Things from this list that surprised me:
1) Indiana being so high: I think B1G fans are so accustomed to Indiana being the conference cellar dweller on the field that it is easy to overlook the fact that the Memorial Stadium renovation they completed really bumped up the quality of their meeting, weight, and office facilities.
2) Purdue being lower than Minnesota. I've read several accounts, most notably from a Nebraska beat writer prior to last season, that gave really positive reviews of the Purdue practice facilities. I guess the office/meeting room/weight room areas must not have been what the Husker writer was talking about. Obviously Ross-Aide doesn't help them either.
3) Wisconsin not having an outdoor practice field. The fact that I don't know this is actually a little odd since I live in Madison and have spent plenty of time down on campus in and around Camp Randall over the years that I've been here. But once I read that I thought about the area around CR and said "duh, obviously there isn't space". Given how highly folks rate the atmosphere at CR (Rittenburg def feels this way) the current locker room and practice facilities must really suck to drop them this low. I'm interested to see how the new facility they are planning would jump them up the list.
4) MSU being #5. This is mostly due to the fact that I didn't realize they'd opened a new practice facility in 2008. If you want to see why Minnesota is lagging behind, just take one look at
this photo gallery. This is not a traditional perennial B1G power program who has this facility. But that's the level of quality you see on display.
Other Thoughts:
- Something tells me the middle of the pack schools are probably pretty close together. In other words, one might have a better set of practice fields while another has a better weight room, locker room, meeting room, etc.
- I wonder how much of a difference 3 million in changes (the number Kill has put out there as needed) would make to Gibson-Nagurski and how much those renovations would improve the facilities in the eyes of recruits and observers like Rittenburg.
- Building a new facility near TCF like Kill has talked about (while highly unlikely to happen anytime soon, if ever) would easily jump Minnesota up this list.
