Put Michigan in the West and Northwestern in the East. That way the states of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois are represented in both divisions and you'll have more of a balance of football powers:

Ohio State/Michigan

Michigan State/Wisconsin

Penn State/Nebraska

I propose we title the division 'Legends" and "Leaders" and leave the public to find out which schools are in what division.

With this, Nebraska and Penn State can, once again, be the rivals Nebraska and Penn State were promised when NU entered the Big Ten.

(07-22-2019 07:22 PM)NJ2MDTerp Wrote:  Put Michigan in the West and Northwestern in the East. That way the states of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois are represented in both divisions and you'll have more of a balance of football powers:

Ohio State/Michigan

Michigan State/Wisconsin

Penn State/Nebraska

I really don't think they should be going in the direction of requiring more protected crossovers than now. Flipping just MSU and Purdue keeps it at one required crossover.

(07-22-2019 07:29 PM)chess Wrote:  I propose we title the division 'Legends" and "Leaders" and leave the public to find out which schools are in what division.

With this, Nebraska and Penn State can, once again, be the rivals Nebraska and Penn State were promised when NU entered the Big Ten.

I think Nebraska has to get good again first.

(07-22-2019 07:38 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-22-2019 07:29 PM)chess Wrote:  I propose we title the division 'Legends" and "Leaders" and leave the public to find out which schools are in what division.

With this, Nebraska and Penn State can, once again, be the rivals Nebraska and Penn State were promised when NU entered the Big Ten.

I think Nebraska has to get good again first.

I am not worried about the Huskers. Frost has got the team growing. https://mobile.twitter.com/coach_frost/s...37952?s=12

(07-22-2019 07:48 PM)chess Wrote:  

(07-22-2019 07:38 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-22-2019 07:29 PM)chess Wrote:  I propose we title the division 'Legends" and "Leaders" and leave the public to find out which schools are in what division.

With this, Nebraska and Penn State can, once again, be the rivals Nebraska and Penn State were promised when NU entered the Big Ten.

I think Nebraska has to get good again first.

I am not worried about the Huskers. Frost has got the team growing. https://mobile.twitter.com/coach_frost/s...37952?s=12

That was a weird propaganda film. Did you mean "growing" or "rowing"?

(07-21-2019 12:36 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  What's wrong with the way it is?

NOTHING

(07-21-2019 12:43 PM)EvilVodka Wrote:  Why would Michigan State want to move to the West? If I were Michigan State, I would oppose it

According to The Athletic, MSU would’ve preferred the West:

Quote:Michigan State, for instance, was keen on playing Northwestern annually and less concerned with keeping Penn State as its traditional season-ender.

Easier to win was probably the other motivation, but schools won’t admit that publicly.

(07-21-2019 03:03 AM)Big Ron Buckeye Wrote:  So, anyone that has had reasonably competent parents were told that life isn't fair. You take what you have and make the best of things and with hard work you can turn lemons into lemonade. Truth is this... Apart from Nebraska there hasn't been a National title in the B1G West since the 1960 (Minnesota). The muscle of the B1G has always been Ohio State & Michigan and since 1991 Penn State has been among the B1G bullies too.
My proposal is simple swap Sparty and Illinois. So the divisions will look like this (arranged by stadium size)
East......................................West
Michigan (107601)..........Nebraska (86047)
Penn State (106572)..........Wisconsin (80321)
Ohio State (104944)..........Sparty (75005)
Illinois (60670)............Iowa (70585)
Indiana (52929).......... Purdue (57236)
Rutgers (52454).......... Minnesota (50805)
Maryland (51802)...........Northwestern (47330)

A few points:
1. The B1G East would still be top heavy but less so by moving Sparty giving the other schools in the East a better chance at making a bowl annually.
2. By moving Sparty, the B1G West becomes the deeper division with practically every team in the West having a legit shot to win the division.
3. Sparty had legendary games with Nebraska & Wisconsin during the legends and Leaders years and those games could quickly become meaningful again.
4. The B1G 3 would still be pulling ratings in the New York to DMV corridor playing Rutgers and Maryland.
5. Sparty recruits the heck out of Chicago and playing Northwestern annually only helps those efforts.
6. The league stays mostly geographic with with the 4 Easternmost and 4 Westernmost schools playing in their logical division and splitting the states with 2 schools per state.
7. Obviously you'd have locked games for Indiana v Purdue, Michigan v Sparty, & Illinois v NU as all 3 rivalries would be split between divisions.

You all will notice that my focus has been heavily on Sparty because they are a program that along with Nebraska has the highest ceiling. They live in the shadow of the B1G 3 and need the change and in neighborhood to realize their potential and become the National power that they were in the 60s in the Wild West.

What I'm about to suggest needs to happen for the ACC, Big 10 and SEC. We keep divisions but each year the divisions change. Schools finishing the previous year in an even position make up one division and teams that ended the previous year in an odd position make up the other. You get two protected rivals should you wind up in the opposite division and you play 6 division games the 2 protected rivals (and on years one or both rivals are in your division you rotate 1 or 2 teams in their place)

That way each year the two divisions are balanced by order of finish the previous year and those 3 conferences play the same number of games. If there is a school you haven't played in recent years they bump up for the first game that needs a rotating school. Each conference plays 1 P out of conference game per school. At the end of each season the conferences have 9 months to work out the conference games. The single OOC P game and the 3 other games are scheduled by the AD's.

If we all contract with our carriers to play 9 conference game you still play the 1 OOC P game and play 2 buy games to keep 7 home games. For the ACC they just keep figuring out how to work N.D. in.

(07-24-2019 11:33 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(07-21-2019 12:43 PM)EvilVodka Wrote:  Why would Michigan State want to move to the West? If I were Michigan State, I would oppose it

According to The Athletic, MSU would’ve preferred the West:

Quote:Michigan State, for instance, was keen on playing Northwestern annually and less concerned with keeping Penn State as its traditional season-ender.

Easier to win was probably the other motivation, but schools won’t admit that publicly.

If you have divisionless scheduling with pods{+} of 5:5:4 with crossovers, MSU is in the pod with the Indiana and Illinois schools, plus a game with TSUN. With that, because the pod of 4 western schools have two crossovers each, everyone in the eastern or central other than MSU and TSUN would play a western school as their crossover. So, eg, Wisconsin/OSU, Nebraska/PSU, Iowa/Maryland, Minnesota/Rutgers; Wisconsin/Northwestern, Nebraska/Purdue, Iowa/Illinois, Minnesota/Indiana.

{+ Note, you also never say the word "pod" in public.}

Add OU and KU

(07-25-2019 12:09 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  {+ Note, you also never say the word "pod" in public.}

Why? Does it offend pod people?

(07-25-2019 03:22 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-25-2019 12:09 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  {+ Note, you also never say the word "pod" in public.}

Why? Does it offend pod people?

It was just an offhand reaction to the way that some conference realignment discussions attract a particular type of sports fan who is interested in structures and mechanics that the normal sports fan does not care about in the slightest.

But, anyway, in general, if you are spending time explaining the mechanics of the scheduling process, you are not spending time marketing the resulting schedule.

(07-25-2019 02:11 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  Add OU and KU

Nebraska-Oklahoma*

Kansas-Iowa.

Rounds out Rivalry Week quite nicely and simultaneously boosts basketball.

Other than that, the Big Ten is set; football divisions are perfect.

Big Ten: you can’t have UNC...byyyeeeeeeeee!



*I will note this almost requires OU to drop Texas or OK State, unless they want to roll with a fixed ten game schedule. If the Big Ten votes for a 9 game schedule, then I think OU HAS to drop one of their historic rivals. They already chose the other two over NU when the Big 8 invited Texas.

(07-25-2019 05:27 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(07-25-2019 03:22 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-25-2019 12:09 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  {+ Note, you also never say the word "pod" in public.}

Why? Does it offend pod people?

It was just an offhand reaction to the way that some conference realignment discussions attract a particular type of sports fan who is interested in structures and mechanics that the normal sports fan does not care about in the slightest.

But, anyway, in general, if you are spending time explaining the mechanics of the scheduling process, you are not spending time marketing the resulting schedule.

KISS.

WAC learned that the hard way.

Nope Iowa is the Big 10 West program with the highest ceiling.
Nebraska will be the cellar dweller of the entire conference, ahead of only Rutgers and Maryland who need to be expelled.

As a Spartan i would fight like hell to stay in the East. Send OSU if you want to give more power to the West.

Add Oklahoma and Kansas to the West in 2025 and shift Purdue to the East.

The West has 4 powers in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Iowa to balance the East’s Ohio St, Penn St, Mich, and Mich St

(07-25-2019 12:09 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  If you have divisionless scheduling with pods{+} of 5:5:4 with crossovers, MSU is in the pod with the Indiana and Illinois schools, plus a game with TSUN. With that, because the pod of 4 western schools have two crossovers each, everyone in the eastern or central other than MSU and TSUN would play a western school as their crossover. So, eg, Wisconsin/OSU, Nebraska/PSU, Iowa/Maryland, Minnesota/Rutgers; Wisconsin/Northwestern, Nebraska/Purdue, Iowa/Illinois, Minnesota/Indiana.

{+ Note, you also never say the word "pod" in public.}

Not bad. The 5-5-4 model can work within the current division structure too... though you'd then want both 5-team pods to be of roughly even strength (not that the current divisions are balanced. Here are my attempts at accomplishing that using the 5-5-4, putting the "power" teams in the 4-team pod.

Flex: OSU/UM & PSU/Neb [UM-PSU is not annual]
West: Iowa(Neb), Wisky(UM), Minn(UM), Illinois(OSU), Nwestern(PSU)
East: Maryland(PSU), Rutgers(PSU), MSU(UM), Indiana(OSU), Purdue(Neb)

Flex: UM/OSU & Wisky/PSU [OSU-Wisky is not annual]
Frontier: Minn(Wisky), Iowa(Wisky), Neb(UM), Maryland(PSU), Rutgers(OSU)
Heartland: Purdue(PSU), Indiana(OSU), Illinois(OSU), Nwestern(Wisky), MSU(UM)