There has been a big rivalry in football between the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten for years.
But recently, the SEC has dominated the teams up north in the postseason. The conference known as the best in the land has won seven consecutive national titles — with two of those wins coming over Ohio State — and routinely handles Big Ten foes in bowl games.
In total, the SEC has a 9-1 record in BCS championship games, with the one loss came to another SEC team. The Big Ten is just 1-2.
So yes, the SEC has the bragging rights when it comes to the numbers. But there is another measuring stick — coaches. A great SEC coach, Urban Meyer, left the league to retire, but he quickly made a comeback in the Big Ten with Ohio State. A good Big Ten coach, Nick Saban, left the Big Ten and came to the SEC, where he has become the best point man in college football.
Now another successful Big Ten coach, Bret Bielema, has come south, hoping to bring his recent success to the SEC.
Bielema shocked the college football world when he abruptly left Wisconsin to become the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. Bielema was 68-24 in seven seasons with the Badgers. Bielema took Wisconsin to seven straight bowl games, including the last three Rose Bowls.
“The opportunity to be in the SEC is something that I really wanted to do,” Bielema said. “I’m just glad that the opportunity came atArkansas. There’s probably only two or three schools that I would have thought about this afternoon and after I got involved in it, there’s only one school I would have done it for and that’s Arkansas.”
At Wisconsin, Bielema was famous for his approach to offense — run the football, run it again and then run some more. Bielema had big, strong backs like Montee Ball and he ran them hard. Over the past two seasons, Ball rushed for more than 3,600 yards and 55 touchdowns. At Arkansas, Bielema will be looking for his next Ball but the most likely returning choice is sophomore Jonathan Williams or junior Morgan Linton.
Williams rushed for 231 yards on 45 carries last season, clearly not Montee Ball numbers. Linton did not carry the football in 11 games. So the search for Bielema’s next great ball-carrier will be conducted in Arkansas’ spring drills, which start on March 10.
Bielema, who ironically grew up on a pig farm, credits his upbringing to the success he’s had in coaching.
“I’m glad I was raised that way,” he said when he was announced as the Razorbacks’ coach. “If there is one thing I learned in this life is that every job I’ve had, every goal that I’ve taken, every responsibility that I’ve gotten it truly is up to you to put in the work and the time to do it right the first time so you won’t have to go back and do it again. I learned that through my days growing up on a farm.
“I’ve learned that during my coaching tenure at every state university if you can’t solidify things here (as far as players) in state and they are going to play in another state then you’re not going to be as good as you can be. It’s going to be important from his day forward that we carry that thought of throwing a fence around the state borders and realize that everybody needs to stay here at home and represent us in a very positive manner.”
Bielema is used to having players on his team that are all in when it comes to his philosophy on football. Those are the kind of players that helped the Badgers’ win the last three Big Ten championships, and the kind of players he is planning on surrounding himself with at Arkansas.
“I left a place that gave me my first head coaching job,” Bielema said. “One of the things that I really believe in as a coach is that if you can leave a place in a better place than where you were, you should feel good. We gave them three straight Big Ten championships. That had never been done before.
“Early on in my coaching career I was given the opportunity to become a defensive coordinator. I let that opportunity go by. It was probably the best thing I ever did, but it made me think about coaching in the SEC and I am just glad the opportunity came at Arkansas. There were only two or three schools that I would have thought about doing this for. After I got involved in it there was only one school I would have done it for, and that was Arkansas.”
Bielema ruffled some fathers around the SEC a year ago when he made derogatory comments about recruiting in the league. But he didn’t back off those comments when he landed at Arkansas.
“I think obviously the comments I made in regards to the SEC a year ago, you have to understand this, a year ago I was the coach at theUniversityofWisconsin. I was the two-time defending Big Ten Champion,” he said. “The issues that came about because of that comment really had nothing to do with what was going on. Unfortunately it got spun into that. I wasn’t misquoted because I said it. I have a great amount of respect for the SEC. Where you are is what you need to protect and stand up for what you believe in. Nobody will have a stronger support of the SEC than myself.”
The two big questions are will Bielema find the players to run his style of offense and will it work in the defensive-oriented SEC?
To answer the second part of those questions, you need only to look to Tuscaloosa, where Nick Saban’s ground-oriented offense has dominated the SEC the past few seasons. But Saban has had the benefit of Montee Ball-type running backs like Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson, Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon.
If Bielema can find running backs like those, the chances are good he will be able to transfer the success he had at Wisconsin to Arkansas.
The recruiting chase for this season is over and on March 10 it will be time to see how it plays out on the practice field.