The college football season is only 11 Saturdays away (including this weekend), which means it's time to begin the countdown toward a highly anticipated year, particularly in the Big Ten.
In doing so, CBS Sports has already earmarked three Big Ten teams to watch all year, each for incredibly different reasons. Those would be Michigan, Illinois, and Penn State. Although there may be other "hype trains" of note, the outlet zeroed in on those three alongside a few other non-Big Ten teams.
As far as those teams are concerned, the Wolverines may be the team to watch the closest. Their hype centers around Sherrone Moore's second season as coach and the emergence of their possible future star in Bryce Underwood.
As Carter Bahns notes, the Wolverines may or may not live up to expectations. It's still very much unclear, given that the Wolverines have yet to decide on who the quarterback is going to be this season.
"There is a ton of external pressure on his shoulders as the Michigan fanbase heralds him as the face of a playoff-contending squad right out of the gate," Bahns wrote.
The Nittany Lions may be the biggest question mark. Bahns wrote that it begins and ends with whether James Franklin can reach expectations this fall after coming extremely close to a national title berth. And retention, of course.
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"Drew Allar, Nick Singleton, Kaytron Allen, Dani Dennis-Sutton, Nick Dawkins and Dominic DeLuca were among the starters to utilize another year of eligibility. In turn, the expectation is that Penn State will contend for another CFP semifinals trip ... or better," Bahns wrote.
Illinois, meanwhile, has serious momentum entering this fall. A 10-3 season was good enough to cap a Citrus Bowl win over South Carolina. Off the field, the Illini did their due diligence this offseason by retaining key starters in quarterback Luke Altmyer and outside linebacker Gabe Jacas, among others. Bahns trusts coach Bret Bielema's five-win turnaround was no fluke, as is the work the Illini have done on the recruiting trail.
The 2026 class is gearing up to be a special one. The Illini rank No. 11 according to 247 Sports with 18 pledges, headlined by dual-sport star Nasir Rankin.
Its latest came in the form of a Nebraska three-star running back in Nelsyn Wheeler, who committed to Illinois on Tuesday. This followed a verbal from Downers Grove North (Illinois) tight end Will Vala, revealed Monday evening.
Overall, these three programs are in great positions to succeed. The question remains whether or not one of them will exceed expectations.
For now, only time will tell.