Cole Tollison

This is Part 7 of a series where I go week by week ranking what I expect to be the biggest games in college football. For a longer description of what this series is, start with part 1 here!

Three more rivalry games are highlighted here in week 7. When a pair of rivals are good at the same time, it makes for some of the best storylines of the season. The loser of these games will likely carry a chip on their shoulder all the way till next year when they will be gearing up for a revenge game. 

3rd – Iowa at Wisconsin

Every year this game determines who wins the B1G West, except when Northwestern wins, or when Purdue wins, or it’s Minnesota vs Wisconsin that decides the division. Am I being clear enough? Iowa vs Wisconsin for the West crown is a lazy take that pundits spin because they can’t remember who’s in the West.

The Dairy Air Raid will probably give Badgers fans a heart attack every time the ball travels more than 20 air yards. They aren’t used to that sort of risk-taking (and Mertz could throw a pick on a 10-yard out route …

This is Part 6 of a series where I go week by week ranking what I expect to be the biggest games in college football. For a longer description of what this series is, start with part 1 here!

Sorry SEC, I just don’t see it this week. You may have the best players, but at least for this week, you don’t have the best games.

3rd – Michigan at Minnesota

A B1G trophy game. One of many, but also the original B1G trophy game:

The Little Brown Jug.

Minnesota is a program that has turned its fortunes around after the arrival of eccentric head coach PJ Fleck. They have consistently kept up with Wisconsin and even beaten a top-10 Penn State squad. But Fleck has yet to beat Ohio State, Michigan, and Iowa. Minnesota thinks they can win the West with new starting QB Athan Kaliakmanis and returning #1 WR Chris Autman-Bell. Winning this one might be required to achieve that goal because this year their schedule is a gauntlet. 

Back-to-back road games for Michigan make this a tricky early part of the schedule. This will be the most formidable defense Michigan has to face so far. Can Blake …

Streaming was supposed to kill cable, now I have both and it sucks.

Peacock, the streaming service owned by NBC, was already in the CFB world, but it was more like a toe in the pool, testing the waters. The NBC contract with Notre Dame lets them show one home game per season exclusively on Peacock.

This was met with collective groans from the college football community.

Washington at Michigan State is exclusively on Peacock. When the B1G media deal was announced on Aug 18th, 2022 it was also announced that eight B1G home games per year would be shown exclusively on Peacock. 

Let’s look at the situation with Peacock and B1G streaming a little closer

There are some insights to be gleaned, and some unintended consequences for teams that didn’t even sign up for this (looking at you Washington). This was made slightly worse this May when it was revealed that the media deal wasn’t finalized. There were some hangups with the NBC details of the deal.

1 – NBC was given the 2026 B1G Championship game, a game owned by FOX

• The fix here was simple, pay FOX $40 million. In an $8+ billion deal, this is not

This is Part 5 of a series where I go week by week ranking what I expect to be the biggest games in college football. For a longer description of what this series is, start with part 1 here!

Week 5 has slim pickings for top games at first glance. But I think some gems will emerge after we’ve made it through the beginning of the season. We’re leaning into big brands and big-name players this week, so I imagine these games will be heavily talked about once we get to this point in the season.

3rd – Georgia at Auburn

The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. If you’ve read any other installments in this series, you may have realized I give a bump to rivalry games. The fans care more, the environments are more hostile, and any outcome is possible. This is especially true at Jordan-Hare Stadium, where some of the craziest CFB games this century have been played (the kick-six taking the crown). 

Auburn is not expected to do much in 2023, but they could easily be 3-1 or possibly 4-0 going into this one. Georgia on the other hand should be rolling full steam ahead by week 5. …

This is Part 4 of a series where I go week by week ranking what I expect to be the biggest games in college football. For a longer description of what this series is, start with part 1 here!

In week 4, I finally had to really think about who might have some losses for this list. 1st and 2nd are nearly a coin flip for me. Depending on which conference or teams you watch more, you might agree or disagree with their placement. The same can be said for 3rd place, I guess. All 4 games vying for 3rd place were conference matchups from 4 different P5 conferences. In the end, I think I make my stance pretty clear. 

3rd – Iowa at Penn State

It’s the White Out. Do I really need to say more? 

I guess I should, it’s the point of this series.

It’s a testament to the quality of 1st and 2nd on this list that the White Out can be as low 3rd. I expect Iowa to be undefeated heading into Happy Valley and ready to extend their win streak. I’ve heard/read that the White Out and an LSU home night game are the …

This is Part 3 of a series where I go week by week ranking what I expect to be the biggest games in college football. For a longer description of what this series is, start with part 1 here!

Week 3 is the first week where I don’t expect consensus on the “biggest game of the week.” Unfortunately, it’s safe to say that none of the games this week will have the hype going in that the best games of weeks one and two had. That doesn’t mean that after kickoff some of these can’t be classics in the making. A season always looks different looking back than it does looking forward.

3rd – Washington at Michigan State

Just looking at the brands, this game looks like an exciting non-con matchup. Unfortunately for Michigan State, this game is showcasing two programs headed in opposite directions. Washington’s rise last year was just as dramatic as Michigan State’s fall. Washington QB Penix Jr. is a Heisman candidate. Michigan State lost their QB1, Payton Thorne, to the portal. He only left because he saw his best WR, Keon Coleman, enter the portal (along with 20 other Spartans, including some quality starters). 

Michigan State …

As media rights money continues to drive realignment in college football, will a power five school be kicked out of their conference?

The idea that a team should be kicked out of a conference has been discussed by many CFB fans sitting around, talking smart at the bar, but it has never been taken very seriously at a national level. 

Earlier this summer Joel Klatt, a media member I highly respect, gave the idea legs, and then many others piled on the “what if?” bandwagon. The thinking is this: the bigger brands will have separated themselves so far from their conference brethren that they will no longer be interested in splitting revenue with teams that don’t carry their weight.

I will go conference by conference through the P5 and lay out possible candidates that could be told to pack their bags in the next 5 to 50 years, and how seriously we should take the possibility.

Big Ten – One obvious choice

Possibilities:

Rutgers

Northwestern

Maryland

Northwestern has been floated as a possibility, mostly from a competitive standpoint But NW is a founding member of the conference and an academic powerhouse in a conference that values academics.

The answer is …