Big Ten in Big Trouble

What a great college football weekend. We saw what many people are considering the greatest upset of all time - something that the Boise State victory over Oklahoma last year - with Division II champions Youngstown State defeating Michigan in the Big House further proving the severe weakness of the Big 10.

Big Ten victorious teams Saturday: Ohio State, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, and Penn State.

Big Ten teams that lost Saturday: Illinois to Missouri, Michigan to Youngstown State, and Minnesota to Bowling Green.

The reason why the Big Ten struggles against out of conference teams - in my opinion - is because of one thing. Speed.

Here's a challenge - If you sit down on a saturday afternoon and watch the 11:00 a.m. ESPN game between two big ten opponents - say Ohio State and Minnesota for example - and then you watch the 2:30 p.m. CBS game between two SEC opponents - say LSU and Georgia - you'll see a great descrepancy in speed correlating to a much more entertaining, hard hitting, and faster brand of football in the CBS compared to the Big 10.

It's simple to try to figure out why the Pac 10 and SEC keep getting the best talent. The weather and the benefits of better competition.

If I'm an all state performer from the state of - for example - Florida, why would I ever consider leaving the Florida heat and go to a team like Michigan or Ohio State, where in the winter I would have to walk to each class (although at Ohio State you could get away with not going to class) in freezing temperatures, walk to the weight room to work out in freezing temperatures? It just doesn't make sense. The Big Ten will continue to lose elite players from the midwest because the allure of the warm weather and increasingly better football that the elite, warm weather schools have to offer will be too much to pass up.

That is why the Big Ten - and Notre Dame for that matter - is struggling recruiting the best players in the country. This is why Big Ten coaches are driving around in big SUVs, in the hope that both coasts become flooded due to global warming.