Big Ten favorite Ohio State is ready for its 2020 opener Saturday, but the Buckeyes and the 14-team conference aren't entering the campaign on a level playing field. Unlike years past, they're not competing evenly with the perception of expectations—not running up against adjectives like should, might or probably.

No, this college football season is much different.

Clemson is the nation's most complete team. Alabama's offense is the most dangerous scoring attack in the country. They are the College Football Playoff front-runners.

Oklahoma, LSU, Auburn and Texas already have two losses apiece. Florida, Iowa State, Miami, North Carolina and Texas A&M all dropped a game. Oklahoma State and Notre Dame are the only other undefeated power-conference teams, but they're clearly a tier below Clemson and Alabama right now.

We know these summaries as true.

Ohio State, meanwhile, is both winless and undefeated. Star quarterback Justin Fields and the Buckeyes haven't had a chance to show if the hype is warranted. We think so! We don't know so.

Penn State and Minnesota haven't played a snap, Wisconsin hasn't jumped around and Michigan hasn't touched the banner.

You understand these facts and the pandemic-based context of what has produced them. The result, though, is an exceptionally rare outlook for everyone—fans, players, coaches, analysts and, in a month's time, the CFP selection committee.

At this point of the season, no reasonable person is arguing Clemson and Alabama shouldn't be ranked first and second. Whichever order you prefer, cool. But it's those two schools.

Clemson has played five games with a 36.4-point average margin of victory. Alabama is 4-0 and boasts two Top 15 wins. Both programs are entrenched—by performance, not reputation—as the premier teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Consequently, every moment of the Big Ten season will be judged relative to the established powers.

Ohio State crushed a Top 10 opponent? Well, Clemson smacked then-No. 7 Miami—and followed it up by obliterating Georgia Tech. Penn State escaped an unranked team? Alabama did the same opposite Ole Miss—and recovered to smash third-ranked Georgia.

With every result, the question will be similar: How does this compare to what Clemson and Alabama have accomplished? If the answer is anywhere close to positive, that Big Ten program will be in great position to land a College Football Playoff berth.

Barring a loss from Clemson or Alabama, however, they won't be caught in the rankings.

Both have six regular-season games remaining. On that larger sample available to the ACC and SEC alone, it's entirely reasonable to suggest no Big Ten school can surpass them in the polls.

Assuming perfection is often dangerous, and perhaps never more so than in a 2020 campaign filled with uncertainty. Clemson still travels to Notre Dame and Virginia Tech; Alabama rivals LSU and Auburn surely want to salvage a disappointing season with an upset.

Looking at any Big Ten contender's schedule, though, the forecast is basically the same. There's a rivalry game, maybe a couple of Top 25 matchups and several likely wins.

Ohio State might oppose just two ranked teams (Penn State and Michigan), and that's not a strong enough group to atone for an eight-game schedule. Penn State's slate is slightly tougher, as it gets Iowa from the Big Ten West division. Michigan has the toughest slate (OSU, PSU, Minnesota and Wisconsin) but probably won't navigate all four unblemished. Minnesota and Wisconsin might only have each other and Michigan.

The list could continue, but the point is unchanging: Clemson and Alabama have already set a lofty bar and can still earn comparable wins. In any side-by-side look including an equal number of losses, the Big Ten will be at a disadvantage.

But this isn't meant to be a doom-and-gloom picture.

The objective is to hold a top-four ranking at season's end and book a trip to the College Football Playoff. Where a team is slotted within the poll ultimately is trivial.

What matters is knowing the path to the 2020 national championship runs through Clemson and Alabama. No matter which team emerges as the class of the Big Ten, the league has two legitimate targets to chase immediately. It already knows the minimum requirements to join college football's elite.

And now, it's the Big Ten's moment to show whether that's possible—or if the perception of expectations for Ohio State, Penn State and the others was as good as it would get in 2020.

All recruiting information via 247Sports. Stats from NCAA.com, cfbstats.com or B/R research. Follow Bleacher Report CFB Writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.