Big Ten Releases 2023 Football Schedule; Week 9 Previews; Top 5 Wide Receivers | B1G Today

Big Ten Releases 2023 Football Schedule we do have some enormous news on this day and it is the Big Ten schedule for the 2023 season uh let's take a look at it and these are weeks one two and three a few notes divisions are remaining in place for next year the conference has not yet revealed its plans for 2024 and Beyond when USC and UCLA joined the League this 2023 schedule was originally announced in 2018 it had to be tweaked due to some changes that were made in the covid year but the Crossovers that were announced that year remain so the opponents all stayed the same the news today is the dates of the game so we're looking at week one two and three here week one three conference games Nebraska and Minnesota will play on Thursday night in Minneapolis Ohio State and Indiana open the season in Bloomington as they did back in 2017 and Northwestern will go to Rutgers that will Mark the fourth time of the last five non-covid seasons that the cats open with a conference game just one big ten game the following two weeks it's Penn State at Illinois the Nittany Lions again open conference play on the road it's noteworthy yes let us get to week four five conference games including Iowa in Happy Valley Wisconsin goes to West Lafayette Michigan and Michigan State both at home they are the only two schools to open the year with four straight home games last weekend of September Illinois goes to Purdue Michigan state will visit Iowa City Nebraska's first conference home game for whomever is named the new head coach will be against Michigan Penn State on the road at Northwestern highlights the following week include Nebraska at Illinois got the little brown jug game in Minneapolis those are the conference home home openers by the way for Ohio State and Wisconsin so at that point everyone will have played at least one conference home game and then let's look at week seven that will feature the Heartland trophy game in Madison Ohio State going to Purdue for the first time since 2018 when the boilers beat them by more than four touchdowns so there is a lot to digest here we'll get to the back half of the Slate next but just kind of first blush Anthony I'll let you go first then we'll hear from Pat what stands out there Nebraska opens up their first game of the season another conference class so I think from a husker's perspective to to have that coming up in week one it doesn't have to be in week zero so I suppose at least you maybe get that additional week of preparation leading into it but to face the Gophers certainly a team that's you know going to be a difficult task when you look at the way the Minnesota program is performed in recent years but for Nebraska whoever the regime is in place I think just the first game out for the Huskers that one really stands out to me and you reference today you know Penn State being on the road for their first conference test again I think that's another one that you know James Franklin made a really big deal out of it during this season having all these these Road conference openers over and over again and this is going to be yet another season where their first test will be an Illini program that is legit this year and there's no reason to think they won't be again next year yeah not just a road game but a difficult Road game uh Pat 40 what stands out to you yeah in addition to Nebraska which I like Anthony mentioning that there with the new coach is going to open with two in a row on the road because they follow Minnesota with Colorado a trip there so immediate challenge but I'm looking at Purdue and I think their schedule is pretty interesting uh first four Road games very chair first four big ten games very challenging Wisconsin Illinois they're both at home at least but then you have at Iowa and Ohio State that follows a non-conference schedule where you play two power five opponents they have Virginia Tech on the road and they have Syracuse so six of the first seven games Power five opponents you got Ohio State in there you got some real challenges within the division and then in the back half they've also got Michigan so I think Purdue has one of the most difficult schedules you're going to see anywhere in the country in 2023. no doubt and and this is the mo with Purdue they traditionally play difficult non-conference schedules and and again many of these games in terms of the non-conference announced by the schools previously but it is interesting now when you look at it in its totality just get a sense for okay what precedes this game what follows this game and no doubt Purdue's got it tough although I would say having those two West games at home to me those are two really big you know West games there early on in the schedule Wisconsin and Illinois certainly if we're going to use this season as a precedent those could be games that go a long way toward deciding who wins the West Anthony will make for for quite a measuring stick for Purdue and when you have those games back to back and especially that they're going to be leading into a buy for the boilers Wisconsin Illinois Iowa and stylistically Purdue is the team that's kind of the outlier in the west division where their style of play is different than the rest of the teams all the teams in the west really value quality defense but then when you look at Purdue they're going to pass the ball with volume that we've talked about the storyline this year where there is more balance I had given up on Jeff Brahm in the wrestling attack for the boilers we do see Devin mcabee Dylan Downing uh King doru we do see a wrestling attack that's merging for Purdue they're not at the bottom of the Big Ten but they're still stylistically the outlier in the west so you got physical games division games back to back to back leading into a buy I'm imagining after they face Ohio state that Bobby's going to come in a good time for the boilers interesting that once again the Big Ten and it seems we've gone to this model now at least for now permanently I mean you know nothing's permanent in this world and and we will see what happens when the additions are made the following year with USC and UCLA but this notion of opening with conference games we've seen it here year in and year out Pat it's really engaging it can give some teams a leg up it can get others behind the eight ball when you look at it from a national point of view what are these three conference clashes early on mean in terms of getting eyeballs on the Big Ten yeah I love it I think it's a great idea you know why not disperse your quality games throughout the schedule uh and you know especially there's not a ton of like great non-conference games throughout this schedule so let's get some of these good ones up front um you know Purdue and Penn State to open this season was super exciting interesting engaging uh I think really got people locked in on the Big Ten and I think these games will do the same uh you know Nebraska opening again with the new coach there right away in a league game people are going to be super curious about that um Ohio State one thing there they had five home games in a row to open this season well they're starting on the road next year at Indiana and they've also got several other road games early on so I think this is a very good idea it's good scheduling by the Big Ten to not just ease into things it's like hey let's get on the stage right away and get people watching our teams a sneaky one for week one Pat is at Northwestern Rutgers game because both programs you could view them as you know evenly yoked you know different divisions but for Northwestern coming off of what right now to this point at least has been a difficult season and Rutgers will see you know if they can end up qualifying for a bowl game this year but looking into next season that's a game where I think each of them will look at that and say we've got a great opportunity to get a conference win in the Big Ten and a great opportunity to try and jump start the season so for those two programs beginning with a conference game obviously a huge opportunity and then in addition to that what can it mean moving forward for the rest of the year but you're not doing it against the team that's you know perhaps going to be heavily favored against your squad that you are viewed as having a big Personnel disadvantage with so that opening game for Northwestern and Rutgers that's a sneaky good one and that of course is a crossover game it's important to note this is a year 2023 is a year where there will be five home games for the west division team so in other words they get two of those three crossover games at home obviously it's the opposite this year it's been alternating back and forth year to year speaking of the Crossovers we're going to dive into those in a little bit we'll take a closer look at the back half of the schedule you've obviously been able to see it with the full grid there but but we'll dive in more fully next back on Big Ten today we continue to dive into Analyzing the 2023 Big Ten Football Schedule next year's Conference football schedule week 8 features six games it includes the Floyd of Rosedale battle in Iowa City Northwestern Nebraska they're playing in North America this time plus the Paul Bunyan trophy battle in East Lansing in Penn State going to Columbus so two games we're seeing this weekend as well will be week eight of next year uh the final week with buys is October the 28th among the highlights of Michigan State going to Minnesota Ohio state will be in Madison it will Mark the first time the Buckeyes have played at Camp Randall since 2016. now starting November 4th you've got no buys you've got seven games every weekend it includes Purdue at the big house will be the first time they played in Ann Arbor since 2011. Nebraska Michigan State Wisconsin Indiana are the other crossovers the next week features Minnesota and Purdue a couple of Big East battles Michigan will be at Penn State Michigan State meanwhile going to the shoe the penultimate week of the regular season includes the Gophers in Columbus Nebraska at Wisconsin Purdue at Northwestern that would be the final game before they tear down Ryan Field and then Thanksgiving weekend Iowa and Nebraska is already set for Black Friday it's important to note another game will be moved to that day as well that'll be announced at a later date and then rivalry weekend including Ohio State and Michigan squaring off in Ann Arbor so Anthony I'll give you the first word on the back half we'd obviously seen it in the big schedule grid but got a chance to dissect it week by week there what do you like we've been talking about the difficulty of the Purdue schedule and I think that continues in the back half here coming off the bye week where you have the Ohio State game I think your referenced it'll be the first time that they faced Ohio State and then before the bye week the first time they faced Ohio State at home since that magical night with Tyler Trenton the whole story line there at Ross Aid Stadium but coming off of the buy to have two weeks after the by Michigan to be one of their crossover opponents that they're going to face obviously a difficult way for for Purdue to try and come down the home stretch there but that Black Friday game obviously every year it feels like that when it is growing between Iowa and Nebraska it's growing in its notoriety growing in the Rivalry there with the Border war between those two programs and who knows what could be on the line by the time you get to that final week of the regular season so those are two that really stand out to me in the back half yeah and it is important to note again there will be another Black Friday game that is part of the new television Arrangement that will start next year and that will become an annual thing so Black Friday is going to be a day not just for Iowa and Nebraska fans going forward but larger scale Big Ten football celebration Pat Uh back half what stands out there yeah I'm going to take a wild guess that Michigan Ohio State will not be the other Black Friday I think that's going to be at noon on Saturday yes I think so uh I'm going to go out on that thin limb uh five schools have have back-to-back Road games in the second half and you start getting beaten up you can start getting tired and sometimes those back-to-back Road games can be difficult Minnesota is at Purdue at Ohio State in November Purdue continuing their tough schedule they're at Nebraska at Michigan uh in the second half there and then Michigan Michigan State and Ohio State all have back-to-back Road games as well I think you're looking at Michigan at Penn State at Maryland and then leading into that Ohio State game that'll be a challenging uh uh end of the season there and I do like the the the week where we have Penn State Ohio State and Michigan Michigan State uh all playing each other again those four I like seeing them match off in that what could potentially they'll be that big Saturday as we have this year this week actually coming up now there have been reports guys that the Big Ten is moving off of Divisions in 2024 there's no official announcement on that yet so again we're just kind of going by what we've got which is this schedule being released today the Big Ten has said it will discuss future Seasons here going forward so kind of can't confirm what has been out there but what do you look at how do divisions impact this you know kind of the way that you view this league well I I do love the fact that there's more opportunities to hang banners there's more opportunities to to you know achieve some sort of a championship and so if you go away from divisions then you have a in 2024 16 team conference that as you get deeper and deeper into the season then as the as the tiers of the conference begin to sort of lay themselves out then who are the teams whose records aren't quite as good and aren't finishing towards the top then what are their fan bases really sort of looking towards is it only Bowl eligibility you know so I I do think that goes away if you get rid of Divisions you could just realign divisions and and get them a little bit more evenly yoked if that's a direction you want to go so that's probably where my vote would end up but in the end just the the sport as it's evolved is about putting your conference in the best position for postseason play and Pat that's really what this movement is about right and we've started to see it in other leagues as well the notion that you want your two best teams to play in your championship game kind of irrespective of where they may be geographically in terms of how the Big Ten is broken down or in some other leagues just broken down uh a little more haphazardly but but either way that is the impetus behind this yeah it is you want you want a good game and you want your best teams playing and getting the the quote-unquote 13th data point for playoff purposes uh we see a lot of mismatches in Conference Championship games so I think that's what a lot of people are trying to get away from I am with Anthony where I like the divisional setup but kind of particularly with the the Big Ten because I think it gives those teams in the west something to hang a hat on I mean folks in Iowa were awfully excited about winning that West Division Championship last year it's been a big point of Pride at Northwestern to rise up and win that at Illinois I was in Illinois yesterday and guess what they're talking about okay we just got to do this this and this and we can get to Indianapolis yeah that part of the equation is really something that that you know means a lot to a lot of schools is being able to hang a banner to get that trophy uh and you are kind of taking that away the other thing look it doesn't have to be in Ohio State Michigan thing year after year but if you're looking at Ohio State Michigan playing at the last game of the chain of the regular season and then turning around and playing again the next week I think that takes a little bit of the kind of Armageddon feel off of that regular season game and I'm not even sure that that's a completely great thing just you know for my sensibilities pad of seeing the same teams playing back to back weeks and how it you know it would still be exciting obviously for the Big Ten championship game then if you split the games one to one you know does one team still feel like they should have a claim to it but even aside from that you think of the East Division in the Big Ten maybe the deepest division in college football teams like Penn State and emerging Maryland program you know they view these things when you talk to James Franklin and you talk to Mike Loxley of okay what would life be like perhaps if we didn't have to play in this division season and season out so if things did get realigned in some way where where there was just it was more of an even split between the two divisions in the Big Ten then I'm sure there would be some coaches who are right now in the East Division that would be pleased with that to feel like all right there's a legitimate a more more of an opportunity here to try to claim a division title I do want to get into the crossover games because for as long as there are divisions this is what people are going to talk about perhaps it's the last year of it perhaps not but that it is a huge point of emphasis certainly for the West teams it's always a point of emphasis who you play and whether you play the traditional powers and Minnesota is the one that really stands out with Michigan Michigan State and a visit to Columbus Purdue plays both the Buckeyes and Wolverines along with the annual battle with Indiana again two home crossovers for every West team as opposed to this year where it is two for every east team we're looking at the East crossovers here Michigan going to Nebraska and Minnesota Ohio State visits Purdue and Wisconsin Penn State making two trips to the state of Illinois they will visit both the Illini and the Wildcats again it's hard to look at Minnesota and Purdue and not say that's significant in terms of where they'll end up at the end of the year and how legitimate their shot is to win the west and certainly just for where Purdue is as a program Ram right now because they have been growing they have been improving on a season in season out basis but then when you look at having not only Ohio State and Michigan but your in-state rival the Indiana Hoosiers that they're going to play on a on an annual basis then yes that is a very very difficult crossover test for Purdue and there's even other squads when you look at you know maybe not all three you would put of the same caliber but Iowa having both Penn State and Michigan State on their slate difficult crossovers because of where Michigan State showed themselves last season as a program and they've certainly jumped up here recently and been able to start to show some improvement here even for this season so you know even if it's not all three that you would put of the same ilk but even having multiple very difficult crossover matchups is something that I think a lot of these programs can look at it and wonder okay if our division we know those teams know us really well then you get to the Crossovers and it's something that you have to pay close attention to Pat will give you the final word on this well you know what I agree with Anthony that the teams Minnesota and Purdue that Drew uh both Michigan and Ohio State that's that's some crossover toughness there although I did get a text from somebody just during the show here from a western division side that said where you see difficulty I see opportunity so I like that attitude be optimistic dog that's a coach that is a source that's all I'm saying sources sources deep within the Big Ten West see opportunities in what we have just revealed here over the last 23 minutes I've been a ton of fun and again obviously now this is going to be uh all over the place on on the net and on big10.org and Big Ten Network sites so plenty of opportunities to digest it to memorize it uh there there will not be a quiz however there is just one game in the early window on Saturday it is the game between Ohio State and Penn State Week 9 Preview: Ohio State vs. Penn State and Pat will give you the first thought on this one uh Penn State obviously a couple weeks removed from just getting hammered by Michigan they bounce back nicely last week how do you see this match up though for them against Ohio State as compared to the one against the Wolverines I think it's a better matchup for Penn State that's not to say Michigan's better than Ohio state but I just think Ohio Penn State's strengths and weaknesses are better suited to playing the Buckeyes than they were to playing the Wolverines this also it's a home game uh so you get that Advantage there but Penn State's got NFL players in the secondary they've got a very good pass defense there I believe 10th in the country and pass efficiency defense near the top in the Big Ten as well and so if you're going to match up if anybody can keep up with Ohio State's just ridiculous abundance of Talent on the outsides and downfield I think the Nittany Lions have a chance to do it and maybe make some smaller windows for CJ Stroud to have to throw into it's going to be less of a trench warfare game where they just absolutely could not match up with Michigan this is going to be a game played a little bit more in space and I like Penn State's ability to play in space defensively and even though it's not the biggest defensive front in the world there is legitimate Talent up front for Penn State they've had guys making really big impacts throughout the season and like chop Robinson and denied Dennis Sutton and obviously PJ mustafer when he's been healthy as well on the opposing side of things though we saw Zach Harrison have you know at this point in his career a true Breakout game you know a heralded recruit I saw him a lot in high school before he got to Columbus and watched him closely throughout his career as so many Buckeye fans have watched him closely and he's played well he grades out well consistently but as far as just being an impact a splash playmaker for Ohio State in their defensive front that may have been the game of his career against the Iowa offensive line so whatever nightmares may be there for the Hawkeyes they're gonna have to shake those off but Penn State watching that film is going to say all right how do we account for him and that's what you're looking for who's the game changer the game wrecker for the Buckeyes on that defensive front they've been really good across the d-line but if you can get that weekend and week out from Zach Harrison now you're looking at someone who you can game plan the entire defense around that when he can play at that level well this is the part of this game that interests me as well Pat and I know you were talking a little bit about the Penn State Defense and maybe a better matchup for them what about this Ohio State Defense I mean it is certainly statistically dramatically improved over where it was a year ago they were barely in the top 40 in the nation and scoring defense our number five now coming into this game they have not played a particularly Dynamic offense yet though what challenges do you think Penn State's offense presents for Ohio State on deed yeah I think uh best opponent and best offense probably that they have faced you know give or take maybe Toledo but Notre Dame's offense disappointing Wisconsin's offense disappointing uh Iowa's offense wildly disappointing so this is a step up Sean Clifford can make plays he's tough too it's hard to Rattle him hard to force him into just completely getting off his game they've got good running backs now can the offensive line open some holes we'll see as Anthony alluded to there's some there's some guys on defense on the line there for Ohio State you've absolutely got to account for to make sure Clifford has time but he's not afraid to stand in against a heavy rush and deliver the ball and then yes if you can possibly keep yourself balanced and keep the pass rush a little bit on its Heels by establishing the run I think Penn State will certainly be the the most dynamic offense that Ohio State's seen so far and guys it's a huge game at home for Penn State and so much of the early portion of their schedule was about having really big games on the road we saw now what a whiteout did for them as the white out always tends to do for Penn State with a great opponent coming in there now this is going to be a noon kickoff but it's at home in State College you know there's going to be 110 or a million point five people just jam-packed into that stadium with Ohio State coming to town and I'm not out on the Nittany Lions yet I know that performance against Michigan was not impressive I still think especially even something small like Nick Singleton making big plays running to the left so many of his huge chunk runs had been towards the right side of their formation now you're seeing the offensive line the explosive running back in Singleton making big chunk plays to the left and then Sean Clifford after an early mistake responded well to Pat's point so when you got that yes you know you're likely to have to go score for score with the Buckeyes but they do have Playmakers Mitchell Tinsley Parker Washington the tight end position they can try and keep up with the Buckeyes especially if that secondary to pass point is able to make some plays it is a series that has been dominated As We Know by Ohio State winners of nine of the last 10. that is what they do now how about Michigan State and Michigan this is a Week 9 Preview: Michigan vs. Michigan State series at least in the very recent history that Michigan state has had the upper hand on I think it's easy to look at this match up here on Saturday and say Anthony well they're kind of two teams high-headed in opposite directions and man Michigan's just going to overwhelm them but the recent history certainly tells us otherwise it hasn't mattered you know that that overwhelming ability the the all-time sort of you know status of each program hasn't mattered lately in this matchup and when you look at the fact that Michigan State they've certainly tasted their own blood this season Michigan hasn't so much so as far as which program is perhaps a little bit more battle tested it's the Spartans you know Maryland gave it Michigan everything they can handle but Michigan was able to outlast them in that game I do believe though the Michigan State where both are coming off of a bye week and what really intrigues me about this matchup and I think it's it's significant is the fact that this is definitively the biggest game in the regular season on this schedule of the Michigan State Spartans year in and year out you can't make that same claim definitively for the Wolverines you know the game lingers and lurks at the end of every corner every crevice there at shembeckler Hall because Ohio state is going to be waiting for them at the end of the season I do think intangibly guys that that's a part of where the Spartans have been able to make an inroad here in recent years I will say this though Pat media days when you talk to the Michigan players and kind of lauded them for their accomplishments last year and said well where do you go from here every single one of them responded we have to beat Michigan State and Ohio State in the same season so it's pretty obvious that Jim Harbaugh has made this game a priority because guys tend to Echo what their coach says oh you picked up on that too huh yeah yeah one of my specialties yeah no the the simmering I think kind of almost discussed that they lost that game last year and it was to a really good Michigan State team but the way it happened with Michigan looking like they had the game under control Michigan State rallying just a number of bang bang plays that went one way or the other some officiating calls that were argued for a long time that game is lingered I think in the pits of the stomachs of a lot of the Wolverines so there is no lacking in motivation for them now Jim Harbaugh is still right when he says throw out the record books with this because there's certainly no lacking motivation for Michigan State either to Anthony's point this is the game they Circle every year and it's also the game that can take out a lot of the bad taste of the first half of this season for them if they're able to pull the upset in on in Ann Arbor but I don't think there's any doubt that Michigan's coming into this game locked and loaded to play as well as they can at Michigan State has won five of the last seven visits to the big house Jim Harbaugh three and four against the Spartans I do want to talk a little bit about Illinois and Nebraska the Illini in the west Week 9 Preview: Nebraska vs. Illinois driver's seat what do you think about this matchup going to Lincoln here Pat very interesting to me I mean Nebraska is playing better with Mickey Joseph they've kind of started to put some things together there but Illinois is just they're one of those programs that's just on high Cruise right now and feeling like this is our season we were confident uh we are playing well we are not a fluke team you know we're good in the trenches we can make big plays elsewhere our defense is lights out so I I think Illinois just has a great frame of mind now the one thing they've got to do they have they lead the nation in pass efficiency defense their numbers are almost silly but they played a lot of bad passing teams this is a better passing team I'm not saying Nebraska's Ohio State but they can throw it around certainly better than Iowa has and several other the opponents that that Illinois has played to rack up those big stats so they're going to probably have their biggest challenge in the secondary and regardless of how many misses there have been at times for Nebraska throwing the football we know they are going to keep firing and Trey Palmer is as explosive as any wide receiver in the Big Ten Conference he's going to be tested by one of the better secondaries in college football against the Illini but when it comes down to it if you continue to just you know I'll use the term hammer away but you're you're hammering away almost mentally at a secondary when you're willing to attack them with the Deep ball to put speed in their feet over and over again in the way that Nebraska is willing to and you've still got a rushing attack that can make an imprint on this game but it is going to be a different level of pressure for the Illinois secondary than any other opponent I mean we thought maybe Virginia was going to be that earlier in the season turned out Virginia had nothing for the Illini like last season but I think for for Nebraska from their perspective Mickey Joseph man he's going to tell him just keep attacking the issue is the pressure in their face which Illinois has been great at getting Nebraska does not have a really good offensive line as we see in Casey Thompson's Been Under Pressure quite a bit this year but you also have to realize that not only is Illinois number one in the nation in pass efficiency defense the gap between one and two is larger than the gap between 2 and 34. I mean they're not just good they're awesome they've been hearing how great they are for a couple of weeks I hear you buy two they gotta fine I got you they have to handle success I got you a new challenge crazy but true file Ohio state has three wide receivers with at least six touchdown grabs this year The Big Ten’s Top 5 Wide Receivers the rest of the Big Ten has a combined total of Two Marvin Harrison Jr Leading The Way with 10 that is good for second most in the nation and so it's time for the impact five counting down the top five receivers in the Big Ten from five to one where you started so difficult list Dave but I feel good about it I feel really good about this let's start in College Park where there's a variety of teams around the Big Ten Conference with several options that you could add to the top five list but we're Kim Jarrett to me is a number five receiver in the Big Ten this individual season for what he's been able to do up to this point and it's a rushing attack for Maryland that's really emerged this year so we haven't seen the volume to the passing attack that they've displayed but it hadn't mattered because for Kim Jarrett when he gets the football in his hands all eyes on the defense have to go to him to gang tackle he's this Dynamo when he actually gets the Rock in space moving the chains and he can take some house calls going there but they haven't called for him to do that quite as much for the Terrapins in their passing attack this season yeah you said and they really pounded the ball last Saturday against Northwestern but when they needed it rick Kim Jarrett came through a huge touchdown grab in that game so who's number four a bit of more of an acrobatic player when it comes down to it and someone who they went into the transfer portal in State College to add to Parker Washington and what he brought to the table but then Mitchell Tinsley coming in from Western Kentucky has already emerged in in lower volume of reception just because of the way Penn State's been able to operate this season between having a run game they can get it rolling and then also yes having tight ends and Parker Washington that you can feed the football to but we've seen circus grabs this season from Mitchell Tenley and he's so smooth in and out of his Cuts in the route tree and if you throw him a bad pass on occasion or a difficult grab he can go one-handed on it with either hand he's just very efficient with his route running ability and certainly with the way he can catch the ball you can understand how he had more than 1400 receiving yards last year at Western Kentucky and what obviously was a very wide open offense but man we got to look at Bailey's happy the other day we did yeah significant minutes there against the Chicago Bears uh who's number three number three is one of the more surprisingly combustible talents I would call him in the Big Ten Conference I talked about Trey Palmer earlier and what this Nebraska offense has been able to do with him and frankly you know he's kind of like a guy he's kind of like a closer that only has a couple of different pitches but man can he bring the fire when it comes down to that speed he will go and get the Deep ball and knowing that game plan wise for the opposing defense what that ends up meaning is that you have to respect that you have to honor the ability of Trey Palmer to run by you and the way that Nebraska is willing to continue to try to feed him the football and he's got a quarterback with an absolute arm cannon that can get it as deep as any quarterback we see this season Trey Palmer is a receiver who can go and get it and so while he may not run the full scope of the route tree like some of the other Targets in the Big Ten Conference what he does great is exceptional four scrimmage plays of 60 yards or longer astounding us the most in the nation he is really explosive I have a sense as to who to and one would be I don't know the order I'm curious for you to reveal it to me where are you going with number two well Purdue's passing attack was looking for a new number one receiver and a lot of us didn't know exactly who that would be and especially with some of the the roster movement that happened in Westlife but then here came Charlie Jones he was kind of recruited there by his former childhood friend and Aidan O'Connell is the quarterback and once they were able to get him to Westlife immediately he proved himself to Jeff Brown and then he proved himself to all of college football he's been the most targeted receiver in the country for much of the year we've seen in recent weeks so some of these other Playmakers for the Boilermakers in the passing attack have begun to step forward and now after that happened it's allowed Charlie Jones to not necessarily be the focal point of every opponent he's just put up massive numbers in every phase of the route uh the numbers are crazy right I mean more receiving yards more touchdown grabs than in the rest of his career combined and we're halfway through this and he doesn't drop passes he's so sure it's a remarkable story so I clearly number one that is in Columbus and you can make a case for maybe one of the teammates of his individual in Columbus but I believe from a highlight perspective and a volume perspective there are a few players in college football at the wide receiver position who've made the plays that Marvin Harrison Jr Jr has been able to make for the Buckeyes this year obviously different in stature from his old man it's six foot four but he runs like a deer obviously well trained in the way that you want to run routes as a wide receiver but even when coverage is sound even when defensive backs are in position it's like an optical illusion where somehow Marvin Harrison Jr is able to reach around them to reach above them to reach through them Matrix style and still find a way to get the football so the ability to catch the football the ability to run after cats to go up and get it in contest situations there's not another receiver in college football doing it at his level it's remarkable how good that receiving crew is and to your point you probably could have picked one or two others top five no question and then of course Jackson Smith and jigba essentially hasn't played this year yes this list is specific to this season and it's this season he led to power five in receiving yards a year ago so it's pretty remarkable Pat what do you make of this list we always give you the the last word the chance to pick it apart what do you think well the only way you could pick it apart is just to put multiple Buckeyes on there uh is the team leader in receptions and receiving yards he's averaging 18 yards of catch he's got seven touchdowns it's kind of hard to leave him off of that list but I understand where Anthony's going with this and trying to spread the sugar outside of Columbus but for for just a second I mean the absurdity of talent there is so incredible Brian Hartline recruiting developing keeping guys happy Julian Fleming what he's done there I mean they've just they it's it's an assembly line and it's going to keep going because we've seen the recruits they've got lined up for 2023 and Beyond so uh it's just incredible what they've done and if you think how important a broad-based receiving Corps is look at LSU 2019 Alabama 2020. he got multiple NFL guys out there they won national championships with them yeah it's remarkable when like you say you look at the recruiting list and see what they have coming next year and it is I mean it it feels like it perpetuates itself and you can understand why you can understand why guys would want to play in that offense so