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profile in recent years. Michigan State has taken a step back, but Penn State's emergence has given this division three teams – along with Ohio State and Michigan, of course – that look to be ca- pable of making the College Football Playoff in any given season." The East Division has indeed been the catalyst behind the Big Ten's surge. Buoyed by Penn State's revival, the divi- sion has gotten so much attention lately that it's sparked a second conversation about the supposed inferiority of the West. There have been three Big Ten Championship Games since the league reorganized into East and West divisions, and all have been won by teams from the East: Ohio State in 2014, Michigan State the following year and Penn State last De- cember in a rousing 38-31 comeback over Wisconsin. While the East sent three teams to New Year's Six bowls a year ago, the West sent only the Badgers. Its sec- ond-place team, Iowa, went to the Out- back Bowl, where it was routed by Florida, 30-3, while Nebraska ended up falling to Tennessee, 38-34, in the Music City Bowl. Defenders of the Big Ten's divisional structure like to point out that the sport is in a constant state of churn, that even powerful programs experience down- turns, whether because of coaching changes (Michigan), NCAA sanctions (Penn State) or some combination of on- and off-field problems (Michigan State). As Franklin noted, there's going to be an imbalance "whenever you have Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State [in the same division]. But year in, year out, that fluctuates. It's hard to have a perfect system." Indeed, all conferences experience their ebbs and flows. For years, the SEC's East and West divisions were competitive with each other, but Alabama has seized con- trol during the past decade, having won three conference championships in a row P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> 1 SAQUON BARKLEY RB PENN STATE Barkley is up to 230 pounds yet still boasts 4.4-second 40-yard speed. He gained 2,572 yards his ;rst two seasons playing behind a still- developing line. Now that the Nittany Lions' o=ensive front looks to have coalesced into potentially one of the better units in the Big Ten, he could be headed for a mon- ster season. Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said recently that Barkley is as good a player as former Buckeyes All-Ameri- can Ezekiel Elliott. "I think he's that quality of a back, that quality of a worker, from everything I hear and read," Meyer said. "So I think that [comparison] is very fair." 2 J.T. BARRETT QB OHIO STATE The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Bar- rett has thrown for 69 touchdowns (with only 19 interceptions) and rushed for another 31 scores. Set to become a four-year starter, he is the only three-time captain in Buckeyes history and is only 5 yards short of Art Schlichter's Ohio State career record for total offense (8,850 yards). With a more-experienced supporting cast around him this season, as well a new coordinator guiding the offense in for- mer Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson, Barrett could be poised for his best sea- son yet. 3 TRACE McSORLEY QB PENN STATE McSorley's debut as a starting quarterback could hardly have gone better, as he led the Big Ten in passing yards (3,614) total o=ense (3,979) and pass e>ciency, thanks to a superb touchdown-interception ratio of 29-8. He may not look to run as o?en as his Ohio State counterpart, rushing for 365 yards last year to Barrett's 847, but he was better at getting the ball down;eld, averaging an FBS-best 16.13 yards per completion. 4 JUSTIN JACKSON RB NORTHWESTERN Barkley gets a lot of attention, and de- servedly so. But Jackson was the Big Ten's top rusher last season with 1,524 yards and won ;rst-team All-Big Ten honors from the media. Coming up on his senior season, the 5-11, 200-pounder from Carol Stream, Ill., needs only 256 yards to become the lead- ing rusher in school history. 5 BILLY PRICE C OHIO STATE A 6- 4, 312-pound senior, Price has made 41 consecutive starts for the Buckeyes. He's moving to center a?er winning ;rst-team All-America notice at guard last year. It might seem odd to switch a player who's coming o= an All- America season, but Ohio State did the same with Pat El

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