The Big Ten is two years into its experiment and it’s clearly not working. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers in 2014 has had its time to steep, and it’s become evident that their fit isn’t perfect. Or even ideal. Or even palatable.
While Maryland’s contributions in basketball have been significant, and will undoubtedly be felt this upcoming season, the Terrapin and Scarlet Knight football programs are only hurting a conference that is already dealing with a massive talent discrepancy among teams. While the East continues to become stronger, with Ohio State and Michigan State resting atop national rankings and Michigan developing into a real threat thanks to Lord Harbaugh, the West is sinking. Iowa sits atop the lesser division with a deceiving 7-0 record and Northwestern and Wisconsin have shown flashes of legitimacy, but the rest of the division doesn’t scare anyone.
Rutgers and Maryland aren’t helping the bottom half of the East close the gap. The squads are a combined 1-6 in conference play and 5-9 overall, and they’ve been easy rollover games on opposing team’s schedules. Sure, Rutgers led Michigan State at halftime and had a chance to tie with under a minute left, but the Spartans were never in panic mode, and the Scarlet Knights literally spiked the ball on their final offensive play. There hasn’t been any sort of capitulation in football on that same level since the Green Bay Packers decided that field goals are worth more points than touchdowns in last year’s NFC Championship Game, which is a difficult reality to grapple with.
Maryland hasn’t looked like it could beat anyone in the Big Ten except for during its 31-30 loss to Penn State, but does that actually mean something?
The bottom line is that Maryland and Rutgers were brought into the conference to bolster interest in the Big Ten on the East Coast, boost TV ratings and add enough teams so that a conference championship game could actually be a viable option. While it’s yet to be seen if its capitalized on any of those points, it is certain that both teams have brought embarrassment to a conference that was struggling with issues of legitimacy before they even came into the picture.
Rutgers’ head coach Kyle Flood’s three-game suspension and $50,000 fine for interfering with players’ academic processes has cast a negative shadow over the program that further amplifies the notion that it’s gasping for life. Rutgers President Robert Barchi’s open letter on the matter, which included a full investigation on Flood’s violations, was a shocking look at a coach with very little consideration for academic integrity and procedural guidelines.
Similar, Maryland’s handling of head coach Randy Edsall’s firing is just as mystifying and just as damaging to the program’s reputation. Edsall had to contend with questions about his job security prior to the Terrapins’ Oct. 10 game Ohio State, even having to speak to specific reports that he would be let go after the matchup with the Buckeyes. The reports turned out to be true, as he was fired after losing to Ohio State 49-28, leaving the program in a state of flux once more.
Obviously there were questions about Maryland’s and Rutgers’ savvy when they were admitted to the Big Ten. That’s not news. What is different from today and 2014 is the fact that the two programs have undergone intense humiliation alongside their poor performance on the field. These teams aren’t going to drag the conference down single-handedly, but they are doing the best they can at making their inclusion in the conference look like the money and exposure-first business decision that it appeared to be from the start. Had either team been quietly adequate, or even just plain boring, their poor level of play wouldn’t be this dissatisfying to lifelong Big Ten fans. But at this point, both Maryland and Rutgers are hurting the conference, and that’s disappointing to see when the future is looking bright for the elite Midwest teams that are fighting not only for themselves, but to bring a good name to the Big Ten.
There’s no novelty in it for Big Ten fans to go to the stadium to watch their teams play these East Coast newbies. There’s no history, no rivalry, no real competition. Purdue, Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota have been struggling for years, and controversy is nothing new to this conference, but at least they’re not involved in Big Ten matters as a result of market analysis, TV ratings and public relations teams. Maryland and Rutgers were brought in to draw more eyeballs to the conference, and that’s exactly what they’ve done. Mission accomplished, right?
