The 2023 football season is now upon us and fans are chomping at the bit for football to start and to see their favorite team’s take the field. It is also the last year fans will see the Big Ten as we now know it, with 14 teams, before the incoming additions of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington.
Taking a look at this upcoming season, the conference may be the most competitive it has been in a long time from top to bottom.
In this series, we have ranked the top offenses in the Big Ten, HERE, now we will rank the defenses of the conference:
14. Northwestern
It is going to be a tough year for Northwestern, following Pat Fitzgerald’s controversial exit as head coach.
13. Rutgers
Rutgers didn’t do much to improve in the transfer portal and it will take a lot to improve from last season.
12. Indiana
Tom Allen is certainly known to be a solid defensive coach, but Indiana finished last in the Big Ten a year ago and I’m not sure they got much better heading into 2023, although they brought in a huge transfer haul.
11. Nebraska
Matt Rhule and company should slowly right the Nebraska ship but I believe they are still a year or two away on the defensive side of things.
10. Maryland
Maryland is an interesting case, they had a solid defense a year ago, but there is a lot of change in College Park coming in 2023.
9. Purdue
Ryan Walters was an outstanding hire, and Purdue’s defenses should be outstanding in the year’s to come, but I don’t think it will be quite there this season.
8. Michigan State
Michigan State should be improved from a year ago, but MSU will still be very young in their back 5, but an improved front 7 should keep MSU in the middle of the pack.
7. Minnesota
Minnesota was solid a year ago, and should be solid again this year, but I think Minnesota will be slightly down from a year ago.
6. lllinois
Illinois was the conference’s best defense statistically a year ago, but now, losing Ryan Walters is going to be a major change that will be tough to overcome. The Illini will be solid, as is Coach Bielema’s identity, but there will be some regression.
5. Michigan
Michigan comes into the season as the consensus No. 1 team in the Big Ten, and Michigan’s defense should be very good, but there are some depth questions that need to be answered.
4. Ohio State
Ohio State has brought in more 4 and 5 star talent than anyone else in the conference, and that will help propel them to another top 5 season defensively.
3. Iowa
Iowa is year in and year out one of the best defenses the conference has and that shouldn’t change this year.
2. Penn State
Penn State brings back a veteran unit with a lot of experience, and should be one of the best units in the conference.
1. Wisconsin
This is a semi bold prediction, but one I am very confident in. Luke Fickell and Mike Tressel are two outstanding defensive minds and Wisconsin brings back 73% of their tackles from a year ago, as well as four of Wisconsin’s top five tacklers from 2022 return. This is a veteran unit with a lot of upside.
