2. 2010

The top two teams on this list were the best Big Ten-winning teams we’ve seen since 2000.

No. 2 is the Scott Tolzein-led unit from 2010.

Picture defending this offense: a NFL-caliber quarterback in Scott Tolzein, a three-headed backfield with a combined 3060 yards in John Clay, Montee Ball and James White and receiving threats on the outside in Lance Kendricks, Nick Toon and Jared Abbrederis.

That unit finished the season ranked No. 5 in points-per-game with 41.5 and led them to a hard-fought 21-19 defeat to Andy Dalton and No. 3 TCU in the Rose Bowl.

Big wins from the season include their 31-30 win against No. 13 Iowa and legendary 31-18 win against No. 1 Ohio State.

This was the final year before the Big Ten instituted a championship game but had the Badgers gone up against co-champion Michigan State, despite their 34-24 loss at East Lansing early in the year, all signs point towards Brett Bielema‘s coming out on top as they were the No. 4-ranked team in the country at the time and were winners of seven straight contests.

The only thing holding this team back from No. 1 on this list is the No. 59-ranked strength of schedule in the country and the fact the team the following year was led by a future member of the NFL hall of fame in Russell Wilson.

The craziest fact about this team was not the Central Michigan transfer J.J. Watt bursting onto the scene, but as I wrote this week it was their backup offensive line now costs more than $28 million.

NFL talent was all over the field, the team was a co-champion of the conference and had arguably the program’s biggest victory in its history in their upset of No. 1 Ohio State. This team was one of the most impressive in the history of the program.