11:57 AM ET  11.24 | Despite the claims that the Big Ten is only a rich conferance and holds no weight in the game, the Big Ten is a strong conferance. The reason people may see it as "weak" is because it is in transition. The traditional powerhouses of the Big Ten (Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State) are still quality teams and the more modern ranked team, Wisconsin, still hangs in there. Do you realise that, of the TEN bowl elligable teams in the Big Ten, that only FOUR of them had ANY losses that came from a team outside of their own conferance? (Illini to Mizzou, Mich to App. State and Ducks, Iowa to Iowa St. and W. Mich., and NW to Duke) So, ultimately, the reason why more teams in the Big Ten aren't raked is because of in-conferance toughness, not inability to win against other conferances. However, this is mainly due in part because the traditionally bad or average teams of the Big Ten are stepping up. Given, they're still not worthy of greater competition, but they're improving, and ultimately the reason why the Big Ten has less ranked teams. The nobodies of the past are either now defeating the powerhouses or at least giving them a run for their money in the games.