LGHL’s Big Ten Week 1 staff picks

We have waited longer than ever, but it is finally here: Big Ten football is back!

There are a ton of great games on the slate to kickoff all the action — in addition to, of course, Ohio State’s season opener against Nebraska. The B1G schedule actually begins on Friday night, when Wisconsin hosts Illinois in a rematch of last year’s massive upset in the Big Ten West. There is also the ranked battle between No. 18 Michigan and No. 21 Minnesota, as well as a potentially intriguing matchup with No. 8 Penn State hitting the road to take on Indiana in Bloomington.

To help celebrate a season that we all weren’t sure would ever come, we are going to be adding something a little different to the Land-Grant Holy Land coverage this season. On top of all the breakdowns of the Buckeyes you could possibly ask for, we will also be making picks for all of the Big Ten games each weekend. At the end of the year, we will be able to see how the LGHL staff fared, and who is best at looking into their crystal ball to predict this season’s B1G outcomes.

Here is how the LGHL crew picked in the inaugural weekend of the 2020 Big Ten season. As you can see, there aren’t a ton of upsets to be had in week one. Unsurprisingly, there is a consensus choice for Wisconsin over Illinois on Friday night, as well as Ohio State over Nebraska and Michigan State over Rutgers on Saturday. Everyone also thinks Northwestern will defeat Maryland in Evanston.

We are kind of split on the Michigan-Minnesota game, with five of us choosing the Golden Gophers and three picking the Wolverines — even though we will all be rooting for P.J. Fleck’s crew. Most of the staff thinks Iowa will defeat Purdue, with only Connor and Tia hopping on the Boilermakers. Brett and I have perhaps the bravest pick of the week, as we both chose Indiana to upset Penn State to kick off the year.

Let us know in the comments whose card you think will fare the best this weekend, and we will check back next week to see how everyone did!