The Big Ten is terribly overrated -- again -- as it always has been

... due to incestuous scheduling

Last year after Clemson annihilated Ohio State, 31-0, in the national semifinals, I said two things: First, that Ohio State did not belong in the findl four and was not that good; and second, that the Big Ten is vastly overrated, and always has been. The losses today of Ohio State and Penn State mean that no Big Ten team will win the national title -- again.  The Buckeyes were crushed by Iowa, 55-24, dropping their overall record to 7-2, and Penn State absorbed its second straight defeat, a 27-24 loss to Michigan State. Both losses were on the road. 

The Nittany Lions dropped to 7-2 after a 7-0 start, and the loss means that a dream of a national championship will elude Happy Valley for the 31st consecutive year. 

Making things worse for the Nittany Lions is that junior running back Saquon Barkley had another poor day. He carried the ball just 14 times for 53 yards, a sub-100-yard game that is huring his chances. 

Mayfield may take over #1

His major competition, Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield, threw for almost 600 yards. He completed 24 of 36 passes for 598 yards and five touchdowns. Barkley had been the consensus pick for the Heisman before last week's loss to Ohio State. 

Making things worse for the Lions, who were ranked seventh in the country, is another great, and lousy, performance by quarterback Trace McSorley, who passed for 381yards but had three intercepted. His overall 51.6 QB rating was abysmal for someone who threw for almost 400 yards. 

The Lions could blame the long weather delay, but both teams had to deal with that. James Franklin is now 0-10 in road games against ranked opponents in his career. 

Incestuous scheduling

The problem for the Big Ten is that the teams refuse to play anyone any good outside of the conference. The only team that has done so is Ohio State, and in its only game against a ranked opponent, it lost to Oklahoma. 

How good are the Badgers?

Some may argue that the Wisconsin Badgers are undefeated. That is true, but they play in the Big Ten west, which is very weak. If they had to play Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and Michigan State -- the teams in the east -- on a regular basis, they would have a much greater challenge. 

Quite simply, the Badgers are the only good team in the west. Nebraska, once a power, has now fallen out of the status as a national power. 

However, who did they play in their games outside the conference? Utah State, Florida Atlantic, and BYU. The highest that anyone of those three is in the Jeff Sagarin power rankings is FAU, which is 71st.

Take Penn State. They played Akron, Georgia State, and Pitt. Some may say that Pitt is strong, but they are only 54th in the Sagarin rankings and have not been a real power in the 21st Century; in fact, Pitt has not been a national player since the 1980s. 

Why overrated?

The reason that the Big Ten has been overrated is because of the power of the Midwestern media. The AP voters will vote for Big Ten teams despite knowing that outside the conference, they cannot compete. That has been the case for years going back to the pre-Woody Hayes era. That is reinforced by the Badgers being rated just 11th in Sagarin's power rankings going into this week despite being undefeated. Many one-loss teams are ahead of them. 

The truth is that Penn State had only one good win last year, and that was not quality after Clemson pummeled Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. Is PSU that good? They barely escaped Iowa, scoring on the last play of the game. And now, they have two losses which will probably find them behind Michigan, a team that they defeated easily, in the east rankings. The dreams that PSU is a national power are more a pipe dream than anything else. 

For now, the Big Ten has become irrelevant. At least they have their own TV network.