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

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Most of the talk coming out of Big Ten spring meetings was about expanding the College Football Playoff, and none of those conversations happen in a vacuum. Predictably, the topics were much of the same in this week’s meetings for the SEC, and these two conferences are going to continue to be compared and contrasted as they pull 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 about the biggest topics in the sport. There appears to be strong belief amongst the Big Ten that the conference is currently stronger than the SEC, specifically because the “brand of football is better, which is why they’re winning these games in the postseason,” having the advantage at the line of scrimmage.

Klatt asked these coaches why they thought the Big Ten had pulled ahead in this area. Of course, NIL and the transfer portal have played a role in leveling the playing field, but he heard an interesting second reason as well. The train of thought begins around the 9:05 mark and goes for about a minute:

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

“And number two is: you’re always going to target who’s at the top of the conference, and their brand of football is going to influence the way that you build your roster. It certainly happened in the SEC when Alabama was ruling the the SEC with Nick Sabin and the physical brand of football that they played.

And there was a little bit of an homage to what Jim Harbaugh in Michigan did. And it was such a physical-line-of-scrimmage brand of game that they said the entire conference had to go that way. And so now, the entire conference is better in that spot than they have been in previous years.”

Is Klatt right?

Set aside for a moment the fact that he is mostly reporting what he heard vs. straight editorializing. From day one, Jim Harbaugh always preached physicality and toughness, but that did not really manifest until the 2021 season, which saw the Wolverines absolutely dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. There is no question that the identity and legacy of those back-to-back-to-back Big Ten championship-winning teams is this style of play.

The old narrative was that Ohio State built its fancy passing game and finesse style of play to compete with SEC giants and other rosters loaded with NFL talent, but did not react quickly enough to Harbaugh’s style of play. Obviously the Buckeyes had no issues winning the rivalry for a number of years, but when Michigan (re)discovered its identity at the start of the decade, there was a clear mismatch between the programs.

What has happened since? Ohio State won a national championship itself (though I believe still lost a game or two…) thanks to its extremely tough defense. The two 2024 Big Ten Championship Game participants were elite up front as well, with Oregon 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 off 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 were from the conference (Indiana, Iowa, Oregon), with the national champions happy to maul opponents on the ground, including in an absolute shellacking of Alabama in the quarterfinals.

Maybe focusing on physicality is nothing new, as this has always been the Big Ten’s mantra. However, I do not think it is a coincidence that the style of play has leaned even more this direction following Harbaugh’s success, and coaches around the conference do not seem shy about acknowledging that. Michigan did not invent anything new, but its success from 2021-23 reminded its peers that a return to basics was needed. As a result, the Big Ten has established itself as the new top dog.

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