2001 Story of the Big 10

The 2000 season was one that the Big 10 started with the hope of a national title that they believed a few teams could bring.  The 2001 season is one that the Big 10 begins with the hope of not making an absolute fool of itself and qualifying 5 teams for its bowl bids.  Northwestern has a chance to make some national noise if the offense can be as amazing as it was a year ago and the defense can hold anybody out of the end zone, but that's where the optimism ends.  The loss of Drew Brees, Drew Henson, David Terrell, Michael Bennett, and Jamar Fletcher leaves a void in a conference that still may have the nation's best player in Damien Anderson and a bunch of other people that you haven't heard of. 

While many claim that parity is what makes sports great, the Big 10 and virtually every conference in the country would tell you that you're crazy.  Yes, it's fun to see everyone play on a more level playing field, but that's not what the Big 10 is in 2001.  This is the type of season that will make the country forget about this perennial power of a conference with a possibility that no Big 10 team could finish in the nation's top 10.  Unless Northwestern goes without a day of offensive mishaps this conference looks to be at a loss of national contenders.

Michigan looked to be a serious contender to the crown until Drew Henson opted to spend his days as a Yankee.  Now they could be a strong team that could go to a solid bowl if Henson's replacement, John Navarre is able to guide is offense without David Terrell and the school's all-time leading rusher Anthony Thomas.  Purdue must replace Drew Brees and Wisconsin must replace Michael Bennett in their backfields.  The Boilermakers and Badgers could finish anywhere from 2 to 9 in the final standings, depending on how the replacements play. 

Ohio State hopes that Jim Tressel can be the one to finally beat Michigan, while Michigan State hopes that Bobby Williams isn't as bad as he appeared to be a year ago.  Nittany Lions fans are hoping that JoePa isn't as old as he looked in 2000, Illinois fans are hoping that the Big 10 officiating improves this season (Big 10 officials admitted to blown calls costing them games in 2000), and Minnesota fans are hoping that their rise can continue even though their coach openly lobbied for the Ohio State job in the off-season.  Of course, Indiana has hopes that Antwaan Randle El can be 11 different people at once on offense and Iowa just hopes they don't suck again.  

There's your Big 10 story for 2001, hope.  There is hope of a decent season with a conference that has talent, just unproven talent.  A conference that could turn into being one of the best in 2002 has hopes of just hanging around and making noise in 2001.  While they do appear to have the Heisman Trophy winner in 2001 with Northwestern's Damien Anderson, they could finish in the second half of the conference power standings come December.