Media Days notebook: How rest of Big Ten East picture impacts Buckeyes
INDIANAPOLIS — While the Big Ten West is breaking in four new coaches, Ohio State’s side of the league features seven coaches who are all returning to lead their respective programs.
Continuity reigns in the 2023 edition of the Big Ten East. And the pecking order, especially at the top, isn’t moving at all. Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State are all at the top.
But there are storylines aplenty beyond just the projected order of finish. Lettermen Row is breaking down what it learned from Big Ten Media Days and how the Big Ten East and its members impacts Ohio State in the final year of the divisional format. Let’s dive in.
Michigan is the headliner right now
Traditionally, the schedule at Big Ten Media Days has been this: Big Ten commissioner speech, some other teams and Michigan speak on Day One. Ohio State is the typical headliner on Day Two. That was reversed this year, as the Wolverines were among the last to speak at the entire event.
It’s not the biggest deal, but it does show that right now, Michigan is the headliner of the league. Jim Harbaugh had a massive audience to hear him speak about passing gas, Marisa Tomei, Ric Flair and his advice from his legal team during an NCAA investigation. Oh, and football.
Harbaugh smiled his way through a 35-minute media session, where he raved about the roster he has coming back after back-to-back wins over Ohio State and Big Ten titles. He even compared his quarterback, JJ McCarthy, to Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen — kind of. Harbaugh’s players were even more confident than their coach was in Indianapolis, showing how ready this program is to take another step forward — which would mean winning a national title.
Of course, Ohio State isn’t going to back down. And with the talent returning for both programs, The Game on Nov. 25 could be an epic matchup. But that will see Ohio State as an underdog. Michigan is the headliner and the favorite for a reason.
Penn State faking quarterback competition with big season ahead
When Penn State opens the season on Sept. 2 against West Virginia, the Nittany Lions will start sophomore Drew Allar, a former five-star prospect from Ohio who has talking heads around college football raving about the Penn State offense heading into this season.
So it was a bit odd for head coach James Franklin to maintain that there’s still an ongoing quarterback battle in State College.
However they want to handle naming a starter, the Nittany Lions enter this season as a dark-horse Big Ten title contender and potential party-crasher at the College Football Playoff. The offense returns its star running backs, good wide receivers and will be breaking in a five-star talent at quarterback. The defense, meanwhile, has all the makings of a truly elite unit with stars at every level. It should be a fun game when Penn State visits Columbus on Oct. 21.
For Franklin to fake a quarterback competition at Big Ten Media Days was odd, but it didn’t fool anyone in attendance. Drew Allar is going to start for the Nittany Lions, and the expectations are that he’s immediately an upgrade from former starter Sean Clifford. If he is, Penn State has reason to believe it can accomplish those lofty goals.
Mike Locksley setting high expectations for Maryland
Mike Locksley didn’t waste any time sharing his thoughts on where Maryland should stand among the seven teams in the Big Ten East.
“Our program is at a point, finally, where we can say we’re here to compete for Big Ten championships,” Locksley said just six minutes into his introductory press conference at Big Ten Media Days on Wednesday. “You haven’t heard me say that in the previous four times I’ve been in front of you guys.
“But I think now is the time.”
Those are bold statements from the fifth-year head coach who is just 21-28 in his first four years in College Park. Sure, he has a returning quarterback in Taulia Tagovailoa, a solid group of returners at key skill positions and an improving defense. But he also plays in the same division as three teams — Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State — that will all be in the preseason top-10 rankings in just a couple of weeks. Those three programs don’t have to say they’re ready to compete for Big Ten titles. It’s just expected.
Locksley set the bar for his own program. He wants to be held to that standard in Year Five. We’ll hold him to that.
Ohio State hosts Maryland on Oct. 7 for the annual Homecoming game in the Horseshoe.
Who will finish at bottom of Big Ten East?
It’s an annual tradition: Rutgers and Maryland are picked at the bottom of the Big Ten East. Except, with Maryland now on the upswing, the Scarlet Knights were widely voted to finish near the rear of the pack. But there was one surprise, as voters in Cleveland.com’s preseason poll actually picked Rutgers ahead of Indiana.
Ohio State will play both Rutgers and Indiana on the road this fall. The Buckeyes open the season at Indiana, and they’ll head to Piscataway for a first-week-of-November matchup. The team that finished fifth in preseason voting, Michigan State, will come to Columbus for a primetime showdown in mid-November.
All three of those programs have a chance to finish at the bottom of the Big Ten East barrel. The race to stay out of the basement will be one to monitor, and it could lead to rare coaching turnover inside this division.
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