August 05, 2015 Urban Meyer strode to the podium at Big Ten football media days with a title none of the schools in his conference have earned in more than a decade: defending national champion. Meyer and the Ohio State Buckeyes won the inaugural college football playoff last season despite being an underdog in both playoff games. But after a national championship and a successful postseason overall, Ohio State and the Big Ten conference as a whole aren’t going to be overlooked again. “You think about the story that’s being told about our institution and the Big Ten as a whole this year compared to last year,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said. “It couldn’t be more dramatically different.” At the end of last season, teams from the Big Ten played in 11 postseason games, not counting the conference’s own championship game. The Big Ten was the underdog in each match-up, indicating how low perception of the league had fallen. But the Big Ten ended bowl and playoff season with a 6-5 record, the second-best among the five major conferences. “We had a great year last year,” Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said. “And it was a long and interesting run. We didn’t start strong, but we ended strong.” The positivity carried over into the offseason when Michigan hired alumni Jim Harbaugh as their newest head coach. Harbaugh spent the previous four years coaching the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl and three NFC Championship games. The hire brought hopes another Big Ten powerhouse could soon be on the way, though the coach downplayed the impact of his arrival at media days. “[I’m] not striving to create any buzz,” Harbaugh said…
Continue Reading: Big Ten conference making a comeback
