ANN ARBOR — Big Ten coaches acknowledge that the conference’s recent emphasis on physical play has been influenced by Jim Harbaugh’s success at Michigan, where his team identity has centered on dominance at the line of scrimmage. Michigan won three consecutive Big Ten championships from 2021 to 2023 with a style built on physicality, excelling on both offense and defense along the line.
According to podcast host Joel Klatt, Big Ten coaches cited two reasons for the conference’s improved line-of-scrimmage play during the 2024 college football season: the impact of NIL and the transfer portal leveling the playing field, and the influence of Michigan’s physical style under Harbaugh. Klatt reported that coaches believe the Big Ten is currently stronger than the SEC because its “brand of football is better,” giving it an advantage at the line of scrimmage in postseason games.
“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 SEC with Nick Saban 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,” Klatt said.
Harbaugh has consistently emphasized physicality and toughness since becoming Michigan’s head coach. That philosophy became dominant in the 2021 season and has since spread across the conference.
The 2024 Big Ten Championship Game featured Oregon and Penn State, both teams strong at the line of scrimmage—Oregon was a Joe Moore Award finalist, while Penn State relied heavily on running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton.
All three finalists for the 2024 Joe Moore Award, which honors the nation’s top offensive line, came from Big Ten schools: Indiana, Iowa, and Oregon. Additionally, all three Big Ten teams that qualified for the College Football Playoff ranked among the top five nationally in defensive SP+ ratings, largely due to elite defensive lines. The 2024 national champion defeated Alabama in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals using a ground-oriented, physical offensive approach.