Is this the worst the b10 has ever been?

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Reading through the national boards and in this thread

Rivals.com

The definitive source for all Rivals news.

forums.rivals.com

The claim is made that this is the worst the b10 has ever been. The premise being that during the time of big2 little 8 there was atleast a "Michigan" to press OSU and this year there is nobody. I wouldn't immediately say it is the worst b10 myself, because I think the floor has slightly improved but I can see the argument of going from 2 down to 1 nationally competitive programs. What say you? Is this the worst overall big10 you can remember?

 

[Mountain Man Hawk]

It’s obviously a weird upside down year across the country in a lot of ways. Lots of good players across the country opted out this year plus all of the other unusual stuff with limited practice and cancellations. I think it’s hard to read much into anything this year.

 

[H4wkfan4life]

Reading through the national boards and in this thread

Rivals.com

The definitive source for all Rivals news.

forums.rivals.com

The claim is made that this is the worst the b10 has ever been. The premise being that during the time of big2 little 8 there was atleast a "Michigan" to press OSU and this year there is nobody. I wouldn't immediately say it is the worst b10 myself, because I think the floor has slightly improved but I can see the argument of going from 2 down to 1 nationally competitive programs. What say you? Is this the worst overall big10 you can remember?

Covid buddy.

Let's not forget the top team in the lil 12 lost to arkansas state lol.

 

[Iafootballfan]

It's pretty bad, we might give P12 a run for worst P5 conference by the end of December.

 

[H4wkfan4life]

Btw indiana played osu about as well as jimmy ever has....

 

[H4wkfan4life]

It's pretty bad, we might give P12 a run for worst P5 conference by the end of December.

Nobody knows how good acc is outside clemson. Yes nd beat them...we've also seen what many teams are like with new qbs this year.

 

[Hawk_4shur]

It's just a very strange year. Hard to compare it to other years.

But when NW and Indiana are in the Top 4 in the league, and Mich, MSU and PSU are in the bottom third, it's hard to say that the B1G isn't down this year.

 

[Frosty7130]

It's the worst every conference has been. Color me unconvinced with the P12 and B12 especially though.

 

[SDHawkDoc]

Hard to compare this year to any other year. Too much weirdness.

Just taking it in the context of this season. It's pretty much tosu. indy had a nice run, but they're not a top 10 team. jnw were pretenders whose luck finally ran out.

 

[ChiDoc]

Ohio State looks well below where they were last year as well. They lost 7 players on defense last year to the draft and it shows. Their linebackers, safeties and overall pass defense have been a huge weakness and look downright terrible at times. Not sure they can hang with Alabama and Clemson unless their defense improves a lot and it probably won’t. All things considered it’s probably the worst the conference has ever been. Considering coaching changes usually lead to a few down years with recruit and player turnover it’s probably only going to get worse in the next few years.

 

[chodehawk]

It's all relative. I think some folks fail to acknowledge that the traditional bottom feeders from the 80s and 90s are no longer automatic wins.

Northwestern and Wisconsin are not exactly your grandpa's programs from the 80s, and neither is Purdue or even Indiana. All are generally a much tougher out than they were 30 years ago, and the turnaround of those four examples alone means the top their are going to take many more Ls.

You mention the floor has slightly improved, but the simple fact is that the floor has improved way more than most folks realize.

 

[Gonzo Bloor]

National media is only saying it because Michigan and Penn St. are so bad. If they're not able to pop their little microchubs over the B1G's bluebloods, they don't know what to do. Many of these guys are the same ones who've put Nebraska in their pre-season top-25 the past several years, just because. Indiana gave OSU all they could handle. Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Iowa are very good. Just because the usual suspects aren't in their natural order at the top of the B1G standings, idiots who don't know what they're talking about assume the conference is as bad as it's ever been. They're just lazy and bad at their job.

 

[jon55]

If you changed the records of Northwestern and Indiana to Michigan and Penn State then nobody would say anything.

Right now the Big 10 has 5 top 25 teams. The Pac 12 looks bad and the Big 12 went 0-3 to the Sunbelt and nearly lost to Tulsa and HBU.

 

[grayhair81]

OSU is head and shoulders better than anything in the Big 12. Indiana could likely beat anyone there as well. After that it is a crapshoot from week to week. NW has a very good defense and anemic offense. Wisconsin? Who the hell knows. Not A big enough body of work to tell. Then you have Iowa, Pudue, and Maryland who may or may not be good depending on which team shows up any given week. Nebraska, Minnesota, MSU, Michigan, PSU are as bad as they have ever been.
So yes. It may be the worst the conference has ever been but that is true of every conference due to everyone being emasculated by Covid fear porn.

 

[denmar81]

Is it bad or is it more even? When no one played anyone out of conference it’s tough to gage. Maybe the SEC Isn’t any good and Michigan could beat most of the teams in that conference. Judging a conference’s strength without any games out of conference is stupid.

 

[TheTruthTheWholeTruth]

Massey Composite has the B1G as the 2nd best.

 

[grayhair81]

Ohio State looks well below where they were last year as well. They lost 7 players on defense last year to the draft and it shows. Their linebackers, safeties and overall pass defense have been a huge weakness and look downright terrible at times. Not sure they can hang with Alabama and Clemson unless their defense improves a lot and it probably won’t. All things considered it’s probably the worst the conference has ever been. Considering coaching changes usually lead to a few down years with recruit and player turnover it’s probably only going to get worse in the next few years.

I would add their O Line is weak other than the RG who is REALLY good.

 

[Frosty7130]

Massey Composite has the B1G as the 2nd best.

Based purely on my own observations I don't disagree, BUT computer rankings like Massey and Sagarin don't mean a ton this year since there's very little nonconference data to base their rankings off of.

 

[Clifford C. Clavin]

I don't know how you can reasonably judge any conference this year, since there have been almost no non-conference games. You can really only judge an overall conference strength by how the teams do against other conferences. Just because Michigan and Penn State are not what was expected doesn't mean the Big Ten is down at all.

Iowa State potentially being a Big 12 champ with a nonconference loss to Louisiana isn't a great look for the conference, but it's also just one game and a seemingly good group of 5 team. My gut tells me that the Big 12 is down, but there isn't enough sample size to make that statement definitively.

 

[bhawk24bob]

The lack of practice is leading to bad football across the country, as evidenced by all of the plus lines that hit every week

I couldn’t imagine being an NFL GM and having to make sense out of it for the draft. I see at least one kick returner get smoked head on every week because nobody knows who to block

 

[HawkIDrummer]

If ever there was a season that will have an * beside it...it's this one.

 

[Mountain Man Hawk]

I could make an argument that the Big12, Big10, and Pac12 are all as bad as they’ve ever been. And other than Clemson, Alabama, and one or two others, do we really think the ACC and SEC are great this year? As mentioned, the Big12 non-conference slate was laughably bad. The Big10 and Pac12 played zero non-conference games so who knows.

As much as I would love to use the losses to Louisiana and a bunch of directional schools as evidence the Big12 is terrible, it’s probably more accurate to say that it’s just a chaotic throwaway year for all of the reasons mentioned above. When nearly every conference simultaneously looks terrible it starts to feel like the more logical explanation.

 

[mrcyfan]

I don't know how you can reasonably judge any conference this year, since there have been almost no non-conference games. You can really only judge an overall conference strength by how the teams do against other conferences. Just because Michigan and Penn State are not what was expected doesn't mean the Big Ten is down at all.

Iowa State potentially being a Big 12 champ with a nonconference loss to Louisiana isn't a great look for the conference, but it's also just one game and a seemingly good group of 5 team. My gut tells me that the Big 12 is down, but there isn't enough sample size to make that statement definitively.

That lowly Louisiana team is still ranked higher than Iowa. Personally, I don’t think they would beat the Hawkeyes or the Cyclones in a rematch, but a lot of weird things happened in that game.

Conversely, assuming we have a season next year, we could see some of the best college football that we’ve had in decades. Everyone not going to the NFL is basically eligible for another year if they so choose. There should be quality depth on a whole lot of campuses. JMO.

 

[mazda1]

The B1G is down, but had we had the out of conference seasons we’d likely have some victories over PAC- 12 and Big 12 overrated teamsOSwhich would enhance the national perception. Michigan and Penn State are down and the OSUis unmatched in the league.

 

[mlb1399]

Five teams are ranked and I’m guessing if you went back 30 years there’d be some range of 4-7.

When it’s 4 or 5 the media is like, “oh my god, the Big 10 is so weak.”

When it’s 6 or 7, the media is like,”the big 10 is having a power surge and returning to glory.”

The only constant is there’s really no story besides the media throwing more sh** at the wall.

 

[Birdmanil]

I think it has more to do with the entire landscape of college football this year. Big 12 not very good, with an Oregon loss Pac 12 doesn't have an elite team. Let's look at the SEC. LSU is terrible this year, Georgia is down and Auburn is very inconsistent. You can make the argument that they have 3 teams in the top 6-7 but I don't believe Florida or Texas A&M are legit title contenders. You know its a down year when Urban Meyer and Joey Galloway were seen making comments that Cincinnati's defense maybe the best of those in the playoff mix.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Massey Composite has the B1G as the 2nd best.

Thats all well and good while rank ordering the conferences within 2020 but the question is, "is this the worst the b10 has ever been"

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Fwiw many of you are discussing the media, this idea was put forth by an anonymous person on the rivals message board it isn't media driving this.

 

[DougFHawkeye]

It's pretty bad, we might give P12 a run for worst P5 conference by the end of December.

So you must be talking about the Big12?

 

[joelbc1]

I’m thinking, wat I have seen, this years B10 is pretty commercial. But, college football hasn’t been that good either.
The B10 with Michigan, Penn St, Michigan St, being really bad, doesn’t help it’s optics either.

 

[TheTruthTheWholeTruth]

Thats all well and good while rank ordering the conferences within 2020 but the question is, "is this the worst the b10 has ever been"

That’s fair. Maybe some fair comparisons would be 1988, 1992, 2000, 2001. It’s been a while imo since the conference has been this weak. But that seems to be the theme in 2020 across the college football landscape.

 

[fezzador]

CFB as a whole is down this year. The almighty $€¢ is awful too. I don’t think Alabama is all that special, they just look unbeatable because the competition is so much weaker than usual. Likewise ND, Clemson and OSU are beneficiaries of minimized competition.

That all said, we probably won’t see a champion this year barring some sort of miracle. I would imagine that football will get shut down at some point unless we somehow get a handle on the rise of Covid cases.

 

[rfgiowa]

One could argue every conference is down this year. Comparing the middle of the pack and bottom tier teams of each conference, you could flip a coin on who would win in a conference matchup.

 

[bhawk24bob]

I’m thinking, wat I have seen, this years B10 is pretty commercial. But, college football hasn’t been that good either.
The B10 with Michigan, Penn St, Michigan St, being really bad, doesn’t help it’s optics either.

As stupid as it sounds, the B10 is always judged by how strong its 3 biggest programs are, same thing as the P12 with USC, Oregon, and Washington. We didn’t hear anything about how tough the P12 has been for the last decade and how imo had the best teams in the country because its tv deals suck and espn would rather discuss the newest flavor of the week in the SEC or how dominant Clemson is because it gets to beat up on schools like North Carolina state and Boston College every week

Wisconsin and Michigan State could win 11 games a year for a decade and the B1G will take criticism because Michigan can’t compete with Ohio State

 

[markfromj]

Covid buddy.

Let's not forget the top team in the lil 12 lost to arkansas state lol.

No, they didn’t.

 

[Kinky F]

Covid buddy.

Let's not forget the top team in the lil 12 lost to arkansas state lol.

K State is in 6th in the league but nice try. You’re real well informed on this board.

 

[Silentobservance.]

OP, stick to fake fighting people (your other handle) at local sports bars. Your takes on sports are abysmal.

 

[Sett1997]

Nobody knows how good acc is outside clemson. Yes nd beat them...we've also seen what many teams are like with new qbs this year.

If we had Trevor we would be a legit threat, our qb play over the years has cost us several opportunities to be a contender.
Jmo.

 

[Ladell-hawk]

Reading through the national boards and in this thread

Rivals.com

The definitive source for all Rivals news.

forums.rivals.com

The claim is made that this is the worst the b10 has ever been. The premise being that during the time of big2 little 8 there was atleast a "Michigan" to press OSU and this year there is nobody. I wouldn't immediately say it is the worst b10 myself, because I think the floor has slightly improved but I can see the argument of going from 2 down to 1 nationally competitive programs. What say you? Is this the worst overall big10 you can remember?

It isn't just the Big Ten, in this covid year it is pretty ragged all over. Have you checked the big 12? it is really bad.

 

[SoDakHawk]

I don't know how you can reasonably judge any conference this year, since there have been almost no non-conference games. You can really only judge an overall conference strength by how the teams do against other conferences. Just because Michigan and Penn State are not what was expected doesn't mean the Big Ten is down at all.

Iowa State potentially being a Big 12 champ with a nonconference loss to Louisiana isn't a great look for the conference, but it's also just one game and a seemingly good group of 5 team. My gut tells me that the Big 12 is down, but there isn't enough sample size to make that statement definitively.

Sun Belt went 3-0 against the Big 12. The Big 12 sucks this year.