The schools might have helped some but there are other factors at play.
Outside of making the Big Ten gobs and gobs of television money, one of the more popular arguments for the Big Ten adding Rutgers and Maryland was that it would be a boon for the conference's football recruiting. After all, New Jersey and the Washington D.C. metro area are both talent rich areas, certainly more talent rich than much of the Big Ten's western footprint. After several years of getting passed by the SEC and other power conferences, an infusion of talent would do the conference well, the argument went.