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I do not like talking about this because it reminds me UW mostly has room to fall.

I hope the Badgers are good enough to hold that throne again.

And the thing about it is that it doesn't even require the Badgers to truly "fall".

I think the West in general is starting to become more competitive because other programs are climbing. Nebraska has long been a sleeping giant. Northwestern is a plucky upstart but has coaching and program stability. Iowa is always there ready to turn in an 11-1 year when they're expected to go 7-5. Purdue [and possibly Minnesota] have up-and-coming coaches ready to make a splash.

Illinois still sucks though.

That is the difference between the East and the West.  The West only has one just awful team.  Illinois is a terrible 9-34 in B1G games in the East/West era with no discernible pattern of improvement.  The next worst team in the West is Purdue at 12-31 but the Boilermakers went 3-22 in the first three years and a respectable 9-9 the last two. 

Three of the worst four teams (RU, UMD, and IU) are in the East.  The best any of them have done in the East/West era is Maryland's 4-4 in 2014. 

The West has a lot more potential contenders in a given year but probably a lower overall ceiling. 

The Why is Ohio State Here? and the Where's Ohio State? Divisions of years past were better from a competitive balance standpoint. Their official names sucked, but competitively, they were better. Could have tacked Maryland and Rutgers into those without any trouble. Also, a gerrymandered North/South thing could have worked.

Splitting OSU and Michigan way by and large dumb. I think you need Michigan with OSU and MSU. Probably need Wisconsin with Iowa and Minnesota. Keep those and the in-state Illinois rivalry and you’re in good shape.

Moving PSU over would probably be the logical move, but that would have fallout.

I believe you are mixing up a couple things.

First, it was the "Where is Wisconsin?" and the "Why is Wisconsin here?"  divisions.  It was Wisconsin that was a bad fit in the Leaders Division.

Second, any attempts to produce balanced divisions is always skewed by Ohio State.  Whatever division Ohio State is put in, ends up being the top division.  Once you get past OSU, the divisions have been fairly competitive.  In the conference, there is not a Big 2, or Big 4.  There really is only a Big 1.