Years ago there was a lot of discussion as to whether or not Northwestern belonged in the Big Ten given their poor record in major sports as well as their distinction as a small private school.

The mid 90s saw a resurgence in football program under Gary Barnett and some level of improvement in a number of other sports and this talk seemed to die down.

I am here to begin the discussion as to whether Minnesota still belongs in this conference.

The basketball program has been wracked with scandals of late and been reduced to a second tier team. The football program has gone from being serious choke artists (see 2nd half performance and bowl games under Glen Mason) to outright joke the past two years. Despite having one of the largest student bodies in the conference and being located in the middle of a large city (Minneapolis) they average only 49,792 fans per game!

If you check the popular college football and basketball message boards from ESPN, Scout, Rivals and others Minnesota ranks the lowest in terms of active posts.

I'll compare Minnesota academically as well as campus environment in a future posting. I look forward to anyway who has a different view on this subject.