It’s not exactly a secret that the Southeastern Conference has been dominant in the last decade.
Seven titles, all in a row, and conference pride growing exponentially with every crystal football hoisted. The last time the SEC had a losing record in bowl games was 2002. In that same time frame, the Big Ten has had nine losing bowl records, the ACC five, the Big 12 four and the Pac-12 three. In the BCS era, the SEC had a 34-25 record against the Big Ten.
Make no mistake, the juggernaut that was the Florida State Seminoles taking down Auburn in the final minutes of last year’s championship game doesn’t mean the SEC’s reign as the top football conference in the country is at an end. Not when the conference has the depth that it has. Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Georgia, South Carolina, and maybe a resurgent Florida or Tennessee could compete for a title this year (cue Bret Bielema sad/confused face).
The SEC won the BCS era. They took home more national championships than every other conference combined and also led in BCS bowl wins and regular bowl wins.
Meanwhile, the Big Ten. Let’s be real, the midwestern conference hasn’t been the class of college football for a long time. Decades, really. Massive alumni and fan bases and a strong collection of coaches can’t make up for a sheer lack of access to recruits.
Of the top 50 players in 247Sports’ composite football recruit rankings, 35 hail from states with SEC schools. States in Big Ten territory? Five, and if you are still bemoaning the Big Ten’s addition of Maryland and Rutgers, just know that three of those recruits hail from D.C., Maryland and New Jersey.
It gets worse when you consider that two of those five Big Ten area recruits, Jalen Tabor and Clifton Garrett, headed down south to Florida and LSU respectively. That two matches the number of those 35 SEC state recruits that decided to go to Big Ten schools. The SEC is better at poaching, and they already have the biggest game reserve.
So how does Wisconsin and the Big Ten turn this tide, as it were? They will not do so quickly, as it means reaching the hearts and minds of hundreds of very large young men sitting in front of television sets across the south and convincing them that football played in the cold is an enjoyable and eventually lucrative pursuit. Of course, the one thing in football that is assuredly enjoyable and eventually lucrative is winning, so in this chicken and egg standoff, the Big Ten is going to need good luck, good scheduling and good coaching to go on a winning streak.
This is all to say the Big Ten faces an uphill battle to conference supremacy that is almost perpendicular. Reaching any level that could be considered glory years is going to require seismic shifts in the college football landscape. Shifts like the College Football Playoff.
This new era is a clean slate. A chance to reset the record books and give the Big Ten a time period where it doesn’t have to combat its recent lack of success. A first impression, almost. For Wisconsin it all starts with a season opening date with one of the most successful SEC schools out there, Louisiana State University. With a committee now deciding who gets the chance to fight for the title, every prominent team in the country is going to try scheduling marquee opponents for its nonconference schedule.
Wisconsin has arguably done as good a job at competitive non-conference scheduling as any program in the country, with season openers against LSU, Alabama and LSU again in the next three years. Considering the level of competition in the Big Ten West—and therefore opportunities to move up in the rankings—it’s something they have to do.
Think of what a win Aug. 30 does not just for Wisconsin, but its entire conference. Sure, LSU lost Zach Mettenberger, Jeremy Hill, Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry and its usual glut of underclassmen defenders—it’s still LSU. Their players are fast, their stadium is awesome and Mike the Tiger is still an actual tiger. Playing them can be a statement game for any team in the country. For a team like Wisconsin, a relative unknown in this year’s rankings thanks to its quarterback situation and turnover on defense, it’s a defining game. After the Badgers’ date in Houston, it’s a journey through a relatively easy Big Ten West, with only Nebraska and Iowa posing true challenges. Maybe Maryland, if Stefon Diggs decides to get frisky.
If Wisconsin wants to reach the College Football Playoff and take a Big Ten conference desperately in need of nationally competitive teams with it, winning this LSU game is where it all starts. As the status quo changes in the next few years to where the Playoff dictates it, every team in every conference is not just a team, it’s a flag bearer.
