Okay, HawkeyeNation. A little contest if you're up for it.

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PENNHWK

Well-Known Member
With all the rumor and innuendo going around about Big Ten expansion, it just may be time to go on record about what YOU think. Okay. The deal. Pick the school (or schools) who will
be chosen as the next member of America's Premier Football Conference. Then break down
the seperate divisions. East, West - whatever. Finally. When the deal goes down.
An example. Just an example. I say Rutgers. And it breaks down thus:
East: Rutgers, OSU, MSU, Indiana, Michigan & Purdue
West: PSU, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin & Northwestern
The deal goes down April of 2011. Extra credit: Effective 2013
The winner receives an all expense paid trip to the Grotto for a day. Or, I'll by you dinner in Iowa City. Except for Joseph's. I'll keep track of the submissions. Good luck!!!
 
Total shot in the dark here...I think they keep it "midwest" and expand to 14...plucking Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma from the Big12, sending the Big12 into total chaos and forcing them to add TCU, SMU and Houston to get back to 12 teams. (for bonus points)

Edit: Almost forgot the Divisions

West:

Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Missouri
Oklahoma
Wisconsin
Northwestern


East:

Penn State
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State
Purdue
Illinois
Indiana
 
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Marshalltown, Shane? I do believe. There's a cajun' joint in the little town of Oxford. 20 miles west of IC. A shrimp po'boy that cannot be beat. I'll tell you what. Anyone who wins this, from that di-rection, I'll send a gift certificate. That effing good.
 
PENNHWK said:
Marshalltown, Shane? I do believe. There's a cajun' joint in the little town of Oxford. 20 miles west of IC. A shrimp po'boy that cannot be beat. I'll tell you what. Anyone who wins this, from that di-rection, I'll send a gift certificate. That effing good.
Click to expand...

Haha...deal! I'll be in the lovely "home of the Hawkeyes" for the next month or so, so I might have to take the opportunity to check that out BEFORE I win!
 
HawkeyeShane said:
Haha...deal! I'll be in the lovely "home of the Hawkeyes" for the next month or so, so I might have to take the opportunity to check that out BEFORE I win!
Click to expand...

Augusta's, Shane. These folks ran a place in NOLA but left after Katrina. Went to Chicago
but wanted a bit of a quieter atmosphere. Hence, Oxford. Worth the trip.
 
How about the dream divisions:

EAST

1. Michigan
2. Ohio State
3. Purdue
4. Michigan State
5. Notre Dame
6. Indiana

WEST

1. Iowa
2. Penn State
3. Minnesota
4. Illinois
5. Wisconsin
6. Northwestern

This is so good it almost hurts - all of the old rivalries stay intact - you have to move Penn St to the west because it doesn't make sense to have Penn, Ohio and Mich. in the same division.

Notre Dame really makes it work with their natural rivals of Mich St, Mich and Purdue.
 
Nebraska

West:
Iowa
Nebraska
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Illinois

East
Purdue
Michigan State
Michigan
Ohio State
Indiana
Penn State

One permanent cross division game
Minnesota/Michigan
Illinois/Indiana
Michigan State/Wisconsin
Nebraska/Ohio State
Iowa/Penn State
Northwestern/Purdue (this one I don't like but it is what is left)

Announced May 2012
Effective for the 2013/2014 school year

Nebraska brings a big enough name and power to go with Iowa and Wisconsin that it could end up truly East/West and still be pretty balanced. The East division ends up with a stronger basketball division most years but the West wipes the floor with them in Wrestling.

If it does end up anyone but Nebraska then you end up with Penn State in the West to balance the divisions.
 
Thanks for the predictions Chosen and Caven. ND would be perfect but, unfortunately, I see very little chance of that happening.
 
Here we go.......

West:

Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern
Nebraska
TEXAS

East:

Michigan
MSU
tOSU
Purdue
Penn State
Indiana
Pittsburgh

I would love to see this happen. Might drop Texas and add Missouri if Texas starts their owe network, which is rumored. If Texas does that, the B12 would be in big trouble.
 
My Three Cents (Teams) Worth

As I have an extreme distaste for the Rag called the DM Register I have to add my Three Cents (Teams) Worth to the cause (rather than the normal two cents worth column).

Expansion ends up with 3 additional teams taking the Big Ten from 11 schools to 14 and I believe 10 states (thus the Big Ten name remains).

New schools: Missouri - Pitt - Syracuse

Split conference into two divisions.

8 game conference schedule in football with two crossover games that rotate each year. That leaves each school with the current 4 OOC games currently on the schedules. Allows teams to keep home games available to continue current income stream. Conference championship game held Thanksgiving weekend and rotates annually between the domed stadiums in Indy, Detroit, possibly New York with the new Jets/Giants stadium being a retractable roof and eventually Minneapolis (if a new retractable or domed Viking stadium is ever built).

One of the issues with expanding to 14 teams is the challenge in basketball scheduling. Here is a thought but certainly not a perfect solution. Move to 19 game Big Ten conference basketball schedule. Play each team in your division twice and each team from the other division once. Every other year a team ends up with one more away game than home game but it evens up the schedule as closely as possible with 14 teams.


Division "X"
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Illinois
Missouri
Penn State

Division "Y"
Purdue
Pitt
Syracuse
Michigan
Ohio State
Indiana
Michigan State


With Iowa, Penn State, Missouri, Wisconsin on one side and Michigan, Ohio State, Pitt, Michigan State on the other the conference for football could be construed to be very slightly one sided. On the other hand this setup makes the basketball split awfully one sided historically. Have looked at a number of angles but I think keeping traditional rivalries in place will win out in the end (to much money involved in those games).


Announced July 2011
As most schedules are set far enough in advance I think they wait to make it effective during the 2013/2014 school year

Being from NW Iowa and an original Cornbelt conference rival of West Bend, (Everly, yes we were the CATTLEFEEDER'S, best school mascot EVER), I'll take the lunch in Iowa City over another trip to the Grotto. Don't get me wrong, it is a very neat plac to visit but have been there multiple times while growing up. Our church youth group went there about every other year.
 
Re: My Three Cents (Teams) Worth

Lionhawk said:
As I have an extreme distaste for the Rag called the DM Register I have to add my Three Cents (Teams) Worth to the cause (rather than the normal two cents worth column).
Click to expand...

Damn, that's the only part of the newspaper the decends on Iowa thats worth reading.
 
Re: My Three Cents (Teams) Worth

Thanks for playing, everybody. To tell you the truth, though, for all those casting stones at GodGod, I figured a lot more would do some predicting. What's the old proverb??
 
North division:
MINN
WIS
IOWA
MICH
MSU
NU

South division:
ILL
PITT
PUR
IND
PSU
OSU

nice and balanced in a way that I dont think can be achieved by an East and West division scenario.
 
lightning1. Lowland, timberland, badland, birdland. An REM song. The Document LP.
Great name. Thanks for the input!
 
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