Sad/Crazy Big Ten Stat

Stupid post

WTF?

Woodson, Woodley, Hutch, Yanda, Chandler, Urbik, Kelsay, Suh, Cofield, Kerrigan, Watt... the list goes on and on.

Just because they aren't taken first doesn't mean shit.

Chad Henne was the first pick of the second round in '08. I guess not technically first round, but as close as you can get. Plus, because the Pats lost their first round pick that year, it was 32nd overall.

But we'll ignore that and say, yeah, the Big Ten hasn't produced anyone good, ever.

Stupid article, stupid topic. 

I have a count of 4 from the ACC (including BC, which isn't exactly the same "region"), 4 from the Big Ten (3 if you think Chad Henne is in because of injury, not because Blaine sucks), 5 from the Big 12, 8 from the Pac-12 (though 3 are from USC, and 1 is from Utah who wasn't even in the conference when their QB played there), 6 from the SEC (7 if you consider Gabbert the starter...but then he and the A&M QB weren't exactly SEC players either), and 6 from non-BCS (sometimes tiny program) schools. So what's wrong with BCS conferences that they're all being matched by the have not's?!?!? 

Where they're drafted is stupid.  Because other than a couple of sure fire guys who come through, they're more often wrong than right.  Who is actually playing? Seems there's a pretty good breakdown between the major conferences within a couple of players, outside the USC outlier. And frankly, they prove the point, because they've had one first round pick after another, but none of them have been particularly great.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NFL_starting_quarterbacks

from B1G high schools that did not go to B1G schools:

'97 - #17 Druckenmiller, VT, from PA

'99 - #2 McNabb, Syr, from Illinois

'03 - #22 Grossman, Fla, from Indiana

'04 - #11 Roethlisburger (?), Miami (OH) from Ohio

'07 - #22 Quinn, ND from Ohio

'08 - #3 Matt Ryan, BC, from PA

if you include the new footprint, you can add

'03 - #7 Leftwich, Mar, from DC

'08 - #18 Flacco, Del from NJ

granted, it might not be the biggest list of stars, but if the article suggests that the B1G's problems are because there are not enough talented high school QBs in the geographical footprint, i think that this demonstrates that is not true.

Thank goodness we've got Rutgers in the fold.

That's a dumb article.

This is one of those stats that doesn't mean much.  There have been studies, both anecdotal as well as more rigorous, that show the difference in speed between the conferences, whether it be at the skill positions or overall, is trivial, and in some cases the SEC isn't even the fastest.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1206045/index.htm

And the number of Big 10 players drafted in the first round is similar to other conferences despite two of the conference's best teams (UM and OSU) suffering through some controversies that deflated their usual draft production.  So yes, the Big 10 hasn't had a first round QB taken in some time, but it has produced a fair number of elite signal callers, as well as other elite players, just like every other conference.  I think the Big 10 has become the popular whipping boy for certain media outlets because it is lazy shorthand, not because there are factual reasons behind it.  I like grantland for its sport-people articles, but its "hard" news about football, outside of Barnwell, has always been lacking to me. 

EDIT:  And btw, he also dismisses the Big 10 as a basketball conference, despite having quite a few top-ranked programs and a history of success in the tournament.  But no, that would disrupt the ACC and Big East narrative, the latter a super-conference that too benefits from expansion despite questions of the competitive effects early on.

Asking how many #1 overall pick qb's the B1G has put out recently (and further asking how many were also born geographically within the B1G conference) is a pretty silly stat to fret about. How many QB's are taken #1 every year? Oh right. 1. Sometimes none. How many of them bust? Half? A qb being taken first is mostly predicated on the worst team wanting a qb over another type of player, and many crappy teams repeatedly turn top picks into bad picks year after year, too. Michigan had a player be the #1 overall pick just a few years ago, if I remember correctly, and the B1G has had more than its fair share of top 5 picks, and tons of 1st round picks.

How many offensive lineman have come from this conference?

Just because you have the ability to post a link to an article doesn't mean you should.  What a waste of space.

Drew Henson would have been the #1 overall pick after his senior season had he not chose to play baseball.