OSU-Michigan: Should Iowa Fans Care?

I care cause it's a big ten tradition and as far as that goes, I would like to see it continue to be the last game of the season. Looking at it as not a big ten fan, but solely as an IOwa fan, I feel like it could be good for us. Take a little spotlight off them and if IU/Nebby game is rivalry week, we could get a ton of the national spotlight. What I care most about it not being the end of the year, is Michigan could steal Nebby for the last game of the year from the Hawks.
 
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I'm an old-school traditionalist, so I care quite a bit about this game and the fact that it's played at the end of the year. I just don't see the logic in messing with a tradition that goes back as far as this rivalry goes. I remember as recently as 2004 (and other times even further back), score watching, as the game had an impact on Iowa's chances for a Big 10 title. More often than not, the result of that game had a big impact on Iowa's title chances, bowl slot, etc.

I can live with adding a 12th team....I can live with the splitting up into divisions......I can even live with possibly losing Wisconsin as a protected rival. But at least keep ONE tradition for us fans to grasp onto....Is that really too much to ask?
 
I personally, would be very upset if they moved this game. Regardless of whether fans like/dislike either one of them, The Game, is an institution of not just the Big Ten, but IMO college football as a whole. That's just too much tradition to throw out the window for some short term money.
 
The real question is Michigan going to improve enough so that it MIGHT matter if anyone cares. Currently it is not a game and has little to no impact on the conference champion.
 
How can you not care, as the divisional alignments effect where Iowa will be, who they will match up and how the traditional rivalries are going to play out. A major part of college football is the tie ins, the legacy, the traditions that your team has, and that you have a result of following(allying yourself to)them, to rip that up is to tear the fabric that makes college football so intense, makes it matter to people, makes it apart of their lives and that is more than just game day for most(to not have these is to have pro football really, and who really cares about that...unless you re a Packers fan). So, with Michigan and OSU being the flagship programs of the BigTen, to tear up their tradition(75 years of playing at the end of the season and oftentimes with it being for all the marbles), is any tradition safe? How many changes can be made and this still be the team that you care about(could you be excited if IOWA was in a superconference and they played BSU, Utah, Tennessee, OK St, and whoever?), for isnt a major part of this whole thing you love is the chance to go against the guy you have had to contest with for many a years? If administrators think they can rewrite and reshape the very thing that has built itself to what we know, what makes it something we care about, what keeps us in it? SO, I do care, and I hope that those who see major dollars involved dont forget that to rewrite this to an extreme may well disembowl the very soul of what has actually made this the juggernaut that the BigTen and college football is.
 
All I know is I hate, absolutely HATE, this stupid idea of having "protected" out-of-division rivals. I think it is the dumbest idea of all that have come out of the expansion rumors.

With this stupid "protected" rival crap you'll have 5 division games and the rival that never change from year to year. That leaves 2 spots for 5 teams, meaning it would take 6 years to get through a home and home with the whole conference. I'll pass.

Just set it up they way every other conference does it. And don't give me this crap about "9 conference games" or that "expansion isn't over". You can change the schedule WHEN THAT ACTUALLY happens. Until then, keep everything nice and neat.
 
If Michigan and Ohio State want to play EVERY YEAR, than they better scream and yell to anyone who will listen that they want to be in the same division.

If they want to be opposite each other, fine, but live with the consequences and don't screw up the whole conference schedule because you can't grow up and take a few years off.

Being in the same division works for Texas and Oklahoma, and Texas and A&M. It works for Auburn and Alabama, Georgia-Florida, Tenn-Florida, and it surely can work for OSU-Michigan.

And frankly, despite the fact that Delany and the rest of the Big Ten decision makers apparently think that by splitting the two that Michigan will magically return to power and set up a rematch in the title game, isn't that actually not going to be all that likely if they're a "protected rival."

If they're still going to play every year, then one of them is automatically going to have a conference loss every year, which if there is another strong team in their division, they could easily end up losing a tie-break at 6-2 more often than not and still not play in the title game.
 
The final day of the regular season should be Rivalry Day in the Big Ten. I'd like for Michigan and OSU to stay in the same division and play each other on the last day of the season. It's a tradition I don't want discarded. I'd also like to see Iowa/Nebraska as a season finale.
 
I don't understand people being upset about osu-meechigan. I am for what is best for Iowa, and based on our history, as long as we're not in osu's division, bring it on. I personally enjoy seeing these fans from the "big 2" whine. grow up and get over it.

People just fear change, and that is what this is about. Just like when the rose bowl finally moved to not stictly be big 10-pac 10. i would say we have all dealt with that just fine.

truth is that we need to move away from "big 2, little 8/9" for the good of the overall conference strength.
 
MisterWinky said:
truth is that we need to move away from "big 2, little 8/9" for the good of the overall conference strength.
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and this does just the opposite, by promoting the idea that they are more special than the other teams and therefore must be separated.

I stick by my guns, East/West is Best
 
I care because:

1) If OSU and UM are in the same division, almost assuredly PSU and Nebraska will be in the other.
2) If the above happens, I believe we are likely to be in the Neb/PSU division, with Wiscy in the other.

Although I don't like losing Wiscy as a division opponent, I believe this scenario sets us up for the best routing shot at the conference championship game.

Put another way, UM, PSU, OSU, and Nebraska will almost assuredly be divided evenly. Going forward, I would place the likelihood of each being dominant as 1) OSU 2) PSU 3) Michigan 4) Nebraska. I think OSU has separation from PSU and Michigan (which are about equal), and I think all three have a bit of separation from Nebraska. I would gladly take being in Nebraska's division with either Michigan or PSU. I want no part of OSU's division.
 
Lots of people point to Florida v. Bama last year as an example of why top conference rivals should be in the same division. However, look when they are playing that game this year - October.

Could it still be a great game? Sure. But so could the last division game foe either school. Guess what? So could the conference championship game.

Sorry, but taxation without representation was tradition, slavery was tradition, women not having a vote was tradition. I live in the south now. The things I see down here in the name of tradition makes that argument ring pretty darn shallow.
 
Traditional rivalries should be kept intact. However, there may need to be some adjustments as when the games are played with the new alignment of schools in the Big Ten.

That said, I really don't care if Ohio State plays Michigan every year or every four years. But there's still interest in many of the traditional rivalries that includes the Ohio State and Michigan game. The border schools should play each other annually, if possible. If this is not possible then the border schools with the best rivalries should be kept intact.

I would like to see Iowa play Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois every year. If this is not practical then drop Illinois from the annual frequency, as this game is not as much of a rivalry as Wisconsin and Minnesota and soon to be Nebraska.
 
This might be to complicated but if we went to a 9 conference season could we also pick 1 team from the other conference we play reguardless every year. That would take care of some rivalrys that might get messed up. That way You could keep it simple east west scheme. But nebraska plays PSU reguardless. Ohio state plays Michigan reguardless and any other rivalry that might get effected. Maybe that would be to complicated though but im sure someone with more brain power could figure it out.
 
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There is a reason that the Michigan AD came out in favor of being in a division opposite Ohio State. Why? In the last 17 years Michigan would fare better at reaching the championship game being in a western division.

Delany has guaranteed that there will be an annual Ohio State vs Michigan game. The debate seems to be when it is played, the last week of the regular season or at an earlier date. I don't have a problem with the game being moved earlier, but there isn't any reason it could not be at the end. So what if there is back to back games on occasion between the two. It won't happen that often, like 3 times in 17 years based on projections using past records of the 12 teams.
 
Tradition is what makes the Big Ten a special conference. For over a hundred years some teams have been playing each other and battling it out to the end. Families have been torn apart and some friends are sworn enemies on certain days. Would Iowa fans want Minnesota in a different division? Wouldn't that affect our rival? What about Wisconsin and Minnesota not playing for the Ax? That is the oldest rival in college football?
I love watching our players carry the bronze pig off the field when we win. Does that game have to be the last game of the year? Absolutely not! Whenever the game is played it will keep tradition alive. OSU vs. Michigan could be played in September, October, or November and it would still be THE GAME. I hate both of these teams. There isn't a sympathetic bone in my body when the word Michigan or OSU comes out of my mouth. However, when you mess with tradition then you really are saying that any one rival game can be affected. Let them play each other every year. This doesn't have to be the last game.
 
Blah, blah, blah.

Just about every Iowa fan would give up the Minny rivalry in an instant if it meant we got Nebby as a rival.

Tradition is an argument usually made to maintain an advantage of the powerful over the powerless. When the powerful no longer value the advantage, they then make an argument for progress. It is a tried and true combination.

The sad thing is when the less powerful buy the argument and take up it's cause and hence become complicit in their disadvantage.
 
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WhitUp said:
I care cause it's a big ten tradition and as far as that goes, I would like to see it continue to be the last game of the season. Looking at it as not a big ten fan, but solely as an IOwa fan, I feel like it could be good for us. Take a little spotlight off them and if IU/Nebby game is rivalry week, we could get a ton of the national spotlight. What I care most about it not being the end of the year, is Michigan could steal Nebby for the last game of the year from the Hawks.
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By the way, we are "The University of Iowa" so it is "U of I" or "UI", NOT "IU." IU would be, for example, "Indiana University."
 
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