Sad/Crazy Big Ten Stat
I was stunned by this, but I think it's true. Whole article is the usual stuff we already knew.
Meanwhile, maybe you've noticed that Big Ten games have gotten slower and slower, and less and less compelling. Do you know the last Big Ten quarterback to be chosen in the first round of the NFL draft? It was Kerry Collins, in 1995. The two best pros the Big Ten has produced in recent years, Drew Brees and Tom Brady, came from Texas and California, respectively. Russell Wilson, who transferred to Wisconsin for his senior season, went to high school in Virginia. And in case you missed it, all of this was hammered home by the high-profile oopsy-daisies of standard-bearing Ohio State in BCS bowl games throughout the '00s.
17 years and 0 number 1 picks? Yeesh.
November 20th, 2012 at 12:56 PM ^
And yet arguably the two best QBs in the league are from the Big Ten.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:08 PM ^
November 20th, 2012 at 2:42 PM ^
Grantland, it is, does some hard hitting reporting, it is
November 20th, 2012 at 12:57 PM ^
To answer your question:
17 years and 0 number 1 picks?
No. It's been 17 years since a Big10 QB has been taken in the first, but the Big10 has produced a #1 pick since then. Jake Long, for one, was taken #1 overall.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^
Joe Thomas from Wisconsin, too. He was the #3 overall pick in the '07 draft.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^
You guys appear serious. Obviously the Big Ten has had 1st rd draft picks. The article is about quarterbacks.
November 20th, 2012 at 2:55 PM ^
Likewise, you also appear serious. Re-read the article; it is about conference expansion at the expense of seemingly every other factor save revenue.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:19 PM ^
A pet peeve of mine is when announcers use the phrase #1 pick for someone in the first round. They weren't a #1 pick, they were maybe that teams first pick.
Whew, glad I got that out.
November 20th, 2012 at 12:57 PM ^
your saying Morris is going to be the exception to this?
November 20th, 2012 at 12:59 PM ^
Yes, but it won't be nearly as cool since it will only be a few years after Gardner!
November 20th, 2012 at 12:58 PM ^
November 20th, 2012 at 12:59 PM ^
November 20th, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^
Well, it's an article about college football, so I think the point is that the "hype" of first round talent doesn't circulate around the Big Ten. People pay to watch good quarterbacks play, but the good quarterbacks often come from the Pac-12 (Aaron Rodgers, Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Jake Locker, Andrew Luck, Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley, etc.), the Big 12 (Vince Young, Robert Griffin III, Sam Bradford), or the SEC (Peyton Manning, Tim Tebow, Cam Newton).
It's the same reason that I don't think Michigan's #1 pass defense is extremely impressive; it's impressive, but not WOW impressive. The quarterbacks in the Big Ten just aren't very good, and the guys putting up the best numbers overall (Denard Robinson, Braxton Miller, Taylor Martinez, etc.) are dual-threat guys who may or may not play quarterback at the next level.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:19 PM ^
I'm not too sure about that Magnus. You know the old saying "you can't stop Caleb Terbush....you can only slow him down."
Well we slowed him down all right....and nobody can ever take that away from us!!!!!
November 20th, 2012 at 2:26 PM ^
Sanchise and Tebow? You referenced one of the most terrible QB tandems I've seen in recent years. I may as well counter with Curtis Painter, Kyle Orton, and Chad Henne.
November 20th, 2012 at 4:08 PM ^
I'm talking about college production; they were good in college. Just not so much in the NFL...
November 20th, 2012 at 2:35 PM ^
And furthermore, your reference to the SEC accounts for 2 crappy QBs, one which is not even a starter. According to your list, the Big 12 has two starters - one less than the Big 10. I mean, holy shit, Matt Barkley isn't even in the NFL yet. Let's just play MSU and assume he is going to take over somewhere and make the offense BETTIR!!! This is just a dumb argument and I feel stupid for getting involved in it.
November 20th, 2012 at 4:09 PM ^
I don't care about the NFL with respect to this discussion. I'm talking about college. People pay to watch good quarterbacks. Fans like to go see Matt Barkley, Tim Tebow, etc. when they're playing in college.
Notice that this article is about the Big Ten, a college football conference. That's my focus, not the next level.
November 20th, 2012 at 5:00 PM ^
that denard guy didn't bring any excitement. no one wants to see him. i will take the big 10 QBs over the SEC QBs the past several years, especially college production.
November 20th, 2012 at 5:18 PM ^
Nice straw man. Because I totally said that Denard Robinson didn't create excitement, didn't I?
November 20th, 2012 at 6:29 PM ^
November 20th, 2012 at 12:59 PM ^
So two of the elite NFL QB's are from the B1G but they don't count because they were born outside of it? Seems a bit off. B1G still puts forth a bunch of pros. The larger problems deal with facilities, coaching salaries, etc... IMO.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:37 PM ^
Either way, having two good/elite QBs out of 32 starting QB spots ain't exactly impressive. If you want to count Russ Wilson's 1 year at Wisconsin as a Big Ten QB, then you've got three B10 QBs out of 32 teams. Still not good. And since Brady and Brees entered the league in 2000 and 2001, its been a while since the Big Ten has produced a decent QB. With the QB talent that's in the Big Ten at the moment, that's not something that's going to change any time soon.
November 20th, 2012 at 2:30 PM ^
Let's go ahead and count Henne, as he is a starter.
While we are at it, let's just look at the guys like Romo and Roethlisberger. It's not like the score SEC 28, B10 4. You ESPN talking heads. This is a stupid non argument.
November 20th, 2012 at 3:31 PM ^
Good to know though I guess. Looking forward to my new paycheck.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:01 PM ^
November 20th, 2012 at 1:06 PM ^
November 20th, 2012 at 1:02 PM ^
This is not one of the all-time great Ohio State teams, but they are far better than any of their conference brethren even now; it makes me think that, if Meyer does not once again burn out his psyche on a hotel-room carpet, the Buckeyes will dominate the Big Ten for at least the remainder of the decade. With the possible exception of an aberrant Michigan or Wisconsin squad here or there, I cannot see anyone consistently challenging them.
3 point win against 7 loss Indiana, 1 point against 5 loss Sparty, OT needed to beat both 6 loss Purdue and Wisconsin's third string quaterback. Yes, genius, they're far better.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^
is a black hole of logical thinking
November 20th, 2012 at 1:12 PM ^
...........to Meyer's time at UF. He went there and won repeatedly with mostly Zook's recruits. When his own recruits came "of age", so to speak, other than an outlier or two, UF started getting worse, competitively. Some of that may be from other SEC schools getting better, but I put most of that on UF.
And all that as UF was still getting top-flite recruits.
My guess is that Meyer has a handful of good years at OSU before they "come back down to earth".
But your point about their wins stands. I'm not sure how one could even state that winning by such small margins, some of them with lots of luck involved(or just plain bad coaching moves by the opposing coaches), constitutes OSU being "far better" than any of the other conference schools.
Here's hoping that UM brings them back down to earth quickly with a win in Columbus.
November 20th, 2012 at 2:23 PM ^
It is all about players, but the downturn you talk about only lasted two years (Meyers' last and Muschamp's first). UF is back in the top-10 again this year with Meyer recruits. It is looking more and more like the downturn had less to do with burnout or Meyer not recruiting well and more to do with Cam Newton transferring.
November 20th, 2012 at 5:19 PM ^
if newton didn't transfer, he would have graduated with tebow, right? or am i off a year.
November 20th, 2012 at 5:24 PM ^
Tebow was in the 2006 class. Newton was in the 2007 class. Including a redshirt, Newton would have had two years between him and Newton.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^
This is just one of many ways in which it was a completely smarmy, cherry-picking, screed of an article. The guy either has no real clue what is going on or his sarcasm has completely overridden any actual substance.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:53 PM ^
November 20th, 2012 at 3:26 PM ^
I try not to argue against reality.
But can anyone look at OSU and think they're head and shoulders above their BIG competition? They have one good conference win, against Nebraska. Other than that, they blew out Illinois (who hasn't?), beat PSU by double digits, and have the four wins I mentioned above. PSU is ok, not spectacular. Plus their non-conference schedule was garbage.
If Denard didn't get hurt against Nebraska and UM played OSU's out of conference schedule, you think UM would be any worse than 10-1?
November 20th, 2012 at 3:43 PM ^
Ohio State is total garbage and Michigan is going to blow them out Saturday.
November 20th, 2012 at 4:18 PM ^
I know this is the internet, but you could try discussing what I actually said. My contention was not that they suck or that they aren't among the best teams in the B1G this year. Clearly they are.
My contention is that they're not "far better" than all of their conference opponents, poised to dominate the conference for the next decade (save an "aberrant" good year here and there from Michigan or Wisconsin).
In conference, OSU is 7-0, with four wins decided by a field goal or overtime. They're having a very good season, results-wise, but they aren't exactly dominating. This is my point.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:02 PM ^
the 9(!) QB's who started in week 11 were from Texas. That's a pretty crazy stat
November 20th, 2012 at 1:03 PM ^
who gives a shit where the players come from
November 20th, 2012 at 1:06 PM ^
Moms living in Texas?
November 20th, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^
Cool, B1G teams have such a national profile that top recruits from all over the country want to come here. That's fantastic
\piling on
November 20th, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^
This isn't 1956 anymore. Programs recruit nationally, especially elite programs like Michigan and OSU.
Poor article.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^
November 20th, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^
in the NFL during that time also include Tim Couch and JeMarcus Russell.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:15 PM ^
!ESS EEE SEE!
November 20th, 2012 at 5:35 PM ^
- Ryan Leaf
- Akili Smith
- Cade McNown
- Jim Druckenmiller
November 20th, 2012 at 1:08 PM ^
November 20th, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^