Big Ten East preview

by Murphy Horning

Ohio State

Offense: No real weaknesses on offense. The Buckeyes have arguably the best pass catching unit in America, and have two potential All Americans at tackle with Thayer Munford and Nicholas Petit-Frere. CJ Stroud should fit in nicely, but he's never thrown a pass. Will he dominate right away?

Defense: The defensive line has the most depth, and the pass rush should be outstanding with Jack Sawyer and J.T. Toimoloau. The linebackers have zero returning starters. The secondary (which struggled last year) is an uncertainty outside of Sevyn Banks and Josh Proctor. 

Outlook: The Buckeyes will no doubt be favorites in every regular season game (likely double digit favorites in all 12). They have a great shot to win a national championship. Offense looks set, but will the inexperience at defense (especially the linebackers) keep the Buckeyes from winning a title? 

Indiana

Offense: Quarterback Michael Penix is back, and the big question for him and the Hoosiers is can he stay healthy after ACL injuries the last two years. Indiana's pass catching unit looks strong as four of their top five pass catchers are back, including All-American receiver Ty Fryfogle. 

Defense: Indiana had their best scoring defense since 1993 last season, and the Hoosiers return nine starters defensively, including All-American linebacker Micah McFadden. This defense runs a 4-2-5 scheme, and might be one of the strongest units in the country.

Outlook: On paper the Hoosiers are better than they were last year, but the burning question about Indiana is whether Michael Penix will stay healthy. The Hoosiers have a tough schedule, with home games vs Cincinnati and Ohio State, and road games at Iowa and Penn State. 

Penn State

Offense: Junior quarterback Sean Clifford is back. Runningback Noah Cain was injured in the opener last year and missed the rest of the season, but looks ready to return this season. Jahan Dotson averaged 17 yards per catch last year and is back. The Lions do have to replace TE Pat Freiermuth. 

Defense: The Nittany Lions defense was hurt by Micah Parsons opting out last year, but they improved dramatically during last season, giving up 36 points per game in their first five outings (all losses), and only giving up 17 points in their final four outings (all wins). Penn State returns seven starters on defense.

Outlook: The Lions 4-5 record last year was misleading, as they lost to Indiana and Nebraska when outgaining them by 200 yards. Penn State is good enough to get back to 10 wins, but they do have two tough crossover games at Iowa and Wisconsin. 

Michigan

Offense: Jim Harbaugh has a quarterback competition in Ann Arbor. The race is between Texas Tech transfer Alan Bowman, and Cade McNamara who started twice for the Wolverines last year. Everyone else is back on offense (10 returning starters for Michigan). 

Defense: Don Brown's defense regressed last year, giving up 34 points per game, compared to only 21 PPG in 2019. After last season, DC Don Brown was let go and was replaced by new DC Mike MacDonald. The Wolverines return seven defensive starters. 

Outlook: The Wolverines went 2-4 last year, but they should improve on last year's poor season. The biggest question about Michigan is who, if anyone, will emerge as Harbaugh's guy at quarterback. Michigan should be better, but might not be better enough to be near the top of the Big Ten East.

Rutgers

Offense: All 11 offensive starters are back for the Scarlet Knights. Noah Vedral started seven games last year and is back. Wide receiver Bo Melton, who has been Rutgers leading pass catcher in each of the last three seasons returns for his senior year. Rutgers averaged 27 PPG last year and should improve.

Defense: Rutgers returns 10 of 11 defensive starters in 2021. Their defense allowed 37 points a game in 2019, and gave up 32 in 2020, which was fourth worst in the Big Ten but an improvement nonetheless. Again, with 10 starters back, look for the PPG average to go down for the Scarlet Knights defense. 

Outlook: Greg Schiano appears to have Rutgers ahead of schedule in his rebuild, as the Scarlet Knights won three Big Ten games last year after no Big Ten wins in 2018-19. The Knights have three winnable non-conference games, and have a good shot to make their first bowl since 2014. 

Maryland

Offense: Maryland hasn't had a QB start every game in 14 of the last 16 seasons. Taulia Tagovailoa hopes to change that this year, and establish consistency. Maryland's top five receivers had double digit yards per catch last year, and all five are back. The offense, namely the pass game, looks solid. 

Defense: The defense gave up 35 points per game in 2019, and gave up 32 PPG in 2020, still fifth worst in the Big Ten. Mike Locksley's defense returns nine starters in 2021, and the Terrapins should be better than they were last year. Still, the Terrapins defense is clearly not as strong as their offense. 

Outlook: It's hard to assess Maryland's 2020 season, as they went 2-3 with four cancellations due to COVID-19.  Maryland did have a top 20 recruiting class for 2021, so when will we see this translate into wins? The Terps are a high risk, high reward bet, as their offense looks strong but their defense looks weak. 

Michigan State

Offense: Michigan State had the worst scoring offense in the Big Ten last year, netting only 18 points per game. Quarterback Rocky Lombardi transferred to Northern Illinois, and it's a QB competition in East Lansing between sophomore Payton Thorne or senior Anthony Russo, a Temple transfer. 

Defense: Michigan State had the worst scoring defense in the Big Ten last year, giving up 35 points per game, the worst in program history. They do return seven starters, including five of their top six tacklers. The Spartans can't be much worse defensively than they were last year.

Outlook: Mel Tucker has his work cut out for him in his 2nd year as Michigan State's head coach. The quarterback position likely won't be decided until the middle of training camp. It's hard to see MSU being as bad statistically in 2021 as in 2020, but this could be another rough year in East Lansing.

Long story short.....

Ohio State is the unanimous favorite to win this division. Indiana and Penn State are good, and who among those two will emerge as the best competitor to the Buckeyes? Michigan is near the middle. Rutgers isn't the punching bag of the Big Ten anymore. Maryland is a wild card. Michigan State is the only bad team in the East on paper. 

What's next?

My Big Ten West preview, coming out tonight.