Big Ten fans, fight those urges and be happy about Michigan’s title
There's a tidy angle to the end of college football season, but it may be a tough sell. And a bit unpopular.
But here goes: Fans of every Big Ten school should be happy Michigan won the national championship.
My college years were spent in Ann Arbor, so I get it. There's not an abundance of love for the Maize and Blue across the conference. I've read the nasty T-shirts in Champaign, and heard insults in Columbus, Madison and just about everywhere else.
Claims of an arrogant attitude have been around for decades and they're probably true, somewhat. But there are nice things to say about every Big Ten school, from Oregon to New Jersey.
For example, Nebraska deserves its reputation for having the friendliest fans in college football. Iowa City is a top 10 college town. And, uh, I'll think of some more later.
But this isn't about blind conference loyalty. There are tangible reasons the Wolverines' success will benefit every school in the new Big Ten (plus eight).
The obvious reason is the money. In a world where football games compose 98% of the most-watched television shows, the ratings for Ohio State-Michigan and the playoff games were practically off the charts.
That's the reason Fox agreed to pay roughly a billion dollars to be the Big Ten’s flagship network. Over the past 10 years, Michigan vs. Ohio State games are the three most-viewed regular-season contests, and six of the top 11, according to sportsmediawatch.com.
TV revenue is split among all Big Ten schools. That means bigger bonuses for athletic department employees, but that cash can also help improve facilities, which might help your team win some games.
The larger benefit is this year's results show college football is likely headed toward a new age of parity. The geographical bias has been outrageous for the past quarter century.
Since the NCAA first instituted the championship game in 1998, followed by the four-team playoff, 23 of 26 titles were won by schools that sat farther south than Norman, Okla. The only exceptions were Ohio State in '02 and '14, and now Michigan. The last two championship games featured three teams that had not been there before – Michigan, Washington and TCU.
The transfer portal is the biggest reason. Teams that dominate recruiting can't keep the talent locked in dorm rooms anymore. Alabama had the No. 1 or 2-ranked recruiting class for five straight years, but roughly 30-40% of their top-100 recruits moved elsewhere. Can't play everyone.
Recruiting rankings haven't changed much, but talent is becoming more evenly spread. Next year's 12-team playoff should help too, because now high school stars don't need to stick with Alabama, Georgia or Clemson to make the playoffs.
NIL is another method for schools to lure stars. “But our school's not loaded with wealthy donors,” you might say. Look at it this way: Most Big Ten schools draw at least 80,000 fans to home games. If 80,000 people contribute $10-20 per month, you've got a decent NIL collective.
Finally, some people might be hung up on the Connor Stalions sign-stealing accusations. Actually, sign-stealing is perfectly legal and very common in college football, this was an advance scouting issue.
The Big Ten itself offered the final word on that ordeal. While suspending coach Jim Harbaugh for three games, the conference wrote that knowing an opponents' signs is a threat to player safety and hardship for coaches who have to spend time inventing new signals.
When a Big Ten assistant coach revealed Purdue received a complete set of Michigan's signs last year before the title game, courtesy of two other conference schools, the Big Ten response was, “That's fine. We don't care.”
Wait, wasn't this about player safety?
“About what? Oh, we've moved on from that, but be sure to win us some money at the CFP.”
The Stalions thing was stupid and shouldn't have happened, but it's clearly not the greatest scandal in college football history ESPN made it out to be. Just put radios in the helmets like the NFL has done for three decades already.
The main point is, Michigan showed the rest of the Big Ten it can be done. The SEC dominance has been broken. There’s no reason Northwestern or Illinois can't be the next TCU of the Midwest.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports