Where do you see the Big Ten in three years?

20 September 2012
31 Comments

Comments

TheHumbleBuckeye on 20 Sep 2012 - 8:29am #

Top of college football. The bottom of the conference is so much improved (Minnesota and Northwestern are 3-0, Purdue is 2-1 and nearly took down Notre Dame, and Indiana was a late FG from being 3-0). If Illinois improves under Beckmann (and from what I know of Beckmann, they should improve), if Michigan State continues to build off their success, Wisconsin and Iowa get their shit together, we'll have a solid middle. And I do think that in three years, Michigan, Ohio State, and Nebraska will be elite. I think you'll see 2-3 top 10 teams (Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska) and 4-5 teams ranked 10-25 (Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Northwestern, Illinois... maybe even Penn State... if they keep the core of their verbal commits from this year, I don't see any reason why they can't garner a 20-25 ranking). The money from BTN is obviously paying off for the perrennial bottom of the conference. Northwestern just finalized plans for beautiful new facilities, Indiana just finished renovations, Minnesota has a new stadium and facilities, and all around the conference schools are paying coaches and assistants more money.

Meanwhile in the SEC, Auburn is on the decline, Florida is still a little unproven IMHO, South Carolina still hasn't gotten over the hump, Arkansas has John L Smith and is thus declining, Ole Miss is a dumpster fire, Tennessee is not yet back, Mississippi State is "meh". You really only have Alabama, LSU, and maybe Georgia every other year (remember, UGa had a losing season two years ago... they're terribly inconsistent despite their talent). Also, with Clemson and Florida State improving, some elite talent is going to be sucked away from Auburn, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee.

Honestly, I think the SEC takes maybe a half step back in the next three years, the Big Ten takes two steps forward, and the Big XII and Pac-12 take a step forward.

yrro on 20 Sep 2012 - 2:20pm #

Problem is, even with the rest of the conference taking a step back, Alabama and LSU aren't going anywhere. As long as those two schools continue to play for championships, the conference perception isn't going anywhere.

William on 20 Sep 2012 - 8:50am #

Mid-tier conference. The only two teams that have showed they will spend in order to get good/great assistant coaches, and develop coaching staffs that rival SEC staffs are Ohio State and Michigan. The Big Ten is going to be the Big 2 and the Little 10.

cplunk on 20 Sep 2012 - 9:05am #

^ This

OSU and Michigan will spend money to get the staffs and get it done. Everybody else will rotate periods of competing for the B1G title.

BrewstersMillions on 20 Sep 2012 - 11:11am #

Yep. You'll have the very very rich with OSU and Michigan, the semi well off in Nebraska, Wisconsin and potentially Sparty, and a slew of have nots. Penn State fans can talk all they want but their program is facing ruin for the next 10 years. Iowa, Illinois, NU, Minny, Purdue and IU are nothing more than an afterthought in decreasing degrees. The B1G will have its kingpins the way the SEC does but the B1G won't produce a Georgia\Arkansas\South Carolina type team. The ones who aren't quite kings of the conference but can be consistent threats to the throne as it were.

OSU and Michigan will run the B1G the way Bama and LSU run the SEC but unlike our friends down south, no teams will be able to consistently push the top two teams year in and year out. OSU wil falter against a team here and there, as wil Michigan but each year, the road to the B1G goes through Columbus and Ann Arbor. BEcause of a lack of depth, the B1G will never be anything huge. And I'm ok with that. Let the two big rivals go at it each year while the peasants hope for a scrap or two in the form of a Rose Bowl (looking at you Illinois) or something.

4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off

LadyBuck on 20 Sep 2012 - 3:16pm #

The one thing I have to say is, if Fitzpatrick continues this upward trend at Northwestern, they might surprise some peope. They will never earm their way into the Rich and Semi-welloff range, but they can become legitimate competition.

Poison nuts on 20 Sep 2012 - 11:13am #

Yep- middle of the road until the wallets start opening...I would love to see the B1G back on top. I'd really just like to see someone finally take out the SEC in a NC game regardless.

The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.

DMcDougal24 on 20 Sep 2012 - 11:18am #

Middle. Three years from now the league will still have only two good teams: Ohio State and Michigan.

Penn State will still be sanctioned. Nebraska waved bye-bye to relevancy long ago. Wisconsin will continue to compete but not on a national level. Same with Sparty. Indiana, Purdue, Iowa, Northwestern, Minnesota, Illinois, and whoever else I'm missing will unfortunately never be relevant on a national level.

Just look at our conference. The "average" teams of our conference pale in comparison to the "average" teams of the SEC. Just look at the depth of the SEC.. Bama, LSU, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, Arkansas, etc... We have a long way to go.

Buckeyevstheworld on 20 Sep 2012 - 12:38pm #

Mid-Tier. Either way it'll be bashed by ESPiN.

As long as my Buckeyes are winning, I don't care.

"YOLO" = I'm about to do something extremely ignorant/stupid & I need an excuse to do it.

Bucksfan on 20 Sep 2012 - 1:09pm #

Has anyone seen the recruiting class that our back-to-back (Rose Bowl-losing) champion has pulled in? I think it had 12 guys and nothing higher than a 3 star. It's f'cked. It just doesn't have the talent or the coaches that they should, which is wierd considering the mountain of money that the conference makes.

As others point out, maybe it doesn't matter for us, because we control our own destinies. But if I'm shelling out cash for a sports package so I can watch B1G games, it'd be nice if I could watch something other than the conference getting worse and worse with every year. So, I want it to be good so I can get my money's worth.

DetroitBuckeye on 20 Sep 2012 - 1:11pm #

A top conference because the other schools besides the big two have been improving steadily. If you throw in an elite OSU and tsun team than you end up having a pretty good conference. The problem with the big ten is that they don't have any superpowers the depth as far as the conference as a whole really isn't a problem.

btalbert25 on 20 Sep 2012 - 1:17pm #

Until the Elite of the B1G can beat the Elite of other conferences they'll still be middle of the road. Ohio State and Michigan have been embarrassed in head to head matchups with the cream of the crop from the SEC, Big 12, and PAC 12. Ohio State made a couple nice wins in their last 2 BCS bowls, but they've also put up some shitters against top teams from other conferences.

William on 20 Sep 2012 - 1:26pm #

I agree with most of this, althoug OSU has gone 6-3 in BCS bowl games. That's more than Alabama, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma or Oregon have against the elites. USC also won 6 BCS bowl games. Everyone puts up shitters against top competiton, Alabama did against Utah, Oklahoma against West Virginia. I'd argue that no one outside of OSU and possibly Michigan has had any measure of success against elite competition in the past few years.

btalbert25 on 20 Sep 2012 - 2:47pm #

Yeah but playing Notre Dame or K-State when they did in a BCS game ain't exactly playing Texas, Miami, Florida, or LSU when they faced them in a BCS game. I think we can all agree just because a team is in the BCS doesn't mean they are Elite.

William on 20 Sep 2012 - 3:16pm #

Why doesn't it? That was a very good Notre Dame team, Brady Quinn was an excellent college quarterback, and that Kansas State team was an 11-win team that had Sproles who was fantastic that year. Those were elite teams. Michigan you're right they haven't beaten anyone 'elite' since they beat Alabama in a BCS Bowl with Brady as QB.

TheHumbleBuckeye on 20 Sep 2012 - 4:42pm #

I agree with William... If you watched college football in 2003, it could be argued that no team was hotter at the end of the year than Kansas State. After three close defeats - all by a TD or less - KSU went on a tear that culminated in a beatdown over undefeated #1 Oklahoma in the Big XII title game. And as for that that 2005 ND squad, if not for a fumble on 1st and goal at the 1 yard line against Michigan State, and the "Bush Push" against USC, they would have been undefeated. 2005 ND, despite losing their bowl game, still finished 8th in the Sagarin Ratings. They were no fraud. The 2006 ND team was a fraud though. No doubt about that.

btalbert25 on 20 Sep 2012 - 5:22pm #

Every time Notre Dame sees a BCS bowl they get destroyed, I think K-State and Notre Dame were the weakest teams Ohio State has faced in a BCS bowl, well maybe Texas A&M too.

Bucksfan on 20 Sep 2012 - 4:55pm #

Well, one could argue that Michigan's win over Florida in the Cap 1 bowl was an "elite" win. Florida had 3 losses, yes, but Tebow was the Heisman winner, they were defending national champs, and would go on to win the national champ the following year. But if our win over that 2006 ND team is an elite win, then Michigan's win over them that season has to also be considered elite.

btalbert25 on 20 Sep 2012 - 5:24pm #

Let me ask you this, would you think that a 3 loss Ohio State team was Elite? Don't care if they had the Heisman winner on the team or won the championship the year before, a 3 loss team isn't elite.

Bucksfan on 20 Sep 2012 - 7:22pm #

BT, everyone from a major conference except Ohio State had at least 2 losses that season. LSU, from Florida's conference, had 2 losses and won the national championship. We were a half-breath away from having a Missouri vs. WVU national title. So, speaking from a talent/coach/hardware perspective, beating that Florida team in their territory was an accomplishment that I have to respect. I think from 2006-2010 Florida had the best W-L record in football next to Boise. But, you know, that's just like, my opinion, man.

thatlillefty on 20 Sep 2012 - 9:21pm #

@bucks completely agree... that was a crazy year for college football. We never should have been in that NC game as it would have been a rebuilding year for most teams (losing your heisman qb), but nobody could win out. Personally, i have a great deal of respect for that meeechigan win over florida. Really, it was the only time i've ever rooted for UM, because: 1) the opponent had embarassed us the year before, and 2) i wanted to see Loyd go out on a win.

But yea, crazy year...real parity we haven't seen since. Hopefully, this year we will see something similar.

btalbert25 on 20 Sep 2012 - 2:49pm #

Who has Michigan beat that would be considered Elite in the last 6 or 7 years? The year they beat Florida, Florida was a 3 or 4 loss team.

cplunk on 20 Sep 2012 - 3:43pm #

When was Ohio State embarrased by the Big 12? I only remember close losses to Texas.

yrro on 20 Sep 2012 - 4:04pm #

I think that the last-second losses to Texas and USC get lumped together with the bad losses to USC, LSU, and Florida, since they all came together.

thatlillefty on 20 Sep 2012 - 9:23pm #

aboslutely... texas was a close game though. And if not for that 3-way tie, the 'horns could have been playing for the national championship in lieu of Oklahoma.

onetwentyeight on 20 Sep 2012 - 2:37pm #

Bottom feeder. It's demographics. No top level kid is going to willingly go to Iowa or Minnesota for 4 years when they can go to Miami or LA. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded.

A couple of the strong, "national" brands in the midwest will survive (ie Us and Michigan). Might've included "Happy" Valley in this group before the last year. But def not anymore. No joke I really think once the Big 4 Superconferences form (it will happen) we'd be better off jettisoning most of the B1G (Other than TSUN) and joining up with some uber- ACC/independents hybrid superconference. ND saw the future, I hate to say.

#Bracesforangrybacklash

thatlillefty on 20 Sep 2012 - 9:32pm #

i don't think you're far off. While i sincerely hope this conference remains competitive, i just don't see it happening. Look at the economics of the midwest. I bet a large portion of this site's viewership has emigrated from ohio to better opportunities in the south or either coast. Gotta expect the talent to follow a similar trend.

With that said... really hope i'm proven wrong. I'm a Cincinnati native and I love Ohio, just don't like what i see in it's forecast.

bassplayer7770 on 20 Sep 2012 - 2:53pm #

Personally, I'm optimistic about some of the coaching changes in the B1G and think our perception will improve, but I still think we'll be a "mid-tier" conference. It looks like scUM and tOSU will be the top 2 (like Bama and LSU for the SEC), and the other teams will likely fluctuate a bit.

I think Boeckman will be good in Illinois, but his biggest challenge will be landing the talent he wants and needs.

I'm not ready to say Minnesota and Indiana are improved considering they haven't exactly beaten great teams yet.

I'm in "wait and see" mode when it comes to Nerdwestern.

I think Purdue will surprise some people this season. If that's the case, then we'll see if Hope can continue that.

Wisky and MSU are a little down this season particularly on Offense, but both are also breaking in new QBs. I'm sure they'll get a bit better.

Nebraska needs to improve mostly on Defense.

Iowa is meh.

Penn State will obviously struggle for a while...

In the end, the perception of the B1G will improve when tOSU and scUM (in particular) can regularly beat other elite teams. Based on recruiting success, tOSU and scUM have to lead the way.

Doc on 20 Sep 2012 - 5:17pm #

I voted mid tier for the reasons stated above. But, who gives a fliying f**k at a rolling donut hole if we win not only BCS games, but NC's. Give me a championship over a strong B1G any day of the week and twice on Saturdays. The B1G has always been Us and AACC, and it always will be.

ODEEZ330 on 20 Sep 2012 - 6:06pm #

i say top bec tosu will win at least 1 ship in the next 3 yrs so thtl put us at the top being the conference of the best team thats how the sec got started

O'Deez330
stark county football