Quarterbacks lead offensive renaissance in Big Ten

IOWA CITY, IOWA (AP) - Quick: Name the league with the nation’s best crop of quarterbacks this season.

Bet the Big Ten didn’t come to mind, did it?

Well, believe it.

With the season at the halfway point for many schools around the country, no conference can match the Big Ten for sheer depth at the game’s most important position, a development that’s helped fuel an offensive renaissance in a league once known as the ground-and-pound circuit.

Six of the top 16 QBs nationally in pass efficiency rating, led by the once turnover-prone Ricky Stanzi of Iowa, are in the Big Ten. The SEC ranks second with four and no other league has more than two.

The Big Ten has a talented group.

There are dual-threat stars such as Michigan’s Denard Robinson and Terrelle Pryor at top-ranked Ohio State. More traditional drop-back passers, including Stanzi, Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins and Wisconsin’s Scott Tolzien, have led their teams to strong starts, and spread QB Dan Persa has completed 78 percent of his passes in leading Northwestern to a 5-1 record.

Heck, Indiana’s Ben Chappell leads the league with nearly 300 passing yards a game, but he’s been overshadowed by the others so far.

“It’s a little bit more wide-open conference offensively. Everybody still wants to pound the ball and control the line of scrimmage, but there’s great athletes across the board in this conference and it’s getting that much more challenging on defense,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said.

The Big Ten has been evolving as a more diverse offensive league since the mid-1990s, when Joe Tiller brought the spread to Purdue and watched as it helped the Boilermakers reach the Rose Bowl after the 2000 season.

Over the past few years, even traditional ground powers Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan have found success opening things up.

The Nittany Lions had a mini-revival with their version of the spread under former quarterback Daryll Clark, reaching the Rose Bowl two years ago. The Buckeyes have adapted their offense to capitalize on Pryor’s athleticism and, this week, became the first team in the league since 2007 to hit No. 1.

Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez brought with him the spread-option attack he used to light up Big East scoreboards at West Virginia. Though the Wolverines have had their much-publicized struggles in his first two seasons, they’ve hit pay dirt with Robinson in 2010.

“The Big Ten is probably similar to the Big East, where there were a few teams that would spread you out, a few teams that were more of a power-based offense and some that were in between,” Rodriguez said. “I think you’re going to see more and more variety throughout the game going forward as well.”

Perhaps the simplest explanation for why the Big Ten looks more explosive than ever this season is because the quarterbacks are just better at what they do.

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