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College Football

Why the gap between East and West is poised to grow even B1Gger this season

Alex Hickey

By Alex Hickey

Published:

When the Big Ten expanded to 14 teams in 2014, it ditched the widely mocked Leaders and Legends divisions for a more sensible geographic model.

From the get-go, it was clear that the league’s axis tilted to the East. Historically speaking, Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State were the Big Ten’s 3 biggest names. In the West, only Nebraska could offer similar historic heft — and the trouble with the Huskers is that their heft was becoming nothing but historic.

But even though it seemed clear the East would have the long-term edge in conference championships, the West gave the impression of better overall depth to potentially hold an edge in regular-season matchups. Rutgers, Maryland and Indiana were easily the weakest links in the league. Even the weakest program in the West, Illinois, has won a conference title more recently than Nebraska.

Through the first 4 seasons of East-West play, the East held a modest 37-33 edge in head-to-head matchups — the entire difference being the East’s 4-0 record in the conference championship game.

That gap grew to 68-57 heading into this season, and now it’s getting even wider as teams from the East have won 4 of the first 5 cross-divisional matchups in 2021. And a Big Ten West champion still has yet to win the B1G title game.

This weekend provides the West with a path to slow that skid in a pair of high-profile matchups: No. 5 Iowa at Maryland, and No. 14 Michigan at Wisconsin.

But even if the Hawkeyes and Badgers uphold West Division pride, it is almost certainly a temporary respite. This season is exposing an extraordinary gulf between the divisions at the most important position in the sport.

The quarterback gap

With the Ryder Cup recently concluded, golf analogies are in vogue. So here’s one to consider.

The gap between B1G East and West quarterback play this season is about as wide as the gap between a Bryson DeChambeau drive and your drive — whoever you are. Unless Bryson is a reader, which is unlikely.

That gap might be even more pronounced if not for the fact Michigan throws the ball less than any non-service academy in the country and Indiana’s Michael Penix Jr. was battered about against the nation’s No. 1 pass defense (Cincinnati).

Nebraska has the best quarterback in the West by any measure in Adrian Martinez, but in terms of team passer rating the Cornhuskers just sneak in to the top half of the league at No. 6.

Big Ten passer rating by team

  1. Maryland (East) 176.9
  2. Ohio State (East) 172.6
  3. Penn State (East) 172.2
  4. Michigan (East) 168
  5. Michigan State (East) 164.8
  6. Nebraska (West) 155.6
  7. Purdue (West) 143.9
  8. Rutgers (East) 137.3
  9. Minnesota (West) 124
  10. Iowa (West) 122.9
  11. Northwestern (West) 118.9
  12. Illinois (West) 111.9
  13. Indiana (East) 109.7
  14. Wisconsin (West) 96.9

Big Ten completion percentage by team

Of the 8 teams connecting on better than 60% of their passes, 6 are in the East.

  1. Maryland (East) 76.3
  2. Penn State (East) 71.1
  3. Purdue (West) 69.2
  4. Rutgers (East) 67.5
  5. Nebraska (West) 66.4
  6. Ohio State (East) 63.8
  7. Michigan (East) 63.1
  8. Michigan State (East) 62
  9. Iowa (West) 59.6
  10. Northwestern (West) 59.3
  11. Wisconsin (West) 57.1
  12. Indiana (East) 54.1
  13. Illinois (West) 53.1
  14. Minnesota (West) 52.8

Big Ten passing yards per game

Once again, the top half of the conference is heavily skewed to the East.

  1. Maryland (East) 353.3
  2. Ohio State (East) 337
  3. Purdue (West) 314
  4. Penn State (East) 308.8
  5. Nebraska (West) 273.8
  6. Michigan State (East) 238
  7. Indiana (East) 228
  8. Wisconsin (West) 197
  9. Rutgers (East) 194
  10. Illinois (West) 186.2
  11. Northwestern (West) 174.3
  12. Iowa (West) 171.8
  13. Michigan (East) 164
  14. Minnesota (West) 135

The quarterback gap summed up tidily

If we simply average the totals from each division, the gap in quarterback quality can be summed up easily.

QB East: 134.5 passer rating, 65.4% completion, 7.7 touchdowns, 2 interceptions

QB West: 124.8 passer rating, 59.6% completion, 5 touchdowns, 3.3 interceptions

It is, of course, an oversimplification to say the East has the head-to-head edge over the West due to quarterback play alone. But looking at quarterback play does provide an accurate window into the overall picture.

Simply put: Until there’s better quarterback play in the West, the beatings will continue.

Alex Hickey

Alex Hickey is an award-winning writer who has watched Big Ten sports since it was a numerically accurate description of league membership. Alex has covered college football and basketball since 2008, with stops on the McNeese State, LSU and West Virginia beats before being hired as Saturday Tradition's Big Ten columnist in 2021. He is an Illinois native and 2004 Indiana University graduate.