Big Ten football? Wake me when it's over
Published Sept. 8, 2008
With all apologies to Illinois and Indiana, Big Ten football is awful. The games are boring, the talent isn't as good as in other conferences and they have many teams that are pretty easy to dislike - namely, Ohio State and Michigan. And, yet, Big Ten football gets shoved down our throats every weekend, thanks to the worldwide leader in sports. Last weekend, viewers were treated to Ohio vs. Ohio State and Miami (Ohio) vs. Michigan. Fact is, neither of these games were good matchups, but the Big Ten found a way to make them exciting with bad offense that allowed lesser opponents to stay in both of the games into the fourth quarter. If you're into schadenfreude, or fun at others' expense, watching Big Ten football is enjoyable. It can be fun to see Ohio State get stopped on fourth and one by a team that lost to a Football Championship Subdivision squad last week. It can be fun to see Michigan's athleticism be severely exposed by the spread offense that they're attempting to run. And it can be even more fun to see the reactions of OSU and Michigan fans as their teams fail to do anything moderately exciting on offense. I have to feel sorry for Big Ten fans - their eyes likely haven't been opened to the true greatness of college football that can be seen in the SEC, Big 12 and Pac 10. Yes, there are some fun teams to watch in the Big Ten - once again, Illinois and Indiana - but, for the most part and in terms of piquing my interest, Big Ten football is just not up to par with the rest of college football. I don't think I'm alone in thinking that, either. I'd like to see nothing more than Ohio State getting completely dominated by USC this weekend. And it's not just because USC is my favorite of the "powerhouse" programs in college football. It's because, after two straight years of being handled in the BCS National Championship Game by Florida and LSU, Ohio State still gets rated among the top football teams in the nation. Losing to USC hopefully would prove that, team for team, the Big Ten cannot compete with other power conferences (Well, except the ACC, which is equally as weak.). The Big Ten is a lot like this year's Yankees. They're good, but not that good, and yet they still get a lot more attention than they deserve. The love for Ohio State in Big Ten country is ridiculous. What have they really accomplished in the last few years? They've cheated America out of what could have been a great BCS National Championship Game last year (either Georgia or USC taking on LSU). How much fun would that game have been? Too bad Ohio State dominated a weak conference to make it there. I realize this is starting to become more of a "Let's bash Ohio State" article instead of a "Why the Big Ten stinks" article, but I think it's because Ohio State epitomizes what's wrong with the conference. Their bland, methodical brand of football isn't fun to watch, and it hasn't been all that successful in the last few years. I think a quote from Prince perfectly sums up how I feel about Big Ten football: "This bores me. Is anyone up for a game of basketball?"
