No Power Five conference has tended to rely more on defense and the running game than the Big Ten. The West Coast arrivals could change that.
MADISON, Wis. — The Big Ten’s westward expansion could challenge the league’s reputation for smashmouth football.
Perhaps the mix will help balance a conference whose strength has come on one side of the ball lately. “I do think there’s a nature of playing really sound in the Big Ten,” said new Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell, who previously spent about two decades in the conference as a defensive tackle, assistant coach and interim head coach at Ohio State. “There’s a nature of playing really physical in the Big Ten, not that they don’t do it in other conferences. If that means maybe there’s better defenses or less offensive firepower in the Big Ten, so be it.
Scott noted the four schools making the move also might have to adapt to the more run-oriented Big Ten, for years the league known for “three yards and a cloud of dust” on offense. “I don’t think any West Coast team coming in is going to change what they do or change what anyone over here does,” Harrell said. “I think these guys are going play their style of football. Whatever that looks like, it looks like.”“Bringing in the West Coast teams and even some of the hires they’ve made in the Big Ten already, it’ll be interesting to see what the league looks like,” Harrell said.
Ohio State was the only Big Ten program to rank among the nation’s top 21 teams last season in yards passing per game. The arrivals of Harrell and Longo suggest Big Ten teams might start throwing the ball more often. Minnesota already has shown signs of backing off from its traditional run-oriented approach; Athan Kaliakmanis’ 44 pass attempts in a 13-10 season-opening victory over Nebraska were the most by any Gophers quarterback since 2010.
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