ESPN: Big Ten East turning into college football beast

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BleedGopher

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per ESPN:

Kevin Wilson served as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 2008 when the Big 12 South Division was the toast of college football.

That season, the Sooners finished in a three-way tie for first place with Texas and Texas Tech, and all three were ranked in the top seven of the final BCS standings. A fourth team, Oklahoma State, was ranked No. 14.

Now the head coach at Indiana, Wilson can see a similar group of super powers forming in the Big Ten's East Division.

"It's comparable," Wilson said of the current Big Ten East vs. the old Big 12 South. "It's a tough bracket, a tough division. You've got to learn to bring it."

The current Big Ten division format is only entering its second year. But the East already has staked its claim as a beast.

"I think our side of the conference is kind of ridiculous right now, as far as the quality of teams in it," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said. "You can see how they did in bowl games and the future, too. I see a lot of good recruiting going on our side of the conference as well."

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/118460/big-ten-east-turning-into-college-football-beast

Go Gophers!!
 

I don't get it. So Ohio State wins the College Football championship, now all of the sudden the entire Big Ten East is the best is college football? Unless Maryland and Rutgers don't fall off from their surprising 1st season in the Big Ten, and Penn State and Michigan improve it will be a decent division. But other than that its a 2 team race and I think it will be for another 3-4 years once Harbaugh gets his recruits under him at Michigan. 1 really good team. 1 good team, and bunch of mediocre teams I don't think constitutes saying its turning into one of college footballs best.
 

Nothing really shocking about this, most of us were thrilled with the East/West split because the power of the conference is clearly in the East right now. Things change year to year but assuming Harbaugh can bring Michigan back over the next few years that side of the conference could be very strong with OSU and MSU leading the way followed closely by PSU and Michigan.

The West on the other hand is all about balance. There isn't anyone you can look at right now in the West and say they are the strong favorite to end up in Indy at the end of the season. Instead you have a number of teams (us included) that are all good and a case could be made for them to come out on top in the West.
 

Hard to argue. Glad we're in the West. Sorry Indiana.
 

I see this as a great thing. I don't need "respect" for my division - I'll take a legitimate chance to win and the accompanying one game shot at the B1G title thank you very much
 


gopher56 said:
I don't get it. So Ohio State wins the College Football championship, now all of the sudden the entire Big Ten East is the best is college football? Unless Maryland and Rutgers don't fall off from their surprising 1st season in the Big Ten, and Penn State and Michigan improve it will be a decent division. But other than that its a 2 team race and I think it will be for another 3-4 years once Harbaugh gets his recruits under him at Michigan. 1 really good team. 1 good team, and bunch of mediocre teams I don't think constitutes saying its turning into one of college footballs best.
Click to expand...

Whats hard to get? You have defending national champion OSU, MSU who is coming off of two BCS/new years 6 bowl wins, Penn State who is coming off a bowl win, sanctions, and should be at full strength soon. They have recruited very well under Franklin and then you have Michigan who just got the hottest coach on the market, college or pro. Rutgers and Maryland won 8 and 7 games last year which is very good for two teams expected to finish 5th and 6th in their division. It's not rocket science.
 

die hard gopher said:
Whats hard to get? You have defending national champion OSU, MSU who is coming off of two BCS/new years 6 bowl wins, Penn State who is coming off a bowl win, sanctions, and should be at full strength soon. They have recruited very well under Franklin and then you have Michigan who just got the hottest coach on the market, college or pro. Rutgers and Maryland won 8 and 7 games last year which is very good for two teams expected to finish 5th and 6th in their division. It's not rocket science.
Click to expand...

You forgot Indiana....oh wait....not sure how anyone associated with Indiana football could ever reasonably expect to see their program find a way to be relevant when buried in a division like that.
 

die hard gopher said:
Whats hard to get? You have defending national champion OSU, MSU who is coming off of two BCS/new years 6 bowl wins, Penn State who is coming off a bowl win, sanctions, and should be at full strength soon. They have recruited very well under Franklin and then you have Michigan who just got the hottest coach on the market, college or pro. Rutgers and Maryland won 8 and 7 games last year which is very good for two teams expected to finish 5th and 6th in their division. It's not rocket science.
Click to expand...

"Coming off a bowl win" is slightly ingenious pimping up for a PSU team that was 2-6 in the conference in 2014.
 

It is an accurate snapshot of the present. The potential in the west is there, if Nebraska can turn things around in the future and the Gophers keep progressing then we will see more power teams in the west. Maybe not OSU level for a while but I think Nebraska has the potential to keep up with Ohio State. Not talking about next year, just in the future. I also think the sky is the limit for the Gophers once this new facility is complete and I see the Gophers doing big things Nationally.

Glen Mason still names Nebraska as one of the marquis teams in the Big Ten. Looking back on what they have done over the years you would have a hard time disagreeing with that. They have been a monster.

His marquis teams:

OSU
Penn State
Michigan
Nebraska
 



I think the East is the better of the two divisions, but not sure I'm ready to call it a beast. Has that potential, but still quite a ways away.

At this juncture I'd call it a 2-headed beast (OSU, MSU) with perhaps 2 more beasts in the making (Penn State, Michigan), 2 wildcards with growth potential (Rutgers, Maryland), and 1 team (Indiana) that simply has no reasonable chance to compete.

All that said, the Gophers are in the division they want to be in. As someone posted above, there's a much better chance to get to the B1G title game for the "1-shot deal" from the West Division than the East Division.
 

oldauggie said:
It is an accurate snapshot of the present. The potential in the west is there, if Nebraska can turn things around in the future and the Gophers keep progressing then we will see more power teams in the west. Maybe not OSU level for a while but I think Nebraska has the potential to keep up with Ohio State. Not talking about next year, just in the future. I also think the sky is the limit for the Gophers once this new facility is complete and I see the Gophers doing big things Nationally.

Glen Mason still names Nebraska as one of the marquis teams in the Big Ten. Looking back on what they have done over the years you would have a hard time disagreeing with that. They have been a monster.

His marquis teams:

OSU
Penn State
Michigan
Nebraska
Click to expand...

Glen's marquee teams, in part, would seem to indicate he enjoys living in the past.
 

fryguy22 said:
I see this as a great thing. I don't need "respect" for my division - I'll take a legitimate chance to win and the accompanying one game shot at the B1G title thank you very much
Click to expand...

Yep. Sometimes you get lucky. Us being in the West means there is no giant to slay year to year. It appears Nebraska's days as a true powerhouse are over and IA isn't a regular top 20 team anymore. WI will likely still be good but aren't a juggernaut. While I don't think MSU is going to be a top 10 team from now until forever, having to play OSU, MSU and a humming UM every year is killer
 

die hard gopher said:
Whats hard to get? You have defending national champion OSU, MSU who is coming off of two BCS/new years 6 bowl wins, Penn State who is coming off a bowl win, sanctions, and should be at full strength soon. They have recruited very well under Franklin and then you have Michigan who just got the hottest coach on the market, college or pro. Rutgers and Maryland won 8 and 7 games last year which is very good for two teams expected to finish 5th and 6th in their division. It's not rocket science.
Click to expand...

How did stellar recruiting work out for Brady Hoke?
 




First glance at the name of this thread I saw "Big East is now college football beast". I thought that's odd since they do not have football now. :)
 


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