Apollo Sports B1G Power Rankings: Preseason

The 2024 college football season is fast approaching, and while the release of EA Sports College Football 24 has kept many at bay, it’s almost time to see the real game. With the addition of UCLA, USC, Washington, and Oregon, the B1G has added two top programs, one that seems to be on the rise and another that is struggling to find its footing. They join the other fourteen schools to form one of the premier football conferences in the country, whose footprint will be felt weekly on Saturdays from noon to midnight.

This summer I was asked to contribute a weekly B1G rankings through Apollo Sports. This group, like the new B1G, has a lot of exposure, with two people representing each school in the B1G. I am fortunate to be representing the Boilers in this illustrious group along with legendary Purdue sportswriter Mike Carmin (that may be a stretch, but we’ll leave it at that).

I’ll be posting my weekly rankings each week, as well as the details of the overall rankings. There’s a lot to consider with these preseason rankings, and the transfer portal makes it that much more difficult, but we’ll do our best and see how bad they do later in the season.

B1G Preseason Power Rankings:

Until proven otherwise, the Buckeyes and Ducks are the class of the B1G this season, and I’m not sure there’s much debate about that. The real test comes after that, where I rate the Hawkeyes significantly higher than pretty much everyone else in this ranking system, as only two others have the Hawkeyes third and most others have them fifth or sixth. With a defense that usually keeps Iowa in the game at all times, the test is how they look without Ferentz’s son running a historically bad offense.

Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images

The middle of the B1G remains absolutely smack dab, but I’m not as excited about the Wolverines as many are, even after their national championship last season. Losing Jim Harbaugh and a longtime starting quarterback is a slap in the face, but the aura surrounding the program is something to keep an eye on as more information about the signal-stealing saga continues to circulate. I think that’s tough to take at times, and they’ll battle in the upper echelons of the mid-major with the Badgers, Huskies, and Scarlett Knights (yes, Rutgers should be a damn good football team).

The bottom end of the B1G is downright lousy, although I think Purdue and Indiana will be better than most people think. The Hoosiers have probably the best head coach in this program in over thirty years, a guy who has been successful at every level (seriously, google it…if you haven’t asked him to do it thirty times since he was hired in Bloomington). The guy is annoying and probably a bit arrogant for what this Indiana program has traditionally been, but you have to appreciate the confidence he brings.

Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

The Boilers have improved the talent level at nearly every position compared to last season under second head coach Ryan Walters. Transfers at key positions like running back, wide receiver, offensive line, defensive end and cornerback will provide more depth than last year. Losing Tyrone Tracy (NFL) and Deion Burks (Oklahoma) hurts as those two were the two explosive players for a miserable offense at times last season, but getting a healthy Hudson Card back behind an offensive line that should be leagues better than last year is crucial. The Boilers could very well have a very good season this year and reach a 4-8 record in 2024 due to a really tough schedule.

The bottom of the pile? Welcome to B1G UCLA. This is a team that seemingly has all the resources to be good but just can’t seem to get it all together. Even with Chip Kelly at the helm, they never seemed to get on the right track, and that doesn’t seem to be the case with new head coach DeShaun Foster. Seriously, they hired Foster, who was running backs coach under Chip Kelly, who they just fired. In Purdue terms, that would have been like hiring Gerard Parker as head coach. I just don’t think that works for the Bruins.

Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

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