Big Ten Football Can't Compete with "Win at All Cost" SEC

One thing we've learned from this year's Big Ten Football Media Days is that the coaches are concerned with the image of their conference.

ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, whose covering the meetings, wrote "The Big Ten has become a national pinata in recent years."  He continues, "Everyone is taking a swing at a league that's struggled in BCS bowls and marquee non-conference matchups."

When referring to the Big Ten's 1-6 record in bowls last season, Ohio State's Jim Tressel said "I don't know if anyone in this conference has an inferiority complex but it's something we take very very seriously."

Minnesota's coach Tim Brewster and Illinois' Ron Zook suggested the conference schedule games into early December with the hope this would help them get ready for bowl games.

It's no secret Joe Paterno feels the same way.  He has been very open about possibly expanding to twelve teams with the hopes that a conference championship game would keep the teams participating sharp.

The conference has not done well in BCS bowl games in the last few seasons.

The conference that the Big Ten and everyone else is constantly chasing is the SEC.  They've won the last three  BCS Championships and have just signed a lucrative 15-year $2.25 billion television deal with ESPN.

The television contract doesn't scare the Big Ten as much as much as it does other conferences. Clemson's coach Dabo Swinney said "I would like to believe that SEC's television contract won't make for a competitive disadvantage in college sports."  Clemson is in the ACC.

The Big Ten isn't too worried at this time because they still make a huge amount of money. Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State rank no. 2,4, 5 and 6 in the nation in revenues earned.

So what about the image that the Big Ten has recognized as "needing improvement?" What's the best way to win some National Championships over schools like Florida and LSU?

Will a conference championship game accomplish this goal?

The problem for the Big Ten, ACC and Big East especially is that the performance of the SEC, and the reason they've pulled away from every conference with the possible exception of the Big 12, has to do with a desire to win—to "Win at all costs."

The SEC doesn't mess around. They believe in the value of winning National Championships and have showed they're willing to pay the price.

In a 2007 listing of NCAA coaches salaries  LSU's Les Miles, Alabama's Nick Saban, Florida's Urban Meyer, Arkansas' Bobby Petrino, Auburn's former coach Tommy Tuberville, Goergia's Mark Richt, and Tennessee's Phip Fulmer were all reported to be in the top 15 in the nation.

This is just one indication that the SEC is serious about winning football games. Where they really pay the price and have been linked to an "ends justifies the means" philosophy has to do with the amount of NCAA violations this conference has committed.

It's pretty clear that the NCAA has put SEC teams on probation more than any other conference. The Big 12, a conference that has challenged the SEC in the rankings in the last couple of years, is probably the second worst offender.

Alabama has just been asked to forfeit 21 games because of a text book scandal and it's the fourth time in the last 14 years they've been penalized by the NCAA.

I'm not saying that the Big Ten or Big East is totally clean but you have to look extremely hard to find any one of their teams that have committed the type of serious violations that teams in the SEC have been associated with.

Of course the ACC has it's offenders. FSU is going through a terrible investigation where it's likely that Coach Bobby Bowden will have to forfeit wins because of a widespread scandal at the school.

Miami was a huge offender in the late 90's and was harshly penalized by the NCAA.

What about Notre Dame, a program that has been held in high regard for all the players they graduate? They got hit in 1999 for two years probation for what the NCAA called "serious."

It's just that when it comes to NCAA violations and probation, the SEC has taken it a step further than everyone. Besides Vanderbilt, every team in the SEC has been put on probation for serious violations.

This is the type of thing that just doesn't happen with Big Ten Football.

Michigan State had some serious problems in the 90's. Nick Saban, who is currently linked to Alabama's violations was the Michigan State coach from 95-99. It's not clear if he had anything to do with the problems at Michigan State.

Wisconsin was hit with a five year probation in the 90's and in 2004 Illinois was placed on a one year probation because a booster maid a payment to a prospect.

That's about it for the Big Ten.

Arkansas was on a three year probation that ended in 2001, Mississippi State was placed on a four probation in 2004 where they were banned from post season play and Kentucky was hit with a serious three year probation in 2002 which involved a bowl ban.

Florida went through a two year probation in the 80's and was banned from post season games on live tv, Steve Spurrier inherited a three year probation that Lou Holtz' South Carolina program received and LSU was hit with a one year probation in 1986.

Auburn was placed under a two year probation for the "play for pay" scandal that was associated with the Pat Dye period and it's been mentioned by Dave Link, of the Knoxville News Sentinel, that Tennessee's Lane Kiffin is already in trouble for recruiting violations. Kiffin hasn't coach a game yet.

Georgia was placed on probation in 1985, four years after a prior probation in 1981.

It's not just the probations. The Atlanta Journal Constitution released a report in 2008 where they listed Florida as the school that lowered academic standards for football players the most of the the 54 public institutions of the FBS schools.

John Clay, of the Lexington Herald Leader, is one of many writers who points to 24 arrests under the watch of Urban Meyer.

Is there a correlation here? Is there a tie-in between successful college football teams and a high number of NCAA violations?

Oklahoma's no saint. They suffered a two year TV ban in 1973, another two year TV ban in 1988 and were cited for four major violations in July of 2007.

Oklahoma and Florida—the teams that played in the National Championship last year.

So what can the Big Ten do to improve their winning percentage in big non-conference games?

A lot of analysts keep talking about the lack of speed in the conference. Others agree with Paterno and claim they need a championship game to tune up their top team for the BCS bowl.

I don't think that anything will help until all the schools in the FBS are playing on an equal field. 

Schools aren't going to police themselves and the NCAA is already sticking its nose in just about everybody's face so what's the answer?

I don't know the answer but I do know that the Big Ten football programs should be admired for their record of playing, for the most part, by the rules.