Ohio State
The Big Ten East has been the bell cow for the conference since the inception of the divisions.
The East sports the three best programs of the last 30 years, Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State, and a very solid Michigan State team.
The East goes through Columbus this year as per usual.
Click the image for live odds
Best Team
Ohio State is a loaded offense led by Heisman contenders CJ Stroud, TreVeyon Henderson, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
They are going to score 50 points a game with relative ease. They did get bullied by Michigan last year. They will need to beef up the interior on both sides of the ball.
Biggest Threats
Jim Harbaugh and Michigan broke through the Ohio State armor last year and found a way into the College Football Playoff with a dominant running game and game-wrecking pass rushers.
Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo are off the NFL, but they have recruited well. The Wolverines will need JJ Mccarthy or Cade McNamara to separate themselves to give Michigan a chance to repeat.
Michigan State
The Spartans jumped out to an 11-2 season last year after a dismal 2020 season. Mel Tucker has gone the route of transfer to reload the coffers adding Jalen Berger from Wisconsin and Jarek Broussard from Colorado to replace Kenneth Walker.
Payton Thorne will need to continue his ascent into being a stud for them to disrupt. If they get C- pass defense this year, they could be a problem again.
Wildcard
The Maryland Terrapins had a solid ’21 campaign winning 7 games. They are led by Taulia Tagovailoa and a deep and talented group of skilled players.
They will have to improve on the defensive side of the ball. In their 6 losses last year, they gave up 281 points combined.
Who knows?
Why has Penn State stuck with Sean Clifford? He has been pretty bad and they continue to give him snaps. They closed the season losing 6 of 8 after starting 5-0.
They must believe in him and think this could be the year. I don’t see it.
Obligatory
Indiana and Rutgers do play in this division as well.
Best Player
Jaxon Smith-Njigba exploded in the Rose Bowl last season. In a room of 2 top 10 receiver draft picks all of them said he was the best one. He is a superstar.
Emoni Bates against Michigan State next season pic.twitter.com/PDNZFJZ12t
— Barstool Spartans (@BarstoolMSU) June 29, 2022
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| Title: Big ten East Preview
| Author: Matt Catton
| Date: August 8, 2022
