When Indiana held on to beat Miami in last season's national championship, it was clear that the Big Ten was the king of college football. It was the conference's third straight national championship -- all won by different schools -- as it usurped the SEC as the ruler of the sport. Unless something shocking happens between now and Jan. 25, the Big Ten will not win a fourth consecutive national championship.
The Big Ten is much closer to the Big 12 and ACC this season than the SEC. That comparison might even be unfair to the ACC. All the Big Ten's top teams are either deeply flawed, untested or both.
If decided today, the ACC has a better 1-2 punch of Miami and Wake Forest than whatever the Big Ten could muster up as its top two teams. Clearly not the same team without star quarterback Julian Sayin, who may miss the remainder of the season. The Buckeyes have more than just a quarterback problem, too, as evident in the way USC beat them Saturday night.
Ohio State was my preseason pick to win it all but that doesn't look feasible for a Sayin-less team. The Hoosiers haven't looked like a top 10 team all season long. Curt Cignetti is a good enough coach to keep Indiana winning but this team looks like it's just dying to give a game or two away.
Indiana looks like the 2024 version of itself -- much more like a one-and-done playoff team than a viable championship contender again. The Bruins have beaten up on mediocre to bad Big Ten teams. UCLA has the No. 75 strength of schedule and its marquee win is over an Oregon team without Dante Moore.
UCLA looks well on its way to making the playoff but it's impossible to decipher where it stacks up against the elite teams because it hasn't played one. The rest of the field includes a USC team that got blown out against Wisconsin and two-loss teams like Iowa and Northwestern. Collectively, the Big Ten is the most disappointing conference in the country thus far.
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