Why Big Ten Football Sucks

If you're my friend and root for a Big Ten school, you need to listen.

Your team - judging by the fact that your entire conference is overrated - probably sucks at football.

Here's why the Big Ten is horrible, and why you - a fan of Big Ten football - need to listen.

Your conference is a dormant conference. It is draped in tradition; once uncovered, there's no more fear of you.

Imagine if Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera wore a Cubs uniform for a day. How scared are you now? There's a classic line from the movie, Catch Me If You Can, where Christopher Walken turns to his son, Leonardo DiCaprio, and says, "You know why the Yankees always win? Because their opponents can't take their eyes off those damn pinstripes."

What if the rest of the country realized that all the best football players don't come from Ohio, and that THE Ohio State University (They call it "THE" Ohio State University because there's no room for another college in a state whose birth certificate is an acceptance letter to attend THE state univeristy. Unless you play basketball; then you move to Cincinnati.) wouldn't reach a bowl if they played in the Southeastern Conference or Big XII South.

Here's a history lesson. 90% of football talent is born south of the Mason/Dixon line; and here's proof. Since the Civil Rights Movement (I'll round it to 1960, when Minnesota won the national championship) the majority of talent has stayed south of the Mason/Dixon line. The Big Ten has won 7 national championships in that time. The state of Florida has 9 since 1983. With the ever-growing acceptance of black athletes across the south, teams in southern conferences have proven that a speedy teams can run around and catch up to the big and powerful.

Note to those who play the race card: Positions associated with speed (running backs, receivers, safeties, and running quarterbacks) are largely filled with black players from southern states. Miami, Florida, and Florida State (9 titles in 25 years) have a higher proportion of black football players that occupy those positions. If you don't like the idea, you can put me in at free safety and see if I can catch anyone.

College football has evolved. No longer can you win a national championship behind the efforts of a straight-forward running game backed by a "tough" defense. We just saw Florida beat Alabama on that very premise. We also saw Florida, LSU and USC's defense destroy THE Ohio State University's conventional playcalling in an avalanche of mismatched talent the past couple years.

This year, tradition makes its last stand. THE Ohio State University (10-2, 5-2 against bowl teams) was chosen for the Fiesta Bowl over undefeated and higher-ranked Boise State (5-0 against bowl teams, including current #15 Oregon). Now they get Texas.

A couple days later, Penn State gets USC in the Battle of Unappreciated One-Loss Teams. We'll see how much they deserve a title shot after the Rose Bowl.

Finally, let's talk strength of schedule. OUT OF CONFERENCE strength of schedule.

How does the Big Ten send 7 schools to a bowl game? Here's an easy answer: they play NOBODY. I can understand padding your schedule with one or two gimme games, however the Big Ten seems to play every high school across the midwest.

The Big Ten's record against other BCS schools during the regular season: 5-5. Those 5 wins came against Oregon State (8-4), Syracuse twice (3-9), Duke (4-8), and Iowa State (2-10). The Big Ten played 44 non-conference games. Only 23% of their non conference games were against other BCS teams.
Pac 10: 5-6 in 30 non-conference games, 37%
Big XII: 7-8 in 48 non-conference games, 31%
ACC: 13-8 in 48 non-conference games, 44%
Big East: 7-7 in 41 non-conference games, 34%
SEC: 6-9 in 48 non-conference games, 31%

So sum up: The Big Ten needs to change with the times instead of relying on tradition to get them into the big game. If they don't, you better get used to your favorite team getting beat to a pulp every January.