What is up with the Big Ten?

Submitted by The Baughz on

I just had a conversation with a buddy of mine, who is a PSU fan, and we got to talking about all the shit that is happening with teams in the B1G.

We both agreed that Michigan, Ohio St, and Penn St have been the best and most consistent  programs over the last 15-20 years. As of late, that is not the case, especially off the field.

Michigan had its worst three years in program history, and is now on probation. This is the first time in the history of Michigan athletics that it's program has been under scrutiny. The play on the field has not been much better. Things are definitely going in the right direction, but no matter how much you win, there will still be the jihad and practice gate. Which is totally ridiculous, but it is what it is. (this is not a knock on RR, just stating what happened and it was not all his fault)

OSU was the quote unquote poster childs for the B1G in the last decade because of their domination in the Tressel era. Now, we all know they have been cheating and lying for the past 10 or so years. This is a huge black eye for the program and the B1G as a whole. I love to see OSU get knocked down and put in their place, but I want to go back to the days where both programs were at it's best. I think in the upcoming years, we will get back to seeing quality not only on the field but off it as well.

Then there is PSU. They were supposed to be the cleanest program in the nation, and now the Sandusky story comes out. Im not even going to type any details because its disgusting and you already know what happened. I still am in shock. This was more than free tattoos and drugs and cheating and practicing too much. This is one of the most disturbing sports stories I have heard in my whole life. They need to clean house and start over and rebuild their reputation as one of the cleanest ran programs in all of the NCAA. And yes, JoePa needs to go. (just my opinion)

Then there is MSU who a team full of thugs and fellons. That is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. Iowa had the drug problem where a house got raided and players were kcked off. Those are just some examples of some of the major problems that have been going in the few years. Im sure there are more by other programs, but these are the major ones in the 5 years that I can remember.

I pride myself on being not only a Michigan fan, but a B1G football fan in general. I dont generally root for other B1G teams but I do hope they win their bowl games or at least play well, unless it is OSU and MSU. I think the B1G conference has a great representation of academics and athletics. I like that it is not the SEC in terms of oversigning and things of that nature. Im not a big fan of Jim Delany, Leaders and Legends? Really? There are more reasons, but the conf names piss me off.

Now, this is not all negative. There are many positives that B1G has to offer, I just wanted to share the black eyes that have been going on. This is old news, I get that, but with the news coming out of Happy Valley, I cant  help but wonder what news will come out next or who is the next high profile coach/player to come to light. Just not with PSU, but any B1G team. I hope the PSU debacle is the of the bad news that come out of the B1G in a while. There has been too much negative stuff, and I hope we can get back to the B1G of old. Im not sure if this is a worthy post, so feel free to neg it, dont care. Just seeing if anyone feels like I do about the current state of the B1G, or if Im overreacting.

YaterSalad

November 6th, 2011 at 12:48 PM ^

I think we are a long way from this thing being settled. Sparty has to go on the road for NW (who just upended Neb) and Iowa (who beat us). Those could both be losses. Not to mention PSU still has Wisky and the Bucks to get around. We might not be punching ticket to the B10 Champ Game but I am not sure anyone can say they are with some level of certainty. At least it is entertaining.

I Heart Huckleby

November 6th, 2011 at 12:06 PM ^

If it seems like the scandals just keep getting worse and worse, then I guess after this PSU clustercuss the only possible topper would be Pat Fitzgerald getting caught up in a conspiracy to assassinate the Pope.

Coach Kyle

November 6th, 2011 at 12:09 PM ^

 Unfortunately, I think stuff like this has always been around, but it's getting caught more often thanks to new technology that law enforcement can take advantage of. Emails, Facebook, and other forms of social media give police and the free press more access than ever to these stories that might have been brushed under the rug before. 



 

I also think the more prestigious a program is, the more likely they are to be watched closely.

MasonBilderberg

November 6th, 2011 at 2:13 PM ^

OSU won because Tressel was a better coach.
<br>
<br>I assume the "cheating" your refering to would only give OSU an advantage in recruiting. Between 2002-2010 Michigan's recruiting was better than OSU, which shouldn't happen based on the talent in Ohio. Tressel actually underachieved in recruiting. He rarely won the recruiting battle for top OOS players and failed to land the top player from Ohio too many times (JT Turner).
<br>
<br>Go analysis OSU's recruiting. Free tats, $200 handshakes, autograph & memorabilia sales had no impact because the recruits didn't know, didn't care, or most likely knew this shit went on everywhere.
<br>

Vasav

November 6th, 2011 at 12:41 PM ^

Harry Kipke was given the boot in large part because of allegations that he was paying players, and he had ties to "unsavory characters" who were influencing the program. Yes it was in the 1930s, but it still happened.

http://mvictors.com/?p=10369

At the end of the day, the stretching issue, even if it gives us a bruise, is not the biggest blemish on the history of our program, in my opinion.

Sac Fly

November 6th, 2011 at 12:49 PM ^

It's the law of averages, we can't be a great conference every year. Just like how the power of the football world used to be the B1G, than the west coast teams came up, there was the Big 12s run, and now it's the southern teams. Eventually something will happen like a few major coaching changes and power will shift somewhere else.

bryemye

November 6th, 2011 at 1:10 PM ^

This Penn State story is worse than anything I've seen in college football. It puts SMU to shame and is a bigger black mark on a university than I think we've seen.

Nothing that has happened in the SEC or whatever corrupt blah blah blah conference even begins to compare to covering up child sexual abuse all the way up the chain of command.

Tater

November 6th, 2011 at 5:16 PM ^

This is a down year for a few programs.  There are a lot of decent teams, but none that are flawless.  Wiscy got "BOOM- hail mary'd" twice, Sparty lost people from last year, Ohio has a freshman QB who should have had a chance to redshirt, Iowa isn't as strong as usual, PSU is decent on the field, and Nebraska has been a bit of a disappointment.  Illinois is still flirting with competence, but it could go either way.

Michigan, of course, has surprised a lot of people nationally, but isn't perfect, either, and is trying to learn new systems on both sides of the ball with predictable "growing pains."  The Big Ten probably isn't close to the SEC this year, but there are still plenty of strong programs that are working hard to get to the top of the food chain.

The Big Ten is having a down year, but they aren't in trouble, and they will bounce back fine next year. 

 

InDee

November 6th, 2011 at 5:31 PM ^

At this point, I don't even see a B1G team that's competant at the top level.. no consistency from any team at all... Need a lot of improvement, a lot of good recruits

turtleboy

November 6th, 2011 at 5:42 PM ^

It could be we play tougher Bowl Games than most other schools and start the season ranked low, while other schools schedule easier Bowl Games, win handily, and begin the next year in the preseason top 10, so by the time they lose 1 game they only drop down a tiny bit, while we have to work our way up from unranked to the middle, and if we drop a game it's back to the bottom again. Case in point, last year OKState went 11-2, finished ranked #14, and only had to play unranked 7-6 Arizona with a 4-5 conference record. Of course that doesn't explain Texas A&M. They only went 9-4 last year and yet they had to play 11-2 LSU, got spanked 41-24, lost their best players to the draft, and ended up ranked preseason #8. It wasn't because of recruiting either. Their last 3 classes were ranked 22nd, 17th, and (most recently) 27th. Preseason #8 was a gift.