A B1G Week 1 started with a whimper and ended with a spanking. But in between the two failures, the conference went 16-0.

UMass 37 - Rutgers 21 -

A Rutgers team favored by 29.5 points had one of its worst losses in a history of misery that ironically began with college football's first win in 1869.

UMass moved up to FBS status in 2012. Before embarrassing the Scarlet-faced Knights, the Minutemen were 0-33 against Power 4 competition and ranked 138th out of 138 FBS teams in CBS Sports' preseason poll.

This game was a B1G and Epic Fail!

Notre Dame 41 - Wisconsin 13

In Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Badgers showed up for one half. At the end of the second period, Wisconsin trailed by three points, 13- 10.

Then, the No. 4-ranked Irish broke out a shillelagh and bashed the Badgers 28 to 0, turning up the heat on Luke Fickell's already hot seat.

Purdue and Michigan State play the Domers later this season.

In Notre Dame's 'Leave No Doubt' 2026 season, I have no doubt that the Boilermakers and Spartans will fare any better than Bucky.

Best Games of the Week - UCLA 45 - Cal 24

Other than Wisconsin vs Notre Dame, in Week-1, only one other B1G team played a Power 4 opponent.

In Berkeley, California, in front of 63,000-plus fans, Bob Chesney's first game as Bruins head coach could not have gotten off to a better start: a road win against an opponent from the Atlantic (?) Coast Conference.

UCLA owned the second half against the not-so-Golden Bears, putting the game away by winning the 4th quarter 21 to 0.

Tosh is 0-2 against Bob Chesney's offense.

Some solace for the $10 million-a-year Palimony shakedown.

No. 2 Oregon 34 - No. 28 Boise State 27

Suffice it to say that Oregon, again, escaped its nemesis, the Boise State Broncos.

In 2024, after defeating Boise State by three points on a walk-off FG, Oregon went 12-0, won the conference championship, and was the inaugural 12-team playoff No. 1 seed. (My recollection of the season ends on December 31, 2024.)

Dante Moore had a terrific game. He was poised throughout the game, didn't try to win by himself, and showed the maturity we hoped he would show. In the process, he threw for a career-high 388 yards.

For an excellent review of the game, check out the article by Charles Fischer and the takes authored by David Marsh and Scott Reed.

The Big Ten's record to date against other conferences -

ACC - 1-0

AAC - 2-0

FCS - 4-0

MAC - 4-1

Mountain West - 2-0

Notre Dame - 0-1

Pac-12 - 3-0

Sun Belt - 1-0

17 - 2 overall includes 2-0 USC's Week 0 victory over San Jose State.

Lasso the Cowboys!

How the new starters at QB performed in Week 1 -

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How every new starting quarterback from Power 4 conferenc...

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