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2 0 1 9 K I C K O F F S P E C I A L bly similar in a lot of ways to the SEC West. So I think we've got to at least have a discussion. I'm not necessarily saying we need to make any changes, but we need to have a discussion." If that discussion involves realignment, Big Ten officials don't seem particularly interested in engaging, at least not pub- licly. Commissioner Jim Delany has talked occasionally about scrapping divi- sions altogether and simply matching the top two teams from the regular season in the league championship game, but there has been no indication that there are se- rious proposals in the works. What's more, there's no consensus that the cur- rent divisional split is unfair or a hin- drance to the league's championship aspirations. Some coaches really do like it. "It gives us some geographical rivalry," Nebraska's Scott Frost said. "I don't think it will be very long before people are talk- ing as much about the West as they're talking about the East. We have a respon- sibility to try and make that happen, too." The Cornhuskers got off to a rough start last year under Frost, losing their first six games before rallying to win four of their final six. But given their history, as well as Frost's credentials as an offensive guru, they will likely have a major role to play if the West is going to succeed in rebalanc- ing the scales. Athlon and Street & Smith's both cited Nebraska as a sleeping giant, picking it to win the division this fall. "If you're buying stock in any pro- gram to take a giant leap forward in 2019, Nebraska is as good a bet as anyone in the country," Street & Smith's wrote. guys that you know can do a good job for you. PAT FITZGERALD NORTHWESTERN We've got to start faster. We know that. Up until the last couple of years we've been a really good team early in the season. … We've just got to become more consistent, and that starts and ends with me. I know that. My hope is that we'll obviously get o= to the right start against [Stanford], but before we get to all that, we've got a lot of work to do here over the next month. P.J. FLECK MINNESOTA We were the youngest team in America last year, and now I think we're the second- youngest, so we moved up one spot possibly. That doesn't mean you can't win. We're just young. Close to 80 per- cent of our team is only freshmen and sophomores, which is exciting. JAMES FRANKLIN PENN STATE You look at us the past three years, and we've been as competitive with Ohio State as anybody in the conference. We were able to win one year and lost by one point two years in a row, which is heartbreaking. … So we've got to

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