After reading 25 pages of this thread, I think there's a lot going on here, and LJB is largely right about the state of the conference.
I'll start with the SEC. The best conference? Yes. By the margin that ESPN creates? No. The best example, an example that many have used, Texas A&M goes on the road against South Carolina and wins in convincing fashion in Columbia. South Carolina was overrated coming into the season. The result? A&M shoots up the poll and becomes a quality win for the rest of the conference. This illusion is perpetuated until Alabama blew them out of the water a few weeks ago. Does anyone else see a problem with that?
As far as the B1G... Ohio State is still a powerhouse. Even relative to SEC schools, tOSU is a top 5 program despite the lows of the last 10 years. Unfortunately ESPN is right about playing lesser competition all year and putting out mediocre results because of it. Ohio State plays bad B1G teams all year and isn't prepared for bowl games against SEC teams - even lesser teams. I'm not pointing to LSU or Florida so much as Arkansas a few years back, or Clemson (an ACC school that plays SEC teams, and a better schedule overall). Ohio State can still compete against the big boys for national titles, and they will do so probably as soon as next year, but it's going to be challenge when the best team they see for weeks is Penn State. Not Nebraska or Wisconsin or Iowa, but Penn State.
So what steps can be taken to fix this? I'm not entirely sure. The SEC obviously has no trouble recruiting (one thing we can certainly blame ESPN for in part). What other causes are there? Are there just better HS football teams in the south? Do players prefer to play in the warm weather? I think it's a little of all of these things, and some others. Academics obviously don't play a big part, otherwise Michigan wouldn't have fallen so far, and Alabama wouldn't have risen so high. How do you make B1G football more attractive for high profile coaches and players? I think a major step that must be taken (though I don't think it will) is adding some combination of Oklahoma, Texas, and Notre Dame. Yeah, I'm jumping on Notre Dame's bandwagon after a decent performance against FSU - who may or may not be any good - but the conference needs big name and power programs. We all know adding Maryland was killer. Adding Rutgers was self-destructive. Those teams have no place in the conference based on geography or athletic performance. We may as well add another set of schools that have no place in the conference based on geography or academic performance. Beyond that, I think the next parts of the plan are obvious. Start winning bowl games. Start recruiting. Pay decent coaches. Fix Nebraska. Get rid of Brady Hoke. As much as I enjoy the annual destruction of scUM, the conference could use their help in returning to greatness.
We're decades away from the B1G competing with the SEC on a team by team basis, but they can definitely climb over the Pac 12, ACC, and Big 12 in the next 5-7 years. Will they? I don't think so. If they don't, Ohio State needs a contingency plan. That plan includes a possible exit from the B1G if continues to run itself into the ground. They cannot continue to put the conference on their back as they have the last 10 years.
My question to you all: who is the second best conference? The Big 12 or the Pac 12? I'd have to say the Pac 12 thanks to Oregon's Nike Advantage. Which somehow isn't in violation of any NCAA rules.
This thread is irrelevant because I'm making the call that the conference hit a low along with TTUN recently and we will be able to look back and call it the low point. That whole regime in Ann Arbor is going to change. Franklin will have PSU back to being competitive now that the sanctions are over. Heck, I even think Bo looks like he can guide the Huskers to a decent respectability. And tOSU hasn't begun to peak. I truly think the conference as a whole will be much better in 3 yrs than it is today. So why wallow in the moment?
I just wanted to pull out the Franklin quote here. I saw him coach a game against my alums, UCF, and the guy is by far the worst game/clock manager I've seen on the collegiate level. He'll be gone in a few years.
