Troubling trends lead to Big Ten hitting bottom

NEW YORK (AP) — The numbers don’t lie. The Big Ten is in bad shape.Troubling trends in recruiting and some reluctance by schools to invest the way it’s done in the Southeastern Conference have been dragging down Big Ten football in recent years. This season looks as if it could be rock bottom.The gory details through three weeks:- 1-10 vs. other Big Five conferences.- 24-14 overall in nonconference games, worst among record among the Big Five conferences.- 5-3 against the Mid-American Conference- And this one from Mlive.com, 2-12 in nonconference games against FBS teams with winning records.”It’s presently as bad as it looks,” said former LSU and Indiana coach Gerry DiNardo, who also works as an analyst for the Big Ten Network. ”The future is not as bad as predicted.”At the heart of the matter is recruiting, and a demographic shift that is far bigger than the Big Ten.The number of people, and quality football players, in the Big Ten’s footprint has been shrinking.Only 17 of the top 100 high school players, as rated by Rivals.com, in the 2014 signing class came from states with Big Ten schools, and that’s including New York, New Jersey and Maryland, and Washington D.C. Rutgers and Maryland joined the Big Ten this season.The current top 100 for 2015 includes only nine players from Big Ten states. It goes to 10 if you throw Connecticut in the Big Ten’s footprint.California, Texas and Florida have for years been the most-talent rich states. Ohio used to be in the next group and Pennsylvania not far behind that.That’s changed, according to Mike Farrell, national recruiting analyst for Rivals. He now puts Ohio behind Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia and North Carolina.”These are feeder programs for a lot of the ACC and SEC powers,” Farrell said. ”Pennsylvania’s dropped off as well. …

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