West Lafayette is in the heart of the nation’s most respected group of teams, the Big Ten conference. Since it was established in 1896, the Big Ten always had one or two championship contenders each year. Over the last few years the conference has been especially great in basketball, over the last 8 years the Big Ten has held at least the first, second or third seed in the NCAA tournament.

Although all Big Ten teams are all good,  5 of the 12 teams rise above the mark, and are the main contributors to the conference’s greatness. Those teams are Michigan State, The Ohio State University, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana, in no particular order. But which team is the best? I believe that whichever team brings back the most championships, the most bowl game wins, the most pride for this great conference  is the best team.

Over the last few years the most dominant three sports teams have been Michigan, Michigan State and The Ohio State University. All three being ranked number 1 in either football or basketball. In this past year Michigan State won the Big Ten football championship, and went on to win the BCS Rose Bowl verses Stanford 24-20. The Ohio State University won the Big Ten basketball championship and was a number 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. And Michigan made a huge run in March.

If you had decide the best team purely based on historic dominance it would have to be hands down, (although I hate them with passion) Michigan. They have the most Big Ten championships with 366. The next nearest is The Ohio State University at 203. Michigan also always competes in any sport they play, and always seem to find a way to get over 7 wins in football. The last 18 football seasons Michigan has been in 16 bowl games, and went through a 12 year span of straight bowl games, including 11 BCS bowl games. Michigan basketball is also nothing to be looked down upon. The last 3 years Michigan has gone to the NCAA Tournament, including many upsets and made it all the way to the championship, but lost to Louisville 82 to 72 in 2013.

Even though I think Michigan State will become the best overall sports college in the Big Ten, as it stands right now Michigan is the most dominant college in the Big Ten.