Buckeyes suffer in weak conference

Chris Smith, Press Box writer

I was listening to Colin Cowherd on ESPN radio when he suddenly goes into a rant about how horrible the Big Ten is, except for maybe Ohio State. Cowherd didn't give OSU much credit, but he did say that “at least they send people to the NFL,” and also mentioned that if Terrell Pryor would get it together offensively we would be competitive nationally. He concluded that right now we are by far the best team in the Big Ten –which in his tone wasn't saying much.

I started to get offended at first, especially after he played a produced comedy bit in which he poked fun at the ironic fact that we have 11 teams in the Big Ten and how two 4-4 teams are playing for the “Wooden Toothbrush” as the mock play-by-play announcer said something like, “the game was decided by 5 turnovers to 4 turnovers.”

I was already thinking by this point that he might be right so I was out of listening mode. The Big Ten, as much as we want it to be good for the sake of the Buckeyes, is not very good and could use some serious restructuring.

As an Ohio State fan watching our BCS bowl money escape to other Big Ten schools gets very frustrating. In general, Big Ten schools need better coaching staffs.

I know Jim Tressel has come under heat from fans lately for not adapting to the offensive trends that have become popular in college football, but what about the rest of the Big Ten? Other than the hiring of Rich Rodriguez at Michigan, Big Ten football is stagnate in comparison with other conference's offensive trends.

Look at the SEC, which is by far the most dominate conference in college football, how many future Hall of Fame coaches are in that conference? Steve Spurrier, Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, maybe even Les Miles?

Now compare that to the Big Ten.

Furthermore, look at how competitive the SEC is for big-name coaches compared to the Big Ten. Other than Rodriguez and Tressel which other coach in the Big Ten has a contract that would rate in the top -10 in college football?

Mediocrity has become commonplace in the Big Ten Conference. The acceptable standard in many programs is simply sub-standard.

That may be hard for OSU and Michigan fans to swallow, mediocrity, but for the rest of the Big Ten that is the standard. Why is that? We get ridiculed nationally for not having a championship game, and our teams historically suffer in bowl games because of the long lay-off.

I have been cursing Coach Tressel most every Saturday for the lack of imagination throughout his offense, but he can only play the teams that are in front of him. If the Big Ten was better as a whole every team would have to be more innovative. It is like the snowball effect, competition builds competition.

So, if I were the Big Ten commissioner what changes could I make?

For one we have to have a championship game. It is not fair to the two historical juggernauts, Ohio State and Michigan that they play every year yet some teams don't have to play either teams –sometimes for a title win-- Northwestern.

My second day as commissioner, I would add another team, maybe two.

Two, if I could convince the other schools to force Northwestern to go to the Ivy League. They are never going to be competitive with their grade standards. They would make a nice fit with Army as an Independent, too.

I would then go on a National search for schools that want to come to the Big Ten and spend money on a football program.

Regardless, I realized that in order to ridicule Jim Tressel I must first blame the Big Ten.The Big Ten is horrible, and Ohio State carrying the flag is starting to wear on our program nationally; but we will not get better on a national stage until the entire conference gets better.