Joel Klatt explains how Michigan and Jim Harbaugh changed Big Ten football

The majority of the conversations that emerged during the Big Ten’s spring meetings have been about expanding the College Football Playoff, and none of those conversations are happening in a vacuum. Predictably, the topics at the SEC’s meetings this week were largely the same, and these two conferences will increasingly be compared and contrasted as they move further and further ahead of the rest of the sport.

Last Monday, Joel Klatt recapped the Big Ten meetings on his podcast, sharing what he heard from coaches on the biggest topics in sports. There seems to be a strong belief among the Big Ten that the conference is stronger than the SEC right now, mainly because “the brand of football is better, and that’s why they win these games in the postseason” because they have the advantage at the line of scrimmage.

Klatt asked these coaches why they thought the Big Ten had gained an edge in this area. Of course, NIL and the transfer portal have played a role in creating a level playing field, but he also heard an interesting second reason. The train of thought starts around 9:05 am and lasts about a minute:

Michigan fans will be most intrigued by the highlight of his explanation:

“And number two is, you’re always going to focus on who’s at the top of the conference, and their style of football is going to impact how you build your roster. It certainly happened in the SEC when Alabama ruled the SEC with Nick Sabin and the physical type of football they played.”

And there was a little tribute to what Jim Harbaugh did at Michigan. And it was such a physical scrimmage game that they said the entire conference had to go that way. And now the entire conference is better there than in previous years.”

Set aside for a moment the fact that he mainly reports on what he heard, rather than just editorial commentary. From day one, Jim Harbaugh always preached physicality and toughness, but that really showed in the 2021 season, where the Wolverines absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. There is no doubt that the identity and legacy of these consecutive Big Ten championship-winning teams is this style of play.

The old story was that Ohio State built its fancy passing game and refined playing style to compete with SEC giants and other rosters packed with NFL talent, but didn’t respond quickly enough to Harbaugh’s playing style. Obviously, the Buckeyes had no trouble winning the rivalry for a number of years, but as Michigan (re)discovered its identity at the turn of the decade, there was a clear mismatch between the programs.

What has happened since then? Ohio State itself won a national championship (although I believe it still lost a game or two…) thanks to its extremely strong defense. The two 2024 Big Ten Championship Game participants were also elite up front, with Oregon being named a Joe Moore Award finalist and Penn State leaning on the run game behind Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton. Both teams also had disruptive defensive lines with plenty of threat from the edge.

Last year was no different, with all three Big Ten CFP squads boasting top-five defenses per SP+ thanks to elite defensive lines. All three Joe Moore Award finalists came from within the conference (Indiana, Iowa, Oregon), with the national champions happily tearing opponents to pieces on the ground, including an absolute crushing of Alabama in the quarterfinals.

Perhaps focusing on physicality is nothing new, as it has always been the mantra of the Big Ten. However, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the style of play has moved even more in this direction after Harbaugh’s success, and coaches around the conference don’t seem shy about acknowledging that. Michigan hasn’t invented anything new, but its 2021-2023 success reminded its peers that a return to basics was necessary. As a result, the Big Ten has established itself as the new top dog.