Hlas: Big Ten football rises and sets in the East

CHICAGO - The Big Ten West was 7-7 against teams from the league's East division last season, and five squads from each division went to bowl games.

A remarkably balanced league, right? Uh, no.

When the conference went from its ill-conceived Legends and Leaders hodgepodge divisions to a geographic separation that went into effect last year, it was reason to salute the Big Ten for swapping the silly for the sensible.

But for this season and perhaps the unforeseeable future, the East looks like the ‘A' division and the West the ‘B.'

Phil Steele's College Football Yearbook has 28 first-team players on his preseason All-Big Ten team. All but six are from the East. Of his top 112 players, 67 are from the East, 45 from the West.

Ohio State is first and Michigan State sixth in the coaches' preseason poll. Wisconsin is the only ranked West team, at 18th.

In a poll of media from across the Big Ten, the preseason Offensive Player of the Year was Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott, followed by Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook and OSU quarterback Cardale Jones.

The preseason Defensive Player of the Year was Ohio State end Joey Bosa. Second was MSU end Shilique Calhoun. Third was Penn State tackle Anthony Zettel. That's two East sweeps.

Steele's top four Big Ten quarterbacks all reside in the East. And only one plays for Ohio State!

Numbers wizard Dave Bartoo has a website called CFBMatrix.com. He wrote this:

'The Big Ten West is at the bottom of divisions from Power 5 conferences for recruiting and is treading water. … The Big Ten West is the worst recruiter of any division from a Power 5 conference.”

'The Big Ten East, however, took a step forward and expanded the talent gap between itself and the West division with an average recruiting ranking of No. 34, fourteen spots per team ahead of the West.”

That doesn't bode well for future balance, does it?

Four of the East's seven teams had losing league records last season and Maryland was 4-4. But what happens when, as is assumed by many, Penn State returns to prominence under James Franklin, and Jim Harbaugh leads Michigan out of the wilderness and back toward being a national power?

Of course, who's to say Paul Chryst doesn't maintain what Barry Alvarez established and Bret Bielema and Gary Anderson maintained at Wisconsin, or Mike Riley doesn't guide Nebraska to the higher level it took for granted in the 20th Century but hasn't reached in this millennium?

But for now, Ohio State is the defending national champ and 24-0 in Big Ten regular-season play under Urban Meyer, and Michigan State has four seasons of 11-plus wins in the last five years. Their game in Columbus on Nov. 21 could be the league's real title game, just as it was in East Lansing last year when the Buckeyes left with a 49-37 win.

The imbalance isn't just on the field. Michigan recently signed a 15-year contract with Nike worth $169 million in equipment and cash. That's $11.3 million per year, more than any school in the nation gets in similar deals. Ohio State will surely net similar numbers when it signs a new apparel contract once its current one with Nike expires in 2018.

Wisconsin's deal with adidas, which expires next June, is worth $3.55 million a year. Nebraska's adidas contract is worth $3.1 million yearly. It expires in 2018.

Iowa's current contract with Nike lasts through the summer of 2018. It will give the school $1.85 million in equipment and cash in the coming school year.

Perhaps from now until the end of time - or the next round of conference realignments - the West teams will be pushing pianos uphill when it comes to competing with the East powers in football and prestige.

But given the whopping television money all 14 Big Ten schools are reaping and will continue to accept, the West should be able to handle 59-0 league-championship losses with as much grace as an Ezekiel Elliott run or Connor Cook pass.

Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@thegazette.com