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    Big Ten Needs to Walk the Talk

    Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 12:46 AM EST [College Football]

    It’s a broken record… the movie Groundhog Day in football form.

    The SEC owns the Big Ten.

    The SEC owns college football.

    Big Ten fans respond by grabbing a dull spoon and making a twirling motion towards their chests.

    If you’re a die-hard Big Ten football fan, then you likely dabbled in watching the Media Day coverage a number of days back. Yours truly did. And if you noticed, there was an intruder in the back room, with a southern accent, occasionally peppering questions that were borderline toying with that naughty three-letter word…

    S – E – C.

    If it wasn’t for those Iowa Hawkeyes last season, the Big Ten would have laid the proverbial bowl goose egg.

    Look forward to the future, a day where the Big Ten can become relevant again. Instead of barking about how the conference has good teams, instead let the play on the field do the talkin’.

    First off, get rid of the cupcakes. Michigan not just scheduling Appalachian State, but losing to them, was a major hit for the Big Ten. The Penn State 2009 non-conference schedule is one of the more popular topics of the year.

    To some degree this is a work in progress. The Nittany Lions have Alabama in the very near future, plus Nebraska down the road. Ohio State has USC again this season. Heck, even Indiana had South Florida on schedule this year, but it had to be moved to a few years down the road. But this needs to be more consistent – go out and flex your muscle, Big Ten.

    Flex your muscle, and recruits will come. There has to be a counter to the Sun Belt phenomenon. Let’s face it, a lot of kids feel the lure of sun, warmth, and girls. I’m just sayin’. But it’s a known fact that recruits get excited by big time matchups and national TV audiences. The Big Ten needs to schedule these conference powers, get on TV, and pepper it in with some history and tradition.

    Focusing on the recruiting, I want to see the Big Ten focus more and more on bringing in the marquee quarterbacks. Sure, the Terrelle Pryor’s and the Tate Forcier’s are here, but in this case, there needs to be quantity and quality. Look at the quarterback position – it’s the sexiest, most talked about position.

    What do fans talk about? Quarterback.

    Who ends up the top pick more often than not in the NFL Draft? Quarterback.

    The Big Ten needs to focus on recruiting more big-time quarterbacks. Heck, there hasn’t been a Big Ten QB first rounder in nearly a decade and a half. It’s a joke.

    And what’s worse, the Big Ten needs to focus on giving its players the best possible chance to win the big-time bowl games in January. This was the most popular topic at Big Ten Media Day – the schedule dipping into early December.

    The majority of Big Ten teams feature a bye-free schedule that not only tires out its players, but also sends them on a six-week hiatus leading into Bowl week.

    Teams like Wisconsin and Illinois have already began to adjust this schedule to give its players more of a fighting chance. For example, the Illini have two bye weeks during the season, an open date on September 19th before traveling to Columbus and an open date on November 21st before its final two games, both non-conference, at Cincinnati on November 27th and vs. Fresno St. on December 5th. The result – a shorter break.

    Stemming off the early December games, Big Ten, let’s close the door and work on the conference expansion. What’s the big holdup… seriously? Can you not come up with a good enough design to have a sneaky image of a “2” within the words “Big” and “Ten”?

    Plain and simple: Conference championship equals more national exposure. More national exposure equals more recruits, more visibility to the voters that matter, and so on.

    The writing is on the wall. The Big Ten still has talent, but it can have so much more.

    C’mon Big Ten – your bark has always been there. Rip off that muzzle and let’s see that bite.

    Find this blog and more like it at "First and Big Ten", where I also write for Chicago Now and B/R - twitter: @firstandbigten

    3.7 (4 Ratings)
    [ 5 comments ] Leave a Comment

    DF,

    Ha ha... yes you're on to me. But as I said don't worry I will be posting other things such as Tomatoes and other sports as well as the Big Ten football pieces over at the Chicago Now site... but I do always appreciate you stopping by and talking sports... always good to hear form you.

    ksp113
    August 07, 2009
    11:27 PM EST

    Chicago,

    You know it's one of those things... it's "what you have you done for me lately?" or "what do we remember last?"... things like that. So for OSU, they get the most exposure by getting to the National Title a few times - but then get whooped. The Big Ten has done a legitimate job against the SEC in recent years in bowl games, but in that big game... where the most people watch, the most talk comes out... they have not performed well... that's what people remember.

    ksp113
    August 07, 2009
    11:23 PM EST

    Hey GoBlue

    No reason to apologize... especially to me, the guy that can be the king of rambling on from time to time. I appreciate you stopping by and pitching in to the conversation. It's one that I think a lot of people have opinions on and I appreciate some of the things you brought up...

    I will say that the Big Ten just need not worry about what other conferences schedule and do, they have to find a way to get noticed in the eyes of the pollsters if they want to be thought of as back at the top of college football... and I just think adding some marquee national tv games in the early going, plus expanding their dates by adding bye weeks... therefore going into early december and maybe adding a conf. championship too... all things that can help get noticed... help recruiting etc.

    ksp113
    August 07, 2009
    11:21 PM EST

    ksp:
    As Public Enemy used to say, "Don't believe the Hype." The Big 10 has held their own against the SEC. Look at the games played against the SEC over the last 10 or 20 years. You will see it isn't the case of SEC dominance. Even last season the SEC was 1-1 vs the Big 10. UGA over M.State and Iowa over South Carolina.

    The Big 10 has been catching a lot of critisim over the Buckeyes losing marquee games. Being that the Buckeyes have won and shared the B10 title over the last 4 years has really given the conference a black eye. And the fact that they have lost their last 3 BCS bowl games didn't help.
    But many writers see Ohio State as the Big 10.

    Personally, I think the king of the sporting media, ESPN has been after the Big 10 for cutting them out of the pie with the Big 10 network. Remember ESPN Gameplan? That is pretty much non existant now with Versus snagging some Big XII and Pac 10 games. I'll admit, the Big 10 was down last year especially during the bowl season. But if you look at the records of conferences vs other BCS conferences last regular season. Only the ACC domininated BCS play. Both the SEC and Big XII had losing records prior to the bowls. But again, no one is mentioning ACC strength.

    Conference strength is all perception. Many writers also blast the Big 10 for losing the Rose Bowl. But the Big 10 teams like Iowa, Michigan, Illinois and Penn State have all felt USC's wrath. Outside of Texas in the last 9 years, no other team from ANY Conference beat USC.

    Sorry if I rattled too much but I will agree with you on one thing, the scheduling is atrocious. Over the last 3 years, the Big 10 rarely played FCS schools. And most schools had consistent games with Big XII and Pac 10 teams. But they are now gone. And it is a trend of almost all conferences now. There are only 2 SEC schools as the Big 10 who didn't schedule an FCS school.

    goblue92
    August 06, 2009
    04:17 PM EST

    Conference Championship means nothing when you are 0-9 vs the SEC and twice get thumped by the better conference. OSU is..in the words of Curley...a victim of circumstance. The odds of OSU being owned the way they have is astronomical. The OSU syndrom has polluted the rest of the conference but...reality is..if OSU wins the conference it is the best you have..and that is not enough to compete with the SEC.

    The other side of this is the downfall of Michigan. THat makes your conference less of a conference than tha PAC-10..and that is saying something.

    Chicagotarsier
    August 05, 2009
    08:27 PM EST

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