We keep hearing about Denard getting hit hard by Big 10 defenses, I am pretty sure ND would qualify for as an upper half Big10 defense on talent alone. That dline was pretty active and they had some big players with 4 star ranking. Teo could start for any team in the conference. The rest of the LBs and secondary were highly ranked coming out of high school. It remains to be seen what Diaco can do with the unit for the rest of the year, but that group looked better than it has under Charlie. That may sound strange to say when it gave up 500 years, but I think that unit simply got Denarded.
the just released schedules were a flat-out statement that the B10 doesn't believe SOS will matter in playoff selection
But it's a bit too early to see if Purdue's offense is at all legit.
The big difference may be size on the interior D-line. So far, people like Molk have manhandled the poor bastards in front of them, but teams like Wisconsin, Iowa, and Ohio State have a little more there. That makes those middle runs a little more dangerous and difficult.
I would say their back 7 are more or less middle Big Ten quality though.