How Bad is the Big 10?

As I am writing this Wisconsin is losing 14-3 to Utah St, so maybe I should calm down on judging the whole Big 10 as a joke.  But maybe I shouldn't.

This year's Cowboy Classic at Cowboys Stadium was billed as a top 10 matchup of BCS contenders.  Alabama thoroughly embarrassed Michigan.  Denard Robinson looked horrible.  The 27 point beat down didn't even tell the whole story.  Alabama was better than Michigan in every way, and it wasn't even close.

But the next few couple weeks might have even been worse for their reputation.  Last week, two Big 10 teams (Wisconsin & Nebraska) went out West to take on the bottom feeders of the Pac 12.  Both teams lost in embarrassing fashion.  Nebraska gave up over 600 yards of offense to unranked UCLA.  Oregon State held Montee Ball to 61 yards rushing and the Badgers couldn't score until garbage time.

This week wasn't a heck of a lot better for other "top" Big 10 teams.  Michigan State is losing to Notre Dame at the half.  Ohio State could barely beat Cal (who missed 3 FGs and lost by 7).  Nebraska turned the ball over 4 times in the 2nd half vs. Arkansas State and didn't put them away until the 4th qtr.  Oh, and Indiana is losing to Ball State.

(I did not mention Penn St's opening 2 weeks debacles on purpose)

So having said all of that, I think most of us upper Midwesterners realized in about 06 or 07 that the Big 10 just couldn't hang with the SEC.  Florida and LSU made that pretty clear in a couple BCS Championship Games vs. Ohio State.  The last 2 times the Big 10 had a National Champion were controversial.  Ohio State in 2002 has been dubbed the "luckeyes" because of the phantom pass interference called on Miami in OT.  Then of course there is Michigan in 1997 who split with Nebraska.  That was the season that ushered in the BCS to match up #1 VS. #2 regardless of conference bowl affiliation.  Before that Penn State won the National Championship in 1986 and 1982.  So, in my lifetime, the Big 10 has won 4 National Champsionships, one of them split. 

So why does the Big 10 have this reputation as a power conference? Well, just like everything else in college football, tradition and history matters more than reality.  I honestly feel that the Big 10 has become a conference that has a lot of pageantry and passionate fan bases, but is just not relevant in the National Championship picture.  What really makes me think here is that the playoff format is coming soon, with the top 4 getting to play in a mini-playoff.  Will the Big 10 continue to get one of their average teams in that top 4 based on history?  Probably.  And that's a shame.  We all know that the top 4 teams every year should basically be the top 3 SEC teams and either USC or Oklahoma.  But somehow Michigan or Ohio State will manage to con the public into believing that they are top notch NCAA Football teams.

So I guess the question is, can the Big 10 win another 4 National Titles in the next 30 years of my life? I wouldn't bet on it.