My thoughts on the new Big 10 conference divisions:

H

Hawkeyefb10

New Member
Divide the 12 teams into 3 tiers of 4 teams. Do this by separating tradition, rivals, etc
TIER 1:
Ohio State
Michigan
Penn State
Nebraska
TIER 2:
Iowa
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Michigan State
TIER 3:
Purdue
Illinois
Northwestern
Indiana
Then separate the tiers so that only two teams from each tier belong in a division
My picks to maintain rivals, traditions, and equality
Division A:
Michigan
Ohio State
Michigan State
Minnesota
Purdue
Indiana

Division B:
Nebraska
Penn State
Iowa
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern
This then allows for each team to play the other 5 teams in the division and 3 teams in the other division. By doing this the Big 10 can set it up so you play a Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 team in the other conference each year. Meaning that in a given year you play 2 teams from your tier, and 3 from the other tiers.
Example Iowa Schedule:
4 non-conference
Nebraska
Penn State
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern
Michigan
Ohio State
Michigan State
Minnesota
Purdue
Indiana
The blue is who you play ever year and then you alternate red and green each season.
 
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Floyd of Rosedale every other year? Forget it. Keep it simple.
East: PSU,OSU,Mich,PU,IU MSU
West: Iowa,Wis,Neb,Minny,NW,Ill

Michigan is on probation,and might be firing their coach after this season.
PSU has a icon at the helm who probably will be leaving this season or next which will usher in a period of instability like when Woody and Bo left.
IU and MSU have not won a leage title in decades and PU has a new coach.
The East is not gonna be too tough for OSU.
Wisky and NW have young coaches on the rise.
Iowa has OSU-like stability.
Nebraska also seems to on the come.
Minny and Ill are the dregs but Minny has new stadium and Ill will have a new coach.
West is tougher but geography is forever and the best way to go,unless money and resources are not shared equally like with Texas. Same with recruiting territory...Texas had most of the recruits in state. Big Ten East has Ohio,Mich and Pa.,while Big Ten west has Chicago,Ill,Wis,Minneapolis and Omaha. More balanced that the big 12 ever was.
 
Make the Big Ten Divisions simply East/West. Nebraska in the west adds a lot of weight to the west and really evens them out.
 
E/W is the best, and it has nothing to do with cartography ... E/W maintains all of the important rivalries
 
Hawkeyefb10 said:
Divide the 12 teams into 3 tiers of 4 teams. Do this by separating tradition, rivals, etc
TIER 1:
Ohio State
Michigan
Penn State
Nebraska
TIER 2:
Iowa
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Michigan State
TIER 3:
Purdue
Illinois
Northwestern
Indiana
Then separate the tiers so that only two teams from each tier belong in a division
My picks to maintain rivals, traditions, and equality
Division A:
Michigan
Ohio State
Michigan State
Minnesota
Purdue
Indiana

Division B:
Nebraska
Penn State
Iowa
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern
This then allows for each team to play the other 5 teams in the division and 3 teams in the other division. By doing this the Big 10 can set it up so you play a Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 team in the other conference each year. Meaning that in a given year you play 2 teams from your tier, and 3 from the other tiers.
Example Iowa Schedule:
4 non-conference
Nebraska
Penn State
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern
Michigan
Ohio State
Michigan State
Minnesota
Purdue
Indiana
The blue is who you play ever year and then you alternate red and green each season.
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Dumb. that is all. This is the Big 10 not the Rainbow Coalition.
 
East / West seems best at face value, but it will kill Iowa in the long run. It splits the recruiting region so that most of the population is in schools in the other division. It will be the Big 12 North all over again. I am telling you Hawk fans, you better hope this isn't the way they split the conference .
 
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clicheusername3 said:
Dumb. that is all. This is the Big 10 not the Rainbow Coalition.
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Penn State does not belong in the west. Geography should be the first and only criteria in splitting the conference, then add ND to the west and rutgers to the east for even more balance. play the conference game in Indy.

I wonder if Delany reads the Hawkeye Nation, we have all the answers!
 
SirJamaLot said:
Penn State does not belong in the west. Geography should be the first and only criteria in splitting the conference, then add ND to the west and rutgers to the east for even more balance. play the conference game in Indy.

I wonder if Delany reads the Hawkeye Nation, we have all the answers!
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Again, East / West split and the West will end up being the Big 12 North. Just not enough recruiting population. Check the population numbers between the plains and the East.

But I know more than one variable makes a lot of your heads spin.
 
Geography will NOT be THE deciding factor in division alignment. No way will PSU, Ohio State, and Michigan be placed in the same division. I believe Delaney has even said that geography is third on the list behind maintaining competitive balance and maintaining traditional rivalries.

What is the allure of having an East West breakup? Penn State already travels to Iowa as is for all sports. I don't think his breakdown was far off- and I would go as far to say that if you subtracted Illinois from Group B and added Minnesota, he's probably got it right.
 
CAARHawk said:
Again, East / West split and the West will end up being the Big 12 North. Just not enough recruiting population. Check the population numbers between the plains and the East.

But I know more than one variable makes a lot of your heads spin.
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Tell that to Penn State fans who have to road trip to Neb,Ia and Mn instead of indy,Ohio or Mich. I wonder if all other sports will split or stay together. I know football is king but the other sports should factor in the decision. Personally I hope basketball goes 1 division of 12, and a 18 game conference with a conference tourney.
 
PlanoHawk said:
What is the allure of having an East West breakup? Penn State already travels to Iowa as is for all sports. I don't think his breakdown was far off- and I would go as far to say that if you subtracted Illinois from Group B and added Minnesota, he's probably got it right.
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I was thinking the same thing, but swapping Minnesota with Northwestern. Either way, I think it looks like a pretty good split.
 
SirJamaLot said:
Tell that to Penn State fans who have to road trip to Neb,Ia and Mn instead of indy,Ohio or Mich. tourney.
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Once again... they are already doing this as is. Granted, I will add in that you've now added Lincoln so there is an added strain. Flipside- I bet if you asked PSU Administrators they'd take Group B over A.
 
SirJamaLot said:
Tell that to Penn State fans who have to road trip to Neb,Ia and Mn instead of indy,Ohio or Mich. I wonder if all other sports will split or stay together. I know football is king but the other sports should factor in the decision. Personally I hope basketball goes 1 division of 12, and a 18 game conference with a conference tourney.
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I didn't say you would have a Western Division with PSU added. I said don't break it down by geography.

Let's face it. If they go to two divisions, we will lose something we have now. Just don't know what that is. One thing that might be interesting is if they went ahead and started putting teams in pods now. You could do three team pods, with Nebby, OSU, Michigan, and PSU as drivers.

Could look like this Pod A: Nebby, Iowa, Minny. Pod B: Wisky, MSU, UM, Pod C: OSU, Illinois, NW Pod D: PSU, IU, PU.

You could rotate pods by home and away cycle with protected rivalries maintained by having two games against teams outside the two paired pods.
 
CAARHawk said:
I didn't say you would have a Western Division with PSU added. I said don't break it down by geography.

Let's face it. If they go to two divisions, we will lose something we have now. Just don't know what that is. One thing that might be interesting is if they went ahead and started putting teams in pods now. You could do three team pods, with Nebby, OSU, Michigan, and PSU as drivers.

Could look like this Pod A: Nebby, Iowa, Minny. Pod B: Wisky, MSU, UM, Pod C: OSU, Illinois, NW Pod D: PSU, IU, PU.

You could rotate pods by home and away cycle with protected rivalries maintained by having two games against teams outside the two paired pods.
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To me this has always been the best answer as long as the confrence is at either 12 or 16 members.

It only really applies to football as football is the only sport that has such a limited number of games.
 
Lakes
OSU
Michigan
Michigan St
Purdue
Indiana
Northwestern

Plains
Iowa
PSU
Nebraska
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Illinois

ETA: Stick with an 8 games conference schedule. Play 5 in-division foes and 3 other division foes each year. Every player then plays every team in B10 in a 4 year timeframe.
 
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Look, I think they will go to 9 game conference schedule,so in that scenario, Iowa will play all but 2 of the eastern teams every year anyway. I do not see that as affecting our ability to recruit in Ohio,Pa,and Mich...we will play them 2 of every 3 years. As for the comparison to the Big Twelve south/north...critical differences were that revenue is shared equally in the Big Ten,and the state of Texas probably had 80% of the recruits in that whole league.
In the Big Ten,the west has Chicago(metro pop 10 million)and illinois, Milwaukee,and wisconsin,minneapolis and minnnesota, Omaha and Iowa....all produce a lot of NFL players. The big twelve north had KC and Omaha.
In Iowa case we have a coach who is a native of Pa. which also helps. And OSU locks up the top guys in Ohio,with the rest fighting over the leftovers...that will not change. This is a league that has 114 years of tradition,not 14 years. Recruits and HS coaches are not going to forget about Iowa because they only play PSU and OSU 2 of 3 years instead of maybe 3 of every 4 years...I reject the comparison to the Big 12.
 
CAARHawk said:
Again, East / West split and the West will end up being the Big 12 North. Just not enough recruiting population. Check the population numbers between the plains and the East.

But I know more than one variable makes a lot of your heads spin.
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please explain to me how playing 2 less games vs NW or Illinois every 6 years, replacing those games with 2 against PSU really makes an appreciable difference in recruiting
 
rodg12 said:
Lakes
OSU
Michigan
Michigan St
Purdue
Indiana
Northwestern

Plains
Iowa
PSU
Nebraska
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Illinois

ETA: Stick with an 8 games conference schedule. Play 5 in-division foes and 3 other division foes each year. Every player then plays every team in B10 in a 4 year timeframe.
Click to expand...

So why wouldn't Wisky be in the lakes division and Indy be in the plains division?
 
CAARHawk said:
So why wouldn't Wisky be in the lakes division and Indy be in the plains division?
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Because protecting rivalries and competitive balance is more of a focus than the name of the division or the geography. Wisconsin fits better than Indiana.
 
We know ...
Iowa-Wisc-Minn stuck together
Ill-NW stuck together
Ind-PU stuck together
Mich-MSU-OSU stuck together
Neb free
PSU free

One possibility ...
So Div-A = Iowa, Mich, MSU, Minn, OSU, Wisc
& Div-B = Illinois, Indy, Neb, NW, PSU, Purdue
this is less fair than E/W

So, we can say that the two 3-team groupings can't be in the same division.

Meaning ...
Div-A = Mich, MSU, OSU, +3 more
Div-B = Iowa, Minn, Wisc, +3 more

Clearly Div-A is stronger at this point. We have two pairs and two free teams, lets take the strongest of each and put them into Div-B. Which is stronger Ill-NW or Indy-PU? I am going Ill-NW, but if you have stats that disagree let me know.

Almost there ...
Div-A = Indy, Mich, MSU, OSU, Purdue, +1
Div-B = Illinois, Iowa, Minn, NW, Wisc, +1

All that is left is PSU vs Neb. It's a toss-up to me. If you put Neb in Div-B then we are back to E/W
 
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