No Need to Toot for Overrated Buckeyes

So let me get this straight: As a fan of Penn State football, and by extension, a fan of the Big Ten Conference, it was in my best interest to have rooted for Ohio State to have defeated Michigan State in the conference title game a few weeks ago?

Yeah, not so much.

I’ll do my best to explain how I couldn’t feel more strongly that the above statement is a largely flawed argument, but my basic response is this: I didn’t root for Ohio State because as a Penn State and Big Ten Conference fan, I don’t care how Associated Press sportswriters and college football fans around the country view the Big Ten.

I just don’t. Never have and never will, mostly because everyone in the two aforementioned groups is usually wrong.

This isn’t a direct response to any one article. I’ve read the same points from various members of the media, not just this season but in plenty of years past.

Before I continue, I’ll grant the other side one caveat: If Ohio State were truly superior to Michigan State, I’d agree in this case, or in any other case where an upset precludes a Big Ten team from playing in the national title game.

But here’s the problem, it was clear to anyone paying attention this season Ohio State wasn’t superior.

I believed Michigan State was the better team pretty much the entire year, and I was right. It’s not my fault, nor is it my concern as a Penn State and Big Ten fan, that the AP voters whiffed, as they’re prone to do.

If you rooted for Ohio State to win, you assumed a lot. You assumed Ohio State would beat Florida State. You assumed everyone would immediately bow down and proclaim an undefeated Ohio State squad was above a one-loss SEC team such as Auburn. And you assumed this would make a significant difference in how AP writers would vote in future years.

And you’d be wrong each time.

Ohio State wouldn’t have beaten Florida State, many people still would have considered Auburn a better team and the Big Ten critics still would have said the conference isn’t on level ground with the SEC.

Think about it: Would a staunch SEC supporter, fan or voter, really turn around and agree that just because the Big Ten won one title, that the conference sits alongside the SEC? Yeah, I doubt it, too.

Sure, one title is a start to reversing a national perception, but I don’t like watching college football because I enjoy comparing and considering national perceptions.

Games at Beaver Stadium are fun, energetic and showcase our Nittany Lion players, many of who truly do embody what a student-athlete should be. Hello, John Urschel.

I don’t need perception. I experience the real thing.

Most importantly, Penn State doesn’t need to piggyback off the prestige of another Big Ten school, such as Ohio State. If somebody’s opinion of Penn State is shifted one way or another because of something Ohio State does, well, I couldn’t be less concerned with what that person thinks. They’re uninformed, easily persuaded or both.

Look, I root for the Big Ten teams in bowl games and want to see the conference do well whenever possible. This isn’t me contradicting myself after I made my argument. It’s just there’s a difference, a rather enormous one, between wanting to see the Big Ten Conference do well and believing that for that to happen, everyone has to hinge their hopes on the shoulders of an overrated team that got exposed yet again in a big-time game.

If a four-team playoff, like the one starting next year, were implemented this season, I’d be rooting for Michigan State like crazy. But to cheer for Ohio State to win a few weeks ago because of a way a certain sportswriter may vote in the next four or five years is nonsensical.

If Penn State is good enough to quality for the four-team playoff sometime in the near future, I don’t think Ohio State’s recent loss is going to keep the Nittany Lions out.

One final caveat to the argument Big Ten fans should have wanted Ohio State to win. That makes sense if you’re a fan of Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, Purdue or some other downtrodden program. In those cases, you need outside circumstances to intervene because you’re unable to generate a positive image on your own.

Fans in Happy Valley don’t fit into this category.

I seem to remember Penn State football doing quite well before joining the Big Ten, and if the conference somehow dissolved in the near future, Penn State would still be fine.

So thank you, Ohio State, for trying to lift up the Big Ten Conference, and by extension, Penn State. Now I’ll let everyone in on a secret. Ohio State needs the Big Ten more than the conference needs the Buckeyes. Don’t believe me? Look at the conference alignment over the last few years. The power conferences continue to do well with TV markets and revenue sharing, so the Big Ten would keep on chugging without the school in Columbus.

And as far as Penn State needing Ohio State for anything, I’m sure you can imagine where I fall on that argument.