By Ivan Maisel
ESPN.com
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Dumping on the Big Ten is as fashionable as flat-front pants, as hip as craft beer. So let's all put down our iPhone 5s for a second. Let's take a deep breath. Step back. Look at the bigger picture. You will find that the Big Ten still has the necessary ingredients for success at the highest levels of college football.

The Big Ten is in the midst of a transformation, a more conventional change than the realignments that the SEC and Big 12 are digesting this season. The Big Ten's traditional powers are molting, shedding old skins and developing new ones. Ohio State? New coaching staff. Michigan? Second year of new coaching staff. Wisconsin? Six new assistant coaches. Nebraska? Second year in the conference.

By comparison, look at the power teams in the SEC. Yeah, I know, the Big Ten has had it up to its chin strap with being compared to the SEC. But there's an important point. Alabama? Nick Saban is in his sixth season. LSU? Les Miles is in his eighth season. Georgia? Mark Richt has been there 12 seasons. South Carolina? Steve Spurrier is in his eighth season, too.

The SEC's most powerful programs have a foundation anchored in coaching staffs that know how to win. The Big Ten's powers don't have that foundation right now. It is a coincidence that they found themselves in transition at the same time, a coincidence that has been bad for the league on the field.

College football is a cyclical sport, and the Big Ten's time at the bottom of the Ferris Wheel is lasting longer than anyone believed. But the ups and downs of college football don't compromise the building blocks that create success in college football. Those are tradition, deep pockets and large passionate fan bases.

The Big Ten still has plenty of programs with those three attributes. History and economics reassure us that Michigan, Ohio State and Nebraska will regain their bearings and find themselves in the national championship race sometime soon. They combined to win five national championships in a nine-season span (1994-2002).

Wisconsin's history of successful football dates to the Clinton administration. Nonetheless, the past two decades -- including the past two seasons that ended with the Badgers in Pasadena -- indicate that the struggles of September will disappear before they take root.

Besides, Minnesota and Northwestern are both 4-0. Maybe the Big Ten will get its power from a couple of non-traditional sources.