With five teams in the top 15 of The Associated Press Top 25 , more than any other conference, it’s time for the Big Ten to get to work.
The schedule on Saturday is full of big-time matchups. Third-ranked Ohio State visits No. 14 Oklahoma, No. 4 Michigan hosts improving Colorado, No. 12 Michigan State travels to No. 18 Notre Dame and Nebraska hosts No. 22 Oregon.
In the new playoff era, meaty matchups like these in the nonconference may become more common. Nebraska coach Mike Riley says such scheduling adds intrique and excitement to the season.
The Iowa Hawkeyes are facing an FCS team this weekend. So they can relax with another tuneup, right? Not so fast.
North Dakota State is coming to town on Saturday. The Bison have won five straight national championships and are 8-3 in their last 11 games when they step up in weight class to face an FBS opponent.
“My experience is the biggest difference is just depth and overall numbers,” coach Kirk Ferentz said. “But the guys they put out there are just tremendous players. They’ve got a lot of guys that look like guys we play with that may have gotten overlooked a little bit in recruiting.”
