{"id":604637,"date":"2026-02-21T00:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T00:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/604637\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T00:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T00:44:12","slug":"after-indiana-is-there-another-sleeping-giant-in-the-big-ten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/604637\/","title":{"rendered":"After Indiana, is there another sleeping giant in the Big Ten?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Add money, coach, and stir. (Add money, coach and stir?) Where\u2019s that panda\u2026<\/p>\n

Who in the Big Ten could be the \u201cnext Indiana\u201d?<\/p>\n

This morning, as I read Matt Brown\u2019s steady and vital reporting on money in college football<\/a>, I got to thinking about Hoosiers\u2019 meteoric rise in football, simultaneously explainable and completely inexplicable. Today\u2019s article on the FY25 Big Ten athletic budget numbers<\/a>, in particular, stood out:<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

View Link<\/a><\/p>\n

We won\u2019t know about Northwestern and USC, private schools who don\u2019t share that information with Brown. But largely, this information\u2026tracks? Do you see any surprises theere?<\/p>\n

Brown notes that Washington tumbled to 11th from 5th in 2024, and that UCLA shot out of the basement into 13th place, but that\u2019s about it. The biggest and foam-at-the-mouthiest schools continue to rake it in, heads, shoulders, and millions above the rest.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s teams 12-16, though, who really have me curious\u2014really, 13-18, because drop everyone down one slot to account for USC and add Northwestern into the cellar-dwellers. Who of that group ever breaks out, whether because of their own revenue limitations or the financial limitations of their NIL pool donors?<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

One of the things Brown looks at in his piece\u2014which you should subscribe to and read<\/a>\u2014is ticket sales, both in football and baseball (for comparison). There, interestingly, Purdue actually jumps out above the rest, partially in football but definitely in baseball.<\/p>\n

Does that make Purdue a sleeping giant? Hardly. But I think we can close the book on the Rutgers<\/strong>-as-sleeping-giant era, given that not only are they the same slapdick operation they\u2019ve always been, they\u2019re running deficits in the tens of millions now. (Again, read Matt Brown.)<\/p>\n

That leaves Minnesota, UCLA, Purdue, and Maryland. (And Northwestern, but whatever.)<\/p>\n

Which of those four (five) schools do you think could take the next big leap?<\/p>\n

UCLA<\/strong> should, in my mind, be best-positioned. They\u2019ve followed the Indiana model almost to a T so far, hiring a hot James Madison coach. While their football stadium arrangement isn\u2019t great\u2014and they\u2019re\u2026working on that?<\/a>\u2014Bob Chesney could inherit a situation ripe for a turnaround. But do the Bruins have the NIL donors ready to keep splashing cash on the program to make that happen?<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the potential money that was supposed to lift Maryland<\/strong> all those years ago, with UnderArmour in their corner. But that hasn\u2019t materialized for the Terrapins, and another year of Mike Locksley\u2026well\u2026<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what Purdue <\/strong>is supposed to do in all of this. Be a good basketball school and make its way to 6-6 every once in a blue moon? Barry Odom should be a better coach than what I saw in 2025, and maybe the Boilers are primed for a breakout only they can see coming. I wasn\u2019t wowed by their efforts in the transfer portal, though (we\u2019re rolling with Ryan Browne, huh?), and the Boilers have a tricky schedule next season (Wake and Notre Dame in the non-con). NIL and financial resources? Uh\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026and hey, speaking of penny-pinching budget-hawks who don\u2019t perform, it\u2019s PJ Fleck and the Minnesota<\/strong> Golden Gophers, they of the glittery Outback Bowl trophy and a bunch of also-ran participation medals and mayo-dumps. Drake Lindsey\u2019s back at quarterback, continuing to answer the question \u201cWhat if Dylan Raiola played at a shittier program?\u201d while Fleck touts that academicathleticsocialspiritual success.<\/p>\n

To review, Minnesota went 8-5, including an 0-5 record on the road. The only player of note they lost in the transfer portal were Koi Perich (Oregon) and Fame Ijeboi (Purdue)\u2014of course, that may also suggest there wasn\u2019t much noteworthy talent to begin with. The ceiling appears to be \u201cIowa\u201d for the Gophers; of course, it\u2019s an aluminum ceiling that Fleck has had a decade to pierce already\u2014and Iowa actually goes to Big Ten championships and bowl games.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Assuming Minnesota ever moved on from Fleck, would they be the sleeping giant? They\u2019ve got an on-campus stadium and some far-off footballing success to fall back on. But in a pro sports-dominated media market, I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s the oxygen or the donor pool for the Gophers, either. This probably limits UCLA, too. Maybe even Maryland.<\/p>\n

That leaves us with Purdue.<\/p>\n

So maybe we just let the sleeping giants lie for a while?<\/p>\n

Or, you tell me: who\u2019s the next also-ran to make an Indiana-esque jump?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add money, coach, and stir. (Add money, coach and stir?) Where\u2019s that panda\u2026 Who in the Big Ten…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":604638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[27],"tags":[3257,6652,98539,189905,198325,260131,3663,9444,24249,1573,4733,3916,159,260132,2501,67,132,68,837],"class_list":["post-604637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-big-ten","tag-columbus","tag-dylan-raiola","tag-football-stadium","tag-greg-schiano","tag-matt-brown","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-golden-gophers","tag-nil","tag-ohio","tag-ohio-state-buckeyes","tag-rutgers-scarlet-knights","tag-science","tag-sleeping-giant","tag-ucla","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116105855937075374","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}