Nine first-round picks in the 2023 NFL Draft. Two of the four College Football Playoff semifinalists. Nine bowl game participants.
In 2022, the Big Ten posted yet another fantastic season. While Georgia rumbled all the way to a perfect 15-0 record and its second straight National Championship, the midwestern group of 14 schools combined for a 101-78 record — the second-best of any Power Five conference in the country, behind only the SEC.
Of course, that success was not extrapolated to Evanston. Finishing at 1-11, Northwestern beat just a single Big Ten opponent, earning its first outright last-place finish (using conference and overall record) since 1998.