It’s no secret the reputation of Big Ten football has taken a beating over the last half-decade or so and the criticism comes with good reason. Over that span of time, no team from the county’s oldest conference has managed to even participate in a National Championship game, let alone win one, and the record of its teams in other high-profile bowl games remains spotty at best (Ohio State was the most recent title game participant back in 2007. Coincidentally, the Buckeyes were also the last Big Ten team to win the game in 2002.). And despite the recent, sporadic successes of a select few programs, there remains little evidence the conference is ready to re-emerge as the national power it once was. Despite all that, the cause of this fall from grace continues to be misappropriated to some lack of offensive innovation or an unwillingness to change. While the lack of varied offenses in Big Ten country is undoubtedly true, it seems a touch ridiculous to attribute that as the main reason teams like Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State have lagged behind programs such as Alabama, USC or LSU. Simply put (and I realize I may have buried the lead here), the biggest and only difference between these programs is the number of top-level athletes occupying the rosters.
For a moment, consider describing each of the three “premier” programs listed above. You’d likely first reflect upon the speed and toughness associated with the stout defenses they’ve produced over the last ten years. And what about the offenses? Alabama has won three of the last four BCS National Championship games and they certainly haven’t done it with a high-octane spread attack. To the contrary, the Crimson Tide have run an offense that if you didn’t know any better, might very well have come from the playbook of a 1960s Big Ten program. How about LSU, a program that consistently contends for the SEC title and is regularly viewed as one of the top five teams in the nation? Once again, we find an incredible defense melded with a rather conservative, pro-style offense. The dominance of USC during the Pete Carroll led years was a similar situation albeit with quarterbacks possessing a touch more name recognition. So if three of the best programs in the country believe winning football games at the college level still starts with great defense and a running game, why is it the Big Ten continues to be torn apart for their lack of offensive innovation? The only reason SEC football is currently superior to the Big Ten is simple … talent! Year-in and year-out, programs like ‘Bama, Georgia, and LSU out-recruit the likes of Ohio State and Michigan. And while recruiting sites like Scout and Rivals can at times be spotty, the general consensus remains that the SEC is far more consistent at wrangling the nation’s top high school talent in bulk. Thus, the solution to the Big Ten’s woes appears fairly simple … recruit at a higher level. While it may not be as simple in practice given the SEC’s apparent advantage in terms of top-level talent occupying the region, it’s the only way schools in the Big Ten can ever again find themselves on level footing with the big boys of the South. And let’s STOP crying out for these programs to change their offense. Not everyone is Oregon and running a spread still requires the need to recruit top-level athletes. At the end of the day, it’s all a matter of convincing the top 17 and 18-year old football athletes in this country that the North isn’t such a bad place after all.
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