Maybe this will make Penn State fans feel better.
It probably won’t, but what the heck, we’ll give it a shot.
At its best, the Big Ten is the best football conference in America.
The last three national champions have all come from the Big Ten, and Penn State and Oregon have each made it to the College Football Playoff semifinal in the last two years. This year, No. 5 Ohio State and No. 6 Indiana are still two of the best teams in the country. But everybody else?
Well, there are some problems.
Let’s rip the band-aid off and start right away with Penn State.
PSU has lost each of its first two conference games, and each have been in embarrassing fashion.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Against Wisconsin, Penn State had a 10-point lead and a 98.5 percent (per ESPN) chance to win in the fourth quarter, and ended up losing.
Against Northwestern, Penn State was just outclassed in a 34-13 loss. But the good news is that seven other Big Ten teams are in the same boat.
Some of them (Maryland, Michigan State, Rutgers,) were expected to be bad. Others (Illinois, Michigan, Washington) were supposed to be better. But the Big Ten’s issues go beyond the winless teams. Oregon, which started the year No. 2, is still recovering from its stunning Week 2 loss to Oklahoma State.
USC, which is a respectable 5-1 overall and 2-1 in conference, had fans chanting for Coach Lincoln Riley to be fired during its win over Washington, and this is days after reports that Riley is coaching for his job.
Penn State takes on USC at 7:30 on NBC in Beaver Stadium.
