Can the Big Ten Pass the Pac-12 with Another Strong National Signing Day?

Every preseason is filled with an ever-evolving group of major storylines that seem to dominate the conversation from spring meetings through media days and on up to the opening kickoff in Week 1.

More often than not for the past decade, some form of "What conference will challenge the SEC?" has been a key talking point for coaches, players and the media nearly every week of the year. The talk has picked up the past two seasons in particular with regards to the Pac-12, and whether Commissioner Larry Scott’s great western renaissance project has drawn even, or close to even, with the Southeastern Conference.

In many respects, the Pac-12 has come close to matching (and even exceeding, depending on what metric you use) the SEC. The Pac-12 has certainly proved to be deeper than any conference in the country, it has some of the best coaches in college football, and many of the 12 schools’ facilities are now either up to par or class-leading.

While a national title is still lacking since the days of Pete Carroll at USC, on the field and in terms of national perception, it seems as though the two leagues are closer than ever before.

But will that still continue to be the case going forward?

There appears to be little slowing down the SEC at the top. The conference captured yet another national title this past season thanks to coach Nick Saban and Alabama, and the league will continue to dominate the recruiting rankings with nearly every program capturing a top-25 class by the end of national signing day. But while there appears to be a firm grip on the top conference in college football, who’s No. 2 might be more of a question up for debate in the coming years.

The Pac-12 is certainly well-positioned to keep taking a run at the top. But could the Big Ten be nipping at its heels with yet another strong recruiting cycle in 2016? Yes, it can.

Let’s start at the top of the conference. As much as we would like to discuss depth or how it really matters to have a competitive middle and lower tier, conference superiority is—in the eyes of many—chiefly measured by how the alpha dogs of the league perform.

When it comes to the Big Ten, that’s a good thing.

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In the case of one of those heavyweights, it was just over a year ago when Ohio State throttled Oregon in the national title game to signal a return to prominence for head coach Urban Meyer and his home state Buckeyes. OSU seemed to battle the perception that the Big Ten was down all season long in 2014 but, in the end, had the last laugh by holding up the trophy to conclude the season. A head-to-head win against the SEC and Pac-12 champions wasn't lost by many either.

Combined with a 12-1 campaign and Top Four finish in 2015, it's clear Ohio State has returned to being an annual title contender. Given how energized Meyer has appeared on the sidelines and on the recruiting trail (three top-five classes in the past four years, according to 247Sports), the Buckeyes will likely have something to do with the Big Ten title—and a possible playoff spot—for the foreseeable future.

Even with a steady stream of talent departing for the NFL draft each offseason, Ohio State is an elite program. 

Then there are the Buckeyes’ rivals to the north. Head coach Jim Harbaugh’s debut season for Michigan went better than most expected, with a New Year’s Day throttling of SEC East champ Florida serving as a cherry on top of a 10-win campaign. Nobody is doubting Harbaugh’s coaching chops based on his resume, and with the way momentum is going in Ann Arbor, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before the Wolverines are in the College Football Playoff with a shot to land another national title.

Michigan already returns quite a bit from last year’s team and Harbaugh—a quarterback whisperer of a coach—will have a number of quality signal-caller options, including 247Sports 4-star Brandon Peters.

He’ll add a top-10 class and might even be able to land a signature recruit on Wednesday in 247Sports No. 1 overall recruit Rashan Gary.

If you are looking for a statement that things are a bit different around the conference for 2016 and beyond, that might be one.

It’s not just the two brand names in the Big Ten, either. Michigan State remains one of the most consistent and elite programs in the country under head coach Mark Dantonio. The Spartans, this year’s semifinal result notwithstanding, are capable of beating anybody whenever they take the field and are recruiting at a higher level than ever before.

Combined with Dantonio’s penchant for developing talent, it seems pretty clear that there’s depth and staying power at the top of the Big Ten.

Though they may not be quite to the level of their peers at the top of the league, Penn State, Iowa, Wisconsin and even Northwestern have been Top 25 programs as well. The Nittany Lions in particular could be a team to watch going forward as they move further past their scholarship restrictions and rely more on the talent (yet another top-20 class appears to be a lock in 2016) head coach James Franklin is bringing to Happy Valley.

While there’s plenty of momentum heading into national signing day this year in the Midwest and the 2016 Big Ten race is shaping up to be the most interesting in some time, there appears to be signs of regression out West.

The highest-rated recruiting class in the Pac-12, according to 247Sports' composite rankings, belongs to defending-champion Stanford at No. 11. While the Cardinal have become a West Coast powerhouse and a threat to make the final four what seems like nearly every season, they will not come close to a top-five class and may very likely slip out of the top 12 Wednesday.

The team does return Heisman Trophy runner-up Christian McCaffrey to headline its 2016 squad but also must find replacements on the current roster or among the incoming freshmen for a host of key contributors, such as quarterback Kevin Hogan and linebacker Blake Martinez. Pollsters will no doubt rank the team highly in the preseason and consider the Cardinal one of the favorites to win the Pac-12 next year, but a slight regression from their 2015 form should be expected.

Then there’s North Division rival Oregon, which will be one of the most intriguing teams in the country this season when its top-30 recruiting class full of speedy playmakers infuses its fairly talented roster.

The Ducks still face plenty of questions, such as replacing departed stars (such as quarterback Vernon Adams Jr.) and the recent staff shakeup under head coach Mark Helfrich, so it remains to be seen if the typically flashy program from the Pacific Northwest can get back to the level it was just two seasons ago when it found itself in the national title game.

Down South, the two Los Angeles schools are both in the middle of an interesting offseason. UCLA lost an impressive amount of talent to graduation and the NFL draft but will return plenty of star power, led by quarterback Josh Rosen.

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The Bruins already have a number of recruits on campus, and this year is shaping up to be yet another with a top-25 recruiting class for head coach Jim Mora Jr. Whether that will be enough to finally get over the hump in Westwood remains to be seen, but regardless, it will be clear that the level of buzz around the program won’t quite be what it was in years past without Myles Jack, Paul Perkins and others in the powder blues.

Across town at USC, head coach Clay Helton has brought stability to the land of Troy but faces an uphill battle in returning the Trojans to being a consistently elite powerhouse. It remains possible that they’ll finish with another top-10 recruiting class in 2016, but as has been the case the past several seasons, that doesn’t mean much when it comes to on-field results for the Cardinal and Gold.

Elsewhere, Washington will add a quality group of recruits to an already young and talented team to form a legitimate Pac-12 dark horse for head coach Chris Petersen. Aside from the Huskies though, question marks remain for most teams around the league, and even solid recruiting classes won’t do much to dampen those thorny issues that will be the focus when spring ball rolls around everywhere from Utah to Arizona.

As good of a recent run as the Pac-12 has had, momentum appears to be slowing. On the flip side, Harbaugh is creating headlines daily, Meyer is recruiting furiously for another title, and the rest of the Big Ten is slowly doing what it takes to raise its game on the field and off it.

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Can the Big Ten move past the Pac-12 to firmly establish the league as a firm choice for the second best around? One great recruiting class in 2016—as it looks right now—might help the conference do just that.

Combine that with a solid base of talented returning players, and it wouldn't be surprising if the topic of conversation this summer turns from whether the Pac-12 is the league chasing down the SEC to whether the Big Ten is actually the one that has closed the gap.

The results won’t be in until midseason at best, but there appears to be a real opportunity for the once-downtrodden Big Ten to capitalize on some recent energy and go from mocked to highly praised on the national scene.

Bryan Fischer is a national college football reporter for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.