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There’s something about Week 2 in the B1G that always feels dangerous.
Remember in 2014 when the B1G was unofficially eliminated from the Playoff? That was the weekend that Ohio State was stunned by Virginia Tech, Michigan State got clobbered at Oregon, Michigan was shut out at Notre Dame and Nebraska needed Ameer Abdullah to save the day against FCS McNeese State.
Oh, and just in case that wasn’t a big enough kick to the teeth, Purdue and Northwestern lost at home to MAC schools … while Iowa rallied late to beat one at home.
It was the ultimate “woof” weekend for the B1G. The rest of the country declared the B1G officially dead. Granted, it was still the first year of the Playoff and nobody realized that we would have 1-loss teams make the field, including a B1G national champ in Ohio State.
The 2019 Week 2 is different because unlike in 2014, there aren’t a handful of headliner matchups for the B1G. But this feels like a weekend in which the B1G collectively shoots itself in the foot.
Why?
As Dustin Schutte wrote, both Ohio State and Michigan have tricky matchups against non-Power 5 teams that won double-digit games last year. Neither of those wins would earn national praise because both B1G contenders are favored by at least 15.5 points. Winning a lopsided game won’t exactly scream “national title contender.”
But what would Ohio State barely squeaking by Cincinnati say? That the Buckeyes are perhaps not on the same level as the rest of the top 5. At least not yet.
And what would Michigan going down to the wire against Army say? I don’t know. Let’s look back at last year when people laughed at Oklahoma for needing overtime to beat a service academy. Army turned out to be better than expected and Oklahoma still made the Playoff, but style points count in games like this.
This weekend isn’t just about Michigan and Ohio State. Tell me how beating any one of these teams moves the needle for the B1G:
- Cincinnati
- Army
- Syracuse
- Vanderbilt
- Central Michigan
- Colorado
- UConn
- Eastern Illinois
- Buffalo
- Western Michigan
- Fresno State
On the surface, yeah, there are zero opportunities for quality B1G wins this week.
(Yes, I realize that Syracuse is actually good. That’s a Top 25 team that too many people are sleeping on. That also probably explains why Maryland is a 2-point favorite.)
And keep in mind that’s following an opening weekend in which the B1G only had one matchup vs. a Power 5 team, and Northwestern lost at Stanford.
But while that slate isn’t “move the needle” by any stretch, I’d argue that the majority of those matchups are tricky and plenty capable of tripping up at B1G team.
In that group, Army, Cincinnati and Fresno State won double-digit games last year while Western Michigan returned the highest percentage of its team’s production of anyone in America.
As for the Power 5 teams, the aforementioned Syracuse took Clemson to the wire each of the last 2 years and is extremely well coached by Dino Babers. Vanderbilt is loaded at the skill positions with one of the top trios in the country in Ke’Shawn Vaughn, Jared Pinkney and Kalija Lipscomb. And Colorado beat Nebraska in Lincoln last year, yet the Huskers are still 4-point favorites.
Starting to see what I’m getting at here?
It just seems like there’s not a single game that college football fans or even the Playoff selection committee would raise their opinions of the B1G. But there’s like, 7 games there where a loss would hurt the conference’s rep nationally.
The B1G is favored to win every game this weekend, and it’ll hear about it if it doesn’t. Fair or not, that’s reality in this conference supremacy-driven discussion of the Playoff era.
This is the downside of the B1G having an extremely weak non-conference slate this year. Outside of Michigan-Notre Dame, the truly marquee non-conference games are lacking this year. It could impact how the Playoff selection committee views the conference if it comes down to deciding between a 1-loss Power 5 champion.
It won’t be some bias against the B1G. Last year, it was easy to say there was SEC bias all season. Why did the happen? The SEC went 9-4 against Power 5 teams in non-conference play. The SEC also won its first matchup of Top 25 teams in non-conference play, and it has two more of those matchups this weekend.
As of today, the B1G is a whopping 0-1 against the rest of the Power 5. Last week wasn’t a move-the-needle week for the conference. I can say already that this one won’t be, either. The only way for the conference to go is down.
The B1G goal for Week 2? Avoid 2014 flashbacks.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.