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Ohio State’s Sugar Bowl Win Breaks Big Ten Stereotypes

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Ohio State Sugar Bowl

Matthew Emmons – USA Today

To say Ohio State surprised the nation Thursday night with their 42-35 win over the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide is an understatement. Ohio State safety Tyvis Powell said it best in his postgame interview, “We shocked the world.” Using the same phrase as Muhammad Ali after he defeated Sonny Liston, his words rang true as not many outside of the state of Ohio, or perhaps the Big Ten, believed it was possible.

However, what we’ve seen from some of the conference’s best teams this year in bowl games, and now playoff games, is that the Big Ten is are a conference to be reckoned with.

What Urban Meyer has done with the Buckeyes in three years is nothing short of phenomenal, and the team that lined up against Alabama the other night was not your typical Big Ten team. The speed was evident on both sides of the ball. Ohio State’s other in-conference foe, Michigan State, also set out to prove they could handle a team built on speed in the Baylor Bears. While things looked bleak for the majority of the game, they pulled off an emphatic comeback to win their game 42-41.

While these two teams have been at the top of the Big Ten for the past few years, the rest of the conference will be forced to catch up. With the hiring of Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, the draw to the Big Ten will only be more compelling as recruits from hotspot states such as Florida and California will ditch the warm weather for the appeal of playing for some of the country’s best coaches.

The Big Ten still has work to do as a whole. However, with the impetus on hiring quality coaches who can recruit SEC-caliber speed, it will be competing with the other conferences in due time.

Ohio State’s victory over Alabama symbolizes the progress its conference is making to not just be relevant, but to become a perennial national powerhouse like the SEC is perceived to be. With this win, Ohio State is proving the Big Ten can compete again on the biggest stage against the biggest competitors.

Brandon Williams is an Atlanta Braves writer for www.RantSports.com. You can follow him on Twitter, @BfreshAlum4UA, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.

 

 

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