Big Ten Friday musings: What are we thinking before Week 2?

The first Big Ten game of the season is on the way. Maryland hosts Michigan State Saturday. Before that, Northwestern welcomes Duke to Lake Michigan Friday night (more on that below).

The headliner, however, is a top-10 non-conference battle between No. 3 Texas and No. 10 Michigan. Don’t forget about the Cy-Hawk game in Iowa City.

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It’s another action-packed week of college football for the 18-team Big Ten. On3 is kicking it off with Friday musings about the league.

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1. Is September a make-or-break month for Michigan?

The Big House will play host to the No. 3 team in the country this week — not defending national champion Michigan but Texas. The Longhorns are coming off a 52-0 domination of Colorado State, which ranked fifth in the Mountain West preseason poll. A new-look Wolverines offensive line will have to step up its game after paving the way for just 148 rushing yards last week against Fresno State. Michigan’s defense is good enough to keep Texas close, but eventually the Davis Warren-led offense will have to pull its weight: A home run or two from running back Donovan Edwards would help.

If Michigan loses, the Wolverines will absolutely still be in the running for the 12-team College Football Playoff. But a Sept. 21 date with now-No. 13 USC will be looming. Yes, Michigan gets the Trojans at home as well, except, with the way USC played defensively against LSU last week, the Wolverines are far from a lock in that head-to-head. Two losses in September, even if they’re both to CFP contenders, would put Michigan in a pickle. In that worst-case scenario, though, the Wolverines would still have hope, albeit with no additional room for error. They can make life easier for themselves by beating Texas and/or USC.

2. Boise State is 3-0 all-time vs. Oregon, but…

…the Ducks are poised for a bounce-back offensive performance. Look, a win is a win, but a 24-14 win over FCS Idaho felt like a loss for Oregon last week. And here’s how Dan Lanning’s Oregon teams responded to losses in his first two years as head coach:

+ After getting trounced by eventual repeat national champion Georgia in the 2022 season opener, 49-3, Oregon dropped the hammer on Eastern Washington, 70-14.

+ Later that season, the Ducks lost to then-No. 24 Washington, 37-34. They rallied the following week to beat then-No. 10 Utah, 20-17.

+ The week after that, Oregon lost another close game, this time to rival Oregon State, which, back then, was ranked No. 22. But Lanning’s group got to 10 wins with a victory over North Carolina in the Holiday Bowl.

+ We’ll keep things short and sweet for 2023: Oregon lost twice, both times to Washington in heartbreaking fashion. The Ducks came back with multi-score wins: first midseason against Washington State and then postseason against then-No. 18 Liberty in the Fiesta Bowl.

The point is, under Lanning, Oregon has never lost back-to-back games. While the Ducks didn’t lose last week, it sure felt like they did, and it’s safe to assume they’ll be on their A-game against Boise State. On one hand, the Broncos have a Heisman Trophy hopeful in running back Ashton Jeanty, who broke the single-game school record with six rushing touchdowns to open the season. On the other hand, Boise State gave up 45 points to Georgia Southern last week. That’s a recipe for the Oregon O-Line to get right.

3. Shedeur Sanders vs. Dylan Raiola is must-watch TV

Last year’s Colorodo-Nebraska matchup generated 8.73 million viewers, according to FOX Sports. At the time, it became FOX’s 10th most-watched regular season college football game. Ever.

Don’t be surprised if this year’s rematch brings in even bigger numbers. The Week 2 showdown will be carried on NBC and is fittingly set for a primetime kickoff in Lincoln, where Deion “Prime Time” Sanders will face off against Matt Rhule. That’s not the head-to-head people are focused on, though. It’s the quarterbacks who are commanding the most attention: Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola. Sanders could be the top quarterback taken in next year’s NFL Draft. Raiola isn’t draft eligible until 2027, but he’s started his journey to reaching that stage, too. Part of the reason why this quarterback duel is so fun is that both signal callers can make something out of nothing when the pocket collapses.

4. More fool’s gold from Maryland?

Remember when Maryland blew out then-No. 21 Syracuse, 63-20, in 2019? Well, turns out Syracuse wasn’t very good that year — the Orange finished 5-7, including 2-6 in ACC play — and neither was Maryland, as the Terps trudged their way to a 3-9 record. Fast starts under Maryland head coach Mike Locksley have often been followed by disappointing slumps, like when the Terps began 2021 4-0 before losing six of the next seven games, or in 2022 when they went 6-2 before dropping three games in a row, or last year especially when they got off to a 5-0 start prior to suffering four consecutive defeats.

On the bright side, the Big Ten East doesn’t exist anymore. The Terps don’t have their annual appointments with Ohio State or Michigan this year. That said, they do have another backloaded schedule. Four of their final six games are against AP Top 25 opponents. New starting quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. and Maryland beat up on UConn to the tune of 629 total yards in a 50-7, season-opening win. The Terps might take a victory lap on Michigan State in College Park this week. Even so, proceed with caution before jumping on the Maryland train.

5. Northwestern’s lakefront stadium is uniquely awesome

The new and improved Ryan Field won’t be ready until the 2026 season. For now, Northwestern is playing its football games at the Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium — which had already been home to Northwestern soccer and lacrosse games — and Wrigley Field, home of the MLB’s Chicago Cubs. The Wildcats’ first five home games will be played by Lake Michigan on campus, and the final two will be at Wrigley.

As for the Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, it seats approximately 12,000 but comes with a breathtaking view of the lake and the Chicago skyline. Because of the facility’s proximity to the lake, the extra seating was mostly added to the end zones, which run parallel to the water. What’s interesting is that the temporary stadium has nearly double the premium seating of old Ryan Field, according to ESPN. In the Big Ten, where schools like Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State have stadiums seating north of 100,000 fans, Northwestern will be playing in front of a max capacity crowd almost 10 times smaller. But as David Braun showed last year while becoming the Big Ten’s Coach of the Year amid program turbulence, Northwestern can turn a less-than-ideal situation into rewarding triumph. The Wildcats host Duke yards away from the lake’s shore Friday night.