They think that too and I think y'all are wrong. If you don't recruit the South, Texas or California you can't win on the national stage anymore.
Ohio, Michigan, PA still nice recruiting grounds but not enough.
In particular, I think Nebraska is in a lot of trouble long term.
I'm not a slave to recruiting ranking by any stretch but for 2014, it's Ohio State at 3 in the rivals rankings and you don't see another Big 10 team until Michigan State at 22.
Nebraska, Michigan and Penn State are in the low 30's behind luminaries like Arizona, NC State, Arizona State and Kentucky.
There are 11 SEC teams ahead of Neb, Michigan and PSU. Missouri is directly behind them with Mississippi State only a few slots back of that.
The Big 10 is going to realize pretty quickly I think that their revenue model works amazingly well and their football model doesn't win or even really compete for National Championships except for (maybe) one guy in Columbus.
If they were so arrogantly 20 years in the past, they would have realized they need Florida State like a fat kid needs cake.
Meyer will be entertaining because he can't qualify with that schedule unless he's undefeated. A one loss Ohio State is almost dead in the water barring calamity in the rest of the country.
Some corrections are in order:
Actually Neb has recruited nationally for a very long time & has had some great success in the process, as well as their "500 mile radius strategy." The state of Nebraska's high schools have never remotely fulfilled the necessary ingredients responsible for the 5 NCs since the early 70s. In fact, one can argue Neb has outperformed ND by considerable margins on the national recruiting level.
Md and NJ actually add stronger hs football to the BIG, that is these two states outperform all but Ohio & they're on par with Pa most years, or even better (per capita). People mistake Mi and Ill as strong recruiting bases, when it really has to do with their high populations.
But I absolutely agree with you, the Southeast and Tx are quite formidable in terms of per state depth. Btw, Ca has to feed much of the Pac12 (don't forget 4 in-state schools) as well as other national brands - its per capita output would be middle of the road, perhaps lower, in the Southeast. I mean how else do the Oregon & Washington schools keep pace in that conference. AZ has become a stronger hs football state, but it's not on par with your typical southeastern state. You could say the same for Utah. Co is a faster growing state, but it's not the kind of incoming demographics that suggest future football power.
What can save the BIG footprint and Northeast would be year round prep football culture, which is beginning to happen in some states, esp Ohio. Such a year round culture would save most states for that matter.
Other notes:
No one knows if the BIG is trying to squeeze out 2 bids, so you're being a bit reactionary.
OSU has not dominated the conference like you think & history proves PSU, Michigan and Neb will cycle up - Michigan has had OSU's number, all time, & certainly outperformed OSU much of the time - early 70s to Tressel - that's a long time.
Wisconsin recently played in 3 consecutive Rose Bowls, nearly won each of them & has played in 6 since the early 90s, the won the first 3.
MSU is a rising football program & now has two consecutive bowl victories over major programs.
Someday Illinois will figure it out and retain more of its football and basketball talent.
Indiana is an up and coming hs football state.
The Southeast and Texas have long been better hs football states than much of the country, the BIG capitalized on segregation policies until nearly the mid 70s.
The BIG has been up and down since the 70s, look at the Rose Bowl for further proof (lost most games in the 70s, 80s, 2000s, dominated the 90s & decades - pre 70s - btw, USC does most of the damage for the Pac12, it's their second home). The BIG never been the powerhouse football conference perceived on these boards, albeit the league has an excellent history of sending great players to the NFL & it certainly does a very fine job of conditioning players for the colder climates, more physical realities at the next level.
The BIG has the least amount of bowl experience amongst the 4 of the P5, something people don't know. They only started sending multiple teams to bowl games in the late 70s. The other conferences, esp Pac12, Big12, SEC and ACC have a much longer history of bowl appearances & most these games are played in the Sun Belt.
