JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
Tom Dienhart from Yahoo Sports talked about this two weeks back, saying he had heard this was where the Big Ten was headed…on Wednesday, an item from the Detroit News says two sources told them the same.
My radio co-host Steve Deace and I haven’t been able to wrap our minds around how that would work…how do you play for the title with a title game, which seems a certainty. How do you keep Michigan and Ohio State from playing more than once a year? How do you keep protected rivals?
Randy Dickey from Urbandale called in and said that you have four divisions, four teams each and each year you play an entire division, plus your own. It rotates, so there is no real 8 team division playing each other…it changes year to year, with three games against the teams in your division being the constant, and one protected rival…the other four games will float.
Here is an example that Steve and I came up with on the fly, with divisions labeled alphabetically:
A: Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois: Steve and I feel that Nebraska and Missouri will be in the new Big Ten. Missouri and Illinois have been playing in football and basketball for years. These four states are border rivals. Iowa v Nebraska, Iowa vs Missouri and Iowa v Illinois are three incredibly rival opportunities, with the Iowa-Illinois rivalry already there. PROTECTED RIVALS: This may not make sense now, but will as you go through this and you see the other divisions. We made some assumptions here that Rutgers, Maryland and Syracuse will join the league. We feel that 16 is going to happen, and we feel that Missouri and Rutgers are guarantees into the league. We also feel Nebraska will be in there, and we are leaving out Notre Dame. Good luck Irish, and the Big Ten needs to cancel all future games against them, period. Iowa (Rutgers..Steve suggested Maryland, and that Nebraska would be able to pick Rutgers. I vetoed the idea on the air saying Nebraska isn’t coming into the league to get a big voice right away), Nebraska (Maryland), Missouri (Syracuse), Illinois (Northwestern).
B: Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana and Minnesota: You have to have the Wolverines and the Buckeyes in the same division for a simple reason that they will not want to cheapen their rivalry by playing more than once per year. It’s one of the ten best rivalries in the history of American sports, and you are not going to mess with it. Plus, they will want no part of playing the last week of the regular season and having a rematch the next week in a championship game. You also match them up with the two weakest Big Ten football programs from the last 50 years as some sort of compensation. PROTECTED RIVALS: Michigan (Michigan State), Ohio State (Penn State), Indiana (Purdue), Minnesota (Wisconsin).
C: Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland and Syracuse: Penn State gets some regional teams, and you have a strong northeastern block and control New York State. PROTECTED RIVALS: Penn State (Ohio State), Rutgers (Iowa), Maryland (Nebraska), Syracuse (Missouri)
D: Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan State and Northwestern: Somewhat balanced if you look at the last 20 or so years of the Big Ten. Wisconsin has won three Rose Bowls in that time, Northwestern has won three Big Ten titles. Purdue has been to the Rose Bowl and has made several bowl appearances. Michigan State went to the Rose Bowl in the late 80’s and has had upper division talent with lower division coaching. PROTECTED RIVALS: Wisconsin (Minnesota), Purdue (Indiana), Michigan State (Michigan), Northwestern (Illinois)
Each year, two divisions will pay each other…in a rotation from year to year, like the NFL does. So you play your three divisional teams, plus four from another division, to get to seven games. Then you have your protected rival that can get you to 8 games two out of three years. There will be a year when you play a division that contains your protected rival. In those years, you will be assigned a random opponent from a pool that is in the same boat you are with regards to playing their protected rivals in a division vs division scenario.
Here is what I am talking about: Say Division A is playing Division C this year. Three of the four teams in each division are playing a ‘conference game’ against their protected rival. That means Division B is playing Division D, where you also have three teams playing a ‘conference game’ against their protected rival. In this scenario, all but Penn State and Ohio State are playing a ‘conference game’ against their protected rival that year. That means those 10 teams that are playing their protected rival in a divisional matchup that year would have to play one another. For instance, Iowa could play Michigan since the Hawkeyes are playing Rutgers in a regularly scheduled game, and they are protected rivals, while Michigan is playing Michigan State in a regularly scheduled game.
I think that would equate to playing a wildcard eighth game once every three years, and they would rotate on a home and home basis via computer. So Iowa and Michigan would play one another twice every 12 years. Now, there could be some mathematical issues here that I have not though through, and no one has ever accused me of having a Beautiful Mind, if you catch my drift there. But it seems like it would work and my head is starting to hurt here, so time to move on.
In this scenario, and in most expansion scenarios I have run through, Iowa is giving up a bit of history…no Floyd of Rosedale (the Minnesota-Wisconsin game is the oldest and most-played rivalry in Division I-A football, with 119 editions dating back to 1890), no Iowa vs Wisconsin every year, Iowa is in a division with two new teams and every three years when they would play Penn State’s division it would mean that five of their eight Big Ten opponents would be the expansion opponents.
However, being in the same division with Nebraska and Missouri would ignite new rivalries, and you’d still get to play some original Big Ten teams. Rutgers as a protected rival is about one thing; recruiting that region, which Iowa has done well, and exposure in that market. It makes sense, even though it has no history. Someone is going to have to do that, and there is an upside for Iowa.
You would then take the best records each year from the divisional matchups, and those two teams would play for the conference title. There wouldn’t be two sides that square off each year, it would rotate. So one year, as we have analyzed, A & C would comprise the eight teams on one side of the bracket, where B & D would comprise the eight teams on the other side. The best record produced out of A&C would play the best record produced out of B&D. The next year it would be A&B vs C&D, then A&D vs B&C, then you start over.
The first seven ‘regularly scheduled’ games go first in chronological order, with the protected rivalry games being played on Thanksgiving Weekend, with the Big Ten title game being played on BCS Announcement Weekend.
Of course, we can quibble about Syracuse and Maryland and if it’s different teams then we can reevaluate the protected rivals a bit. But on the whole, I think it can work.
Whether or not you like it, that’s your call. What do you think? Are their holes in the math? Let us know.
My radio co-host Steve Deace and I haven’t been able to wrap our minds around how that would work…how do you play for the title with a title game, which seems a certainty. How do you keep Michigan and Ohio State from playing more than once a year? How do you keep protected rivals?
Randy Dickey from Urbandale called in and said that you have four divisions, four teams each and each year you play an entire division, plus your own. It rotates, so there is no real 8 team division playing each other…it changes year to year, with three games against the teams in your division being the constant, and one protected rival…the other four games will float.
Here is an example that Steve and I came up with on the fly, with divisions labeled alphabetically:
A: Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois: Steve and I feel that Nebraska and Missouri will be in the new Big Ten. Missouri and Illinois have been playing in football and basketball for years. These four states are border rivals. Iowa v Nebraska, Iowa vs Missouri and Iowa v Illinois are three incredibly rival opportunities, with the Iowa-Illinois rivalry already there. PROTECTED RIVALS: This may not make sense now, but will as you go through this and you see the other divisions. We made some assumptions here that Rutgers, Maryland and Syracuse will join the league. We feel that 16 is going to happen, and we feel that Missouri and Rutgers are guarantees into the league. We also feel Nebraska will be in there, and we are leaving out Notre Dame. Good luck Irish, and the Big Ten needs to cancel all future games against them, period. Iowa (Rutgers..Steve suggested Maryland, and that Nebraska would be able to pick Rutgers. I vetoed the idea on the air saying Nebraska isn’t coming into the league to get a big voice right away), Nebraska (Maryland), Missouri (Syracuse), Illinois (Northwestern).
B: Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana and Minnesota: You have to have the Wolverines and the Buckeyes in the same division for a simple reason that they will not want to cheapen their rivalry by playing more than once per year. It’s one of the ten best rivalries in the history of American sports, and you are not going to mess with it. Plus, they will want no part of playing the last week of the regular season and having a rematch the next week in a championship game. You also match them up with the two weakest Big Ten football programs from the last 50 years as some sort of compensation. PROTECTED RIVALS: Michigan (Michigan State), Ohio State (Penn State), Indiana (Purdue), Minnesota (Wisconsin).
C: Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland and Syracuse: Penn State gets some regional teams, and you have a strong northeastern block and control New York State. PROTECTED RIVALS: Penn State (Ohio State), Rutgers (Iowa), Maryland (Nebraska), Syracuse (Missouri)
D: Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan State and Northwestern: Somewhat balanced if you look at the last 20 or so years of the Big Ten. Wisconsin has won three Rose Bowls in that time, Northwestern has won three Big Ten titles. Purdue has been to the Rose Bowl and has made several bowl appearances. Michigan State went to the Rose Bowl in the late 80’s and has had upper division talent with lower division coaching. PROTECTED RIVALS: Wisconsin (Minnesota), Purdue (Indiana), Michigan State (Michigan), Northwestern (Illinois)
Each year, two divisions will pay each other…in a rotation from year to year, like the NFL does. So you play your three divisional teams, plus four from another division, to get to seven games. Then you have your protected rival that can get you to 8 games two out of three years. There will be a year when you play a division that contains your protected rival. In those years, you will be assigned a random opponent from a pool that is in the same boat you are with regards to playing their protected rivals in a division vs division scenario.
Here is what I am talking about: Say Division A is playing Division C this year. Three of the four teams in each division are playing a ‘conference game’ against their protected rival. That means Division B is playing Division D, where you also have three teams playing a ‘conference game’ against their protected rival. In this scenario, all but Penn State and Ohio State are playing a ‘conference game’ against their protected rival that year. That means those 10 teams that are playing their protected rival in a divisional matchup that year would have to play one another. For instance, Iowa could play Michigan since the Hawkeyes are playing Rutgers in a regularly scheduled game, and they are protected rivals, while Michigan is playing Michigan State in a regularly scheduled game.
I think that would equate to playing a wildcard eighth game once every three years, and they would rotate on a home and home basis via computer. So Iowa and Michigan would play one another twice every 12 years. Now, there could be some mathematical issues here that I have not though through, and no one has ever accused me of having a Beautiful Mind, if you catch my drift there. But it seems like it would work and my head is starting to hurt here, so time to move on.
In this scenario, and in most expansion scenarios I have run through, Iowa is giving up a bit of history…no Floyd of Rosedale (the Minnesota-Wisconsin game is the oldest and most-played rivalry in Division I-A football, with 119 editions dating back to 1890), no Iowa vs Wisconsin every year, Iowa is in a division with two new teams and every three years when they would play Penn State’s division it would mean that five of their eight Big Ten opponents would be the expansion opponents.
However, being in the same division with Nebraska and Missouri would ignite new rivalries, and you’d still get to play some original Big Ten teams. Rutgers as a protected rival is about one thing; recruiting that region, which Iowa has done well, and exposure in that market. It makes sense, even though it has no history. Someone is going to have to do that, and there is an upside for Iowa.
You would then take the best records each year from the divisional matchups, and those two teams would play for the conference title. There wouldn’t be two sides that square off each year, it would rotate. So one year, as we have analyzed, A & C would comprise the eight teams on one side of the bracket, where B & D would comprise the eight teams on the other side. The best record produced out of A&C would play the best record produced out of B&D. The next year it would be A&B vs C&D, then A&D vs B&C, then you start over.
The first seven ‘regularly scheduled’ games go first in chronological order, with the protected rivalry games being played on Thanksgiving Weekend, with the Big Ten title game being played on BCS Announcement Weekend.
Of course, we can quibble about Syracuse and Maryland and if it’s different teams then we can reevaluate the protected rivals a bit. But on the whole, I think it can work.
Whether or not you like it, that’s your call. What do you think? Are their holes in the math? Let us know.
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