Get the inside scoop on Big Ten teams not slated to face Badgers this season

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The Nittany Lions are 45-21 in five seasons under James Franklin. Penn State followed up back-to-back 11-win seasons by going 9-4 in 2018, including 6-3 in the Big Ten. They lost consecutive home games early in the season, to Ohio State and Michigan State, by a combined five points. “We’re at a point as a program where I think a lot — 90 percent of programs across college football — would like to be where we’re at,” Franklin said. “But we need to take the next step. There’s no doubt about it.”

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Mike Locksley (above) is trying to add some stability to a program that desperately needs it. The Terrapins spent the entire 2018 season with a dark cloud overhead following the summer death of Jordan McNair, who got heatstroke following a workout. McNair’s death led to DJ Durkin being placed on administrative leave and later fired. Matt Canada led Maryland to a 5-7 record as interim coach. Enter Locksley, a native of Washington D.C., who’s in his third stint at Maryland after serving as an assistant coach from 1997-02 and 2012-15. Locksley even served as an interim coach for the final six games of the 2015 season after Randy Edsall was fired. Add that 1-5 stint to a 2-26 mark two-plus seasons at New Mexico from 2009-11, and there’s nowhere for Locksley’s career record as a head coach to go but up.

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Chris Ash’s seat is getting toasty entering his fourth season with the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers is 7-29 in the Ash era, including 3-24 in the Big Ten. Ash and Co. took a big step backward last season, losing their final 11 games after opening the season with a win over Texas State. The Scarlet Knights’ average margin of defeat was 22.1 points. “It wasn’t a lot of fun,” Ash said. “When you’re 1-11, things are difficult. I own it, and the good thing is that we can control our future. We’re the ones that determine whether we’re going to stay there or move forward.”