Big Ten Preview: Everything is always going to be a tad bit off for a league of 12 teams that calls itself the Big Ten, but 2012 was just plain odd. It might just take another year or so for things to seem normal.
From the league’s best team – Ohio State – not being eligible for anything, to a neutered Penn State, to a Wisconsin team that dropped 70 in the Big Ten championship after sleepwalking through the year, to Northwestern actually winning a bowl game, to Iowa going in the tank, to Jadeveon Clowney’s illegal hit on Vincent Smith being the most memorable thing about the Michigan campaign, to Illinois getting an offensive head coach who couldn’t produce a lick of offense, to Michigan State receivers who couldn’t catch, to a Nebraska defense that went bu-bye in a big way in the team’s four losses, again, it all seemed a little bit strange.
And now, just when the average Big Ten fan can get it close to the pin when asked who’s in the Leaders and Legends divisions, it’s all about to be changed up again, putting the 2013 season in another holding pattern.
