I can’t say that I agree with this. For the 2nd time in the last three years, I fought the good battle, asserting that the big10 wasn’t that bad and wasn’t that slow. I really believed that.

After watching these bowl games, however, I am no longer in that camp. Maybe it’s the economy and folks losing jobs, but the Big10 just looks slow. Maybe worse, however, is that they no longer appear to be superbly coached (something I’ve long believed they were). The Big10 doesn’t take football as seriously as other conferences anymore and it shows.

I was especially shocked at just how pained these teams looked when they dropped back to throw the football. Elite teams should not look that bad in their pass protections, and we’ve seen it time and again now. Why is this? I don’t think Northern teams see the big guy speed that the south has. Sure, you have some wideouts, but it’s impossible to simulate something with your scout team when your first string guys can’t simulate that. Big10 offensive lines were big, but slow. Southern defensive front 7’s (and USC) overwhelmed the slow big10 lines. We saw this with USC, UGA (who was horrible on defense this year and couldn’t pressure anyone), Florida State. More shocking was Northwestern and Minnesota making the defensive front 7’s of Missouri and Kansas look like world beaters, when they were terrible all year.

The Big10 can solve some of this through coaching and renewed emphasis on football. Ferentz is worth every penny, and Dantonio is a great keep, but the Big10 needs to decide whether they want to spend big-boy dollars across the board or just let their two or three major universities do so.

The problem of athleticism isn’t easily solved. Penn State played not to get blown out— and still got the doors blown off of them. They didn’t have a single corner who could consistently cover a USC wideout. Their slow, white safety would be a division two player at most southern schools. Aaron Maybin is a great athlete but he looked average against USC, and players from FSU, UGA, Kansas and Missouri looked just as impressive against the sorry line play of their respective opponents, as Maybin did against them in the regular season.

Another way to evaluate over/ under achievement is the vegas line.
IOWA favored by 4… won by 21 (cover)

Mich State dogs of 8… lost by 12
Wisconsin dogs of 6… lost by 29
Northwestern dogs of 10… lost by 7 (cover)
Minnesota dogs of 8… lost by 21
Penn State dogs of 9… lost by 14 (as USC cruised, up by 24 at half)

Vegas thought the Big10 would lose their games by a collective 27 points (projected 1-5)
Instead, they went 1-5 and lost by 62. they got embarrassingly blown out of the water by more than double the expected spread.

I think the Big10 is now worse than the Big East… something I thought I’d never say. In fact, I don’t think anyone but the top 3 Big10 teams would have a winning record in the ACC, much less the SEC.

That said… I think Ohio State will hang with Texas pretty well. I just don’t see much hope for this conference all of a sudden not panicking when they are forced to pass, playing decent man coverage, or just getting big and fast athletes.

The Big 10 has run into the perfect storm of bad bowl matchups, under developed offenses, and off years. Our bowl anchor for the last 33 years went 3-9 during a rebuilding year and the reigning Rose Bowl contestant missed the bowl season. When the mantra for the Big 10’s bowl expectations is “I hope they play well and don’t get murdered,” one almost must believe this to be a down year.

I don’t think there is any shame in admitting the Big 10 is less than stellar this year in football. That’s a purely comparative statement that doesn’t take too much away from the surprising success of Minnesota and Northwestern or the outright line dominance of Iowa. It does beg the question however: What must the Midwest do to improve

Its not an issue of match-ups. If a conference is going to step up it needs to beat its nononference opponents in bowl games, regardless of who is on the other side of the field. I’m no OSU fan, but I give them credit for putting schools like USC and Texas on the regular season schedule. If they win the conference and beat a nonconference opponent like that, there is no doubt they deserve to be in the championship game. In the current climate of college football a top ranked team needs a “hook” to get the required votes to play in the BCS title game. The SEC and Big 12 teams have the benefit of playing more top ranked opponents in their own conference and then playing a championship game.

Kyle over at Dawgsports has been championing a Georgia-Michigan series for years now. If you are going to play the SEC in a bowl game, why not familiarize yourselves through an occasional non-conference home-and-home series which would certainly be good for the fans and potentially recruiting?

We have no hope in the Buckeyes,lets all face it