Kirk Herbstreit Names Two Dark Horse Contenders In The Big Ten

The Big Ten is one of the more exciting conferences in college football now that the USC Trojans, UCLA Bruins, Washington Huskies, and Oregon Ducks are members. This makes the College Football Playoff, with its 12-team format taking place in 2024, a topic of discussion for the Big Ten.

Kirk Herbstreit appeared on a recent edition of " The Pat McAfee Show " to talk about some of his dark horse playoff teams. He picked the Iowa Hawkeyes and Nebraska Cornhuskers as two of his dark horse playoff teams in the Big Ten.

"If Cade McNamara's healthy and with the defense that they always have with Phil Parker," Herbstreit said. "They're always gonna be able to run the ball. If Cade stays healthy and can give them something. Someone's gonna come out of that conference that you really didn't expect. Whether that's an Iowa or with Raiola at Nebraska."

The decision to pick Iowa hinged on whether starting quarterback Cade McNamara could stay healthy this season. McNamara began his career with the Michigan Wolverines in 2019. He played in Ann Arbor from 2019 to 2022 before transferring to Iowa.

McNamara played in five games last season before suffering a season-ending injury against the Michigan State Spartans. He is back for another season and should start for the Hawkeyes in 2024.

Nebraska fans have been waiting for a return to dominance in college football since the 1990s. Matt Rhule finished his first season with the program at 5-7.

Dylan Raiola was the star of the 2024 Nebraska recruiting class. He was the No. 3 quarterback in his class, per the On3 Industry Rankings .

The Cornhuskers have stars like Tommi Hill and Isaac Gifford returning in 2024. They added former Wake Forest Demon Deacons wideout Jahmal Banks, former Oregon Ducks running back Dante Dowdell, and former Texas Longhorns WR Isaiah Neyor from the portal.

With the 12-team playoff, more teams like Iowa or Nebraska can make a run.

Related: Kirk Herbstreit's Three-Word Response To Nick Saban's ESPY Speech Says It All