by Sean Szymczak
The season is still young, but we learned a lot about Big Ten teams through one week. As week 2 creeps up on us, I have 5 things that I think I know about a few Big Ten teams.
Hudson Card, Luke Altmyer are the best QBs in the Big Ten West
The Big Ten West featured question marks across the board at the QB position heading into 2023. Wisconsin’s Tanner Mordecai, Iowa’s Cade McNamara, and Northwestern’s Ben Bryant seemed like the most reliable answers thanks to their multiple years of starting experience. But after just one week of football, we finally have some clarity into the position.
Mordecai struggled throughout the spring and fall. That culminated in the opener vs Buffalo where he had a 36 QBR and 2 INTs. I’m still trying to look for signs that Mordecai is the leader and playmaker Badger fans thought he’d be. McNamara had a good 1st quarter, but his lingering knee injury is a major concern for the rest of the season. And Bryant does not seem capable of elevating Northwestern’s offense above their lack of talent at the other positions.
Despite an underwhelming week 1 by the Big Ten’s assumed best quarterbacks, two performances jumped out to me. Hudson Card and Luke Altmyer each kept their offenses’ heads above water despite poor performances from their offensive lines and largely ineffective run games.
Card looks like he has an NFL-caliber arm. He also has underrated athleticism – something Graham Harrell should utilize more this weekend against Virginia Tech. Purdue needs someone else like TJ Sheffield to emerge opposite Deion Burks and Devin Mockobee needs to find some of the explosiveness he displayed last season for this Purdue offense to really find its potential. But until then, Hudson Card looks more than capable of scoring with the rest of the Big Ten West teams.
Illinois’ Luke Altmyer made his first career start on Saturday against Toledo and finished with nearly 8 yards per attempt and a 79 QBR. That’s despite the offense getting off to a rocky start in the first half. He spread the ball around nicely to Illinois’ deep receiving corps with Casey Washington, Isaiah Williams, and Pat Bryant all catching at least four passes. Altmyer was also the Illini’s leading rusher, showing off some wheels with 69 yards at nearly 8 yards per carry. The Ole Miss transfer saved his best throw of the day for when it really mattered, making this INSANE 33-yard dime while getting put on his butt.
Both Purdue & Illinois have a lot of areas to improve before conference games start. But based on what we saw from the other QBs in this division, I wouldn’t be shocked if the division came down to Hudson Card and Luke Altmyer.
Braelon Allen, Chez Mellusi are as good as any RB duo in CFB
Everyone in college football knows how special Donovan Edwards & Blake Corum, Nick Singleton & Kaytron Allen, and TreVeyon Henderson & Miyan Williams are. At 6’2″ 250lbs and track-like speed, Braelon Allen is every bit as talented as Corum, Singleton, & company. But his backfield-mate Chez Mellusi is never mentioned in he same breath as these guys.
The former Clemson transfer is in his 5th season and has quietly had a very effective career. Mellusi has rushed for over 1,800 yards and 15 TDs at over 5 yards per carry going back to 2019. He’s more of the “lightning” to Allen’s “thunder”, but that doesn’t mean he’s incapable of shouldering a large workload if necessary. Over the past two seasons with the Badgers, Mellusi has had 12 games of at least 15 carries.
Wisconsin is implementing a brand new offense this season. They also don’t have the aerial attack that Michigan, Penn State, and Ohio State have to take pressure off the run game. Nonetheless, Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi should put up comparable if not better numbers than any of those duos. On Saturday, they combined for 323 total yards and 4 TDs on nearly 10 yards per attempt.
Having one of college football’s best offensive lines helps, but Allen & Mellusi are every bit as talented as any other backfield duo in the country.
Chip Trayanum is Ohio State’s RB1
Speaking of the electric Henderson/Williams duo in the Buckeye backfield, there is another name that might have surpassed them. Chip Trayanum rushed for nearly 700 yards and 10 TDs at 5.5 yards per carry at Arizona State before transferring to Ohio State as a linebacker last year. That didn’t last long, as RB injuries made him move back to the offensive side of the ball.
Trayanum had only 15 carries last year, but showed off elite explosiveness in the spring game and has appeared to surpass guys like Dallan Hayden and Evan Pryor on the RB depth chart thanks to his impressive performance throughout the off-season.
On Saturday, Trayanum looked like the best running back on Ohio State. He rushed for 57 yards on over 7 yards per attempt while Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson combined for 72 yards on 3.8 yards per carry. While the offensive line showed some growing pains and struggled to keep their assignments, Trayanum’s vision and burst still allowed him to rip off long runs.
TreVeyon Henderson is still an elite talent who is trying to regain his footing after returning from injury. And Miyan Williams is one of the country’s best hard-nosed runners and a terrific change-of-pace back for the rest of the Buckeyes’ burners. They will definitely improve as the offensive line does and give Ohio State a formidable running attack.
But what we saw from Chip Trayanum on Saturday can’t be ignored. He looked like what Henderson was supposed to look like. He can make guys miss in a box and accelerate to his blazing top speed in just a couple steps. He also stands at 5’11” 235lbs, making him a load to bring down.
Ohio State’s running depth is unmatched from any college football team. But someone will have to emerge as a consistent game-breaker, similar to what TreVeyon Henderson was in 2021. There’s a really good chance Chip Trayanum ends up being just that in 2023.
The Nebraska Blackshirts are back on defense
Minnesota did not give Nebraska a test like Colorado will this weekend. But the Husker defense passed their first test of the 2023 season with flying colors. I might be getting ahead of myself, but I think the famed Blackshirts have finally returned to the Nebraska defense.
As I talked about in this week’s podcast episode, the physicality up front was better than I ever saw under Scott Frost. They consistently controlled the line of scrimmage, allowing just 2.2 yards per carry and forcing 5 TFLs & 3 sacks.
Nebraska got beat a few time by Minnesota’s receivers, but Isaac Gifford and Malcolm Hartzog each had really strong games. Their versatility will be weapons for Matt Rhule & Tony White.
But was perhaps most impressive about this defensive performance was how comfortable they seem to be running the 3-3-5. This defense puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the defensive backs. For a unit that struggled mightily in 2022, I expected this defensive transition to come with a lot of growing pains in the back-end. But I didn’t notice any blown coverages and the Husker defense only committed three penalties all game long.
I think Nebraska’s defense matches up against Colorado a lot better than TCU. Nebraska seems capable of plugging up the run game and eating up blocks with just three down linemen. This allows for more players to stay off the line in order to spy Sanders, seal the edge, and make tackles in space.
Will Nebraska hold Colorado to 13 points? Not a chance in hell. Will we see some growing pains from this defense as the season moves on? Almost certainly. But this defense is way ahead of where I expected them to be heading into 2023. The Huskers are very young on this side of the ball and they still might finish the season in the top-half of the conference despite the new scheme. By next season, I am confident the Nebraska Blackshirts will return.
Rutgers is a bowl-caliber team
I think Rutgers may have finally emerged from the Big Ten’s cellar. They thoroughly dominated Northwestern on Sunday, keeping them below 100 total yards until the 4th quarter when the game was already put away.
Rutgers was expected to beat Northwestern. The Wildcats are probably the worst Power-Five team in college football and the Scarlet Knights got them at home. But the end-to-end domination for Rutgers was something we haven’t really seen from them since they joined the Big Ten.
Rutgers’ defense will get better tests as the season goes on, but they were absolutely smothering on Sunday. I predicted them to be one of the better defenses in the Big Ten in the preseason. From a talent perceptive, that is. I was still nervous about the development of this offense. I thought Rutgers might be stuck on the field for 40 minutes per game again which would cause this defense to wear out over the course of games and ultimately the season.
But Gavin Wimsatt may have finally put a jam in the revolving door of bad quarterbacks that have come through Piscattaway, NJ. He put together his best performance of his young career against Northwestern, demonstrating improved accuracy, composure in the pocket, and an ability to extend plays with his legs and make something out of nothing.
Kyle Monangai is a very talented running back. This offensive line still has to improve, as they averaged only 2.8 yards per carry. But the maturity of Wimsatt should help make this offense just average enough for this to be a bowl-caliber team.
Rutgers hosts Temple this weekend and should win by multiple possessions again. Then they host the Hokies the following weekend. That’ll be a much bigger challenge, as the Scarlet Knight offense will need to go toe-to-toe with a VT offense that is much better than Northwestern or Temple. But if they get that win, Rutgers will be staring down the barrel at their first season at .500 or above since 2014.