Big Ten Football is the best in college football... by far. Yet, following this week's national championship won by Ohio State (and Michigan the year before) there has been some chatter by fans and talking heads like Shannon Sharpe who disagree. Sharpe took the stance that the Big Ten has only been good for two years and the SEC has been great for 18 of the last 20 years...so they are still the best.
Clearly that take makes no sense.
So, in addition to the back to back Nattys lets add some depth to our argument.
BIG TEN FOOTBALL IS THE BEST
The Big Ten placed 4 teams in the 12 team playoff. Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon and Indiana all made the show. That was more than any conference.
Just this week the final Associated Press Top 25 Poll came out and for the first time ever the season closed with 3 Big Ten football teams in the Top 5. Ohio State, Oregon (which had been number one for 8 consecutive weeks) and Penn State landed in the Top 5. Indiana had its best season in school history and cracked the Top 10. (Illinois finished 16th with a 10 win season).
Then there was the matter of the Big Ten's record vs the SEC in head to head play this post season. Ohio State, technically the 4th place team in the Big Ten not only won the championship but they destroyed the SEC's third best team Tennessee in the playoffs. It was embarrassing for the SEC actually.
HEAD TO HEAD WITH SEC
USC, which underperformed all season, beat Texas A&M in a bowl game. Illinois beat South Carolina. Michigan beat Alabama twice in a 365 day span. The Big Ten went 4-1 vs the SEC. If not for a last second field goal by Missouri against Iowa it would have been a clean sweep.
Now let's compare coaches. Nick Saban was the best to ever do it but he is long gone. The SEC is left with Kirby Smart and Lane Kiffin. The Big Ten meanwhile has Dan Lanning, Ryan Day, and James Franklin, who gets double-digit win totals every year. Curt Cignetti just won 11 games in his first year at Indiana, a program that has the most losses in college football history! Iowa's Kirk Ferentz does more with less on his roster every year and now he is one win away from tying Woody Hayes for the most wins in Big Ten history! Greg Schiano will fight you for every yard at Rutgers and Matt Rhule is turning Nebraska around.
The bottom line is the Big Ten is at an advantage right now because it is on top just as college football is making drastic changes every day. And we eagerly await a third straight championship coming out of the Big Ten in 12 months. Maybe, just maybe, that will quiet the doubters and haters like Shannon Sharpe.
For more Big Ten football talk tune in each weekday to Craig Shemon and Company from 2-6pm on ESPN Southwest Florida.
