The start of a new college football season is just weeks away. As the excitement builds around the nation for another year of college football before seismic shifts in the conference realignment scene, fans are working through their favorite teams’ schedules to figure out what games will be won and which games could be tricky.
Teams in the Big Ten generally know which will be the most challenging for their favorite teams. With a pair of College Football Playoff participants last year, and two of the top four teams in the preseason polls this year, those games tend to stick out when figuring out the most challenging games on a Big Ten team’s schedule.
But here’s the twist. We’re going to eliminate any game against either Michigan or Ohio State from the conversation because those seem like the most obvious answers for any team lining up against either the Wolverines or the Buckeyes. And yes, for a number of teams, that does eliminate two games from the mix, but we’ll see how that impacts the outlook.
Ohio State and Michigan’s toughest game on the schedule will arguably be played against each other at the end of the season. And that would feel a little too obvious as well. And yes, with Ohio State and Michigan being pulled from the conversation, that does mean Penn State will be mentioned more than a few times.