JR and Zack kick off with lively banter, including a Paul Finebaum "leaving the country" tracker for teams out of playoff contention and chat shoutouts. They discuss Dave Portnoy's ban from Ohio Stadium, debating if it's Ohio State's call or Fox's, criticizing Fox's hiring as bringing a "clown show" amid Michigan rivalry tensions. They compare it to ESPN's Pat McAfee and suggest better analysts like Nick Saban or Urban Meyer.

Shifting to football, they predict which Big Ten teams score the most in Week 1: Illinois 56-3 over Western Illinois (top pick for points), USC 52-6 vs Missouri State, Penn State 49-7 vs Nevada. Other previews include Iowa 35-0 vs Illinois State, Nebraska 42-10 vs UTEP, Michigan 45-3 vs Fresno State, Indiana 42-7 vs FIU, Oregon 45-7 vs Idaho, Ohio State 38-13 vs Akron, Maryland 45-10 vs UConn, and Michigan State 45-7 vs FAU.

They analyze key matchups like UCLA at Hawaii (UCLA 35-21 win, Nico Iamaleava spotlight), Minnesota vs North Carolina (Minnesota 24-21 upset), Purdue vs Indiana State (Purdue 42-7), Rutgers vs Howard (Rutgers 45-10), Wisconsin vs Western Michigan (Wisconsin 35-17), and Northwestern at Tulane (Northwestern 21-17 win, defensive focus).

The duo debates upsets, with Ohio State vs Georgia Tech as a mild candidate, but leans toward MAC games like Wisconsin or Rutgers. They end with off-topic rants on YouTube TV/Fox disputes, Taylor Swift's engagement to Travis Kelce invading football talk, and excitement for the season start.

Upcoming: Big Jeff's Insight premieres Thursday; live post-game shows Thursday/Friday/Saturday. Thanks to chat, especially Dave for super chats.

More from JR:
Personal Twitter: https://x.com/jrs_rankings
Big Ten Twitter: https://x.com/TheBigTenHuddle
Read JR's Ohio State coverage: https://scarletandgame.com/author/jrhoades1
Read JR's Illinois coverage: https://writingillini.com/author/jrhoades1

SPONSORS
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Catch The Big Ten Huddle Football Episodes 3 times a week. Here is when to catch our live or premiere episodes that are about an hour long (eastern time):

• Sunday at 9 PM w/ Zack
• Tuesday at 9 PM w/ Zack
• Thursday at 9 PM w/ Jeff

You can also expect videos by JR throughout the week covering news and interesting topics.

*All times are Eastern time

AUDIO ONLY PLATFORMS
The Big Ten Huddle is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon.
LISTEN: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/TheBigTenHuddle
LEAVE a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-college-huddle-podcast/id1703305789
STREAM on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4tMaraKvafFzjUrXGq2c4w

The Big Ten Huddle is a podcast dedicated to providing honest, humorous, and insightful analysis of Big Ten football and basketball. With a focus on challenging the national bias, especially against the SEC, hosts JR and Zack offer unfiltered discussions that engage fans of all Big Ten teams. Though critical at times, they always aim to defend the conference and give credit where it’s due, bringing humor and deep analysis together for a unique listening experience.

Rooted in values of integrity, passion, and community, The Big Ten Huddle strives to become the go-to voice for Big Ten sports fans.

There is no show out there like The Big Ten Huddle!

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