If BiG doesn't improve, UConn has no shot

[NickyNewark]

It's UOTE="whaler11, post: 1058624, member: 676"]The Big Ten's problems are simple.

Their recruiting footprint is losing ground to the South and California and they don't get good enough players.

Just look at Nebraska's roster. It's got a ton of players from a state where the high school game is dying. Having another shark like Texas A&M kills them, nevermind schools like Missouri being able to sell the SEC.

If you aren't recruiting Cali/Texas/Florida and the deep South you are DOA in the national conversation.

It's a problem that's been around for a while but grows with each decade. The Northeast & Midwest do produce talent but not enough to supply 14 B1G teams, several ACC schools , Notre Dame & other P5 schools who selectively recruit those areas.[/QUOTE]
I agree with an earlier poster Cali is overstated/rated....give me Fla/Ohio/NJ/Del/Md/Penns kids anitime....Too much to do out there and their "soft" IMO for the most part and have to feed wai to mani barren state 's in the west. The numbers listed for Cali are a "mirage" Death Valle stile!! I lived there for awhile...not much interest like even here in NJ at the HS level either. Too man mountains,

If a conference could survive by being mediocre in FB in major markets, the Big East would still be around.

 

[whaler11]

I actually think that's exactly the case.

Consider that they are probably the third best football league (at best), yet they are the richest (I believe, although it's close with the SEC). There's also no reason to believe that they won't maintain that 3rd place football status, since the Big12 seems to be getting slightly worse, and the ACC bottom feeders are worse (even if they have southern exposure). Whether they can improve their status to 2nd place or better is almost irrelevant. They will at least hold onto their status...and hold onto the money...

It's not about where the leagues rank overall. It's about getting your elite teams to the playoffs.

In 2014 you lose people's interest very quickly. Just check out the tickets available at the Big House this week.

Sure, the league will keep raking in their television money - but the fans are going to demand a better product. To me that means as they look to expand it's less about 'culture' and more about putting a good enough product on the field so
that the playoffs aren't just something you watch on TV.

 

[NickyNewark]

It's a problem that's been around for a while but grows with each decade. The Northeast & Midwest do produce talent but not enough to supply 14 B1G teams, several ACC schools , Notre Dame & other P5 schools who selectively recruit those areas.

I agree with an earlier poster Cali is overstated/rated....give me Fla/Ohio/NJ/Del/Md/Penns kids anitime....Too much to do out there and their "soft" IMO for the most part and have to feed wai to mani barren state 's in the west. The numbers listed for Cali are a "mirage" Death Valle stile!! I lived there for awhile...not much interest like even here in NJ at the HS level either. Too man mountains,[/QUOTE]

I actually think that's exactly the case.

Consider that they are probably the third best football league (at best), yet they are the richest (I believe, although it's close with the SEC). There's also no reason to believe that they won't maintain that 3rd place football status, since the Big12 seems to be getting slightly worse, and the ACC bottom feeders are worse (even if they have southern exposure). Whether they can improve their status to 2nd place or better is almost irrelevant. They will at least hold onto their status...and hold onto the money...

I agree...and the'll stai the richest or darn close...rock solid conference full of flagships...win or lose people care.

 

[NickyNewark]

It's not about where the leagues rank overall. It's about getting your elite teams to the playoffs.

In 2014 you lose people's interest very quickly. Just check out the tickets available at the Big House this week.

Sure, the league will keep raking in their television money - but the fans are going to demand a better product. To me that means as they look to expand it's less about 'culture' and more about putting a good enough product on the field so
that the playoffs aren't just something you watch on TV.

Tell that to PSU or Mich? Even in the Big twelve a UT thats stunk in the Mack Brown era but people care...product m butt!!

 

[NickyNewark]

Disagree. They are trying to dominate major markets that are contiguous to and culturally compatible with the current group of schools. They will field the favorite college teams of the people in those markets. They will win as many championships as possible, but in the end, if football is a southern game, they'll accept being a secondary football conference rather than turn themselves into pretzels trying to totally alter their composition and structure.

Keep in mind that this is already a 14 team league and with expansion will be at least 16. How much can one or two southern schools move the football needle for the conference? Maybe Texas and Oklahoma could, but then you'd take Kansas for contiguity and UConn to get to 18 and fill out the major eastern markets. Other than those two, if the northern schools cannot compete for national championships, the B1G as a whole cannot compete.

Wise post PJ...as usual ur right.

 

[Ldandy]

Tell that to PSU or Mich? Even in the Big twelve a UT thats stunk in the Mack Brown era but people care...product m butt!!

He's not saying that people don't care, just that when the perception is that you are not competing nationally a percentage of your fan base does start to care less.

 

[Kolumbo]

The Big Ten is not adding anyone over hockey.

You are about to see the Big Ten come to the realization that they need to stop worrying about things like academic reseach and actually need schools that have legitimate football programs.

I totally disagree. The B1G Conference knows exactly what it is and in my opinion is all about the academic side because they are, well, universities. Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, etc. will always have good football programs. Even Michigan which has been mediocre at best is still considered Michigan in football. Each conference only needs a few powerhouses because the P5 want it set up to favor those few powerhouses for the national championship. All other programs are gravy.

 

[ramses 2.0]

The B1G will continue to exist as a power conference but the perception of the product does matter. Remember recruiting is the life line of every college sport. Being seen as sub par trickles down all the way to the athlete's you need to compete

 

[Kolumbo]

The B1G will continue to exist as a power conference but the perception of the product does matter. Remember recruiting is the life line of every college sport. Being seen as sub par trickles down all the way to the athlete's you need to compete

Meh. Ohio State will ALWAYS get the recruits.

 

[Husky25]

The Big Ten's problems are simple.

Their recruiting footprint is losing ground to the South and California and they don't get good enough players.

Just look at Nebraska's roster. It's got a ton of players from a state where the high school game is dying. Having another shark like Texas A&M kills them, nevermind schools like Missouri being able to sell the SEC.

If you aren't recruiting Cali/Texas/Florida and the deep South you are DOA in the national conversation.

If run correctly, the Triple Option is almost impossible to stop at the college and high school level, but it's mainly due to the disparity in talent.

It's not run in the pros (defenses are too big, fast, and can hit like a freight train), and it's a dying offense because so. Nebraska used to recruit their linemen almost exclusively from their home state, but no skill position offensive players wanted to go because they weren't developed and if they were drafted, it'd be at a different position (See: Frazier, Tommy. See also: Crouch, Eric, and Frost, Scott). A Heisman trophy is basically a paper weight if they don't make the League as a QB.

 

[ramses 2.0]

Meh. Ohio State will ALWAYS get the recruits.[/QUOTE

no doubt but that doesn't help the middle tier of the B1G . When they struggle with FCS/MAC level schools that only hurts the conference when they beat up on each other. Especially when the top schools don't take care if business in their marquee matchups

 

[Vowelguy]

Another stellar weekend.

Indiana loses to MAC Bowling Green
Minnesota crushed by TCU
Iowa loses to Iowa St
Illinois crushed by Washington
Maryland loses to West Virginia

Michigan struggles with Miami of Ohio before pulling away

1-9 against P5 competition

 

[chitown76]

The BIG has just had bad luck Penn St. on sanctions Ohio st loosing Braxton, Michigan and Brady Hoke and Nebraska and Bo this should turn around shortly . I'm sticking with what ive always said UConn for obvious reasons and Kansas. Football is not the end game its just a small part of the pie. If you need a example just look at my awful Illinois team it's torture watching them every Saturday at least you have something to look forward to awesome hoops I don't even have that

 

[chitown76]

I gurantee you have more fans show up to your football games than we do our football games

 

[chitown76]

1.5 billion dollars in research that should be a pretty good sign of what's going on behind closed doors

 

[Calamitous]

Another stellar weekend.

Indiana loses to MAC Bowling Green
Minnesota crushed by TCU
Iowa loses to Iowa St
Illinois crushed by Washington
Maryland loses to West Virginia

Michigan struggles with Miami of Ohio before pulling away

1-9 against P5 competition

The B1G and Big XII have played more P5 cross conference games than the ACC, PAC-12 and SEC at this point. Below is the P5 chest-thumping barometer after week 3:

ND [2-0 (1.000 pct) vs P5] - wins over ranked P5 opponent: none
SEC [4-1 (0.800 pct) vs P5] - wins over ranked P5 opponent: LSU over Wisconsin; UGa over Clemson
PAC-12 [5-2 (0.714 pct) vs P5] - win over ranked P5 opponent: Oregon over MSU
ACC [4-2 (0.667 pct) vs P5] - wins over ranked P5 opponent: VT over OSU; BC over USC-w
Big XII [4-5 (0.444 pct) vs P5] - wins over ranked P5 opponent: none
B1G [1-10 (0.091 pct) vs P5] - wins over ranked P5 opponent: none

B1G and ACC will each play a total of 17 cross-divisional P5 opponents this season
SEC will play a total of 12 cross-divisional P5 opponents this season
Big XII, PAC-12 and ND will play a total of 10 cross-divisional P5 opponents this season

The B1G has 6 more chances to mitigate the damage (3 vs ACC, 1 vs PAC-12, 1 vs SEC and 1 vs ND). At the face of this, the B1G and ACC seem to put themselves out there more than the PAC-12 and SEC. The Big XII only has 10 teams, so playing 10 cross-divisional P5 opponents might be reasonable.