Ted S. Warren / AP file

The last time the Big Ten had a worthy contender in the national title game, Maurice Clarett helped the Buckeyes to 31-24 win against Miami in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, writes Mike Celizic.

I confess to giving the Big Ten too much credence over the years as a great football conference. My excuse is I grew up in Ohio and grew up indoctrinated in the lore of the Big Ten. It’s hard to get rid of attitudes drilled into your brain from before you’re aware you’re alive.

But history is pretty emphatic on the subject. The Big Ten may have a lot of history and Michigan may have the coolest helmets in the game and one of the coolest fight songs, but it hasn’t translated into titles.

Ohio State and the Big Ten are running short on credibility. The Buckeyes will point to their big win over Miami in January, 2003 — a win that upped their number of championships in the previous 33 years to one. And it was a great victory over a team that seemed superior. Miami fans will be glad to tell you the Buckeyes were helped by a phantom interference call, but that’s sour grapes. A win’s a win.

And in 1997, Michigan took the honors, so two titles in 10 years isn’t awful. On the other hand, you have to go back to 1968 before you find another Big Ten team that ended the season ranked an undisputed No. 1. That team, too, was Ohio State.

But three titles in 40 years isn’t a record that marks a conference as great. And titles are how we keep score. Even more distressing in that total is that the Big Ten has offered only Ohio State and Michigan as title contenders over most of those years. That doesn’t say much for the rest of the conference.

Thanks to Missouri's and West Virginia’s monumental choke last Saturday, Ohio State is what we get. I’ve got little hope of seeing a competitive game, but I’m willing to wait and see. But if the Buckeyes stink out the joint again, we’ve got to come up with another way of figuring these matchup, one that would make the Big Ten prove its worth against someone other than itself.

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