Daniel Riley Sports Talk Radio

Last weekend was an embarrassment for the Big Ten Conference; one team got blown out by the lowly Duke Blue Devils, Eastern Michigan beat a Big Ten Team, and the Wolverines unconvincing victory is cause for concern. The Big Ten COnference's style of play is to blame. Teams rarely focus on pass defense, and instead worry about stopping the run. With the return of run-oriented offenses still a ways off, it's left teams open to humiliating losses, Adding to the problem is that great quarterbacks are developed in other conferences (given Tom Brady rode the bench too much at Michigan, he doesn't count as an exception.) Get ahead early on teams in the Big Ten, and they're in trouble. The Big Ten's quality of play has its future as a "big-time" conference in doubt; too many teams'll wind up blowing a chance at a bowl game because of their "play defense and run the ball" strategy. Just wait and see.