Big Ten
If you listen to the national media, the big Ten is a hulking dinosaur when it comes to college football. Its predominant style of play is too slow to compete with the SEC. The cold fall weather in the Midwest means that the best recruits in the country will shy away from playing at Big Ten schools. According to many, the Big Ten should just hang up the football cleats and concentrate on basketball, even though the basketball arm of the conference has its own load of detractors.
Despite that belief, the Big Ten is the home of some very good football teams. The conference regularly puts two teams into BCS games each year. Ohio State has played for three national championships this decade. Minnesota will have the rare joy of opening a brand new stadium in 2009, while the rest of the conference looks to improve upon a poor bowl record left over from 2008. 2009 is going to be a year of transition in the Big Ten. Because of that, you can expect the nation’s oldest conference to be more competitive than the so called experts think.
When you think of college football, the name Michigan goes right to the top of the list. The last two years have not been kind in Ann Arbor. Everyone wants to forget 2008’s 3-9 record. It was the worst in Michigan history, adding further insult to the monumental upset against Appalachian State the year before. Michigan has also lost five games in a row to archrival Ohio State, making 2009 a year in which the Wolverines need to make a drastic turnaround. Many believe that coach Rich Rodriguez will be the architect of that turnaround. How he can be trusted, however, after taking all t e talent Michigan has to a 3-9 record is beyond me. If he keeps it up, RichRod shirts will quickly be on clearance in the Michigan Wolverine store.
Down the road in Columbus the Buckeyes are enjoying the fact it has been over 2,000 days since they lost a game to Michigan. Michigan’s struggles are celebrated greatly in buckeye country. There is plenty of talent still in Columbus as well. Thanks to the play of Terrelle Pryor at quarterback, the Buckeyes are in line to continue their dominance of the Wolverines for a long time. That means there will always be plenty of anti-Michigan shirts available in the Ohio State Buckeye store.
The Big Ten isn’t all about Michigan and Ohio State thought. Last year Penn State broke through to win the conference title away from Ohio State. The Nittany Lions earned a trip to Pasadena, but it was a bad New Year’s Day for them in a loss to USC. There is plenty of talent returning to Happy Valley in 2009. So much talent is returning that Penn State is favored to repeat as a Big Ten champ. Last year they were a late field goal at Iowa away from an undefeated season as well. Had that field goal missed, there could be National Champion shirts with JoePa’s picture on them in the Penn State Nittany Lion store.
2008 was a rough year for Wisconsin. After a hot start, the Badgers spiraled into an awful season with a near loss to 1-AA Cal Poly. Wisconsin did not beat a ranked team all season long and at one point lost four straight games. This was after they were a preseason dark horse for not just the Big Ten title, but the national title. Wisconsin has long been on the cusp of greatness, but they have a way to go before putting championship merchandise in the Wisconsin Badger store.
A team that started turning things around last year was Michigan State. They were indicative of many in the Big Ten. They beat the teams that were below them in the standings, but lost to the teams above them. That was enough to get the Spartans into the Capitol one Bowl, but Mark Dantonio has his sights sets on bigger things. Michigan State is tired of being labeled as the “little brother” to in-state rival Michigan. He wants Rose Bowl memorabilia to dot the Michigan State Spartan store
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