Can Terrelle Pryor and Rich Rodriguez Spark a Big Ten Transformation?

When you look at the offenses of the Big Ten, what do you see?  Nothing like the spread offense of West Virginia or the option based Flexbone that Navy runs—it’s all Power I formations with two tight ends.

This may be why the public thinks the Big Ten is in a slump.  As we have seen in recent years, National Championship contenders need some sort of dual-threat quarterback with an option attack that can spread out the defense.  The Big Ten seemed to be lacking in this category in past years.

However, it may have just gotten the life shocked back into it by Terrelle Pryor and Rich Rodriguez.

If you’ve been living under a rock for the past four months, then you wouldn’t know who Terrelle Pryor is, but he may be the perfect thing to cure Ohio State’s two-year National Championship drought.  With returning quarterback Todd Boeckman and Heisman hopeful Beanie Wells, the Buckeyes may very well have one of the most potent offenses in the country.

Throw dual-threat prospect Pryor into the mix along with what looks to be an even better defense than last year, and all this National Championship recipe needs is a win on Sep. 13 at USC for the Buckeyes to be smelling redemption come January.

Ohio State’s lack of ability to spread the field could be causing this title drought.  However, they now have the talent required to change that.  Head coach Jim Tressel has said that he will be using Pryor in formations like Florida did with Tim Tebow in 2006.  This could prove very useful not only in catching the defense off guard, but also in lightening the load that Beanie will most definitely be carrying.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Michigan and Rich Rodriguez.  After losing many starters from last year, it’s safe to say the Wolverines will not be contending for a National Championship, especially after undergoing a coaching change that will change the face of not only Michigan football, but hopefully Big Ten football as well.

For those of you that watched Rodriguez coach West Virginia, you know that he runs a spread offense in which you need an option threat quarterback.  After not getting Pryor, Rodriguez has a seemingly unknown quarterback in Georgia Tech transfer Steven Threet.

Rodriguez is in the rebuilding stage.  However, this new spread offense could begin a transformation in the Big Ten.  If Tressel’s formations with Pryor work, we could be seeing a variation of the spread at Ohio State, and Rodriguez is most definitely bringing his spread offense.

Could this mark a new era in the Big Ten—one where it is once again the perennial powerhouse conference that it was?

For us college football fans, we’ll just have to wait and hope that the Big Ten can once again restore its place in the college football world.