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Big Ten leads all power conferences in wins, winning percentage after Week 1

Sean Labar

By Sean Labar

Published:

The Big Ten dominated in the first week of the college football slate, leading all the major conferences in winning percentage with a 16-1 record in Week 1.

Minnesota is the only team from the conference to lose so far, barely falling to North Carolina 19-17 on Thursday night. The Big Ten still does have 1 team left to play in Week 1 with USC set to take on LSU in Las Vegas on Sunday night.

Here’s what the Big Ten’s week has looked like so far compared to the other power conferences:

 

While many of the victories were blowouts where stronger Big Ten teams entered as major favorites over their opponents, there were still a few major takeaways about the conference heading into the first year of the 12-team CollegeFootball Playoff.

The most impressive win of the weekend was probably Penn State going into a hostile road environment with the pressure to beat West Virginia convincingly. James Franklin’s group delivered, winning 34-12 in a game where the Mountaineers never looked like a real threat.

Individually, Nebraska true freshman QB Dylan Raiola made headlines after helping lead the Cornhuskers to a commanding win over UTEP with 238 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions.

Will Howard struggled to find momentum as Ohio State’s new starting QB in the first quarter but eventually settled in, finishing the game with 228 yards and 3 touchdowns in Ohio State’s 52-6 victory over Akron.

Oregon, one of the newcomers from the west coast, let Idaho hang around but ultimately took care of business and USC will have a chance to continue the conference’s strong opening weekend on Sunday night against LSU.

Week 2 in the Big Ten has multiple marquee matchups, including Texas-Michigan, Colorado-Nebraska and Iowa State-Iowa.

Sean Labar