This season marks the inaugural year of the College Football Playoff. Conferences are already competing for the top four spots and a shot at the national championship. After week two of the season, however, the Big Ten might have already played itself out of playoff contention.
Saturday was one of the worst days in Big Ten football history. Formerly ranked No. 7 Michigan State and No. 8 Ohio State both lost. Traditionally great Michigan also lost 31-0 to Notre Dame – the last time Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State all lost on the same day was in 1988. The conference lost all four games against opponents ranked in the top of the Football Power Index. The top win from week two was Minnesota’s win over Middle Tennessee, ranked 73rd in FPI. Week one was not great for the conference either, with No. 17 Wisconsin losing to LSU. The only other team that was ranked before week two was Nebraska, who beat FCS opponent McNeese State by a touchdown. The week three AP poll came out, and no Big Ten school was left in the top ten. Even Nebraska dropped out of the standings.
This does not help the fact that the Big Ten has also been considered one of the weakest major conferences over the last few years. It has been 12 years since the Big Ten has won a national championship. According to the ESPN Stats and Information Conference Power Rankings, the Big Ten is ranked No. 5. It’s very likely that each of the four conferences above the Big Ten will have a representative in the playoff. Michigan State and Ohio State were the only two Big Ten teams that made BCS Bowl games last year, and both have already lost games this season. If the four conferences have an undefeated or one-loss team at the end of the year, the likelihood of them leapfrogging a one-loss Michigan State or Ohio State is high.
The only chance the Big Ten has to get a team into the playoff is for a team like Nebraska, Penn State or Iowa to go undefeated. None of the undefeated teams from the Big Ten are even ranked currently, and most will likely not remain undefeated. It does not look good when the so-called best teams of the conference have already lost.
Count out the Big Ten. It looks like its streak of no national championships will continue for a 13th season.
