The most recent expansion, prior to the one announced before the start of this season, was the addition of Rutgers and Maryland. To football fans, these additions seemed odd. The conference was adding two schools that you barely heard anything about. Wouldn't it diminish the image of the conference? Only if the only sport you are following is football.
Remember, for many of the schools in the Midwest that are represented in this conference, football is NOT the most avid and followed sport -- basketball is. Basketball has a bigger focus in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and parts of Ohio. Hockey is a large focus in Wisconsin and Minnesota. If you look at the entire gamut of college sports, those two additions make more sense.
Maryland certainly was a significant power in college basketball. Although they were slightly down when they joined the Big Ten, the history of Maryland basketball is quite large and impressive.
When you consider how strong a role tradition plays in the Midwest, the addition of Rutgers makes more sense, too. In Rutgers you have one of the oldest college football programs in the nation. For one of the oldest conferences to obtain one of the oldest programs, that was significant.
Ironically, Rutgers holds a unique distinction among the expansion teams. Of all four, they are the only team that has actually IMPROVED their record since joining the conference. The first couple of years were rough, but the added exposure of nationally televised games, and the prestige of playing in the Big Ten conference, has bolstered recruiting, and the quality of Rutgers athletic programs are rising. In football, they have certainly embraced the emphasis on tough defenses, and the Scarlet Knights are developing a good defensive strategy.
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