College football's biggest storylines for 2018

Will the Big Ten eliminate itself?

I don’t think I can remember the last time the Big Ten had so many highly competitive programs to show for. Ohio State looks to be the favourite in that conference, but there are several potential contenders – Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn State, Michigan State and even schools like Iowa or Northwestern could be good for an upset. Last year Wisconsin went undefeated throughout the regular season, but lost in close fashion to those Buckeyes in the conference championship game.

With losses to Oklahoma and Iowa by multiple scores, OSU’s resume didn’t put them in the playoffs either and while Wisconsin had dominated the competition up to that point, with a rather easy schedule the committee gave Alabama the nod over those two Big-10 schools. I think we could see a similar outcome with all those powerhouses in that conference.

Ohio State brings back sophomore RB J.K. Dobbins, who I already talked about having a monster year potentially, they have a promising sophomore QB in Dwayne Haskins and once again a loaded defense, headlined by Nick Bosa. Wisconsin, on the other hand, has a tremendous bell-cow RB themselves with Jonathan Taylor, running behind a road-grading offensive line, and they bring back most of that third-leading scoring defense from last season.

This might be the year for Michigan. They finally have a clear-cut number one signal-caller in transfer Shea Patterson, who has a dynamic receiver duo to throw to with sophomores Tarik Black and Donovan Peoples-Jones. The edge-rushing combination of Rashan Gary and Chase Winovich might be the best in the country and Devin Bush is a seeking missile at linebacker.

Penn State might have lost their superstar running back Saquon Barkley, but they still have their quarterback Trace McSorley, who will look to make a Heisman case himself, and James Franklin with one of the nation’s top-five recruiting classes. Michigan State surprised some people in 2017, when they defeated both Michigan and Penn State, before having their dreams crushed in blowout fashion by Ohio State. However, they have their key pieces on either side of the ball – quarterback Brian Lewerke and linebacker Joe Bachie.

Teams travelling to Iowa always have to be on their toes and Northwestern has their own star duo of quarterback and middle linebacker in Clayton Thorson and Paddy Fisher. With all those teams competing against each other eventually, I could see them not being represented among the Final Four once again.