Maryland - Good game, showed really well against a WVU squad that gave Bama a fit.

Indiana - Not that I expected them to win but they played well against the MAC champs, MAC fans will be fapping to beating the bottom of our conference once again.

Ohio State - Good game, good way to come back after a tough loss last week.

Michigan - Pitiful, you're facing possibly the worst FBS team right now and you are looking almost as bad

Iowa - Just beat the Cyclones and keep winning

Illinois - Seems like a tough Washington Squad, hope this doesn't get to ugly.

Minnesota - WE NEED YOU TO WIN...

My thought when watching the Big Ten so far this season is that they have a talent problem. The Big Ten may easily be the worst power conference in terms of talent. Half the teams look like they are playing in slow motion compared to the SEC.

I know the response from some people will be to call me a Big Ten hater but that's not even close to the truth. Growing up in the NY area, Saturday was all about Notre Dame and the Big Ten. I have no real allegiances but I am partial to the B1G.

Iowa may have just screwed themselves with that timeout...

Yes, yes they did. ****.

Clearly the Iowa players have never played Rugby -_- smh

I cant even defend the Big Ten. Last week could have been an anomaly but not after this week.

OSU, MSU and Wisky may end up being respectable but beyond that I don't know.

There is no question now that the BigTen sucks this year. The only question is it temporary or is this the new normal?

(09-13-2014 07:08 PM)goofus Wrote:  There is no question now that the BigTen sucks this year. The only question is it temporary or is this the new normal?

Some of both.

Mid-level programs: The last couple of decades have increasingly shifted the best recruiting grounds to the sunbelt. The Big Ten schools stil had good names, but were competing with more local teams for a lot of talent and this gradually has led to some of those teams rising past Big Ten teams who used to be seen as better programs.

Biggest names: Most of that does not explain the bigger names though. Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and Nebraska especially have the name brand ability to compete for recruits anywhere. Ohio State and Michigan at least have finished near the top of recruiting ranking recently and Penn State is high this year. That means talent is not an excuse for them. Instead, it's the same thing that Texas and USC have suffered the last few years,Alabama did a decade ago, and Notre Dame did for a long time. The pieces just aren't quite going together right. This isn't to the same extent with all 4 (Michigan seems especially troubled by it), but to varying degrees it is with all.

The Big Ten needs to loosen up the purse strings quite a bit. They need to Win the battle of coaching and the creation of top level athletes. The Big Ten, overall, makes more money than any other conference and yet they don't pay the same across the board in coaching salaries. Sure some Head Coaches make some big money but these Big Ten schools need to begin an "Arms Race" when it comes to Coaching Salaries and I am talking about entire coaching staffs, not just Head Coaches.

(09-13-2014 05:35 PM)SecureDaBall Wrote:  My thought when watching the Big Ten so far this season is that they have a talent problem. The Big Ten may easily be the worst power conference in terms of talent. Half the teams look like they are playing in slow motion compared to the SEC.

I know the response from some people will be to call me a Big Ten hater but that's not even close to the truth. Growing up in the NY area, Saturday was all about Notre Dame and the Big Ten. I have no real allegiances but I am partial to the B1G.

As a kid born in the mid-80s I'd add Miami to that as well. But this is becoming even more the case now that the Big Ten is legitimately in the market. Come basketball season though the ACC will have supplanted the old Big East, Duke, UNC, Kentucky order. I suppose the Big Ten and new look Big East will get in on that too.

(09-13-2014 07:08 PM)goofus Wrote:  There is no question now that the BigTen sucks this year. The only question is it temporary or is this the new normal?

Everything is cyclical. I think adding Nebraska made the Big Ten even more national if that was possible and adding Rutgers and Maryland really helps open up those mid-Atlantic recruiting grounds from Virginia up through Downstate NY. The conference still needs to get more inroads into southeastern, Texas and California recruiting.