The world has turned and left Wisconsin here... A year or two into the latest wave of conference realignment, what was thought to give the Badgers a big advantage has been anything but that. With Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington joining this 14-team league and making it a party of 18, some teams were going to be put in a bad spot with the Big Ten doing away with its divisions and whatnot.
Upon first glance, the team that was to benefit from this the most was Penn State because the Nittany Lions would not have to play Michigan and Ohio State annually. As it turns out, that did not actually matter because this team was poorly coached. Teams like Wisconsin in the old Big Ten West were to be hurt by it more, but not everyone is circling the drain like the Badgers have quite recently.
To be quite frank, Iowa was thought to be the biggest loser of Big Ten realignment. Kirk Ferentz built up a hall-of-fame coaching career by taking care of business in a lackluster Big Ten West. Two years in, Iowa is still Iowa. When other former Big Ten West teams like Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and even Northwestern appear to be thriving, what does that say about Wisconsin? It has hurt them the most.
Let's take a look at how Big Ten teams have done since the league expanded and divisions went away.
Wisconsin may have had the worst luck with recent Big Ten expansion
Let's start with the Pac-12 newcomers of Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington. Oregon has come out of this the best because it is a national title-contending program. Travel can be hard, but the Ducks make the most of it. USC and Washington have had their ups and downs, but both teams are certainly heading in the right direction this year. Maybe UCLA had the wrong head coach? They are so fun now!
So while it may be too early to tell how most of the Pac-12 newcomers are doing, outside of Oregon of course, let's now see if things have improved or worsened for the seven former Big Ten East schools. Ohio State is unfazed by these changes. Indiana has oddly benefited from doing away with divisions. Penn State made the playoff last year, but fired its head coach midway through this season.
Michigan has been sorting through a tumultuous coaching change. Michigan State has been an irrelevant program for years now. Maryland and Rutgers are essentially what they were before realignment, which is occasionally decent teams that grossly favor one side of the ball. Maryland loves offense, while Rutgers craves defense. It has them hovering around .500 most of the time.
So Ohio State is still definitively strong and Indiana is markedly better since realignment. As for the other five teams, we may need some more time to figure out who and what they are. Now for the fun part... Let's take a look at the seven former Big Ten West teams. Illinois is undeniably better since the changes, while Wisconsin is unavoidably worse. Iowa is Iowa. The same with Minnesota to be honest.
Purdue is dealing with the ramifications of a bad hire a few years back. Northwestern is trying to hold serve after their iconic former head coach was ousted due to scandal. Nebraska looks to be making the turn under Matt Rhule. So right now, Wisconsin might actually be in the worst shape of any Big Ten team since the latest wave of realignment. It was somewhat expected, but far worse than we thought.
No, it is not doing away with empty-calorie nonsense division games. This has more to do with Wisconsin completely losing its kung-fun grip on being a traditional power in the old Big Ten. Along with Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, the Badgers were the most likely contenders to win the league prior to realignment. Now that Indiana has emerged and Oregon has joined the league, oof...
In the end, what Indiana is now is what Wisconsin could have used to be. This big stage they are competing on is where the Badgers were under Bret Bielema, and at times under Paul Chryst. Now, they cannot even win a league game... The fact they are coming up dead vs. hated rivals like Iowa on the regular is more of the sign of the times. In a game that requires adapting, Wisconsin will not do it.
For a program that once had such a strong identity, Wisconsin is merely making it up as it goes along.