Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Take a look at this:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/ct-nfl-players-brain-disease-cte-20170725-story.html

That's a tough read. I think everyone else is going to infuse the appropriate amount of compassion and concern, which I also feel, so instead of being redundant, I want to briefly talk about the experimental design and how this was a "convenience study" of post-mortem samples from individuals that were clinically suspected to have CTE, but could not until after autopsy be diagnosed as such. So the "99%" value, which is the story's eye popper statement was actually rather predictable and therefore misleading without proper context.

Just in case anyone thinks I have changed my mind, I haven't.  I still strongly disagree with this theory.  Things can and will continue to change.

That's a totally legitimate alternative hypothesis. It also requires a waiting game to be proven.

In the context of your example, MSU passing Michigan, maybe not.  On the other hand, Oregon or Florida passing Michigan, I think it could happen in ~30 years. 

I think that Nebraska was a helmet but I'm not sure that they are anymore.  They haven't won a NC since 1997 and haven't won a conference title since 1999. 

OSU didn't win a title from 1970 to 2002, and in the 90ies had a 2-10-1 against their rival. Did OSU lose their Helmet status during that 30 year run?

The other side of that coin is that most latin american immigrants, when they hear the word football, do not think of a non-spherical pigskin and college football but rather the world cup.

I assumed that was the point, that the demos where Catholicism will continue to be strong is probably not where Notre Dame will draw football fans from.

However, IF people from that demo discover a love of football, it's as good a bet as any that they'll be Notre Dame fans, with a totally blank fanship slate to that point.

The other side of that coin is that most latin american immigrants, when they hear the word football, do not think of a non-spherical pigskin and college football but rather the world cup. 

That's fair, though just as 3rd generation immigrants tend to have close to zero connection to their grandparents' first language, we could hypothesize that they'd have much less connection to their grandparents' first sport. Both dynamics involve peer pressure. The new thing (English, CFB) is far more popular in the U.S. than their ancestor's thing. Of course, this factor can be muted in insular communities. But 3rd generation immigrants are less tied to those on average as well.

As for my post's wording. It was a bit sloppy. I was "feeling the same" about people overestimating the decline of religious influence in the U.S. and Notre Dame's decline. The latin american bit was just an add-on about a dynamic I hadn't considered. But now that we're in that conversation, I'm happy to keep it going.

You skipped over my response about how my intention was not for that claim to be read in the present tense. You should respond to that response:   

"You misunderstood. I was expressing that the most meaningful thing going forward (future tense) is to be the team that wins the conference championships the most frequently. (By extension, my point was to discuss it this way...) if we had that conversation in 1896, at the dawn of Big Ten football, we'd learn that by now (until now), that title would be held by Michigan."

At any given point in time I believe that the most relevant thing to the conference brass is who "is winning" the most championships.  All time the list is as follows (from B1G 2016 media guide with an adjustment for PSU's 2016 title, pg 104):

• 42 Michigan - last in 2004
• 35 Ohio State - last in 2014
• 18 Minnesota - last in 1967
• 15 Illinois - last in 2001
• 14 Wisconsin - last in 2012
• 11 Iowa - last in 2004
• 9 Michigan State - last in 2015
• 8 Northwestern - last in 2000
• 8 Purdue - last in 2000
• 7 Chicago -  last in 1924
• 4 Penn State - last in 2016
• 2 Indiana - last in 1967
• still waiting:  Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers

Completely aside from the point:  I find it odd how the most recents are so clustered:

• 2016:  Penn State
• 2015:  Michigan State
• 2014:  Ohio State
• 2012:  Wisconsin
• 2004:  Michigan and Iowa
• 2001:  Illinois
• 2000:  Northwestern and Purdue
• 1967:  Minnesota and Indiana
• 1924:  Chicago

Ok, back to my point:
Ignore Ohio State and Michigan for a minute because that has too much of a tendency between us to devolve into the aforementioned issue of our own points tending to benefit our own schools.  Excluding those two, who would you define as "the school winning the most B1G Championships currently"? 


The all-time answer, of course, is Minnesota but this year they are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their most recent league championship team.  I just don't think that fits the definition of "currently".  Personally, I think the relevant answer to that question requires one to look at something like a rolling 10-25 year picture. 


For this purpose I chose to use 20 years but now that I have the data entered it is pretty easy to switch to another number of years (ties are all broken in favor of the most recent winner, then the tiebreaker winner in that most recent year). 
For the most recent 20-year period (1997-2016):

• 8 Ohio State
• 5 Wisconsin
• 5 Michigan
• 3 Penn State
• 3 Michigan State
• 1 Illinois
• 1 Purdue
• 1 Northwestern

The most recent period in which Ohio State did not hold the lead was 1989-2008:

• 9 Michigan
• 8 Ohio State
• 3 Penn State
• 3 Iowa
• 3 Northwestern
• 3 Wisconsin
• 2 Illinois
• 1 Purdue
• 1 Michigan State

Michigan then held the lead back through 1970-1989.  Ohio State and Michigan were tied for 1969-1988 at 12 each.  Here is 1968-1987:

• 13 Ohio State
• 11 Michigan
• 2 Michigan State
• 2 Iowa
• 1 Illinois

Prior to that the lead was held by either Ohio State or a tie between Ohio State and Michigan all the way back through 1935-1954.  Here is 1934-1953:

• 6 Minnesota
• 5 Michigan
• 5 Ohio State
• 3 Illinois
• 2 Purdue
• 1 Michigan State
• 1 Wisconsin
• 1 Indiana
• 1 Northwestern

Another interesting little tid-bit that I discovered in compiling this:


From the earliest that it would have been possible (1896-1915) up through 1956-1975 no team ever managed to win 10 or more titles in any 20-year period.  Then it became common for both Ohio State and Michigan for a while:

• Ohio State won at least 10 titles in each of the 20-year periods from 1957-1976 through 1960-1979. 
• Ohio State and Michigan won at least 10 titles each in each of the 20-year periods from 1961-1980 through 1972-1991. 
• Michigan won at least 10 titles in each of the 20-year periods from 1973-1992 through 1982-2001. 
• Michigan again won at least 10 titles in each of the 20-year periods from 1984-2003 through 1988-2007. 

Since then Michigan hit nine once (1989-2008) and Ohio State has hit nine in six of the nine 20-year periods since 1988-2007 but no team has hit double-digits. 


FWIW:  Other than Ohio State and Michigan no school has ever won more than eight titles in any 20-year period.  The only times another school has won eight were:

• The six 20-year periods from 1922-1941 through 1927-1946 by Minnesota
• The two 20-year periods from 1909-1928 and 1910-1929 by Illinois
• The five 20-year periods from 1896-1915 through 1900-1919 by Minnesota

The most titles in any 20-year period by school:

• 13 Ohio State and Michigan
• 8  Minnesota and Illinois
• 6  Wisconsin and Chicago
• 4  Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue
• 3  Michigan State and Penn State
• 1  Indiana

That's the thing so, they have to totally whiff for a very long time.  The have the resources, both tangible and intangible, to cover up any mistake they make.  Michigan made back to back bad coaching hires, haven't won even a conference title in 14 years (2003 I think?), but they can afford Harbaugh, and that helmet attracts Harbaugh (or something similar if he hadn't been available), and a staff of top paid assistants, and it's like they never skipped a beat.

This is all true.  The true helmets and even Nebraska and Tennessee have the resources to right the ship and win at a high level again.

Unless, the fan base and the school become uninterested in keeping the status.  Obviously, this hasn't happened much.  The Vols are still trying to put together a great team.