Tag: Big Ten rankings

Where is Rutgers football in the USA TODAY college football re-rank?

USA TODAY ranks the top college football teams in the nation in their spring re-rank.

There is some respect from Rutgers football, who are middle of the pack in the Big Ten in the latest update of the NCAA re-rank from USA TODAY Sports.

At No. 47, Rutgers football is in a solid spot within the Big Ten and the Power Five as a whole.

Following the end of the regular season, USA TODAY ranked Rutgers as No. 63 in their rankings. The ranking was before Rutgers played in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. Following their bowl win over Miami, Rutgers moved up to No. 55 in the final rankings from USA TODAY.

Interestingly, Virginia Tech is No. 20 on Paul Myerberg‘s ranking, underscoring the importance of that game for Rutgers’ football’s bowl hopes this year.

Georgia is the top-ranked team in the rankings followed by Ohio State. Texas is third and Oregon is fourth.

The lowest ranked Big Ten programs are No. 95 Purdue and No. 100 Indiana.

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There is reason for optimism that Rutgers can take the next step this season. The Scarlet Knights return their core from a top-20 defense that should be among the best in the nation this fall.

In addition, the offensive line is experienced and the offense returns Kyle Monangai, the top rusher in the Big Ten last season.

 

Q&A with Wisconsin Badgers wide receiver Will Pauling

Q&A with Wisconsin Badgers wide receiver Will Pauling

The 2024 college football season is still a few months away, but the Wisconsin Badgers have already completed their spring camp. Entering the program’s second campaign under head coach Luke Fickell, plenty of familiar faces returned to Madison, including wide receiver Will Pauling.

Pauling was former Badgers quarterback Tanner Mordecai’s favorite target last season, reeling in 74 catches for 837 receiving yards and six touchdowns through the air across the team’s 13 games.

The wide receiver was in his first season with Wisconsin after transferring to Madison following two years at Cincinnati, making the most of his opportunities as a pass-catcher.

In 2024, Pauling will work with either Tyler Van Dyke or Braedyn Locke at starting quarterback, the latter of which he has experience with from the 2023 season.

When it comes to stepping up his game with a target on his back this season as the Badgers’ top returning receiver, Pauling isn’t overly concerned.

“I love to compete, playing against the best players in the country is only going to make me better, so I look forward to it. I’m not going to back down from anybody,” Pauling said.

In regards to the wide receiver room as a whole for Wisconsin, he said, “there’s a lot more familiarity with the offense and there’s a new sense of confidence.”

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Future Ranking: Predicting which Big Ten teams will be the best over next five years

A future power rankings for the Big Ten Conference, predicting which programs have the best chance of staying on top of the conference.

By all means, the 2024 college football season is going to be historic. There’s a good chance that, way down the line, we look back at the 2024-25 season and say that it marked a new era in the sport, with the level of conference realignment that will take place, and the expansion to the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Going forward, as we shift from a Power 5 landscape to a Power 4 landscape in terms of conferences, the writing is on the wall for things to further morph into a Power 2 landscape, with the Big Ten and SEC leading the way. Some of the best teams in the nation — Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, Texas, Michigan, and many more — reside in either of those two conferences going into the 2024 season. We have a good idea, based on a multitude of preseason rankings, which teams in those conferences will be among the top dogs this season.

But beyond that, how will the power balance shift? Are there schools that may be waiting in the weeds right now — maybe due to a coaching change — that could take over as a power in years to come? That’s what we want to look at in our future power rankings.

Here’s our estimation on which teams in the Big Ten will be near the top of the standings over the next five years.

Big Ten schools ranked academically by U.S. News for 2023-24

The Big Ten Conference and its member schools have always taken pride in athletic and academic achievements.

The Big Ten Conference and its member schools have always taken pride in athletic and academic achievements. And when it comes to ranking academic institutions US News & World Report is considered the gold standard.

The current 2023-24 rankings currently see 13 of the conference member schools ranked in the top 100.  They also explain the methodology they used to create their latest numbers.

U.S. News evaluated nearly 1,500 U.S. four-year bachelor’s degree-granting institutions on as many as 19 measures for its 39th rankings edition. These statistics only pertain to measures reflecting academic quality and graduate outcomes – factors that are universally important to prospective students.

Scroll below to see where the University of Nebraska and the other 13 Big Ten schools are currently ranked.

Ranking the best defenses in the Big Ten for 2023

Ranking the top defenses in the Big Ten ahead of the 2023 season:

The 2023 football season is now upon us and fans are chomping at the bit for football to start and to see their favorite team’s take the field. It is also the last year fans will see the Big Ten as we now know it, with 14 teams, before the incoming additions of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington.

Taking a look at this upcoming season, the conference may be the most competitive it has been in a long time from top to bottom.

In this series, we have ranked the top offenses in the Big Ten, HERE, now we will rank the defenses of the conference:

Ranking the best offenses in the Big Ten for 2023

Ranking the best offenses in the Big Ten heading into the 2023 football season:

The 2023 football season is now upon us and fans are chomping at the bit for football to start and to see their favorite team’s take the field. It is also the last year fans will see the Big Ten as we now know it, with 14 teams, before the incoming additions of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington.

Taking a look at this upcoming season, the conference may be the most competitive it has been in a long time from top to bottom.

In this series, we are ranking the teams in the Big Ten, starting with offenses:

Badger football fans ranked average for overall passion in Big Ten

Badger fans may not like this one, but Big Game Boomer ranked each of the Big Ten fan bases by level of passion, rating them in the middle.

Badger football fans may not like this one, but Big Game Boomer ranked each of the Big Ten fan bases by level of passion Tuesday and left Wisconsin fans near the middle. Badger fans came in seventh.

Once again, Big Game Boomer is off base with this one. Sure, Nebraska “sells out” every one of its football games, but few fan bases go to bat for their team like the Badgers’ do.

Yes, the 2022 season was a down year for Wisconsin, but the hype leading up to the 2023 campaign has proven fans are as passionate as ever. I’ll give Boomer the benefit of the doubt in his ranking of Ohio State and Penn State above Wisconsin, because there is nothing else to do in those college towns! (Especially State College)

Considering the fact there were more Badger football fans at the Las Vegas Bowl than Arizona State fans in 2021 and there were more Wisconsin fans in Arizona for the Guaranteed Rate Bowl than there were Oklahoma State fans this past December, Badger fans love their team!

At least the Badgers ranked third among the Big Ten West schools and after Wisconsin has an extremely successful season in 2023 (prediction), Boomer will have to reconsider what fan bases are the most passionate.

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Iowa Hawkeyes ranked No. 28 in the Preseason CBS Sports 131

According to the preseason CBS Sports 131, the Iowa Hawkeyes are just on the outside of the top 25 looking in.

At least according to the CBS Sports experts, the Iowa Hawkeyes are on the outside of the top 25 looking in. In their Preseason CBS Sports’ 131 college football rankings, Iowa checks in as the nation’s No. 28 team. That’s down 10 spots from where the Hawkeyes were ranked headed into the Vrbo Citrus Bowl versus Kentucky.

Of course, the Wildcats handed Iowa a 20-17 defeat in the bowl game and sent the Hawkeyes into the offseason on a disappointing note. Since then, Iowa has been working to replace a star at center in Tyler Linderbaum, who was drafted No. 25 overall by the Baltimore Ravens.

In addition to Linderbaum offensively, the Hawkeyes will be looking to replace 1,000-yard rusher Tyler Goodson who is with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent.

Defensively, much of the retooling will come in the secondary. Gone are longtime starters Dane Belton, Matt Hankins and Jack Koerner. Still, there’s plenty of firepower defensively thanks to the return of star linebackers Jack Campbell and Seth Benson. Jestin Jacobs appears set to emerge as the Hawkeyes’ third talented linebacker in 2022.

Beyond that, the cornerback position boasts an All-American in Riley Moss and Iowa has a series of talented defensive linemen it feels great about. Figuring out how to get the most out of the quarterback competition in either Spencer Petras or Alex Padilla is what will set Iowa up to skyrocket up these rankings quickly.

As it stands, Iowa sees five Big Ten teams ranked in front of them in the initial CBS Sports 131 rankings of 2022. The top ten according to CBS looks like this: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Utah, No. 5 Clemson, No. 6 Notre Dame, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 8 Michigan, No. 9 Texas A&M and No. 10 Baylor.

The other Big Ten teams ranked in front of Iowa are No. 15 Wisconsin, No. 18 Penn State and No. 20 Michigan State. The Preseason CBS Sports 131 rankings are compiled from ballots of college football experts across CBS Sports and 247Sports and they will be updated weekly following the conclusion of week one action.

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Where did Rutgers land in 12th annual Cleveland.com preseason poll?

Cleveland.com has released their annual preseason Big Ten football poll. See where Rutgers landed in the voting

Since 2011, Cleveland.com has released their annual preseason Big Ten football poll. Ohio State was unanimously voted as the Big Ten conference champions for the third straight year. It is the first time since 2015 there was a unanimous winner. The Buckeyes have now been selected as overall conference winners for the third straight year and seventh year total.

Cleveland.com Big Ten voters have correctly selected the conference champion three times during the polls 12 year history – 2017, 2018, and 2020. The voters include “beat writers from 13 of 14 Big Ten teams and some who cover the entire league or have a national perspective.”

Ohio State is obviously the winner in the East. Over in the west, Wisconsin took 31 of 36 first place votes. Let’s look at where Rutgers and the rest of the Big Ten fell in the rankings.

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Ranking Big Ten quarterbacks heading into 2022 season

Where would you rank Payton Thorne amongst the Big Ten quarterbacks? See where Spartans Wire has Thorne and the rest of the Big Ten signal-callers in our quarterbacks rankings

The Big Ten will surely be part of the College Football Playoff conversation this upcoming season, and part of that is due to the numerous high-level signal callers in this league.

Spring ball is in the books and teams are turning their focus to the 2022 season that is only a few months away. As part of that, we at Spartans Wire are turning our focus to the upcoming campaign and looking at how each team’s projected quarterback ranks.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on Twitter @RobertBondy5.