First and Ten – Week One

Ten takeaways from the opening weekend of Big Ten Football. You can follow along all season on SiriusXM Big Ten Radio (Ch. 372).

MAC ATTACK

The Big Ten continued its run over MAC teams on opening weekend even though it got a little dicey in Michigan’s controversial win over Western Michigan. But Ohio State handled Ball State easily, Nebraska took down Ohio 49-21 while Michigan State disposed of Toledo. And yes Northern Illinois is now a member of the Mountain West but were still a MAC team when their game was scheduled against Iowa, with the Hawkeyes winning easily 40-0.

BUT WAIT A MINUTE…..

While overall the conference had its way with the MAC, there was one huge exception in UMASS going to Piscataway and taking down Rutgers 37-21. This is a UMASS team that went 0-12 a year ago and had not beaten an FBS opponent since 2023. Not sure of any coach can be put on the hot seat after just one weak, but Greg Schiano is definitely feeling the heat early in 2026.

MITTEN STATE MADNESS

That controversial Michigan-Western Michigan game on Saturday night doesn’t seem over as many thought it was less than a day ago. Western Michigan put out a statement Tuesday it was now officially challenging the clock ruling that gave the Wolverines a second that led to a Hail Mary pass being answered for a 13-12 win. The MAC is arguing replay officials violated established protocols  and have asked the NCAA Oversight Committee and the College Football Playoff to officially recognize the Broncos as the winner for evaluation and evaluation purposes.

WOLVERINES DROP

Although the win will almost certainly stand, the game didn’t do much in terms of confidence around the Michigan program at least in the eyes of this week’s AP Rankings. Michigan was No. 17 in the nation coming into the season but now have completely dropped out of the Top 25. An interesting start to the year for new head coach Kyle Whittingham in Ann Arbor.

DUCK HUNTING

Oregon was the No. 2 team in the pre-season rankings and although the Ducks did beat Boise State they had to do it in come from behind fashion 34-27. Dan Lanning has some time to fine tune things in Eugene and Oregon’s next chance to do so comes this week on the road against Oklahoma State.

TROJANS ROLLINGS

There’s one team in the conference at 2-0 and that’s USA, who followed up its Week 0 shutout of Fresno State with a 42-26 victory over San Jose State. Jayden Maiava was 23 of 25 and looked every inch one of the best quarterbacks in the country. With Louisiana and Rutgers their next two opponents, a 4-0 USC team taking on Oregon at the end of September looks like a lock.

BRUINS BETTER

Still don’t expect UCLA to be a Playoff contender by any means, but the Bob Chesney era opened up with a solid 45-24 win over Cal on Saturday. The Bruins looked like a cohesive unit on both sides of the ball, something that has been sorely missing the last two years in Westwood.

WASHINGTON OFFENSIVE WOES

The Huskies got the W in its Apple Cup matchup against rival Washington State. But it wasn’t exactly an offense display by the Huskies, who only put ten points on the board through the opening 50 minutes of the game before kicking things into gear for a 24-10 win. That will have to improve as conference play looms.

BADGER BEAT DOWN

There were more than a few pundits who predicted a possible Wisconsin upset over Notre Dame on Sunday night. Sure Wisconsin was only down 13-10at halftime, but the second half played out like most thought it would as The Fighting Irish controlled both sides of the ball for a 41-13 win. It’s a vital year for Luke Fickell and an upset would have been a huge shot in the arm for a program trying to finds its way. Oh and don’t get me started on those uniforms on display at Lanbeau Field. Rough.

SCOREBOARD WATCHING

The game was mildly entertaining for a while before Illinois pulled away to beat UAB 42-23. But that star of the night in Champaign was the incredibly massive and vibrant new scoreboard and video screen High above the south end zone at Gies Memorial Stadium is a 17,315 square foot display – the largest in college football – that is 69 feet high and was part of a $40 million stadium update. The glow of the board was reportedly seen for miles around Champaign-Urbana. No word if there’s a remote control to change channels if things aren’t going well for the Fighting Illini.