The nation's oldest conference has embraced "new".
The 2011 season features the Nebraska Cornhuskers as the league's newest team. Their entry into the league will allow the Big Ten to hold a new championship game. The inaugural conference championship game will be held December 3 in Indianapolis. The league will also feature new divisions, the Legends and Leaders (I will not pile on in regards to the name choices). A new logo has also been created to mark this transformation.
But that's not all.
Four teams will be under the lead of new head coaches in 2011. The highest profile change came at Ohio State. Luke Fickell will serve as the interim coach for the Buckeyes this season following the messy divorce between the school and former coach Jim Tressel. He walks in to a difficult situation as quarterback Terrelle Pryor left school and a number of other offensive players must sit out the first 5 games of the season, including top returning rusher Dan Herron and second leading receiver DeVier Posey. These suspensions include the Buckeyes' Big Ten opener against Michigan State but will see them return for their inaugural league tilt with Nebraska.
Ohio State's top rival, the University of Michigan Wolverines will also have a new head man on the sidelines in 2011. Brady Hoke, a former Wolverine assistant, takes the helm after engineering successful turnarounds at Ball State and San Diego State. Hoke looks to be stepping into a much better situation than Fickell. Michigan returns 19 starters (10 offense/9 defense) from last season's 7 win season. The gem of that group is without a doubt quarterback Denard Robinson. Robinson, the 2010 offensive player of the year, led the Big Ten in total offense and rushing yards last season. The Wolverines have lost an unprecedented 7 straight games to the Buckeyes, but that could finally end this season. They get the Buckeyes at home as well as Nebraska, and avoid Penn State and Wisconsin. They are flying somewhat under the radar but could make some noise this season.
Indiana and Minnesota round up the teams with new head men this season. Indiana looks to former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson. Co-defensive coordinators Doug Mallory and Mike Ekeler will have their work cut out for them. The Hoosiers gave up 34 points per game last season, including 83 in a loss at Wisconsin. Jerry Kill will have similar issues taking over for the Gophers. Minnesota is coming off of a 3-9 season which featured a 9 game losing streak. Kill is taking over after strong stints at Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois.
Wisconsin will also feature a new face, but not on the sidelines. Quarterback Russell Wilson chose to transfer to the Badgers as a graduate student after 3 seasons at NC State. Wilson comes in with 76 career touchdown passes and an additional 17 touchdowns on his own. The combination of Wilson and running backs James White and Montee Ball behind three returning starters up front should help the Badger offense remain potent after averaging over 41 points per game last season. White was the conference freshman of the year last season, and he and ball combined for over 2,000 yards rushing. Six starters return on the other side of the ball. The secondary should be a strength, but they do need to replace All-Big Ten defensive end J.J. Watt. Last year's conference co-champ and Rose Bowl participant hopes to build on their 11 wins from a year ago, and look to be the favorites in 2011.
Their toughest competition could come from the new kids on the block. Nebraska hopes to reach the Big Ten championship game a year after playing for the Big 12 title in their final season (a 23-20 loss to Oklahoma). Quarterback Taylor Martinez could challenge Robinson as the league's most dynamic player. Martinez accounted for over 2,500 yards of total offense (952 rushing) as a freshman and should form a dangerous backfield duo with junior Rex Burkhead (951 yards in 2010). Lavonte David will lead a defense that ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense in 2010 and returns 7 starters. Nebraska's schedule will be tough with road games against Wisconsin, Penn State, and Michigan. The Michigan game on November 19 could decide the Legends Division champion.
Of course not everything is new in the Big Ten. Penn State head coach Joe Paterno returns to Happy Valley for his 46th season. The Nittany Lions return 14 starters but are using pre-season camp to choose between quarterbacks Rob Bolden and Matt McGloin. Paterno and company hope to build on last season's disappointing 7-6 finish.
Quarterback will not be an issue at Northwestern. Dan Persa returns for Pat Fitzgerald's squad after an Achilles injury ended his season prematurely in 2010. 8 other starters return alongside Persa as well as 7 on the defensive side of the ball.
Purdue also returns a lot of experience on the offensive side of the ball (10 starters), but the problem is those starters were part of an offense that ranked 104th and 105th in total offense and scoring offense, respectively. In contrast Iowa only returns 10 starters total to a team that went 8-5. Closing will be a focus for the Hawkeyes in 2011 after they held fourth quarter leads in all of their losses last season. Illinois closed much better last season averaging over 42 points per game over their final 7 games of the season and won a bowl game for the first time in recent memory. Michigan State could also feature an explosive offense behind quarterback Kirk Cousins and 6 other returning starters, though the defense has some holes to fill.
All in all the first year for the new Big Ten should prove to be extremely competitive. Nationally though the Big Ten will only improve its perception by producing a national title contender. In the BCS era the league has only been represented three times in the championship game, all by Ohio State. The Buckeyes won the 2002 title over Miami, but lost to Florida and LSU in the 2006 and 2007 championship games. This may not be the year to expect a team to run the table though. The league has a lot of balance. Wisconsin and Nebraska look to be the standard this year, but a number of teams will prove to be tough outs. Ohio State could also contend if they can integrate their suspended stars seamlessly into the fold.
They may continue their BCS championship game draught, but this new era should kick off with a bang.
(I would also like to take the time to thank Brian "Poopa" Smith for nominating me for CBS Boston's Most Valuable Blogger competition. Any help in the voting would be greatly appreciated. You can vote once per day through September 9. You can either click the link under the badge at the top of the page or click directly on this link: http://boston.blogger.cbslocal.com/most-valuable-blogger/vote/sports/ .)
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