adam Rittenberg article deciphiring alvarez statement

[WhitUp]

Division dominoes: Wisconsin, Iowa to split - Big Ten Blog - ESPN

This makes me feel a little better. has wisky/minn going east

I'm starting to think that if this scenario played out Iowa/Wisky would be protected, not iowa/minn. If Ohio state is playing Mich and Nebreska crosses with Penn state, wouldn't it make the most sense for Iowa to play Wisconsin as far as competitive balance goes. The top 3 teams each play one another from cross division and say if you seeded them all it would be 1 OSU vs 1 Mich, 2 PSU vs 2 Nebby, 3 Iowa vs 3 Wisconsin. Doesn't seem it would be fair if Iowa got an easy Minny W , although that would be awesome for us.

 

[Hawkeyes1982x]

I'm more at rest with Wisky and Minn going east rather than Iowa.

 

[Hawkeyes1982x]

I also like this for the last Saturday of the season!

Your final regular-season Saturday, which almost certainly would feature intra-division games, could look like this: Michigan-Michigan State, Iowa-Nebraska, Illinois-Northwestern, Ohio State-Penn State, Wisconsin-Minnesota and Purdue-Indiana.

 

[H8IAST8]

Much better, 2 rivalries will be saved, two maybe 3 will not be played every year (Wisc. Illinois, PSU)

 

[nationalchamps]

I also like this for the last Saturday of the season!

Your final regular-season Saturday, which almost certainly would feature intra-division games, could look like this: Michigan-Michigan State, Iowa-Nebraska, Illinois-Northwestern, Ohio State-Penn State, Wisconsin-Minnesota and Purdue-Indiana.

Now that's a good lineup!

 

[CAARHawk]

Okay, I am thinking selfishly. If it is between Minny and Wisky, I take Minny. Why? Better chance to get to the championship game. I know it is not the manly way to go. But, so be it.

 

[busabus114]

Okay, I am thinking selfishly. If it is between Minny and Wisky, I take Minny. Why? Better chance to get to the championship game. I know it is not the manly way to go. But, so be it.

I agree

Minnesota is a guaranteed W, they blow and always will

 

[hwkwyld]

Rittenberg's division scenario shakes out the best for Iowa. With the information we have it may be the best we could hope for. I still don't like it as I'd want to see Iowa v Wisky every year but I think this gives the Hawks the best chance for a trip to the B10 Title game each year.

 

[Hawkeyes1982x]

Oh i'd love to take Minn as well, but Illinois is kinda looking pretty blowy on a yearly basis. hahaha.

 

[LG210]

I could live with that alignment.

 

[H8IAST8]

I think he has it wrong that Iowa Wisconsin will be protected, it will be Minnesota. Also, what about protecting MSU and PSU?

 

[GO4ROZS]

I really like these divisions.

 

[H8IAST8]

The East would have both bottom feeders in IU and Minny.

 

[WhitUp]

The East would have both bottom feeders in IU and Minny.

Yeah, but we got nw and ill, if we can beat nw and Ill were not winning the division anyways.

 

[H8IAST8]

At least NW and Illinios have won multiple BT Titles in the last 17 years.

 

[WhitUp]

At least NW and Illinios have won multiple BT Titles in the last 17 years.

true, but we get nw/ill and in all likelyhood we're going to have a cross rival with minnesota, so we play 3 out of the 4 bottom seeds. Can't really expect more then that.

 

[JCLP205]

I can see protected rivals in two different scenarios:
Neb-Wisc
IA-Minn
MSU-PSU
MICH-OSU
ILL-IND
NW-PUR

or

MICH-OSU
IA-WISC
NEB-PSU
MSU-MINN
ILL-IND
NW-PUR

I like the first option better and I believe that is more likely because it protects the MSU-PSU rivalry along with IA-MINN and gives WISC what it wants in regards to rivalry game with Neb.

 

[H8IAST8]

Agreed.

 

[WhitUp]

Delany told ESPN.com that a potential benefit of putting rivals like Michigan and Ohio State in different divisions is that the teams can play for a Rose Bowl berth in the new Big Ten championship game, which begins in 2011.

"If you split teams, whether it's Purdue and Indiana or Illinois and Northwestern or Michigan-Ohio State or Nebraska and Penn State, if you split them, they can both go [to the championship game]," Delany said. "If you don't split them, only one can go."

This was in rittenberg article on espn.com. Judgine by his statements it looks like he basically called out 4 of the 6 cross division rivals. LEAving out 4 teams IOwa/minn/Wisc/MSU. iowa/minn then wisc/msu is the other or iowa/wis then minn/msu. If all this is true it looks like divisions would workout this way
west-east
mich-osu
neb-psu
iowa-min
msu-wis
indy-pur
ill-nw

or swap bottom 4
nw-ill
pur-indy

other possibility would be
nw-ill
indy-pur

but I wouldn't think they'd put nw and indy in same division

I think if nebby cross is penn state then the most competitive fairness thing would be Iowa/Wisc, cause then the seeds cross as 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, 3 vs 3.

 

[SeattleHawkeye]

What's wrong w/ teams playing their rivals to get a shot at the B10 title game? I think people are considerably too hung up on the idea of OSU-UM (for example) in the B10 title game for a shot a the NCG, instead of taking baby steps and making sure they play each other on a yearly basis first. I think this is a perfect example of people overthinking and not following K-I-S-S (keep it simple, stupid). Just divide it geographically, and do the best to keep rivalries intact. What's more important, playing your rival every year, or the chance to potentially play them in the B10 title game? To me, the answer to that is very, very simple.

And the idea that the "big 4" (OSU, UM, PSU, and NE) will always be good so they need divided up is BS. In the last decade 3 of those teams have proven, unequivocally, that they can suck. I think the biggest mistake people are making is assuming these storied programs will always remain storied, and not end up like Tennessee or Notre Dame.