ESPN College Football

The Big Ten hate has stopped, for now.

After opening fire for the past three summers, the league's critics don't have much ammo these days. By any measure, the Big Ten performed extremely well in the 2009 postseason, as both Ohio State and Iowa recorded wins in BCS bowls and the league went 4-0 against top 15 opponents. A 4-3 ledger in the bowls marked the Big Ten's first winning record in the postseason since after the 2002 season.

Perhaps most important, the conference put some distance between itself and Ohio State's back-to-back losses in the national title game, the two games that, more than any other factors, fueled the Big Ten bashing.

Take the strong finish to 2009 and add the potential for better things in 2010, and the Big Ten is on the brink of big things. But commissioner Jim Delany doesn't take it for granted.

"When you win games, you get positioned the following year to have pretty high expectations," Delany told me in January. "But I still view us as underdogs. Until we perform for a few years at this level, I don't feel like the expectations are [through] the roof. Just because you have a name or a reputation, that doesn't make you a favorite. Performance is the thing that does it over time. So we need to win some for a while before I feel that the expectation of winning is there."

Another strong bowl showing would help, as the Big Ten aims for back-to-back winning postseasons for the first time since 1998-99. But the Big Ten also needs to prove it can win on the highest level, in the game that shapes conference perception more than any other.

Here's a hint: it takes place Jan. 10 in Glendale, Ariz.

"The SEC, based on what they've accomplished in the last four years, has clearly separated themselves from the rest," Delany said. "We've got a pretty good head-to-head with them going over 15 years, 10 years and five years, but that's not at the championship level."

The good news for the Big Ten is it boasts at least three championship-level teams entering the season.

Ohio State is a consensus top-3 squad that comes off of a Rose Bowl championship and returns 15 starters, nine on offense. If quarterback Terrelle Pryor continues to develop and the Buckeyes plug a few holes on defense, they'll be positioned to claim a school-record-tying sixth consecutive Big Ten title and possibly much more.

Jim Tressel's team already is in the national title discussion, but don't dismiss Iowa or Wisconsin, either.

Iowa returns the core from its Orange Bowl championship squad. Defensive end Adrian Clayborn anchors arguably the nation's best defensive line, and quarterback Ricky "all-he-does-is-win" Stanzi leads the offense again. After enduring a brutal road schedule in 2009, Iowa hosts Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State this fall.

Bret Bielema's Badgers are loaded with individual stars, including running back John Clay, the 2009 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. Wisconsin needs to make the jump from very good to great and start beating the Big Ten's best again, but the bar has been raised in Mad-town.

There's separation at the top, but Penn State could join the lead pack if it can fill some major voids on both sides of the ball. Purdue and Michigan State likely will be stronger, and Northwestern should reach a school-record third straight bowl.

The Big Ten is positioned to take another step in 2010. But if the league stumbles, the haters will be waiting.

Thanks to Alabama and Florida, there has been very little drama in the SEC divisional races after the third or fourth week of October the past two seasons.

That’s what happens when two teams go a combined 31-1 in SEC regular-season play.

Between them, Alabama and Florida have lost a total of three games over the last two seasons, and two of those losses were to each other in the SEC championship game.

There’s been a clear separation in the SEC. It’s been Alabama and Florida and then everybody else, and the two kingpins haven’t done anything on the recruiting trail to make anybody think they’re going to slow down any time soon.

The Crimson Tide and Gators have stepped up their games, too.

And when you consider some of the key components Alabama and Florida lost off last season’s teams, including six underclassmen who went in the top three rounds of the NFL draft, perhaps some of those mid- to late-November games in the league will be worth watching this season.

With so many new faces in key roles, it doesn’t sound like there’s a sense of entitlement in either Tuscaloosa or Gainesville.

Rather, there’s an air of “Let’s make our own legacy.”

Florida senior defensive end Justin Trattou acknowledges that a lofty standard has been set by some of those guys who’ve passed through the past few years -- the Tebows, Spikes, Hadens and Pounceys -- but that doesn’t guarantee anything for the Gators going forward.

“If anything, the target on us is only bigger,” Trattou said. “The only thing that matters is what we do this year, what this team does and how much this team accomplishes. Yeah, we have a lot of new guys, but we also have a lot of guys who’ve been here and know what it’s going to take. We know we’ll have to fight for everything we get.”

The East looks like a three-team race.

Georgia has 10 starters coming back on offense, and if redshirt freshman quarterback Aaron Murray plays the way coach Mark Richt thinks he will, the Bulldogs ought to have the most balanced offense in the league.

And don’t forget about Steve Spurrier and South Carolina. Yes, we’ve heard “This is the year” talk coming out of Columbia before, but this just might be the Head Ball Coach’s best shot yet at contending for an East title since returning to college football in 2005.

As junior quarterback Stephen Garcia said last week when asked what the Gamecocks’ expectations were, “Nothing less than SEC champions. We say that every year we’ve been here, but I think this is by far the most talented team we’ve had and the hardest working team we’ve ever had. That’s a pretty good combination.”

Navigating their way back through the West won’t be a picnic for the defending national champion Crimson Tide, who have to replace all but two defensive starters from a year ago.

But Alabama is loaded on offense, led by the explosive backfield tandem of Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson.

The West is also deeper than the East this season. Arkansas, Auburn and LSU are all talented enough to make legitimate runs, while the addition of former Oregon star quarterback Jeremiah Masoli gives Ole Miss a much-needed playmaker on offense. The Rebels were already going to be stout in their front seven on defense.

Mississippi State has a chance to be one of the most improved teams in the league, meaning the West could send all six teams to bowl games.

It also means that Alabama will have its work cut out if it’s going to get through the league unscathed again.

In fact, this might be one of those years when both division champions arrive in Atlanta with a loss.

“Every year’s a new year, and nothing stays the same very long in this league,” Arkansas tight end D.J. Williams said. “It’s on the rest of us to catch [Alabama and Florida].”

Boise State and TCU return most of the starters off their BCS teams from last season. So surely 2010 is the best chance yet for a non-AQ team to make history and bust into the BCS national championship game.

As our good friend Lee Corso would say right about now – not so fast my friend.

The Broncos and Horned Frogs do have specific advantages their past teams never had. For one, they are both ranked in the Top 10 in the preseason coaches’ poll, the first time two non-AQ teams have been ranked so high to start a season. Boise State starts No. 5; TCU at No. 7.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a non-automatic qualifier or a qualifying school -- the higher you start, the better chance you have to play for a national championship,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said.

Both programs made history last season, the first time two non-AQ teams made it into a BCS game. Both are on the lips of most every college football fan in America. Both have gained respect, and both are living in a world where fans increasingly want to see the current BCS system torn up, if for no other reason than to expedite a playoff.

So yes, compared to 10 years ago, non-AQ teams are getting unprecedented consideration.

But for the incremental movements up the poll, there still is a glass ceiling between them and a spot in the coveted BCS national championship game. The preseason poll already shows some of the favor power schools have with voters -- Florida and Texas, with unproven quarterbacks, are ranked ahead of them.

Undefeated TCU has been the closest to the title game in the BCS era, finishing with a No. 4 ranking in the BCS standings last season. Boise State was No. 6. But if history is any indication, it is going to be just as difficult for any non-AQ team to play for a national championship.

For one, they must go undefeated. For another, going undefeated has meant nothing. Let us take a look back at the past six final BCS standings to 2004, when Utah became the first non-AQ team to make it into a BCS game.

2004: Undefeated Utah (AP preseason No. 20) finishes No. 6 in the BCS standings behind three unbeaten teams and two one-loss teams: Texas and California). The Utes beat Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl.

2005: No non-AQ team in BCS bowls.

2006: Undefeated Boise St. (preseason unranked) finishes ranked No. 8 in final BCS standings – behind two 2-loss teams to boot (LSU and USC). The Broncos beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl in one of the greatest games in college football history.

2007: Undefeated Hawaii (AP preseason No. 23/coaches No. 24) finishes No. 10 in the BCS standings.

2008: Undefeated Utah (preseason unranked) finishes No. 6 in the BCS standings behind five one-loss teams (Oklahoma, Florida, Texas, Alabama and USC). The Utes beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Undefeated Boise State finishes No. 9 and fails to make a BCS bowl game.

2009: Undefeated TCU (AP, coaches preseason No. 17) is No. 4. Undefeated Boise State (AP preseason No. 14, coaches No. 16) is No. 6. Boise State finishes ranked behind a one-loss Florida team. Interesting note: TCU and Boise State were ranked behind a one-loss Gators team in the computer average.

This season could be different, yes. Starting a year ranked in the Top 7 definitely helps. But even then, their schedules will no doubt be discounted because each team plays in a weaker conference – Boise St. in the WAC and TCU in the Mountain West.

So let us say Boise State is able to open its season with a win against Virginia Tech, beat Oregon State a few weeks later and run the table in the WAC. Will its high preseason ranking give it enough mojo to earn it a spot in the final two, ahead of a one-loss team from the SEC or Big 12 or Big Ten?

We can debate the same question with TCU, which plays Oregon State to open the season. Neither coach wants to hazard a guess, either.

“The last few years we’ve played well and had a lot of luck along the way,” Boise State coach Chris Petersen said at WAC media days. “We try not to think in those big, broad terms, look down at the end of the schedule what our record might be.”

Patterson: “We understand we’ve got quite a non-conference schedule ahead of us. If you win those kinds of games, for us to start as high as we’ll start in the preseason rankings gives us the opportunity to reach the top of our pyramid. That’s what our goal is.”

If both teams lose to start the season, this story is meaningless. But if both teams continue to win, what happens next will be the biggest storyline in college football.

Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson's team was picked in the Pac-10 media poll to repeat a ninth-place conference finish, but he pitches his squad as if it's got a shot at the Rose Bowl without coming off as a used-car salesman. Still, the initial reaction is skepticism. Then, as his players swagger by, an impression slowly registers: Wow, a lot of these guys pass the sight test. They don't look like a team that only won two conference games in 2009.

Of course, Arizona State only lost by a late field goal at Georgia in 2009. The eighth-place conference team, UCLA, won at Tennessee. The seventh-place team, Washington, outgained LSU 478 yards to 321 in an eight-point loss.

(Bowl season? Cough, cough).

The almost redundant message coming from the Pac-10 coaches this preseason can be summed up in three terms: 1. depth; 2. parity; 3. wide-open.

"I've never seen it so even in all the years I've been in this league," Erickson said "If someone asked me who was going to win it, I don't know. There are so many good football teams, a lot of guys a lot of guys coming back."

While Erickson's Sun Devils only return nine starters, they aren't inexperienced: 51 lettermen are back. And the conference as a whole averages 15.3 returning starters, which is notably above the average of 14.8 over the past decade.

Further, there's USC's situation. But throw out the fact that the Trojans are ineligible for the postseason, per NCAA sanctions, and therefore ineligible to win the Pac-10 championship. After winning seven consecutive conference titles, the Trojans went down hard in 2009, finishing tied for fifth with four conference losses -- despite beating Big Ten champion Ohio State -- and got blown out by Oregon and Stanford.

In recent years, the conference has been tweaked by many gadflies as the "Pac-1" or "USC and the Nine Dwarfs." In 2010, however, there are nine teams that, if things fell into place, are legitimate candidates to earn bowl berths. Heck, it doesn't strain credulity to imagine scenarios where the seventh, eighth or ninth picks in the media poll (California, UCLA and ASU) push into the Top 25.

“(Washington State coach Paul Wulff) would be the one guy -- and I’m not picking on the Cougs," Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel said, "that would be hard-pressed to tell you he’s got a chance to win the league. But I think everybody else is gonna go back and tell their team that they do.”

And those Cougars, who finished 1-11 last year and have won a single conference game over the past two seasons, should be much improved, though the baby step forward figures to be "competitive" instead of "winning."

Experience at quarterback is typically critical in Pac-10 play: Seven teams welcome back starters, and no conference in the country even approaches the NFL potential of Washington's Jake Locker, Stanford's Andrew Luck, USC's Matt Barkley and Arizona's Nick Foles. Oh, by the way, two of the top-three picks in the league -- No. 1 Oregon and No. 3 Oregon State -- are replacing their starting QBs.

That's another part of the parity: No team appears dominant. And every team has an area that could be circled in red as a significant concern.

The bad news that comes with parity is it appears likely the Pac-10 will not be a player in the national title hunt (again). And it might be difficult for multiple teams to finish with no more than two defeats, which likely would be the threshold to get two teams into BCS bowls for the first time since 2002.

“I think there is a lot of parity in this conference, there is no doubt about it," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. "Last year we had [four] teams with the same record. It will be very difficult to go through this conference unscathed."

The upside is it should be a wild ride with lots of upsets, darkhorse charges and surprises.

Media outlets enlist reporters to write obituaries in advance of aging or sickly celebrities. It's a little macabre, but it also ensures that a fleshed-out story is ready to go whenever that celebrity dies.

If the Big East were a person, there's no doubt its obit would have been written this spring.

"Big East football, 20, died today after a long battle for attention and relevance. The league is survived by John Marinatto and several basketball-only Catholic schools. Cards and flowers should be sent to the home office in Providence, R.I."

However, when the conference realignment craze shook the college football world this summer, the Big East remained surprisingly unscathed. That could change the second that Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany decides to scratch his East Coast itch, but for now the Big East lives on, and second-year commissioner Marinatto even boldly proclaimed at least week's media day that the conference "is stronger today in every way than it has ever been."

Whether that statement rings true depends on how the league performs in 2010. And the season could go in any number of different ways.

Last season, the Big East enjoyed breakout campaigns from some of the best young talent to come through its circuit in years, and that means major talent is returning this fall. Guys like Pittsburgh's Dion Lewis and Jonathan Baldwin, West Virginia's Noel Devine and Jock Sanders, Cincinnati's Zach Collaros and Armon Binns, Rutgers' Tom Savage and Mohamed Sanu and South Florida's B.J. Daniels will electrify fans on Saturdays (and Thursdays and Fridays and the occasional Wednesday) this season.

The conference has longed for the chance to take on the sport's big boys on an equal footing, and it gets that chance this season with several high-profile games, including Oklahoma at Cincinnati, South Florida at Florida and Miami, West Virginia at LSU, UConn at Michigan and Miami at Pittsburgh. Pitt, West Virginia, Cincinnati and UConn are legitimate Top 25 type teams, and South Florida and Rutgers are young, but talented enough to make noise. Syracuse is improved and Louisville should turn the corner soon under new coach Charlie Strong.

"It's very unpredictable," said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, whose team is nonetheless the near-unanimous preseason favorite. "Any one of five teams can win the league title."

Yet there are question marks. Three of the conference's eight teams changed head coaches this offseason, including two-time defending champion Cincinnati, which replaced Brian Kelly with Butch Jones. The young talent is still green, especially at quarterback, where true sophomore Savage has more career starts than any other Big East signal caller.

"There are so many new quarterbacks being broken into the league, and almost 50 percent of our coaches are new," first-year South Florida coach Skip Holtz said. "There are just a lot of unknowns in this league right now."

If a team like Pittsburgh or West Virginia gets on a roll, it has the schedule to possibly contend for a national title. For as much grief as the Big East gets, remember that in three of the past four seasons, a league school came within whiskers of crashing the BCS title game -- Louisville in 2006, West Virginia in 2007 and Cincinnati in 2009. Finally breaking through to that level could earn the conference the respect it so desperately desires.

Or perhaps the conference goes through a transition year as its new coaches and young quarterbacks adjust. Maybe a league that Marinatto calls "the most balanced and competitive in the country" beats up on one another.

Either way, the Big East continues to survive. And if things go well, it could even thrive. Don't write that obituary just yet.

As the only person to have served two terms as BCS coordinator, ACC commissioner John Swofford knows the value and importance of having a team contend for the BCS national title.

“You want to be in that conversation,” Swofford said. “ … I’m not sure that as a conference you get the full measure of respect and attention unless you have a team or two that are serious possibilities through a good part of the season for a national championship, be that right or wrong.”

The ACC enters the 2010 season with some of its highest hopes since expansion. Virginia Tech is expected to be a preseason Top-10 team, Miami and Florida State appear to be on the road back to relevance, and the conference has what should be five ranked teams.

Depth, though, only makes winning a national title more difficult.

“This conference is a tough conference,” Miami coach Randy Shannon said. “It’s getting tougher to win, but eventually somebody is going to come out and take the next step. … Is this a conference where one day we can have two teams go to the BCS? Maybe, but it’s going to be difficult.”

At the ACC’s recent media days in Greensboro, N.C., Swofford paralleled the ACC’s success with that of Florida State and Miami. The Seminoles haven’t played for the national title since 2000, and Miami hasn’t been to the championship game since losing to Ohio State in 2002. The Hurricanes haven’t even been able to win the Coastal Division since joining the league.

“When you’re talking about two programs that have the tradition and history of success at the national level as Miami and Florida State, and consequently the brands they enjoy in college football, there’s no question that when they’re strong, our league is perceived as being stronger as a whole,” Swofford said. “So the stronger those two programs become, the better perceived the Atlantic Coast Conference will be from a football standpoint.”

Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said the problem has been a lack of separation in the league.

“I think we’ve had a lot of good teams and I think we have a lot of teams getting better,” Beamer said. “I don’t know that we’ve had a great, great team the last couple of years, but I think we’re working our way there. I think we’ll back in that conversation, hopefully soon.”

Virginia Tech has finished as close as third in the BCS Standings in 2007 and played for the national title in 1999, but not one of Beamer’s 11 10-win seasons have ended with a national championship. Virginia Tech has an opportunity to change that, first by beating Boise State in the Labor Day opener.

“That’s our goal,” Beamer said. “If you’re in the hunt enough times, one of these days it’s going to work out. That’s our plan. There’s no denying that’s our goal at Virginia Tech.”

The ACC has an abundance of nonconference games that can help boost the league’s reputation this fall, including Miami at Ohio State and Florida State at Oklahoma.

“I think it can open eyes,” said Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher. “I think it can set a standard of where we are and what we’re doing. There’s no doubt about that. People love watching interleague play. But also you have to remember it’s one game and early in the season. A lot of teams don’t have their identity yet.”

The ACC does, though, and until proven otherwise, it’s a league without a national title contender.

A year from now, there won't be a Big 12 North and South.

Welcome to our world, says Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas A&M fans. Uh-oh, responds the North. Namely Kansas State's Bill Snyder, who received some light ribbing at Big 12 media days for his desire to keep two five-team divisions and a championship game.

A look down the past six years' Big 12 champion reveals what everyone already knows: Texas and Oklahoma rule the Big 12.

But with the departure of the other most historically successful program, Nebraska, the Big 12 will battle the perception that it's a weakened league. And in the immediate future, it will be. This year's preseason coaches' poll tells us at least that, with three teams in the top 10 -- including the Huskers -- and no other Big 12 teams in the remainder of the poll.

To keep the league from becoming top-heavy over the next decade -- a Big 2 and Little 8 -- another program or two must become a mainstay in recruiting rankings and weekly polls.

The most likely candidates are the same ones who received votes in this year's preseason poll: Texas Tech, Missouri and Texas A&M.

Texas Tech has the coach to do it in Tommy Tuberville, who'll bring his sense for brick wall SEC defense and years of success to Lubbock. Missouri has a five-year bowl streak and 30 wins the past three seasons on its side, and both schools made late-season visits to the BCS rankings' top 2 in 2007 and 2008.

The big difference between the two is their success against the powers. Texas Tech has beaten Oklahoma and Texas in successive seasons. Missouri's Gary Pinkel has never beaten neither. That will have to change for the Tigers to climb the Big 12 ladder.

Texas A&M has the fan base and resources, and according to coach Mike Sherman, the goal of becoming the Big 12's third premiere team, despite lacking a season with more than seven wins since 2006.

"Certainly in our fan base, our former students dream of the days of the mid-'80s and '90s where we were that marquee type of team. And when I took the job, I really felt that we had enough of a recruiting base in the state of Texas and that we had enough to sell, that we would be able to recruit players to come to make Texas A&M that type of team," Sherman said. "I think the Big 12 needs A&M to step up to the plate, to answer your question, and be that type of team. We're ready to accept that challenge."

There's a wide gap between accepting and completing. It's not easy to navigate. But for the Big 12's sake, Texas Tech, Missouri and Texas A&M need to do it.