Terrelle Pryor Sweepstakes: A New Dynamic for the Big Ten?

With college football's February 6th National Signing fast approaching, the outcome will no doubt send shockwaves throughout the country.

As has been well documented, the No. 1 recruit, Terrelle Pryor, will finally declare which school he will attend. At the top of that list is Ohio State, Michigan, and LSU.

Whom Pryor chooses could potentially change the landscape of college football for a very long time to come.

For quite some time now, the Big Ten has continued to be the 'grind it up, smash 'em in the mouth' conference. This has paid dividends for Ohio State in conference play, but has left the Buckeyes more then bewildered in the last two national championship games. 

However, with the move of Rich Rodriguez to Michigan, the Big Ten may well be changed for a long time to come. Bringing his signature spread offense, Rodriguez will no doubt turn the traditional Big Ten style of football on its head. Even former Michigan quarterback Ryan Mallet quickly realized this, transferring to Arkansas. Now Rodriguez and Michigan hope to land prized recruit Terrelle Pryor to establish the new offense in Ann Arbor. 

But wait, not so fast—Ohio State may have something to say about this. The Buckeyes also hope that they have done enough convincing to get Pryor to join a still very talented team in Columbus. The 2007 Big Ten champs will field many of the same faces this Fall. Can Jim Tressel one up the Michigan Wolverines once again?

We will know in a couple of days.

Regardless of who wins the recruting battle for Terrelle Pryor, be it Michigan or Ohio State, it will send a clear message to the rest of college football that the Big Ten status quo is no longer status quo.

It will signal a new dawn of football that could finally rise up to challenge the atheticism of power conferences such as the SEC and Pac-10. It could change the recruiting landscape for years to come. This still may be true even if Pryor goes to a conference other than the Big Ten, it just may take longer. 

The main reason: Rich Rodriguez and his spread offense will either immediately (with Pryor) or in the long run change the entire dynamic of the Big Ten.