I think one of the main reasons the Big 10 has fallen behind is the unwillingness to pay for better coaches. Meyer did what he did at OSU, so its not a conference thing. But unlike the NFL, where you draft players, the college team has to convince players to pick them.
Well I don't think that the Big 10 (or the PAC 10) is as far behind the SEC as you think. It is all about the money though. The SEC spends more money, on average, per team than any other conference in college football. The Big 10 is # 2 in spending but is significantly behind the SEC. OSU spends more money than any other team in college football for the last 10 years (but not this year for obvious reasons) which is why they have been the most succesfull college football team in the last 12 years. I don't think it's spending money on coaches in general. It's spending money on the football prgram period.
Northwestern is an excellent example of my point. in 1990 they spent about 3 million on their football program and we're perenial losers. They spent 19 million this year putting them in the top 20 college programs in terms of spending, had a good year and won its first bowl game in like 45 years.
Seven of the top 20 programs in spending are SEC teams and they are the best teams in the SEC. Alambama, Auborn, Florida, Arkansas, LSU, South Carolina and Georgia. All spend over 20 million per year and two spend over 30 million a year. By way of comparison the second best conference has been the Big 10 which also has 7 teams in the top 20 in spending. Of those only 5 spend more than $20 million and only one spends more than $30 million (OSU). That's better than a couple of years ago when 6 SEC teams spent over 20 million per year and only 1 Big 10 team (again OSU) spent over 20 million. So clearly the Big 10 is closing the gap on spending with the SEC and It's safe to assume that when that gap closes (if it closes) the competition will be a lot closer too.
To emphasise my point. There's not a single NCAA BCS Conference National Champion in the last 12 years who isn't in the top 20 list for spending.
With that being the case and OSU spending 11 million more than the next closest Big 10 team, they should dominate the Big 10 for some time to come. If the Big 10 wants to achieve parity with the SEC then they need to increase spending by 3 to 5 million per team, not counting OSU, to be competitive with the SEC. Since the Big 10 has trailed the SEC in generating revenue until recently (when they created their own TV network like the SEC) I think you'll be seeing that parity achieved within the next three to five years.
