Thoughts on Big 10 conference going forward

skersfan said:
IF the conference could show up in the bowl games it would help. 10 games, not favored in a single one.

Before we were in this conference we to thought it was a joke. Slow plodding, 3 yards and a cloud of dust. No competition.
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I grew up and still live in Illinois. For years the Big would send its conference champ to play in the Rose Bowl against the PAC champ and for years the Big teams would get drilled. I have always felt the Big was overrated. The 3 yards and a cloud of dust was realistic when the only two teams that would win were Mich and OSU. Hell, Woody Hayes once was quoted as saying something like he hated the pass because when you pass 3 things can happen and 2 of those are bad.

 
Moiraine said:
unlfan said:
The problem is the entire conference is located in a part of the country that has little to no elite talent. Plucking the kids from So Cal Texas and the Deep South is harder these days because our schools don't really have anything to sell them on, while having worse weather and being far from home.

Imo, it is a serious problem and no clear solution.
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We could hack into the SEC teams' computers and... do stuff to them?
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Any North Koreans enrolled here?

 
unlfan said:
Depends what you mean by relevant. This conference has some of the blue blood programs with the highest attendance and the most amount of money. So the Big Ten will always be relevant from that point, having a good deal of say so at the bargaining tables.

In terms of on the field performance, I think it is a huge up hill battle. Urban seems to have figured it out, but we will really see where they stand on the national scene in a week or two here. The problem is the entire conference is located in a part of the country that has little to no elite talent. Plucking the kids from So Cal Texas and the Deep South is harder these days because our schools don't really have anything to sell them on, while having worse weather and being far from home.

Imo, it is a serious problem and no clear solution.
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I don't get the no talent in the mid-west argument. It the gene pool different? The athletes are here, but maybe the high school football isn't as good, so the players need more development when they get to college.

 
MichiganDad3 said:
unlfan said:
Depends what you mean by relevant. This conference has some of the blue blood programs with the highest attendance and the most amount of money. So the Big Ten will always be relevant from that point, having a good deal of say so at the bargaining tables.

In terms of on the field performance, I think it is a huge up hill battle. Urban seems to have figured it out, but we will really see where they stand on the national scene in a week or two here. The problem is the entire conference is located in a part of the country that has little to no elite talent. Plucking the kids from So Cal Texas and the Deep South is harder these days because our schools don't really have anything to sell them on, while having worse weather and being far from home.

Imo, it is a serious problem and no clear solution.
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I don't get the no talent in the mid-west argument. It the gene pool different? The athletes are here, but maybe the high school football isn't as good, so the players need more development when they get to college.
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It's pretty obvious... the highly populated areas have a much larger number of talented athletes. One anomaly is New York, so obviously there are other factors (e.g. interest in college football?)

 
The Big East isnt dead by the way, just re stocked and renamed. Mind you the restocking consists of inferior cheaper knockoffs. And the new name is also a ripoff of a similar product. So you see it isnt dead, but it might as well be.

 
Hoosker said:
Don't talk sh#t on the B1G until we've dominated it.

Last time I checked, we've lost at least 2 conference games each year since we've joined.

I think it's been a good move for us. We're really thriving in basketball and it may have played a part in us changing our football program. Bo couldn't hack it in his old conference.
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Yeah, that's something I don't get. Same deal with people complaining about the new divisions and the West being so weak it will hurt our postseason chances. That seems like the cart is WAY before the horse there. Perhaps we should lose less than 4 games a year before we worry about getting screwed out of the playoffs.

Hell, losing only one or two games and getting left out of the playoffs would be a problem I would love to have at this point.

 
I believe the general thought of the Big 10 being a "lesser" or "down" conference of late has to do a lot with the media talking down about them. I never understood why ABC/ESPN would talk about the teams being down while airing the games at the same time, but I'm sure it has to do with the SEC/ESPN love tale to sell more people to buy the SEC Network. Besides the out of conference games, how can anyone really tell how strong a conference is, and it is not like the SEC is playing any tougher of out of conference games than any other conference.

 
Beemer13 said:
We need Ohio State to win right now. An NC game win or lose will bring more recruits into the conference, even some of those lesser teams may pick up a blue chip guy. B1G needs to win some bowl games too, that will help. If the Huskers pull off on Saturday that would be an extra good Christmas bonus!
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Ohio State has not won a NC in 11 years and they're working on their 4th top 5 recruiting class in a row. Not sure why a NC is needed for B1G recruiting.

 
BigBoyBoelts said:
I believe the general thought of the Big 10 being a "lesser" or "down" conference of late has to do a lot with the media talking down about them. I never understood why ABC/ESPN would talk about the teams being down while airing the games at the same time, but I'm sure it has to do with the SEC/ESPN love tale to sell more people to buy the SEC Network. Besides the out of conference games, how can anyone really tell how strong a conference is, and it is not like the SEC is playing any tougher of out of conference games than any other conference.
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And ESPN getting snubbed for the Big Ten Network.

 
MichiganDad3 said:
unlfan said:
Depends what you mean by relevant. This conference has some of the blue blood programs with the highest attendance and the most amount of money. So the Big Ten will always be relevant from that point, having a good deal of say so at the bargaining tables.

In terms of on the field performance, I think it is a huge up hill battle. Urban seems to have figured it out, but we will really see where they stand on the national scene in a week or two here. The problem is the entire conference is located in a part of the country that has little to no elite talent. Plucking the kids from So Cal Texas and the Deep South is harder these days because our schools don't really have anything to sell them on, while having worse weather and being far from home.

Imo, it is a serious problem and no clear solution.
Click to expand...
I don't get the no talent in the mid-west argument. It the gene pool different? The athletes are here, but maybe the high school football isn't as good, so the players need more development when they get to college.
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Best talent pools for high school football have been for a long time, (not in order): California, Ohio, Texas, Florida, and Georgia.

 
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Look at the Forbes list of fastest growing cities in the United States.

1.) Raleigh, North Carolina

2.) Austin, Texas

3.) Las Vegas, Nevada

4.) Orlando, Florida

5.) Charlotte, North Carolina

6.) Riverside, California

7.) Phoenix, Arizona

8.) Houston, Texas

9.) San Antonio, Texas

10.) Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas

Now look at the bottom 10

1.) Cleveland, Ohio

2.) Detroit, Michigan

3.) Buffalo, New York

4.) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

5.) Providence, Rhode Island

6.) Rochester, New York

7.) Milwaukee, Wisconsin

8.) St. Louis, Missouri

9.) Chicago, Illinois

10.) New York City, New York

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/edgl45emig/introduction-4/

 
Why is population boom an important factor again?

The south has always had the most talent. Untalented retirees moving from NYC, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Detroit and Cleveland to Florida doesn't have much an effect. Those 60 something year olds don't have too much eligibility anyway.

Alabama has roughly the same population as Indiana. way more talent in Alabama. Southern HS football is taken much more seriously and spring practices are a big part of that as well as demographics(that aren't being affect by population migration too much)

B1G will always be the #2 most popular conference at the very least. Alumni numbers and the power of the schools will blow the Pac-12 and the ACC out of the water.

Miami of Florida may be better at football but even schools like Iowa with so many alumni will always have more fans.

If you look at the B1G schools they are getting to cash checks for doing nothing. Turdue is de-emphasizing sports, Iowa has quit recruiting the state of Florida, Illinois has quit, Wisconsin is comfortable NOT competing for National Titles and dreaming of the Rose Bowl Game, etc

Need to start withholding funds if they aren't even going to try. In all aspects like sexy OOC matchups, night games, recruiting, money spent,etc

Most importantly, the schools who CAN recruit Nationally, need to start performing better. The B1G 4 are as bad as they've ever been as a collective and that is really the only reason why there is a lack of respect. Indiana has never been any good. has never affected scUM in the polls before.

 
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WoodyHayes1951 said:
Why is population boom an important factor again?

The south has always had the most talent. Untalented retirees moving from NYC, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Detroit and Cleveland to Florida doesn't have much an effect. Those 60 something year olds don't have too much eligibility anyway.

Alabama has roughly the same population as Indiana. way more talent in Alabama. Southern HS football is taken much more seriously and spring practices are a big part of that as well as demographics(that aren't being affect by population migration too much)
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This is the key takeaway here. The proliferation of spring and summer 7 on 7 leagues in Texass and other southern states help build up those skill positions involved. And frankly, this is something that can be done by the northern schools and is slowly moving up north--I recall reading something a while ago where Nebraska is starting off-season 7 on 7 leagues for high school play.

It's also why having great linemen is an equalizer for Northern and smaller schools--these positions aren't included in any spring or summer ball typically, and why a lot of these offenses are soft against power football.

There's also discussion down here about how high school kids from the south are starting to have diminishing returns (read: burnout from too much high school-age football) and a call to cut back a bit on off-season football, but I don't see where that's a factor currently. Perhaps it will become more evident in the next few years, but not right now IMO.

 
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I'm not gonna say that the B1G is filled with geniuses because they are great great schools but admission standards are not like Stanford's. You can get dummies into the best Public schools in the country. Including the B1G.

What cannot be ignored is:

the fact that almost all of the SEC schools are able to significantly over recruit. Like Bama

the SEC schools can get more risky "students" into the University.

the players know that the University won't do much in terms of suspending them for drugs. How many drug violations did Honey Badger have? Noah Spence at OSU gets caught with Molly twice and ruled permanently ineligible.

 
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