I don't think Iowa will play both MN & Wisconsin

[WhitUp]

I don't understand all the speculation that Iowa would go to the East. Iowa & Wisky may very well be split, but I think it would only be logical to put Wisky in the E with OSU. Iowa was the Western most school prior to Nebby. I also believe Iowa & Nebby will be in the same division. I do think that OSU & Michigan will be in opposite divisions because I believe there is a lot of emphasis on giving each the chance to meet in the Big 10 Championship game.

I think they will have a protected rival game each year as well. All the above only makes sense. I don't see an issue with them being in different Div as long as they have this yearly rival game. Actually, it would add to the mystique of the conference if they may meet 2 times in a year. Be honest though, if that scenario played out in the past 17 yrs, they would only have met about 3 times, so it may not happen as many times as people think. There will be much more parity with the big 4 now along with Iowa & Wisky making noise consistently.

Yeah but everyone's speculating minnesota would go with Wisconsin, so why do you think Iowa wouldn't go east over Minnesota. Technically Minnesota is about 100 and some miles more West then Iowa City.

 

[cincyhawk]

Jon,
If you went strictly by seeding, the top 3 in each division would be this:
Every Other:
OSU Neb
Mich PSU
WISK Iowa

Tourney Style:
1&6 2&5
OSU Neb.
Iowa Wisc.
3&4
Mich
PSU


So I believe you have to go with full #s to get "Tourney style" seeding:

East West
1&12 2&11
3&10 4&9
5&8 6&7

Which, out of the top 6, would give you:

East West
OSU NEB
MICH PSU
WISC IOWA


Unless you assume something other than seeding is going on, like OSU not wanting to play Wisconsin and PSU (since they have lost those games recently), Iowa would end up in the same division as Nebraska and PSU. OSU and MICH would end up in the same division.

What I think Delaney actually wants is one of these games in the title game, for ratings:
1. OSU v Mich
2. OSU v PSU
3. OSU v Neb

The reason being that these are the programs with the highest national following and highest local populations. In short, a title game without OSU in it would be a failure as far as the B10 is concerned. So they are going to set up the divisions in a way that benefits OSU, because OSU in the title game benefits the whole conference (monetarily). In order to guarantee that happens, OSU cannot be in the same division as the other "Big 3". That's the real reason why Michigan and OSU will be split, and Iowa will be in the east. To try to provide some semblance of "competitive balance" while still paving the way for OSU v Big 3 matchup in the title game in most years.

 

[eyekwah]

Here is what I know. Barry Alvarez only said Iowa and Wisconsin would not be in the same division. The reporter writing the article assumed that meant Minnesota and Wisconsin were in the same division when he wrote those words. Those were not Barry's words.

All but one institution is west of IC now, so Iowa has been going east since the inception of joining the conference. The reasonable accommodation for either Wisconsin or Iowa is having the east include three of these four institutions in the east; Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue and Minnesota. All four are closer to Madison and IC than Bloomington, Columbus or State College. This is a reasonable accommodation in my estimation.

With what has been said it is clear that an annual Iowa vs Wisconsin is over for now. What isn't clear is that Iowa will be in the east.

 

[billdozer15]

I think i figured out what they are going to do. I am sure everyone else thinks they have it too, but this seems to make pretty good sense.

East
Mich, MSU, Iowa, Neb, NW, Ill

West
OSU, PSU, Minn, WI, Ind, Purdue

Protected rivals
Mich/OSU, MSU/PSU, Iowa/Minn, NU/WI, NW/Ind, Ill/Purd

I think this gives the most competitive balance for scheduling. It also appeases Wisky for getting to play NU every year. I dont foresee the B10 making NU potentially have to play Mich, OSU, PSU, Wisc, Iowa all in the same year. If NU were to have a protected rival with PSU it would take away the Land Grant rivalry between MSU/PSU and would also allow for a rediculous schedule some years. I just dont see them doing that to a premier team.

Edit: End of year games could be Mich/MSU, Iowa/NU, OSU/PSU, WI/Minn, NW/Ill, Ind/Purd. That would be a pretty sweet rivalry weekend.

 

[Norse23]

I could see it going like this. It is competitively balanced, both Iowa and WI have two border states in their division, and you can protect most rivalries.

Mich----OSU
Neb-----WI
Iowa----MN
MSU----PSU
ILL------NW
IU-------PU

 

[CAARHawk]

I hope they break up the Illinois and Indiana schools. This just for recruiting sake.

I would take Illinois and Indiana with Iowa and send Northwestern and Purdue in the other direction. Okay, I have another motive as well.

 

[DDHawkeye]

+1

I posted this last night. If Barry is right, and Iowa and Wiscy are separated, this is how I see it going down:

Division 1

Iowa
Nebraska
Michigan
Michigan State
Illinois
Northwestern

Division 2

Ohio State
Penn State
Indiana
Purdue
Minnesota
Wisconsin

I can live with this alignment. I would rather see our Minnesota rivalry as the protected crossover rival that we play every year. Floyd of Rosedale is too old to stop playing for it every year. The Heartland Trophy can get Effed in the A as far as I'm concerned.

 

[GO4ROZS]

It's interesting to me that no one has mentioned (at least that I've seen) the possibility of a North/South split. You can accomplish everything that they've been leaking, plus maintain some semblance of geographical integrity. I don't know how to put a picture on here or I'd put the map complete with a "Mason-Dixon" line of sorts. This would result in the following divisions:

North: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, MSU, MI, PSU
South: Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, OSU

This splits up OSU/MI and Wisky/Iowa. It also divides your "Cadillac" programs evenly and maintains Minny/Wisky and MI/MSU. I'm not saying I would like this setup, but it does make some sense.

 

[WhitUp]

It's interesting to me that no one has mentioned (at least that I've seen) the possibility of a North/South split. You can accomplish everything that they've been leaking, plus maintain some semblance of geographical integrity. I don't know how to put a picture on here or I'd put the map complete with a "Mason-Dixon" line of sorts. This would result in the following divisions:

North: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, MSU, MI, PSU
South: Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, OSU

This splits up OSU/MI and Wisky/Iowa. It also divides your "Cadillac" programs evenly and maintains Minny/Wisky and MI/MSU. I'm not saying I would like this setup, but it does make some sense.

That does make sense as far a logical way of splitting them up competitively and a geographical line. I think it's not being considered, because they want to keep the teams as close as far as geographical distance goes, so fans can travel easilier.

 

[silvanthalas]

Iowa should be in the same division as Nebraska and Minnesota, and forget about Wisconsin, as the whole "cross division protection" is absurd. It'll just wreck havoc with the scheduling as a whole when you have to then figure out how to play just two teams in the other division among the five remaining. (And no, I don't think going to 9 division games is an improvement, either.)

The Big Ten seems to want to have the entire dessert bar to eat, and it just isn't going to happen.