The thing I don't get about that argument is that if we were so unprepared for B1G style football, why did we have such tremendous defensive success against Michigan State, Penn State, and Iowa (all good teams that year)?
Becuase those were teams with conventional, prostyle offenses that offered ZERO threat of running out of the qb position. Bo's wheelhouse as I like to call it.
Now when I say different from the Big10 to Big 12, yes, there are some spread teams in the Big10. And this is a point I'm pretty sure I've hammered on a few times on here. Now dont watch what Big 12 teams are doing now. Watch what they were doing in Bo's 3 years as coach in the Big 12. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Ok St, Kansas, Texas Tech and so on used a primary passing game with very little running. Very little balance. between 40 and 50 passes a game on a normal basis. Little qb running with guys like Landry Jones, Gram Harrel, Colt McCoy, Reising, Gabbert. Mobile qb's but not the running threats that we see from the spreads in the Big 10. Those Big 12 offenses were mostly snap the ball in the gun and sling it all over the place. The big10 spreads have qb's like Braxton Miller, Cain Colter, Dennard Robinson, Gardner, the qb over at Indiana. Dynamic runners playing the qb position and providing a whole nother dimension to the offense. A thorough balance we did not see in the Big 12. Not to mention, when in the big 12, Bo tended to utilize fewer backers and more DB's. Smaller DL to get a pass rush. We knew plays were gonna be pass plays most times. It really is quite a bit different from what the Big 12 was when we were in it, to what the Big 10 has been.
Another thing is, we went from a very solid and dominating D in 2009 and 2010, to pretty much bad in 2011. That doesnt happen for no reason. I know we lost a lot in the secondary from 2010, but we still returned LaVonte and the whole DL. When you change conferences, youre not just facing one new team in a year. Youre facing a new team every week. And every player on that team that was not in their first year, had to relearn how to defend new offenses that they had not seen yet. Every weeks a curve ball. Every tendancy Bo had found was out the window. All familiarity that had been built in 3 years was gone. I know it sounds like an excuse, but I think our change in recruiting philosphy over the past few years in loading up on more size and talent at LB and DL should be more than enough to say that playing defense in the Big10 is different than what it was playing in the Big12 back then. And dont forget, we joined the Big10 in the summer of 2010, with still a season (of very high expectations I might add) to play yet in the Big12-so with basically only one year to prepare for Big10 play. So to me, yes, the conference is still a very big part of the past 3 years.
