OT - BIG losing demographics

[bearcatbret]

http://archive.freep.com/article/201...all-drew-sharphttp://www.detroitnews.com/story/spo...ment/15803191/

[longtimefan]

It's a point you see a lot, but Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan are all among the 10 most populous states, and New Jersey is number 11. So it's not just about population, but the Big 10 is definitely in decline, probably because it was always vastly overrated. Long before the population shifts, the big 10 was getting blown out in the Rose Bowl every year. With the new structure in college athletics, it is more noticeable now.

[richard k.]

It's a point you see a lot, but Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan are all among the 10 most populous states, and New Jersey is number 11. So it's not just about population, but the Big 10 is definitely in decline, probably because it was always vastly overrated. Long before the population shifts, the big 10 was getting blown out in the Rose Bowl every year. With the new structure in college athletics, it is more noticeable now.

The Big 10 made its football reputation with black athletes from the south - when the major southern universities integrated, black athletes started, slowly at first, to stay home. Along with population shifts that has created an ever increasing difficulty for the Big 10 to maintain its claim to football preeminence, and now relies mostly on OSU and 1 or 2 other schools out of its entire body of universities to present a case that it belongs with SEC and PAC 12, while it is really more like the ACC.