All 14 Big Ten schools will be in Chicago on Monday and Tuesday for media days, officially kicking off the 2016 football season.
By Blake Dowson
The Big Ten football world descends on Chicago for the next two days with media days in the Windy City.
There’s a long list of topics on the agenda for today and Tuesday, not limited to on-field questions.
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney is expected to announce a new television deal for the conference, expected to net each Big Ten university upwards of $30 million.
The two-day event will send seven schools to the podium each day, and in that spirit, The Daily Iowan will split what to watch into two sections — the East and West Division.
East Division
Behind the SEC West, the argument can be made that the Big Ten East is the second-best conference in college football. Ohio State is only two years removed from a national championship, Michigan State made the playoffs last year, and Michigan can’t even be considered a dark horse for the playoff — it’s a common pick to make the final four.
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh will be the most popular person at media days, and he’ll answer a broad array of questions. They will range from his trip to Australia for one of his now-famous satellite camps to the hype surrounding his program to his do-everything linebacker/h-back/super hero Jabrill Peppers to who is going to be under center for his team.
Ohio State lost 12 players to the NFL Draft, but the talent that reloads its roster each year is matched only by such blue bloods as Alabama and Notre Dame. The most important thing for head coach Urban Meyer is that he no longer has a quarterback battle to deal with. J.T. Barrett is a Heisman Trophy candidate heading into the fall, and he makes the Buckeyes a threat to make the playoffs. He will be in Chicago to answer questions about the Buckeyes becoming his team again.
Everyone in America seems to have forgotten about Michigan State, which was one of the best four teams in the country a year ago — although the Spartans did not look like it when they got pummeled by the Crimson Tide in a national semifinal game. Connor Cook is gone, yes, but the Spartans are loaded at other positions.
Indiana, Maryland, Penn State, and Rutgers are all lumped into this division as well, and all four head coaches from those schools will have to talk about their mindsets going into the year. Every coach at media days will be optimistic, because in late July, every coach is allowed to be optimistic, but those four schools will have to curb it because the reality of the situation is that they won’t compete for a division title.
West Division
Iowa is the returning division champ, and is favored to show up in Indianapolis again this year, so there will be heavy media attention around head coach Kirk Ferentz, C.J. Beathard, Desmond King, and Josey Jewell. There are plenty of people whothink last season’s 12-2 campaign was a fluke, and questions along those lines will be asked at media day.
Nebraska players and their head coach will attend media days with a heavy heart; they lost their punter, Sam Foltz, in a car accident on the night of July 23. Football will not be on their minds.
The rest of the West Division will struggle this season, besides possibly Wisconsin. New Illinois head coach Lovie Smith will no doubt be a popular guy in Chicago, having previously been the head coach of the Chicago Bears.