Unfortunately for the Big10, with the exception of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and now Maryland and New Jersey, none of those other areas are heavy recruiting areas where you have a ton of HS talent. Take Michigan for instance. The cities of Detroit, G Rapids, and Lansing have all experienced huge population losses (to the south and southwest) in the past 10+ years. So there is not a huge recruiting base to build on. They've lost over HALF of their populations (close to 2 Mil people have left those areas combined)
With their performances on the field, it's not going to get better. It's why I said it won't take Penn St long to get back on top with the hiring of JFranklin. Both he and Urban will be able to supplement their in-state talent with talent from the South/Southeast because of their past ties. In 10 years, Big 10 will just be a flyover conference similar to the northern teams in the Big12 (KU, KSU, ISU). They'll be good in hoops but their football success is going to continue to dwindle.
Just a thought.