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B1G Thoughts: What if a Big Ten school wins the National Championship?
JordanW330 via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
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The College Football Playoff has been dominated by the SEC for decades. What if that is starting to change?
Every week after the Big Ten games, I will bring you some B1G thoughts on everything that happened! This will include analysis, stats, key players, moments, and more. With the Big Ten expanding from 14 teams to 18 teams in 2024, will includes the newest members: Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington. Check out the I-80 Football Show for more in-depth analysis and to preview the next week of B1G games.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will write articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about our imagination. You can catch up on the Theme Week content here and all of our What If columns here.
The SEC has dominated the national title picture for the last two decades. For those people born after the year 2000, almost every national champion of their lifetime has come from the Southeastern Conference.
Starting in 1995, the year I was born, to 2003 when LSU won a national championship, the SEC had only won two out of eight national titles. Florida won in 1996 and Tennessee won the first championship of the BCS era. A non-SEC won the title for four-straight years in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Since the LSU title in 2003, the SEC hasn’t gone more than two years without winning a title, with there being two two-year stretches when USC and Texas won in 2004 and 2005. The other was when Florida State and Ohio State won in 2013 and 2014. If a non-SEC school wins a title this season it would be only the third time since 2003 that the SEC hasn’t at least won a title every other year, including a stretch where the conference won seven-straight.
So, what if the Big Ten wins a title this season? This would be the first time since the 1960s that the Big Ten has won back-to-back national championships, and in the 1960s the championship was voted by the media. The Big Ten has never won back-to-back championships since the BCS era began, and was subsequently dominated by Urban Meyer and then Nick Saban.
It has been hard to argue that the SEC isn’t the best conference in college football when they’re winning all of the national championships, but thanks to conference realignment, media deals and Nick Saban retiring, the Big Ten may be able to flip the tables, or at least win at a more consistent pace.
Michigan broke through as the first non-Ohio State Big Ten team to win a national title since they shared with Nebraska in 1997. Heading into this season, two of the best teams in the country reside in the Big Ten, with Oregon and Ohio State having national championship aspirations led by highly-rated recruiting classes and a roster bolstered by key transfers — including at the quarterback position with Dillion Gabriel for Oregon and Will Howard for Ohio State.
Washington is also in the Big Ten, and they were Michigan’s opponent in last season’s national championship game. While Washington and Michigan lost their coaches and may take a step back in 2024, they both can succeed at this level if they have the right replacements in the building. Washington is the only former Pac-12 school to make the four-team playoff more than once. With the right coach and an influx of cash, they could be right back.
The new Big Ten also consists of Lincoln Riley at USC and a Penn State team that has been close to one of the best and most consistent programs in the country, but struggled with Ohio State and Michigan on their schedule every year. Then you have Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa and UCLA, who are hoping that they could have a 2010 Auburn or 2013 FSU run to the title where everything clicks at once. With 12 teams in the playoffs and home games on campus, they would just need to hit a heater at the right time.
This is not a prediction. It’s unlikely that any of the last four teams I mentioned will ever win a championship, but Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Michigan and USC should be in the running every year.
With 12 teams in the College Football Playoff, there is a chance that the SEC continues its dominance, because more spots don’t just help the Big Ten. But with Saban gone, that at least opens up a window for the Big Ten to step through and change their fortunes.
So what if the Big Ten wins back-to-back championships? It could be the start of a new era in college football. One where at best the Big Ten is the dominant conference, and at worst they’re equal with the SEC, with more teams reaching the pinnacle and bringing home the trophy.
Follow The I-80 Football Show on YouTube: @JordanW330
Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio
Connect with me on Twitter: @JordanW330
Follow I-80 Football Show on Instagram: @I80FootballShow
Continue reading...
JordanW330 via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
The College Football Playoff has been dominated by the SEC for decades. What if that is starting to change?
Every week after the Big Ten games, I will bring you some B1G thoughts on everything that happened! This will include analysis, stats, key players, moments, and more. With the Big Ten expanding from 14 teams to 18 teams in 2024, will includes the newest members: Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington. Check out the I-80 Football Show for more in-depth analysis and to preview the next week of B1G games.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will write articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about our imagination. You can catch up on the Theme Week content here and all of our What If columns here.
The SEC has dominated the national title picture for the last two decades. For those people born after the year 2000, almost every national champion of their lifetime has come from the Southeastern Conference.
Starting in 1995, the year I was born, to 2003 when LSU won a national championship, the SEC had only won two out of eight national titles. Florida won in 1996 and Tennessee won the first championship of the BCS era. A non-SEC won the title for four-straight years in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Since the LSU title in 2003, the SEC hasn’t gone more than two years without winning a title, with there being two two-year stretches when USC and Texas won in 2004 and 2005. The other was when Florida State and Ohio State won in 2013 and 2014. If a non-SEC school wins a title this season it would be only the third time since 2003 that the SEC hasn’t at least won a title every other year, including a stretch where the conference won seven-straight.
So, what if the Big Ten wins a title this season? This would be the first time since the 1960s that the Big Ten has won back-to-back national championships, and in the 1960s the championship was voted by the media. The Big Ten has never won back-to-back championships since the BCS era began, and was subsequently dominated by Urban Meyer and then Nick Saban.
It has been hard to argue that the SEC isn’t the best conference in college football when they’re winning all of the national championships, but thanks to conference realignment, media deals and Nick Saban retiring, the Big Ten may be able to flip the tables, or at least win at a more consistent pace.
Michigan broke through as the first non-Ohio State Big Ten team to win a national title since they shared with Nebraska in 1997. Heading into this season, two of the best teams in the country reside in the Big Ten, with Oregon and Ohio State having national championship aspirations led by highly-rated recruiting classes and a roster bolstered by key transfers — including at the quarterback position with Dillion Gabriel for Oregon and Will Howard for Ohio State.
Washington is also in the Big Ten, and they were Michigan’s opponent in last season’s national championship game. While Washington and Michigan lost their coaches and may take a step back in 2024, they both can succeed at this level if they have the right replacements in the building. Washington is the only former Pac-12 school to make the four-team playoff more than once. With the right coach and an influx of cash, they could be right back.
The new Big Ten also consists of Lincoln Riley at USC and a Penn State team that has been close to one of the best and most consistent programs in the country, but struggled with Ohio State and Michigan on their schedule every year. Then you have Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa and UCLA, who are hoping that they could have a 2010 Auburn or 2013 FSU run to the title where everything clicks at once. With 12 teams in the playoffs and home games on campus, they would just need to hit a heater at the right time.
This is not a prediction. It’s unlikely that any of the last four teams I mentioned will ever win a championship, but Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Michigan and USC should be in the running every year.
With 12 teams in the College Football Playoff, there is a chance that the SEC continues its dominance, because more spots don’t just help the Big Ten. But with Saban gone, that at least opens up a window for the Big Ten to step through and change their fortunes.
So what if the Big Ten wins back-to-back championships? It could be the start of a new era in college football. One where at best the Big Ten is the dominant conference, and at worst they’re equal with the SEC, with more teams reaching the pinnacle and bringing home the trophy.
Follow The I-80 Football Show on YouTube: @JordanW330
Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio
Connect with me on Twitter: @JordanW330
Follow I-80 Football Show on Instagram: @I80FootballShow
Continue reading...