Taking a break from the heat and humidity, so I'm killing a little time before friends and family arrive for our little 4th of July get together. I found this piece on Yahoo! Sports.
The following ranking of the 65 athletic departments in the five major conferences – Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and Southeastern – is an average of their annual standing in the Learfield Directors Cup over the past five school years (2012-13 through 2017-18). The Learfield standings are used by the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA) as the official measuring stick for how universities perform overall athletically in a given year.
To save you from having to scroll through all 65 slide shows (hack journalism), you will find where all of the B1G teams rank below.
| B1G RANK | SCHOOL | TRAJECTORY | OVERALL RANK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OHIO STATE | DOWN | 6 |
| 2 | THAT TEAM | STEADY | 8 |
| 3 | PENN STATE | STEADY | 9 |
| 4 | WISCONSIN | STEADY | 20 |
| 5 | MINNESOTA | UP | 23 |
| 6 | NEBRASKA | DOWN | 32 |
| 7 | ILLINOIS | STEADY | 39 |
| 8 | NORTHWESTERN | UP | 41 |
| 9 | MICHIGAN STATE | STEADY | 42 |
| 10 | MARYLAND | STEADY | 43 |
| 11 | PURDUE | UP | 44 |
| 12 | INDIANA | DOWN | 45 |
| 13 | IOWA | STEADY | 54 |
| 14 | RUTGERS | STEADY | 64 |
If you're interested in what Pat Forde had to write about Ohio State:
6. Ohio State. Top 2017-18 teams: wrestling; men’s tennis. Trajectory: Down. After consecutive years as the national runner-up to Stanford, the Buckeyes slipped to seventh this year. But they’ve been in the top seven for four straight seasons, carrying the banner for schools that actually experience winter.
Five Things From The Rankings
- Ohio State joins Nebraska and Indiana as the only B1G schools with a downward trajectory? Sorry, Mr. Forde, but Ohio State is as steady as it comes to athletic success.
- The Buckeyes are the top-rated school that experiences all four seasons.
- Rutgers is rated as steady at No. 64. Seems about right. The Scarlet Knights are consistently bad in all sports. Only Washington State is worse, according to Yahoo.
- The PAC 12 and B1G are the only conferences with three schools ranked in the Top 10. Stanford, USC and UCLA take three of the first four spots on the list.
- The teams ranked ahead of Ohio State:
- Stanford (steady)
- Florida (steady)
- USC (steady)
- UCLA (up)
- Texas (steady)
I find it interesting that Ohio State is ranked sixth and has a downward trajectory. As noted above, the Buckeyes have been nothing but steady in athletics. Troll move by Pat Forde.
My guests will be here in a few minutes. Wishing everyone a Happy 4th. Wishing Forde a fireworks failure:
