Welcome to a new episode of Land-Grant Podcast Network’s I-80 Football Show. On this show, we travel down I-80 to talk all things Big Ten Football. This is the only Big Ten Podcast that’ll cover all 18 teams. 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 for the next week. My name is Jordan Williams, and I am joined by my co-host Dante Morgan.

If you’re like me you’re unprepared for how fast this summer has gone and how quickly the 2024 College Football Season approaches! With August a week away, Fall camps should be starting soon which means it is conference preview season. In this episode, Jordan and Dante kick off conference previews by discussing the four programs most likely to be bottom feeders in 2024. Unlike other years, all of these programs have some form of optimism going into the season but that makes ending in this category even tougher. For three of them, they have first or second-year head coaches so they will just have to take their lumps as the Big Ten did not do them any favors with their schedules. 

The mantra for this year in an expanded conference and with a large number of teams being led by new coaches is, that someone has to lose these games. This season those someones are most likely Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, and Purdue. All four programs have to play some combination of Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan, and Penn State. To make matters worse, Iowa is also on some of their schedules ensuring that they are stuck players multiple games against the top of the conference. Illinois is looking to regain its momentum from the 2022 season while Northwestern is hoping to prove that winning eight games in 2023 was not a fluke despite six of their eight victories being one-score games. 

Indiana is head over heels with head coach Curt Cignetti a multiple-time national champion at the FCS level but the best players on his roster are transfers from his old school James Madison and we do not know how they will translate to playing a nine-game Big Ten Schedule. Purdue has potential all-conference players at running back, defensive end, and safety but outside of those three players they are at a significant talent disadvantage with a roster decimated bu transfers and players running out of eligibility. They will be a transfer-heavy roster in 2024 and will have to hope that head coach Ryan Walters can make a second-year leap. 

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