Re: I suggested this back in June and took a beating...Dodd calls for splitting OSU &
I think people (no nothing sportscasters) look at the big 10 and look at a geographical split and think, "Oh what a loaded east division," just because of the names in the west.
In fact, an east/west split would be more than equitable and this year, the west would be a much more difficult division than the east... much more difficult. OSU would be the toughest team in the east and would have a fairly easy time of winning that division this year with both MI and PSU being down, whereas NE, Iowa, Wis, and NW would make the west division very difficult.
Putting Mi/OSU in opposite divisions makes the OSU/MI game a nothing game simply because if the two were to win their divisions, they would play back to back games, which would make their traditional rivalry game meaningless. Moneywise it would make money but the rivalry would be meaningless. It would be a major stupid move on the Big 10s part. A geographical split is the way to go.
Sportswriters that think that NE is going to come into the West and run away with that division, need only look at the history of PSU since joining the conference and how THEY have shared the Big 10 titles with MI and OSU since they have joined. Wisconsin and Iowa and NW will more than hold their own against fearsome NE. I think sportswriters haven't noticed that NE hasn't beaten a ranked team for awhile. Who says that is going to change by joining the big 10 when they may play a schedule like --Iowa, Wisconsin, NW, Illinois, Minnesota, OSU, MSU, PSU, MI? Think they would roll through a schedule like that?