With Jim Harbaugh to Michigan, Big Ten East Will Rival SEC West for Toughest Division

Throughout the year, we heard the talk about the SEC West being the deepest division ever seen in college football. The hype and praise was completely legitimate, and it is even showing more in the bowl games so far.

The West is loaded with talent, and nobody is going anywhere in the future.

But with Jim Harbaugh now going to Michigan, a new division is on the rise to compete with it: the Big Ten East.

That’s right.

This year, the division was only mediocre, but it had by far the two best teams in the conference, Ohio State and Michigan State. And both teams are consistent national title contenders.

Consider that James Franklin has Penn State on track to turn around into a powerhouse program in the future as well if you look at his recruiting. That will be three national title contenders.

And if all goes as expected, Harbaugh will turn the Michigan Wolverines back into one. That makes for four teams competing for the national title every year.

Let’s take a look at the other three teams. Maryland and Rutgers both went to bowl games this year, their first years in the conference, and they will both start to recruit better because of the conference they are in. While they won’t be competing for championships, they’ll be competing for Top 25 and bowl spots.

Then comes Indiana, a program that was awful this year but is still showing signs of improvement and could easily turn the corner.

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There is a very strong chance in three years that every team from the Big Ten East makes a bowl game with four of them in the national title picture late in the season.

That’s exactly what the SEC West had this year.

Let’s think bigger now as well. The Big Ten East still has Wisconsin, and Nebraska could get even better. Those two teams will always be thinking about national titles and at the very least conference titles, and Iowa is consistent as well. Meanwhile, Minnesota is a program dramatically on the rise under Jerry Kill, so don’t sleep on them.

When you break it all down, the writing is on the wall. In two years, the Big Ten will be back to being an elite conference again.

Remember when the conference was trashed at the beginning of the year for its poor non-conference play? That talk is over.

Hype will be better as well. Harbaugh is the Nick Saban of the North, and Urban Meyer is a legend in his own right. The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry just got as epic as it could possibly be. How exciting will this be on a yearly basis: Harbaugh-Meyer?

It will take the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry to new heights, the same way Gus Malzahn came along to Auburn and has now taken the Auburn-Alabama rivalry to new heights.

Both of those games are huge now, and we have a great mix of dynasties North, South, and out West.

College football is about to get even more exciting down the road.

Big Ten football is back, Michigan football is back, and college football as a whole will benefit.

Next: Pac-12 Undefeated Record in Bowl Games Not Legitimate

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