For the most part, 2016 has been a banner year for the Big Ten Conference in terms of credibility on the football field. Ohio State is in the College Football playoff, Michigan is "back" under Jim Harbaugh and both Penn State and Wisconsin have been widely respected throughout the campaign. However, KC Joyner of ESPN does not agree with that assessment and he wasn't shy about sharing his feelings on the topic.
In a piece for ESPN Insider, Joyner outlines several reasons that he believes the Big Ten is overrated. While giving a reasonable amount of respect to the quartet of teams listed above, Joyner notes that the rest of the conference was not particularly impressive. His breakdown includes the fact that the quarterback position was ugly in the Big Ten this season, with a nod toward the negative impact that had on the offenses throughout the 14-team league.
The takeaway from all of this is that the Big Ten's lousy quarterback play probably had more to do with making the Big Ten defenses look great than vice versa.
The full piece would provide proper context and it is certainly worth a read. Beyond that, it will be interesting to see how the Big Ten performs during bowl season, especially given the fact that both Las Vegas and ESPN's internal metric do not treat the conference fairly in previewing the bowl slate.
For some, the Big Ten had a pivot point in a positive direction during 2016, but not everyone agrees.
