Hey everyone, I wanted to create a discussion on the landscape of the Big 10 now through the near future. Was about to do all P5 conferences but I wrote enough about the Big 10 alone lol. Warning: I'm about to word vomit my thoughts and opinions, feel free to chime in on whatever part you feel. Hoping to foster some interesting dialogue.

Opening: The last 3 years I think the paradigm of CFB changed. Each of the champions featured super-offenses: Clemson (Lawrence/Etienne/Ross/Higgins), LSU (Burrow, CEH, Chase, Jefferson), Bama (Jones, Najee, Smitty, Waddle). Defense is certainly important but no one could really slow down these offenses. Now you have Bama, Clemson, OSU, OU recruiting the best QBs, RBs, WRs and OL allowing for the construction of these super-offenses. There are a lot of solid teams that are capable of knocking off the big boys and putting together a 12-1/13-0 season which is what's required to make the playoffs is an uphill battle and why we see the same pool of 7 teams in the playoffs every year. 

Big 10: Even if you take the Scarlet colored glasses off, it's hard to deny OSU has separated even further from the rest of the B10 since Ryan Day took over. Now we're recruiting even better and have one of the best and most complete coaching staffs in the nation. Nobody in the Big 10 has elite QB play (except maybe Penix) and a revolving door of 10 NFL draft picks a year. PSU I kind of see like Georgia w/o UGA's elite recruiting: usually solid D, good run game, lacking elite passing game, baffling game management in big time games. They've gotten close to the CFP but undergone a retool this past year. PSU has gotten close to beating OSU but I still think OSU has a big talent advantage over them. I respect Iowa, Wisconsin, even Northwestern who are all well coached but they don't have the talent level to go through the gauntlet and put together a 12-1/13-0 season. IU and Minn are programs on the rise and are capable of upsets but they have to retain their coaches and continue to build their programs.

I believe the JJ McCarthy era is Jimmy Boy's last straw in AA. There's only so many revenge tours and staff overhaul's you can do before the finger gets pointed at you. If he fails with another 5 star QB hailed to be the next great one, I have a hard time believing TTUN's admin can save face again. Rutgers intrigues me, Schiano outperformed expectations last year and almost beat TTUN in overtime. He's also recruited really well. I could see them rising from the (Chris) ashes to becoming a consistent bowl team.

I think the magic of Purdue is gone. The golden era of Rondale Moore and those higher than average recruiting class (Karloftis/Bell) are fading. They regressed to the mean in the past 2 years and missed their opportunity to rise in the pecking order. 2021 might be their last chance to reclaim that 2018 magic.

Overall, I would say the Big 10 is the second best conference. We have a lot of depth which makes up for our lack of star power outside OSU (which only the SEC has tbh). 

I know I missed a few teams, feel free to discuss whatever. What I do believe is that OSU's supremacy will continue for at least the next half-decade