Welcome to a new episode of Land-Grant Holy Land’s I-80 Football Show. On this show, we talk about all things Big Ten football and basketball from New Jersey to California. With USC and UCLA joining the conference in 2024 we’ll integrate them in the show getting a head start on the 16-team conference. After every week of action, we will catch you up on all the conference’s games and look ahead at the matchups, storylines, and players you should be paying attention to next week. My name is Jordan Williams, and I am joined by my co-host Dante Morgan.

In this episode, the guys finish up their realignment talk, hopefully, as we’re all ready to move on to the season and talk ball. Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah are in the Big 12, Arizona and ASU might be a wash but the Big 12 may have made a mistake letting Utah in, Jordan expects them to compete for the title immediately. There was a lot of parity in the Big 12 before adding Utah but if they continue trending upward they have a chance to dominate their new conference. As for the four schools left out, Cal and Stanford are hoping for a lifeline from the ACC which is the only power five conferences not to make any moves in the last two years. The ACC is considering adding Cal, Stanford, and SMU but will likely need to add a fourth team if this is the case. Appalachian State anyone? 

Finishing out the Middling Tier, Dante and Jordan break down the 2023 season outlook for Maryland and Purdue. Purdue enters 2023 coming off the best season in program history in which they broke out and won the West Division. Unfortunately, after their season, they lost Head Coach Jeff Brohm who went back home to coach at Louisville. They also lost their starting quarterback Aidan O’Connell and star wide receiver Charlie Jones to the NFL draft. First-time head coach Ryan Walters will be tasked with continuing the success Jeff Brohm had which will be a tall task. Walters hired Graham Harrell, an air raid disciple as his offensive coordinator which is a sign they will continue to sling the ball all over the field but with a much better defense as Walters is one of the best young defensive minds in the country.

Maryland enters 2023 coming off their best year under Mike Locksley and the last year with Taulia Tagovailoa under center. Tagovailoa took a step back statistically last year, he was still arguably the second-best quarterback in the conference, but Maryland still won eight games. They lost a lot of good players including first-round corner Deante Banks but they should return an above-average defense. If Taulia can continue to throw for around 3,000 yards and 25 touchdowns, with the emergence of sophomore running back Roman Hemby, Maryland should win a bunch of games again. They’re still far away from challenging Michigan and Ohio State but everyone else should be a winnable game for the Terrapins. 

In their pitstops, Jordan talks about the difference between the Little League Baseball and Softball World Series and Dante thinks the NBA is getting less competitive because non-star players are making too much money. 

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Connect with us on Twitter: Jordan: @JordanW330 and Dante: @DanteM10216

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