If you want to be a force in college football, you have to dominate on the field and in the living room. How are the Big Ten's teams faring in this cycle?

B1G MOVEMENT

Over the past 30 days there has been a lot of moving and shaking going on with Big Ten recruiting. The conference had 17 players commit to nine schools. That is an average of just over one player every two days. The teams that received verbal commitments since our last update are: Purdue (4), Michigan (3), Illinois, (2), Maryland (2), Wisconsin (2), Indiana (1), Michigan State (1), Penn State (1) and Ohio State (1).

Recruiting is a lot like life. For every positive (commitment) there is a negative (decommitment). In both you hope for more positives than negatives. Since the last update eight schools lost a total of 14 players. Maryland had the largest attrition with four committed players deciding to re-open their recruitment. The other schools seeing an exodus were Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Penn State and Rutgers. The gophers lost two players and the other four schools lost one.

MOVING ON UP

Michigan and Maryland were the only teams in the B1G that climbed up the composite rating rankings. That statement is misleading as 10 of the 14 teams had their ratings move in a positive direction. Maryland benefited the most from addition by subtraction. The Terps had six players decommit, but the school went up three spots in the rankings and its comp. rating climbed 36 points due to losing players with low ratings.

Michigan is now third in the composite rating rankings by adding three highly touted players. Gaining commitments from running back Kareem Walker (.979), wide receiver Dylan Crawford (.945) and four-star linebacker Devin Bush Jr. (.892) bumped the Wolverines up 12 points to .896. This is the second straight update Michigan moved northward.

The school with the largest ascension was Purdue. The Boilermakers entered this update with a pathetic .745 composite. rating. The additions of four decent players bumped the Boilermakers 76 points up to .825. The 76 points is great, but it does not make up for the 92 points the Boilermakers lost in the last update. Purdue is still in last place, but is within striking distance of Illinois and Indiana.

The other teams gaining composite rating points were: Illinois and Northwestern (6 points), Iowa and Michigan State (5), Rutgers (4), Wisconsin (3) and Nebraska (2).

FREE FALLING

This cycle's biggest loser, remarkably, was Ohio State.

Although the Buckeyes added athlete Jahsen Wint, his .799 composite rating was not on par with the school's previous average of .922. The 7-point drop was the largest in the B1G over the last 30 days, but there are two reasons to expect Ohio State to finish with a higher comp. average. The first is that Wint will likely see his rating improve before signing day. The second reason is that the next players the Buckeyes get in the fold will be highly ranked.

Penn State and Minnesota were the other teams to move in a negative direction. Penn State's drop was due to the decommitment of four-star defensive tackle Karamo Dioubate (.927). Minnesota was hurt by the loss of twins Elijah and Elisha Daniels. Indiana was the only team to remain unchanged.

OHIO STATE STILL ON TOP

The Buckeyes have trended in a negative direction the last two updates, but still remain at the top the Big Ten with a .915 composite average.

After signing day, February 3rd, it should be expected for Ohio State to finish with a composite rating above .920.

2016 B1G RECRUITING AVG. COMPOSITE RATINGS RANK (PREVIOUS RANK) TEAM AVG. COMP. RATING CHANGE COMMITS NEW COMMITS 1 (1) OHIO STATE .915* -.007 18 +1 2 (2) PENN STATE .900* -.002 18 3 (4) MICHIGAN .896 +.012 23 4 (3) MICHIGAN STATE .895* +.005 19 +1 5 (8) MARYLAND .878 +.036 12 -5 6 (5) NEBRASKA .874* +.002 15 7 (6) WISCONSIN .858* +.003 23 +2 8 (7) MINNESOTA .848 -.001 18 -2 9 (9) NORTHWESTERN .845 +.006 20 10 (10) RUTGERS .842* +.004 12 -1 11 (11) IOWA .840 +.005 24 12 (12) INDIANA .828 12 +2 13 (13) ILLINOIS .825* +.006 19 +1 14 (14) PURDUE .821 +.076 16 +4 B1G AVERAGE .861 +.009 18

ON THE RISE Purdue, Michigan and Wisconsin made the biggest gains in total points. The Boilermakers had the largest upswing with 2,596 points. Those points pushed Purdue out of last place and up to 11th in the total points standings. Now they need to work on getting players with higher ratings. Michigan earned the second most points in the Big Ten over the last 30 days. The additions of three highly rated players gave the Wolverines 2,044 points and the top spot on the total points rankings.



Wisconsin earned 1,781 points and climbed two spots up to third in the total points rankings. The two players to commit to the Badgers were athlete Isaiah Loudermilk from Kansas and CB Dontye Carriere-Williams from Florida. The conference as a whole is on the rise. 10 of the 14 programs increased their total points. Increase in points was due to the addition of commitments and players getting a ratings boost. The Big Ten is currently poised to finish the 2016 recruiting cycle with positive momentum.

BIGGEST LOSERS

For the fourth consecutive rankings update a B1G team lost more than 2,500 points. Maryland gets to wear the crown of shame this time. DJ Durkin had six players ranked between .844 and .773 re-open their recruiting process. Did the players leave on their own? Were they pushed to leave? Fair questions that are not known.



What is known is that wide receiver Parnell Motley (.844) dropped Maryland and was committed to Oklahoma two days later. The other players to leave were cornerback Tyrone Hill, offensive lineman Michael Clark, receiver Evan Fairs, defensive end Joey Fisher and safety Silas Kelly. The departures dropped Maryland from 7th to 12th in the total points rankings.



Only two other schools lost points. With Elijah and Elisha Daniels decommitting from Minnesota the Gophers lost 1,724 points and fell four spots to 7th. Rutgers dropped 798 points and six places. The Scarlet Knights are now in the basement of the Big Ten total points rankings.

DARK DAYS RETURN

With the additions of three highly ranked players Michigan reclaimed the top spot in the total points rankings. With an expected class of at least 28 players it appears the Wolverines will end the 2016 cycle with the most total points.

2016 B1G RECRUITING RANKINGS BY TOTAL POINTS RANK (PREV. RANK) TEAM TOTAL POINTS CHANGE (+ / -) COMMITS 1 (2) MICHIGAN 20,612 +2,044 23 2 (1) IOWA 20,166 +124 24 3 (5) WISCONSIN 18,023 +1,781 23 4 (4) NORTHWESTERN 16,892 +119 20 5 (6) MICHIGAN STATE 16,107* +977 18 6 (7) OHIO STATE 15,561* +803 18 7 (3) MINNESOTA 15,262 -1,724 18 8 (10) ILLINOIS 14,847* +929 19 9 (6) PENN STATE 14.394* -40 18 10 (11) NEBRASKA 12,231* +21 15 11 (14) PURDUE 11,487* +2,596 15 12 (7) MARYLAND 10,538 -3,773 12 13 (13) INDIANA 9,977 +40 12 14 (8) RUTGERS 9,262 -798 12 B1G AVERAGE 14,905 +458 17.9

* Kickers, Long Snappers and Punters not included.

BACK ON THE MARKET

A list of the 14 players who made the decision to decommit.

Where will the young men land? Parnell Motley dropped Maryland on December 19th and committed to Oklahoma two days later. Speaking of Maryland Elijah and Elisha Daniels, former Minnesota commits, are likely to sign with the Terps. It will be interesting if Evan Fairs ends up in Illinois after deciding against attending Maryland.

The last 19 days of the 2016 recruiting cycle should be wild. Hang on and try to enjoy the ride.