One of the top two conferences in college football, the Big Ten is going to give each team all they can handle week in and week out. Often times, it gives the top teams even more than they can handle at times. The conference schedule is always a gauntlet and will continue to be that way this year and moving forward with the additions of USC and UCLA.
With 2023 being the final year that the conference schedules will follow the template they have recently been on, some teams drew the short end of the stick this year. One of the teams not in that category is the Iowa Hawkeyes. They are one of the few teams that have a more forgiving Big Ten schedule on paper.
The strength of schedule can often flip on its head if a team unexpectedly gets hot, but often times can be a good barometer of what sort of success a team can have as we look ahead. Here is how the Big Ten’s strength of schedule rankings from CBS shook out. These rankings are from hardest strength of schedule to the easiest strength of schedule.