Where this is hurting the Big Ten is with elite, one-of-a-kind players who can dominate a game....

Where this is hurting the Big Ten is with elite, one-of-a-kind players who can dominate a game. None of the top-25 recruits in this year's freshman class, as ranked by recruiting site Rivals.com, were from a Big Ten state or chose a Big Ten school. Besides Michigan, which is coming off a 3-9 season and has been sidetracked by a report of possible NCAA violations, the conference's pillar programs aren't significantly changing their recruiting patterns. Ohio State's 2009 roster lists a combined 12 Floridians, Californians and Texans, compared to 14 in 2002. Penn State is only slightly less reliant on its region: 59% of its current players are from Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey, down from 65% seven years ago.

Wall Street Journal: The Big Ten: Down and Out?

12 months ago KJ@theonlycolors 1 comment 0 recs |

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I hate this article.

Mr. Everson starts with a dubious premise (you must have local talent to win a national championship).

Then moves on to assert that the best talent comes out of the “south and west”, by which he really means Florida, California, and Texas, but could theoretically include everthing south of the Ohio river and west of the Mississippi, which is a huge region that represents most of the country. His assertion that the “best talent” comes out of the south and west is apparently based on the top 25 National Prospects as rated by Scout. Nevermind that of the top 5 quarterbacks in 2008 (in terms of passer rating), only 2 came from Florida or Texas. The others? Oklahoma, Oregon, and Colorado. Top 5 running backs: New Jersey (x2), Ohio, Indiana, California. Top 5 wide receivers: California, Texas (x2), New York, New Jersey. In addition, Mr. Everson conveniently brushes adside the fact that Big Ten teams are increasingly recruiting outside their local areas, because that doesn’t fit his original premise.

Mr. Everson then goes on to fill out his required column inches (or word count, I guess) with stories of the Big Ten’s crappy record at the Rose Bowl since the 1970s, conveniently leaving out the times that a Big Ten team won, including the year that got a Big Ten team a national championship. Sadly, he fills it out with stories of Woody Hayes, the punchline of one that makes it into the article headline, apropros of nothing.

This is terrible, shoddy, lazy sports op-ed passing as analysis. Wherefore art thou, Fire Joe Morgan?

by CPT Hoolie on Sep 4, 2009 8:21 AM CDT reply actions