The 2019 season wasn’t a bust. It wasn’t a benchmark year either. The bowl season was less-than-inspiring, yet there were some “surprise” showings on the big stage that alleviates the pain a little. There was a winless conference season (way to go Rutgers), and there was an appearance in the College Football Playoffs (Ohio State). All in all, it was…meh.
The Good
Ohio State was the cream of the crop yet again and for the most part they didn’t disappoint. The Buckeyes put together a 13-0 regular season, walking away with another B1G Conference Title to their names and a spot in the CFP. It was hard to argue against the Bucks easily being one of the four best teams in America.
Their offense was as prolific as anyone in the nation, as was their defense. As the season wound down, the wheat was separated from the chaff, the Buckeyes looked like they might well be the one team in the nation that could bring down LSU and bring home the National Title.
Minnesota seemed to come out of nowhere, winning nine straight to start their season. The Gophers legitimized that run with a 31-26 victory over #9 Penn State in front of their home crowd. They went on to finish with an 11-2 record and a solid bowl win over #14 Auburn in the Outback Bowl (31-24).
Minnesota’s surprising rise gave much-needed depth to the West, which had pretty well been undisputedly ruled by the Badgers. Coming into the season, Northwestern and Iowa were considered somewhat longshots at challenging the Badgers, but the Gophers came storming in and put everyone else on notice.
Penn State started the season with eight straight wins, including a road win over #15 Iowa followed by a home victory over #18 Michigan. For a brief time, the Lions were making their own noise as a potential CFP contender, before dropping the heart-breaker to Minnesota 31-26.
The Lions ended the year 11-2, capped by a comfortable win over #17 Memphis in the Cotton Bowl (53-39). Their strong run put pressure on Ohio State and provided at least one legitimate challenger to the Buckeye’s dominance of the East Division.
Iowa’s 49-24 victory over USC in the Holiday Bowl was a thing of beauty – especially if you listened to all of the television commentary prior to the game. According to the “experts” breaking down the game, USC simply had way more talent than the Hawkeyes and should have mopped the field with Black and Gold. Instead, Iowa controlled the contest from start to finish, leaving the pundits (two of whom were Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart – former USC players) looking like biased fools in the wake of Iowa’s beatdown.
The Hawkeyes had a nice 10-win season, but I included this bit here specifically because of the commentary. They had a lot of incredible moments, but none of it can compare to being written off so easily and thoroughly, only to show that they are so much more than a bunch of big, “slow”, oafs. They showed they are every bit as quick, strong and competent as their West Coast opponents, and better coached to boot. They were the perfect example of anti-Big Ten sentiment within certain circles of the media, and how strong the conference truly is (and can be).
There was legitimate questions surrounding what the Conference Championship Game might look like, right up until the very end of the season. Ohio State didn’t lock down the East until November 23rd and Wisconsin didn’t secure the West until a week later. The teams at the top eventually stayed there, but it was a tougher road than in many past years and it wasn’t just the usual suspects making the push.
The Bad
This is where the wheels start to rattle on the cart.
Ohio State may have looked like one of the two best teams in America for a significant part of the season, but the failed to back that claim up when it mattered most. You can blame a reversed fumble call and you would have a legitimate argument that Ohio State was potentially screwed out of an appearance in the National Championship Game. However, in the end, one call shouldn’t be able to decide the outcome of 60 minutes of play.
The Buckeyes had a commanding lead in the first half and they let that slip away. It never should have gotten close enough for that call to make the difference it did. LSU went on to defeat Clemson 42-25 and take home the National Title. How might it have been different if the Buckeyes had been able to maintain the control they had over the Fiesta Bowl?
To say Michigan State’s season was disappointing would be an understatement. The Spartans had made a name within the conference as the kind of team that can beat anybody on any given day. They had been easily as strong as their in-state rivals, the Wolverines. They had been the kind of contender to keep the East honest, even if they lacked the full power to take away the division and win the conference.
This year though, they struggled through a thoroughly mediocre 6-6 regular season that saw them go only 4-5 in the Big Ten and 0-4 against ranked opponents. Their 27-21 victory over Wake Forest in the Pinstripe Bowl salvaged some measure of positive spin to end the season.
As a conference, the bowl season itself was disappointing. Of the nine teams that got the opportunity to represent the conference in bowls, only four of them came away with victories.
Worse, three of the five losses came in “big” bowl games. Besides Ohio State’s loss in the Fiesta, #14 Michigan had an opportunity to make a statement against rival SEC opponent #13 Alabama in the Citrus Bowl, but was handily defeated 35-16. Then, Wisconsin had an opportunity to win the “Granddaddy of them All” (The Rose Bowl) against Oregon, but let it slip away in the final moments 28-27.
So much perception is placed on how well a conference performs in bowl matches. Going 4-5 overall is enough of a black eye. Losing on the biggest stages puts the conference firmly in the category of “second tier” of conference hierarchy – at least in public perception.
The Ugly
Rutgers. It almost needs nothing further, but the name. The Scarlet Knights went 0-9 in conference play. They didn’t even have any narrow losses to try and gain some sort of “moral victory” from. Their closest loss was to #9 Penn State and that was a 21-point shellacking. I would question whether or not PSU even really tried in that contest.
Northwestern wasn’t much better. In fact, they looked a lot like the Northwestern that we all knew and loved (to pick on) prior to Pat Fitzgerald’s arrival as head coach back in 2006. The Wildcats didn’t get their one-and-only conference victory until the final game of the season against Illinois. Between their 30-14 win over UNLV and their 45-6 drubbing of UMass, the Wildcats lost seven straight by an average of 19 points.
Maryland had their season fall completely apart as well. After winning their first two games by a combined 142-20, everything went south – and in a hurry. Injuries helped fuel a downward spiral that started with a couple of losses to Temple and Penn State. The full scope became aware a couple of weeks later – after a brief reprieve in the form of a 48-7 win over Rutgers – when Maryland was slaughtered 40-14 at the hands of Purdue. That would be the same Purdue that went 4-8 on the season.
That loss spawned a slide that saw Maryland lose their last seven games, finishing 3-9 overall and only 1-8 in the conference.
The Takeaway
There are dozens of other story lines that played out throughout the season.
Illinois alternately looked horrible, then amazing and then not-so-great again, on their way to a 6-6 regular season record and a Redbox Bowl appearance (which they ultimately lost to California 35-20).
Indiana put together an impressive 8-4 regular season before losing to Tennessee in the Gator Bowl. The record seems more than a bit inflated though, when considering the Hoosiers were 0-3 against ranked opponents and 0-5 against FBS teams with winning records.
Nebraska ushered in the Scott Frost era by going 5-7 – two wins better than they managed in the 2018 season – finishing 3-6 in the conference, but 0-5 against FBS teams with winning records. The storyline would have to be in the improvements made in just one season under Frost, which would require a totally separate post.
Looking through the 20/20 lens of hindsight, the season had a lot of things going on. Unfortunately, the bad (and ugly) outweighed most of the good that was happening. It wasn’t enough to derail the season entirely. There were some good victories and some surprising seasons. There were also some big disappointments.
Putting it all together, it adds up to a season that I can only describe as….meh.
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