The conference has had a sudden return to glory, with potential for more to come. Jim Harbaugh’s return to the Big Ten should spice things up a bit in 2015.(Photo: USA TODAY Sports) Ohio State won last season’s national championship, is the favorite to do so again in 2015, and just might stand atop preseason, in-season and end-of-season polls for as long as Urban Meyer remains motivated to create a present-day dynasty at the flagship program in his home state. Suffice it to say: With the Buckeyes leading the charge, the rest of college football no longer has the Big Ten Conference to kick around. Jim Harbaugh is back at Michigan, where he once cockily guaranteed a rival victory against Ohio State — and delivered, by the way — and then, after a few seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, returned to the Football Bowl Subdivision with grand plans of remaking his alma mater into a national power. Meanwhile, at Michigan State, a perennial championship contender has been built on the backs of defense, careful offense, determination, coaching and log-sized shoulder chips. Mark Dantonio and the Spartans look toward Ann Arbor and think: See you in October, fellas. James Franklin has breathed life into Penn State, reeling in top-ranked recruiting classes to go with the near-boundless energy only a coach who won nine games at Vanderbilt can provide. Wisconsin’s conveyer belt of success will continue under Paul Chryst, who will be only too happy to embrace the meat-and-potatoes style first espoused by his boss, Barry Alvarez. Nebraska — the five-time national champions, still the winningest college football program of the last four decades — has made a coaching upgrade of the highest order, replacing cantankerous Bo Pelini with cool-and-collected Mike Riley; behind the latter’s grandfatherly façade lies a cutthroat competitor, let alone one of the nation’s best coaches at maximizing his roster’s talent. The Big Ten’s résumé touts the defending national champions, with the same program standing as the current gold standard in the sport; a program, Michigan, with every built-in advantage possible teamed with an elite hire; the nation’s most underrated and overlooked program in Michigan State; a return-to-glory-days program in Penn State; an annual Rose Bowl threat in Wisconsin; and in Nebraska, a program quietly driven by a now-or-never mentality and the right coach at the right time. …
Continue Reading: College football preview: Big Ten Conference
