I was surprised by the reaction to the Ohio State loss. People were more upset about losing 52-3 to the Buckeyes than Sitkowski almost being broken in half, which is just perplexing.
From my vantage point, it felt like people spent a week on the Internet angrily predicting a blowout loss. Then the blowout loss everyone expected came, and people were shocked and appalled it happened.
Ohio State resides in the nation’s highest echelon. There are only 4-10 programs at that level at any given time. Right now, I would argue it’s Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and the Buckeyes, then everyone else. Auburn and LSU pop in from time to time. Same with Florida State and Oklahoma. And that’s about it, give or take a great year by some other schools here or there.
At this juncture, the only other Big Ten program that I believe has an imminent chance to crack that group is Penn State, given how well James Franklin is recruiting. Nebraska could get back there, but let’s see Scott Frost do it first. As for Michigan, the unspoken issue behind the Jim Harbaugh debate is the realization if he can’t get the Wolverines back to the top of the mountain, maybe they can’t get there anymore.
