good with the hopes of preemptively heading off their other Power Five competition to nab the best real estate available.

Scroll down and check out five predictions and projections for how conference expansion is going to play out!

Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh won’t be suspended? ESPN’s Paul Finebaum reacts

Jim Harbaugh apparently won’t be suspended by the NCAA now.

It appears that Jim Harbaugh is going to be on the sidelines for the first four games of this upcoming season, including his program’s Big Ten season opener against Rutgers football. And Paul Finebaum can’t make sense of it.

Contrary to reports a week ago that Harbaugh was going to be suspended for four games following an investigation into a recruiting violation, it now appears that no punishment will be forthcoming that will affect the Wolverines head coach this season. It is a stunning turnaround given that it seemed that Harbaugh was heading towards a suspension for the infraction.

The agreement that had been in place seems to now have been called off. So instead of being suspended for the first month of the season, Harbaugh now will be able to coach his team.

If that doesn’t make sense to you, then you are not alone in all of this.

Michigan opens the season with three non-conference games before hosting Rutgers on September 23.

Finebaum, an ESPN analyst, can’t get over the whole debacle. And sadly, while he didn’t use the term debacle, Finebaum can’t make sense of what is going on with Harbaugh and the NCAA.

“It’s really been a disaster on both sides. If you go back, and no one wants to go too far back – Habriagh could have gotten out of this by admitting that he mislead NCAA investigators. He refused. Now, again, maybe he is a great man of principles,” Finebaum said on ESPN over the weekend.

“Most would have wanted to move this way. Now it keeps dragging on. Ultimately, this will get to the NCAA committee

“The only good news for Michigan fans is that he was supposed to miss four games against a bunch of nobodies. This thing could drag on till the end of the season. I don’t think at the end this will affect Michigan very much other than negative headlines.”

Under the original agreement, Harbaugh was allowed to coach practices during the four-week suspension but would not be allowed on the sideline or to coach in games.

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It now appears that he will be on the sidelines for the first four games of the season, including the Big Ten opener against Rutgers.

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Colin Cowherd picks a Big Ten and an SEC team to play for the national championship

Colin Cowherd picks a Big Ten team and one from the SEC to make the College Football Playoff championship game.

Colin Cowherd has order being restored in the college football this year, the Fox Sports host picking a Big Ten team to face an SEC team in the national championship.

In a recent appearance on Greg McElroy’s ‘Always College Football,‘ Cowherd picked Michigan to return to the College Football Playoff. That is a realistic and likely projection from Cowherd and one that certainly follows conventional wisdom.

But then Cowherd goes outside the box with his thinking, telling McElroy that he has LSU not just making the playoff but also making the championship game.

Last year in its first season under Brian Kelly, LSU went 10-4 and finished No. 17 in the final College Football Playoff rankings.

“I think Brian Kelly, first year kind of got the offense figured out. Now he is going to get the defense figured out. So I have Michigan facing LSU in the championship,” Cowherd said.

“I don’t think LSU is the best SEC team, I don’t think they’re the deepest. But I love the coach, I love the quarterback. I looked at the schedule and I’m like it’s going to be a lot of people knocking each other off. I like LSU a lot.”

Michigan won the Big Ten Championship Game before falling 51-45 to Texas Christian in the playoff. The Wolverines finished the season 13-1.

 

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In adding Oregon and Washington, Urban Meyer says that Big Ten parity ‘got a hell of a lot harder’

Urban Meyer talks College Football Playoff implications of Big Ten expansion.

Urban Meyer can’t help but think given the Big Ten’s recent expansion of four teams, that the pathway for teams competing to get into the Big Ten Championship Game has gotten increasingly difficult.

With the increased talent level in the Big Ten comes some serious questions about if the conference is now squeezing out the middle-tier teams and has become too top-heavy. USC and Oregon have consistently been ranked programs over the past decade and are often College Football Playoff contenders. UCLA is a historically strong program as is Washington.

In an appearance this week on Colin Cowherd’s show on FS1, former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer talked about the fallout of the suddenly deep Big Ten. Meyer doesn’t just feel for the fans of programs that might now get shut out of the conference championship picture, but also the coaches of these programs.

“How about the coaches? All of a sudden now the Big Ten West – you had Iowa, you had Wisconsin, you had a Minnesota  -those teams all compete for a chance to go to the championship game  -Northwestern went to the championship game,” Meyer said on ‘The Herd.’

“If they eliminate divisions, and you add Oregon, Washington, UCLA, USC, you know what happens to the Wisconsins? What happens to the Michigan States? What happens to those teams that are really good programs, but they’re just a notch below? Do they drop even further below in the conference? Now those are the questions that if I’m a coach at one of those places. If they eliminate divisions. What chance do I have of getting my program to the Big Ten Championship Game, which is everyone’s goal? Because it just got a hell of a lot harder.”

Meyer is now a college football analyst with Fox Sports. he was 83-9 in seven seasons as head coach of Ohio State (and won the 2014 national championship with the Buckeyes).

With the addition of Oregon and Washington, the Big Ten now stands at 18 teams. There is speculation that the conference could add two more teams and potentially add targets from the East Coast, in particular ACC programs.

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Gerry DiNardo predicts Big Ten moves to 10 conference games, talks College Football Playoff impact

Big Ten network’s Gerry DiNardo believes that the conference got much tougher on the football side with the addition or Oregon and Washington.

If there was any doubt before, the Big Ten’s move on Friday to add Oregon and Washington now makes the conference one of the dominant forces in college football. It might also change how the Big Ten is viewed for getting teams into the College Football Playoff.

The addition of Oregon and Washington on Friday from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten is a seismic shift in the college football landscape. Not only does it further enhance the Big Ten as a super-conference, but it essentially was the death knell for the Pac-12, which will be down to four teams come 2024.

On Friday, the Big Ten Network’s Gerry DiNardo shared his thoughts on what the conference’s expansion means for the existing members and how adding two top-tier programs will impact all the member teams.

“Well, it’s a tough league now. It got tougher when (the Big Ten) added UCLA and USC and now it got even tougher. So if you look at the competitive balance, if you look at the recent history of all the Big Ten schools – for some people this is going to make it even harder to win,” DiNardo said this weekend on the Big Ten Network.

“In other words, how if you ranked one through 16 – if you rank USC and UCLA, and you have let’s say what people would consider the fifth best job in the Big Ten. Right. Now you may have the sixth-best job or the seventh-best job.

“So these schools, UCLA, USC, Washington, and Oregon – they slot into the 14 for a lot of teams in the conference that’s making it more competitive. So that would that’s my first thought.”

DiNardo continued with his analysis and belief that the Big Ten’s expansion will also change the perception of the conference for the College Football Playoff.

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“The second thought is, especially with going to a 12-team playoff, most likely will go to 10 conference games because you can lose two games and still make the playoff,” DiNardo said .

“You add Oregon and Washington – you might be able to lose three games, four games and still make the playoff. And the last thing I thought of when I heard this is we’ve been talking about the travel with USC and UCLA. Right this is the this is the biggest problem with bringing on UCLA and USC. Now we bring up two more West Coast teams, it might be time to revisit East and West to cut to travel down for the student-athletes. And that certainly wouldn’t be popular with most of the present East coaches.”

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