Big 10 divisional breakdown according to ESPN

Re: ESPN has divisions up

If these alignments are correct, the cards have fallen in Iowa's favor. Iowa could end up a perennial leader in it's division. Seems like this will help with recruiting, as well.
 
Yea, that's part of why I posted it...if ESPN is willing to put it up it's gotta be done. I like the lineup for Iowa except we won't have a good protected rival...Wisky will stay with Minn and Neb will get Penn St i'm guessing. Otherwise even losing more than half of our starters after thir year we have a shot at making the title game if this holds up.
 
Re: ESPN has divisions up

Who will be Iowa's last game of the season? I fear in this alignment Minny will now close out the season with Wisky. So do we get Illinois? Penn State? Purdue (gag)?
 
Re: ESPN has divisions up

I think that is a best case scenario for the Hawks. Hope Katz is right!!
 
Re: ESPN has divisions up

tweeterhawk said:
Who will be Iowa's last game of the season? I fear in this alignment Minny will now close out the season with Wisky. So do we get Illinois? Penn State? Purdue (gag)?
Click to expand...

Final game should be in division to avoid a rematch the following week. Iowa will play Minny or kNU
 
Re: ESPN has divisions up

tweeterhawk said:
Who will be Iowa's last game of the season? I fear in this alignment Minny will now close out the season with Wisky. So do we get Illinois? Penn State? Purdue (gag)?
Click to expand...

I would think everyone would play a game within their own division, right? So We could play nebraska to close out every season? Or would they play Michigan? I don't think they will keep the OSU-Mich game where it is anymore for fear of having a rematch 2 weeks later for the B10 title. Let's be real, the B10 would love for OSU and Mich to meet in the B10 title game. Mich is a long way from getting there though.
 
Protected Rival Predictions:
Michigan | OSU
Nebraska | PSU
MSU | Indiana (old brass spittoon)
NW | Illinois
Minn | Wisc

that leaves us with Purdue ???
 
AcctHawk99 said:
Yea, that's part of why I posted it...if ESPN is willing to put it up it's gotta be done. I like the lineup for Iowa except we won't have a good protected rival...Wisky will stay with Minn and Neb will get Penn St i'm guessing. Otherwise even losing more than half of our starters after thir year we have a shot at making the title game if this holds up.
Click to expand...

Iowa definitely caught a break here. Assuming that Mich will get tOSU, Neb will get PSU, and Minn will get Wisc. Iowa is left having a pretty easy guaranteed game compared to Neb and Mich. Since realistically, the only teams that will matter when talking about division champs are Iowa, Mich, and Neb, it would seem that Iowa has a distinct advantage.

Also, if the Big10 does go to 14 teams and 9 conference games, you will only play 3 from the other division (1 guaranteed, 2 others). Since Nebraska and Michigan will always be playing the two hardest teams in the division, this advantage for Iowa will become even more pronounced.

That being said, I wonder if Nebraska and Michigan will lobby to get an Iowa-Wisconsin rival or a Nebraska-Wisconsin and Iowa-PSU just to keep a better competitive balance regardless of traditional rivals.
 
I'm ok with the divisions.. unless our division weakens further (and turns into the Big 12 North).

Gives us a good shot at the Championship game every year.

Conversely, we are going to get stuck with Purdue or Indy as a protected rival, which seems kinda dissappointing..
 
IOWA caught a huge break IMO. Easir protected game than the others and get to stay in the west unlike Wisky.

Plus, if we can ever get a little better at BB and get IZO to retire, that division is ripe for the picking.
 
bwsmoney said:
Protected Rival Predictions:
Michigan | OSU
Nebraska | PSU
MSU | Indiana (old brass spittoon)
NW | Illinois
Minn | Wisc

that leaves us with Purdue ???
Click to expand...

Possibly for the time being however, when we go to 9 Conference games the popular theory is that we'll have two protected rivals and we can add Wisc at that point.

Initially I hated the Purdue, but things could be a whole lot worse. Go with this and see what happens when the league adds a conference game.

Really this is one of the best case scenarios for Iowa
 
Funny how everyone was SO SURE we were getting hosed. I can't think of a better scenario for the Hawks.

I hated the idea of a West Only division. Now we get to continue to travel and recruit throughout the entire region. We get the major cities of Chicago, and Indianapolis (W. Lafayette is about the same distance as Bloomington, but easier to get to from Indy).

We lose the crap-holes in Urbana and CBus. Yes, CBus is a crap-hole.

Sure we don't get State College. But we get Ann Arbor, so that is basically a wash. Plus it is WAYYYY closer.

Finally, between Minny, Wisky, and Illinois, Minny is the one most likely to never develop into a consistently strong program. Wisky is already there, and Illinois will fire Zook someday.

And yes! We want Purdue! We recruit Indiana. Just ask Jewel Hampton and AJ Edds.
 
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I like it for the most part. No one will be completely happy. With Mich St. and NW up and coming, we got the tougher division from top to bottom. Also hard to swallow not playing OSU, PSU or Wisc for an extended period of time.
 
When we go to 9 conf games, there will only be 2 teams we don't play in any one year, although that is likely 2015 per earlier reports.
 
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