Each Big Ten school’s top recruit heading into the early signing period

Who are the top recruits in each Big Ten team’s Class of 2023 at the start of the early signing period?

The early signing period in college football is upon us as schools and coaching staffs are scrambling to finish up and lock in what players they can to either sustain success or find it. Most schools in the Big Ten have some decently sustained success while others are looking to continue their reign at the top.

For schools like Penn State, they are somewhat in the middle of that conversation. James Franklin showed last year that he can get his recruiting shoes on and do the moves required to have one of the best classes in the nation. For Ohio State, they finally are behind the 8-ball that is Jim Harbaugh and his Michigan Wolverines.

Other schools like Illinois and Minnesota have successful coaches and staff in place and that should be able to entice players to help them sustain their recent success. Of course, who can forget schools like Nebraska and Purdue who have new head coaches coming into the fold and are looking to make a splash right away.

To get an idea of who needs what in the early signing period, take a look at each school’s top recruit thus far.

ACC/Big Ten Challenge: Full 2022 schedule and TV info

ACC/Big Ten Challenge: Full 2022 schedule with start times and TV info for all 14 games

Monday night is the start of this year’s edition of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on the basketball court. The 14 members of the Big Ten will take on 14 members of the ACC in one of the original conference-vs-conference basketball scheduling agreements. The Big Ten is looking for a fourth consecutive victory in the series after winning the past three seasons. And with a series tie in 2018, it has been four straight years without losing to the ACC in this long-running series.

The ACC does hold the historical edge in the challenge, however. The ACC owns a 12-8-3 all-time series lead against the Big Ten. The ACC’s overall lead has been led by Duke’s 19-4 record all-time in the series, the most wins of any school in either conference and easily the best winning percentage. As far as winning percentage goes, nine teams in the ACC own a .500 win percentage or higher compared to just five Big Ten members being .500 or better in the series. Perhaps surprisingly, Penn State owns the Big Ten’s second-best all-time win percentage with .524% trailing only Purdue’s .571.

Maryland’s record in the all-time series is fun to make note of. As an ACC member, Maryland was 10-5 al-time in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, but the Terrapins have slumped to 1-7 in the series since switching sides as a Big Ten member.

NC State will not participate in this year’s ACC-Big Ten Challenge due to the ACC having an uneven membership compared to the Big Ten (15 basketball members to 14 with the ACC’s inclusion of Notre Dame).

Here is the full 2022 ACC-Big Ten Challenge schedule along with start times and TV information.

Penn State media comes together in unison; Penn State’s going to beat Indiana

Members of the Penn State media seem to agree on the outcome of tonight’s Penn State-Indiana game

Penn State hosts Indiana in a Big Ten matchup in primetime on Saturday night. Beaver Stadium will be striping out the place with fans in coordinated blue or white, and Sean Clifford hopes to keep the hot start to the season going strong as the Nittany Lions look for revenge for last season’s opening loss in Bloomington.

We here at Nittany Lions Wire made our staff predictions, and we’ve taken a quick glance at what some other experts are saying about the game and one thing appears pretty clear. Not many people are giving Indiana much of a chance to get out of Happy Valley with a victory in Week 5. But what about some other members of the Penn State media?

Who are the experts picking in Penn State’s matchup vs. Indiana?

Cory Giger of DK Pittsburgh Sports reached out to members of the Penn State media from across the state this week to gather an assortment of predictions for Penn State’s home game against the Hoosiers. I was happy to share my pick with the group and look forward to doing so in future weeks as Giger organizes this old roundtable of sorts (and a shoutout to anyone who remembers the old days of the Blue White Roundtable in the Penn State blogosphere). As you may have guessed, Penn State is proving why they look like a pretty clear favorite tonight.

I have been on record this week of picking a 31-17 victory for the Nittany Lions, and I wake up Saturday morning feeling no need to back off from that prediction. My outlook for the game remains confident in suggesting we see a pretty competitive game for most of the night before Penn State connects on a couple of big plays for a fourth-quarter possession that helps put the game away for good.

But, as they say, that’s why you play the game. Will Penn State take care of business and head to Iowa in Week 6 for a massive top five showdown with the Hawkeyes, or will Indiana manage to pull another stunner on the Nittany Lions as we begin October?

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