2015 NCAA Football: Ranking Big Ten Week One Games

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BREAKDOWN OF TIERS

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Because there are 14 games played by all 14 Big Ten teams opening weekend, I decided to break the games down into three different categories. More than likely two of the three categories will look very familiar to those who follow the Big Ten conference.

LEADERS– You can see exactly where I’m going with these. This group of games are the lower end of the opening weekend. Why this name for these games you ask? Simple, I never liked this name and I thought it was very weak. Just like these set of games that I find at the bottom of the Big Ten barrel. Nothing against these teams, it’s just very likely that they are either going to be shown on a network few Americans get or that many will most-likely flip right over.

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LEGENDS– Since I liked this name for a division of the conference, this tier of games are slightly better than the LEADERS. This group of games will most likely be broadcast on a channel that you can get and they also are ones that you might flip over but could also happen to stumble upon and put the remote down because they end up being good games. These are also games that will provide a great opportunity to get your feet wet for the upcoming season and get you ready for the primetime games to follow.

ELITE– For obvious reasons, these tier of games are the best of the best involving Big Ten teams and some could argue the best games throughout the entire kickoff weekend. The majority of these games have been given prime time slot due to their popularity and the high level of play. These games are very important to the conference as a whole to show the rest of the country that the Big Ten can in fact hang with the big boys of college football. You do not want to miss a snap of these games.

Without further ado, let’s get on with the LEADERS tier of the opening weekend slate of games.

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