By Mark Wilson
November 27, 2014

WOW! Do people hate the Big Ten Football Conference or what?

I guess I never realized how low the B1G has sunk.

As Ohio State was finishing another victory over Michigan on Saturday 42-28 and sealing Brady Hoke’s fate in Ann Arbor, another subplot was playing out.

NO ONE has ANY regard for the game we play in our precious Big Ten.

Them’s days is gone! It’s worse than ever.

One thing Twitter does is give immediate feedback on big game days. Ohio State vs. Michigan is one of those days and the haters were out in full force.

It’s no mystery that I am not exactly in love with Buckeyes’ coach Urban Meyer; been that way since his first head coaching job at Bowling Green in 2001.

He is tough to deal with, not very personable and doesn’t seem to enjoy his surroundings enough.

Having said that, I think what he has done in three short years in Columbus is AMAZING.

I seem to be in the minority on that.

At least according to the good folks on Twitter.

Even some Buckeye fans aren’t very impressed with his tenure off the I-70.

Huh?

Allow me to jog some memories.

In 2011, Ohio State football was in shambles.

Jim Tressel, involved in all sorts of controversies and NCAA atrocities, was (sorry, I had to school another hater on Twitter) relieved of his duties as head coach. His “resignation” was as good as an old fashioned firing.

Tressel deserved every bit of it.

Luke Fickell was picked to take over and coach the ’11 campaign.

Five starting players, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, were suspended for the first five games. Of course that meant 17 starters were NOT suspended. But, don’t let facts get in the way of a good story.

Pryor didn’t even bother coming back. On June 8th, he ended his time in Columbus and made himself available to the NFL.

Long story short; Ohio State had a terrible 2011.
The NCAA investigation took its toll and Fickell wasn’t able to coach his way around the football field.

Despite a 3-and-1 beginning, the Buckeyes hit the conference slate with losses to Michigan State and #14 Nebraska.

OSU did come back to beat two other ranked teams; Illinois and Wisconsin. Tack on a 34-20 victory over Indiana and the Bucks were 6-and-3.

Not bad considering.

Then came an overtime loss at Purdue followed by defeats to Penn State and Michigan. Fickell had a 6-and-6 team and good enough for a bowl bid.

Losing to Florida in the EverBank Bowl culminated a 6-and-7 slate.

“Florida” being the key word there.

Meyer had left Gainesville the year before due to health concerns and other oddities. He had led the Gators to a pair of national championships with Tim Tebow.

It was no secret he wanted the Ohio State gig.

Born in Toledo and growing up Ashtabula, Meyer was a Bucknut through and through even though he played his college football at Cincinnati.
His first college coaching task was with receivers for Earle Bruce at… Ohio State.

At just 22, Bruce thought enough of Meyer to bring him into the family.

Wanting more as a young man, Urban moved around from Ohio State to Illinois State to Colorado State and finally to Notre Dame. It was in South Bend that he got the call as a head coach.

Back in Ohio, he directed the Falcons’ fortunes at Bowling Green for two seasons. Utah was next and he coached the Utes for two seasons; going a perfect 12-and-0 in 2004 and finishing an incredible #4 in the nation.

It was incredible because it was UTAH.

Florida couldn’t wait to hire him.

In six seasons, the Gators went 65-and-15 with the TWO national titles. Meyer and Tim Tebow were the talk of the country.

Three times, Meyer won 13 games in a season at Florida.

Still, he wasn’t the most liked guy in the land.

Far from it.

Some believed he quit on Gator Nation and wanted a return to the Midwest in the worst way.

After the Fickell disaster of 2011, he got his wish.

On November 28th, Meyer was introduced as Ohio State head coach.

The rebuilding of the program commenced as soon as Urban dotted his I’s and crossed his T’s. Ink wasn’t even dry when Meyer started recruiting.

He also smartly hired Tom Herman as offensive coordinator and Ed Warriner to run the defense. Fickell stayed on as a “Co-defensive Coordinator.”

There were those that wanted Fickell as gone as Tressel but Meyer didn’t move to the beat of that alum drum.

Another HUGE move was bringing his former strength tutor, Mickey Marotti from Gainesville.

That was big.

Braxton Miller had committed to OSU in the summer of 2010 and played as true freshman in 2011.

Urban saw something in him and felt that Miller could be a winner in spite of being part of those seven losses in ’11. In fact, he didn’t flinch.

With his pieces in place and very little time to recruit the blue chippers he wanted, Ohio State trotted out for the 2012 campaign amidst many doubters.

Certainly it would take Meyer time.

Right?

Wrong!

Braxton Miller didn’t have to worry about losing SEVEN games. In his first year with Meyer, Miller lost… NONE.

ZERO losses.

Even though there were no post-season “thanks” due to all the wrong doing and sanctions, Ohio State rolled everyone in their path.

12-and-0. A perfect season.

Guess what?

Nobody really cared.

They wrote it off as a bad schedule, a bad conference and the fact that football was just down in the Midwestern portion of the United States, Canada, on the moon and in the galaxy.

If it wasn’t the SEC, it wasn’t football.

Boring!

It is SO tiring to hear how “down” the Big Ten is. Judging by the talk and endless conversation, now on social media, the conference has been crap since Woody and Bo were trolling the sidelines back in the 1970’s.

Boring!

I can only fantasize what it would have been like had there been Facebook, Twitter and other social outlets online back “in the day.”

Oh, how they would have ALWAYS ripped the Big Ten.

Jealousy is the only tool I have to try and figure out why this league of gentlemen is so maligned.

They always site the bowl record of conference teams versus other conferences as an example even if very few can actually tell you what the record IS.

Then it comes down to national championships.

This is the BIG ONE.

Other than the “fluke” year of 2002 when Ohio State won it and 1997 when Lloyd Carr tied Nebraska for the final “mythical” national title at Michigan, NO Big Ten school had won the crown since the Buckeyes in 1968.

In the 60’s, the Big Ten won all kinds of national titles.

Michigan State, OSU and even Minnesota took home hardware.

In the 50’s, OSU, MSU and Iowa were big winners.

In the 40’s…. well, you get the idea.

Since 1968, ONLY Michigan and OSU sniffed USA college football prominence.

One was “mythical” and tied with the Cornhuskers and one was with the “cheaters” in Columbus.

Big time hate.

I’m not going to dispute that the B1G (and yes I like the whole B-1-G thing) hasn’t been as strong as other conferences in the past 46 years. That would just be dumb and foolish. Not that I’m above being dumb and foolish.

Dumb and Dumber 3. Call Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels.

But, to totally diss the Big Ten as insignificant in football is also stupid.

The only schools since ’68 to fail to appear in the Rose Bowl, not including the newbies Rutgers and Maryland, are Indiana and Minnesota.

Why they can’t get their acts together over the decades is the same as trying to figure out why the Chicago Cubs can’t get to the World Series since 1945 and why the Detroit Lions have never been to a Super Bowl.

Don’t bother.

Stupid me. I thought maybe Meyer’s hiring would bring some of that SEC credibility to the B1G.

One guy on Twitter battled me about the conference.

He totally discredited what Urban Legend has done in his three years.

“Who has he beaten?” was one tweet.

When I offered up the SEVEN teams ranked in the Top 25 since he took over, I got THIS gem.

“Aren’t those 7 Big Ten teams?”

As if to say, those… don’t… count.

24-and-0.

No coach in Big Ten history has ever done that. Not Woody, not Bo, not Duffy, not Biggie; not even Minnesota’s great Murray Warmath.

Nope; Forest Evashevski didn’t do it either.

Well now I am just naming names.

Urban has gone 8-0, 8-0 and 8-0 in his first three rodeos around the conference in regular season play.

And remember… Fickell lost FIVE times in ONE SEASON before Meyer’s arrival.

The Legend (in his own mind) hasn’t lost a single B1G meeting in three full seasons.

MSU is the lone conference school to tag a loss on Meyer overall in his tenure and that came in the conference title game last December.

35-and-3 overall.

Clemson and Virginia Tech are the other two institutions to defeat Urban with his OSU windbreaker working.

That’s it. Three total losses.

How do you DISS THAT?

Makes no sense.

Granted, a win over MSU last year would have put Meyer in his first Rose Bowl. He “settled” for the Orange Bowl in the final roundup for the BCS era. So, two of those three “L’s” came in three big games.

It gave Twitter the fuel for their Urban fire.

We have completely diminished the Big Ten regular season.

Wins over Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, etc. mean nothing to college football nation because they see those teams as brutal fodder for any squad with a pulse.

Hell, even MICHIGAN has joined the ranks of the nerds on the couch in “Animal House.”

Until the Wolverines get their mess cleaned up, Ohio State will continue to roll in the conference’s marquee matchup.

A nation rolls its eyes at Michigan vs. Ohio State now.

Thanks a lot, Matt Millen!

Sorry… it’s habit during Lions’ season.

Thanks a lot, Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke!

That’s better.

Interim athletic director Jim Hackett might as well change his last name to “Hatchet” since he will be the hatchet man that lays the hammer down on Hoke’s four year turn as Michigan coach.

Unless something strange happens, Hoke will be dumped as early as Monday.

Since his 11-and-2 maiden voyage replacing Rich Rod, it has been downhill for M Go Blue under Brady.

11-and-2 became 8-and-5 which became 7-and-6 and finally 5-and-7 this season.

No bowl game for Michigan. Not even the Quick Lane Lions Bowl at Ford Field the day after Christmas.

Too bad Quick Lane.

You can’t have Michigan because they aren’t even bowl eligible.

Hoke’s 31-and-20 mark is deceiving due to that first season. He’s 20-and-18 since.

12-and-12 the last three seasons in the B1G.

That is simply not going to fly in Ann Arbor. The downward spiral can not be allowed to continue. There is no evidence in recruiting, especially when recruits tweet their anger; that anything is going to change under Hoke.

In effect, Meyer NEEDS his rival to the north to be better.

People actually texted me their disappointment that Ohio State and Michigan was still a game that should be nationally televised.

Seriously?

It’s a fight that’s hard to fight.

Whoever is next at Michigan has to figure out beating MSU and OSU. At least they don’t have to worry about Notre Dame anymore.

Speaking of Twitter; here’s an example of something.

I am not a fan of Taylor Swift’s music. I tweeted at her that the biggest compliment I can offer up is that, while her songs grate on me, I can acknowledge that she is a flat out GENIUS. She goes about her biz the right way and her fan base buys all of it.

Swift prints money. She’s brilliant.

Same thing can be said for Meyer.

I am not a fan of Urban so the biggest compliment I can give is that yes, I acknowledge what he has done in a short stint in Columbus is amazing.

AH-MAIZE-ING.

Had to do a little Michigan pun in there.
35-and-3? 24-and-0?

I don’t care what conference we’re talking about.

I don’t care who is good and who isn’t.

I don’t care if you’re playing those “Little Sisters of the Poor” each week. To put those numbers together deserves some kind of recognition.

Even to a schnook like Urban Meyer.

Ohio State has the Big Ten title game coming up against Wisconsin next weekend. If they win that, we’ll see how it shakes out in the playoff format.

Mississippi and Mississippi State win a couple of games early and they vault to the top of the polls.

Welcome to the SEC.

But, because Ohio State is in the Big Ten, they have to scratch and claw their way through those other conferences. It is similar to MSU last season.

More dissing of the B1G.

That’s ok, we’re used too it.

No matter what happens with the rest of this season, 2015 will be most interesting.
Ohio State will enter with that conference win streak in tact at 24 straight. Meyer will be in his fourth season.

Michigan should have a new coach.

Rutgers and Maryland showed they have some chops.

MSU gets Connor Cook back and will be strong with that Pat Narduzzi defense unless Narduzzi gets a head coaching offer he can’t refuse.

Northwestern should be better.

Minnesota has the coach of the year in Jerry Kill.

Illinois has improved. Good for Tim Beckman.

Wisconsin will surge. Purdue can’t be much worse. Indiana may also be in the market for a new leader. Penn State is looking up under James Franklin.

Nebraska will be different after the Bo Pelini firing.

Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz is the dean of conference coaches.

Yeah, there’s A LOT to hate there!

Sure, we’re not the SEC but… who is? I mean, it is such a perfect grouping how can anyone attain to be the mighty huff and puff SEC?

Yikes.

Now it sounds like I am jealous.

No, not really. I’ll take the Big Ten any day. This isn’t a crossroads and I am not holding a coronation for Urban Meyer.

I am simply giving an “attaboy” to a guy who probably couldn’t care less about it.

To Brady Hoke?

It’s been fun. Good luck down the road.

We’ve got to pile some real competition on Urban. Mark Dantonio gets it. He’s beaten him.

Michigan needs their guy for a new era.

The era in which Urban Meyer isn’t allowed to ramrod the rest of a once-proud group of universities that formed from a meeting in 1895 due to the ideas of the University of Chicago and Lake Forest College.

There ya go!

We found TWO schools that Urban Legend can’t possibly beat. Chicago and Lake Forest!

Go crazy on THAT Twitter. I dare you.