Ohio State is looking to make it five in a row.
Over the last four years, the Big Ten has been dominated by Ohio State. Urban Meyer and Ryan Day have captured all four league titles dating back to 2017, and Day is the favorite to do so once again in 2021. During that time frame, the West Division has been led by Wisconsin and Northwestern with each program making two trips to Indy.
If the conference's football landscape were looked at through a March Madness lens, the Buckeyes would obviously be the annual No. 1 seed in the East with the Badgers and Wildcats leading the charge in the West. I suppose you can occasionally lump Iowa into that same tier. For the most part, however, we've learned what to expect across the Midwest.
But what about the bubble programs and the potential Cinderella seasons? There are a handful of teams who may be poised to make a bit of a move up the Big Ten's pecking order.
Maryland • Record Since 2017: 14-27
I've long maintained that the 2018 Ohio State-Maryland game was perhaps the most frustrating three hours of my life. And while I hope to never witness anything similar to that ever again, I do think there's some reason for optimism in College Park. A frickin' Matt Canada-led team put up 51 points and 535 yards against Greg Schiano that day. Now, Mike Locksley is heading into his third season at the helm.
There are a few things that can be definitively said about Locksley. For starters, he's a heck of a recruiter with some serious ties to the talent-rich Maryland and Washington, D.C. areas. Over the last two recruiting cycles, the Terps have beaten out teams like Ohio State, Alabama, and LSU for a number of touted prospects. That includes flipping five-star 2020 receiver Rakim Jarrett from the Bayou Bengals, landing 2021 defensive end Demeioun Robinson (a player Larry Johnson loved), and luring five-star Miami linebacker Terrence Lewis away from the SEC.
As for on-the-field results, that's an entirely different story. Locksley is a career 8-43 as a head coach at both New Mexico and Maryland. While leading the Terps, he's sitting at an ugly 6-17 with just four wins in the Big Ten (he was also Maryland's interim HC for six games back in 2015). It's not all that common for bad coaches to suddenly turn into competent ones. But Maryland is actually one of the more talented teams in the league.
Can the Terps compete with Ohio State? There's no reason to think that's going to happen. Can they reach the Penn State tier in the East Division? I think that's a reasonable goal over the next few years.
Hello darkness, my old friend. Via University of Illinois Athletics
Illinois • Record Since 2017: 14-30
Say what you want about him, Bret Bielema does make for a great villain. I'm not entirely sure how or why Lovie Smith lasted five full seasons in Champaign, but Bielema has finally returned to the B1G West. Is he going to be able to pull off what he did in Madison—a 68-24 record with three conference titles? Certainly not. But the Illini may at least be able to make some noise in what tends to be a fairly open division.
If Illinois wants to get out of the Big Ten's basement, Bielema is going to need to use the transfer portal to his benefit, which is something Lovie Smith started doing late in his tenure. The Chicago area isn't known for being a football hotbed, but Illinois will need to work to get a few big names in the coming years. St. Louis is a different animal with a number of national names each recruiting cycle. Bielema will have to fend off programs like Ohio State and Oklahoma if he wants to make some noise in the STL.
Michigan • Record Since 2017: 29-16
Let's start off by saying that there's no reasonable mind that actually believes Michigan is going to catch Ohio State. But can Jim Harbaugh put together a few more seasons like 2016 and 2018 when the Wolverines were actually competitive in the league and very much in the playoff race? That remains to be seen.
Michigan finally parted ways with Don Brown after Doctor Blitz failed to figure out how to stop the Buckeye offense. The newly formed defensive staff includes a number of NFL names. Former Baltimore Ravens' assistant Mike Macdonald is the new defensive coordinator while Maurice Linguist made the move from Dallas to Ann Arbor to work with the defensive backs. West Bloomfield high school coach Ron Bellamy was brought in to coach the safeties, but that seems like a move to help out with recruiting more so than anything.
Finding a quarterback is the top priority for the folks in Ann Arbor. A number of transfers and poor development have put to bed any claims of Jim Harbaugh being a quarterback whisperer. We'll see if five-star signee J.J. McCarthy can perhaps provide a glimmer of hope. The recruiting has mostly been fine even if it's far from spectacular. Tailback Donovan Edwards and speedy California wideout Xavier Worthy were a couple of nice 2021 additions.
The Wolverines are a long way behind the Buckeyes, but I think it's fair to expect a bit more competition in the coming years. Michigan will first need to get back on the same level as Penn State and perhaps even Indiana in the East.
