ESPN: Can Big Ten West catch up to East?

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per ESPN:

Any way you look at it, the West is trailing by a significant margin. And it won't be easy to catch up. Here’s why:

Recruiting

The disparity between the divisions could arguably start and end right here.

Since 2010, teams currently in the East have found themselves ranked within ESPN’s top-25 recruiting classes a total of 19 times. Five different East teams have made the cut at one time or another. Over in the West? Only Nebraska has earned a spot in the top 25 – and that was for three seasons (2011, 2013, 2016).

That’s not to say teams such as Wisconsin and Minnesota can’t recruit well, or that ESPN's recruiting rankings are the be-all, end-all of future projections. But there's an obvious correlation between top classes and winning.

The teams that boasted ESPN's top 10 recruiting classes in 2011 were all ranked at some point in 2014, when those recruits were redshirt juniors or seniors. All but Texas at least received votes in the final Associated Press' Top 25 poll.

That means the West is at an inherent disadvantage in this department -- and that's likely because its teams are in much less fertile recruiting territory than the East. Compare the East states to the West, and that becomes clear. (And let's forget about the state of Indiana since both divisions are represented there in the Purdue Boilermakers and Indiana Hoosiers.)

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/122585/can-the-big-ten-west-catch-up-to-the-east

Go Gophers!!
 

When I think about the East I think Ohio St, Michigan St, and Penn St then you have Michigan until they can prove themselves again.
When I think about the West I think Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and then you have Iowa until they can prove themselves again.

Sure there are some big names in the East, but why does it have to be a competition of overall better conference? As long as the West wins cross over games and the conference championship game it's all good.
 

From a big brand perspective, it's OSU, MSU, PSU and Michigan in the East and Wisconsin and Nebraska in the West, and that's as much where the disparity lies as anything.

As much as we want it to be true, Minnesota isn't a major CFB brand right now in the vein of those teams.

But that can change, quicker than the media thinks. Eight years ago, Michigan State was pretty much a non-factor. They had won 10 games once since 1965 (1999, when Saban left) and were consistently pumping out 5/6/7 win seasons. They became a major CFB brand because Dantonio - now with four seasons of 11+ wins in his seven years at the helm. If any team in the West not named Wisconsin or Nebraska does the same thing over the next seven years (hope it's Minnesota!), it will look a lot more balanced.
 

The Big 10 slant is to the east. But when it comes to who can beat who, its on the field, not in a column or a broadcast.
 

Coaching makes a big difference. Ohio State and Michigan, with great coaches and 100,000 seat stadiums, have a big edge. Nebraska and Wisconsin also have the huge revenue-producing stadiums, but not the coaches at this point. Throw in Mich. State and Penn State and the East will have an edge for a long time.
 


I guess I don't really care. We'll only see the East 3 times a year moving forward and hopefully 4 times. The goal right now is to win the West and after that, it's a 1 game crapshoot against the East in the BTCG.
 

No. OSU, Michigan, and Penn State are the three biggest helmet schools in the Big Ten. The West has Nebraska......but they are falling quickly. Not the power that they used to be.
 

I love all the talk about the East vs. West, like there's a great disparity between the two. There are definitely advantages for some of the schools of the east, but it's not like one side is dominating the other.

Case in point...the West went 7-7 vs. the East last year. Ohio State and Michigan State went 2-0 against the West, while Wisconsin went 2-0 vs. the East. Everyone else went 1-1 with the exception of Penn State and Rutgers from the East and Purdue from the West, who both went 0-2. Match-ups matter of course, but to say that it's David vs. Goliath is silly.
 

alltimetwinsfan said:
I love all the talk about the East vs. West, like there's a great disparity between the two. There are definitely advantages for some of the schools of the east, but it's not like one side is dominating the other. Case in point...the West went 7-7 vs. the East last year. Ohio State and Michigan State went 2-0 against the West, while Wisconsin went 2-0 vs. the East. Everyone else went 1-1 with the exception of Penn State and Rutgers from the East and Purdue from the West, who both went 0-2. Match-ups matter of course, but to say that it's David vs. Goliath is silly.
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Knock it off with your facts and logic...

But Harbaugh!
 



we can be that program. I truly believe that. We are in a major metro area with a pretty sizable market share (13th). The BIG wants us to rise, We just got to win.
 

alltimetwinsfan said:
I love all the talk about the East vs. West, like there's a great disparity between the two. There are definitely advantages for some of the schools of the east, but it's not like one side is dominating the other.

Case in point...the West went 7-7 vs. the East last year. Ohio State and Michigan State went 2-0 against the West, while Wisconsin went 2-0 vs. the East. Everyone else went 1-1 with the exception of Penn State and Rutgers from the East and Purdue from the West, who both went 0-2. Match-ups matter of course, but to say that it's David vs. Goliath is silly.
Click to expand...

Wisconsin had good matchups. The East has some butt****ing terrible teams.
 

Whatever.....it beats the hell out of the Lenders and Losers divisions.:cool02:
 

You could split the division's any way you want to and division with Ohio state is going to be the better division.
 



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