"Protected Rival" game should NOT be the final weekend

[hawkeyescott]

That simply is not balanced at all. You can't simply look at last season, you have to think strength of programs over the last 5 years or so at least.

The 3 strongest programs in the conference in the same division? And MSU is a darn solid program as well and we all know Purdue is bound to get better sooner rather than later.

I realize that's a very beneficial setup for Iowa, but no way does that work for the Big Three.

I'll agree that works in terms of regionality...but its a terrible power imbalance. You are also correct that the Big 12 was terribly out of balance...that's something the Big Ten should seek to avoid rather than emulate as this alignment does.

Why aren't those divisions fair, lets go back the last 7 years with conference records:

Division A
Ohio St 46-10
Michigan 35-21
Penn State 32-24


Division B
Iowa 34-22
Wisconsin 35-21

No one is going to come close to the record Ohio St has the last 7 years but putting Nebraska in with Iowa and Wisconsin and keeping OSU, Mich, and PSU together seems pretty balanced.

Then split it up the next teir this way
MSU in division A
NW in division B

Purdue in division A
Illinois in division B

Indiana in division A
Minnesota in division B

Division A
OSU
Mich
PSU
MSU
Purdue
Indiana

Division B
Iowa
Wisc
Neb
NW
Ill
Minn

That is pretty balanced.

 

[FirstDownHawkeyes]

think outside the box. there are only protected rivalry games and rotating divisions. you could have 2 or 3 protected games for each team. the rotating divisons could be determined however you like...performance based (each division is split "evenly" by finish either nationally or w/in the B10--there would be a lag of coures) , random, or by order of rotation.

 

[WINthePIG]

Great, well thought-out post, EYEKWAH! This was the type of consideration I was looking for when I created the thread last month.

I really like your idea of splitting the four historic winning programs, but still guaranteeing that they all play each other. This way, EVERY team in the Big 10 will play three of these four teams every year. That sounds like equity to me. Furthermore, these will be games that draw national attention for the conference.

Not sure I agree, that to attain a rematch of a final-week game in the championship , the two teams "must come in essentially undefeated". If one team was undefeated an the other had one loss, with the one loss team winning, we could have that situation too. Also, given the 9-game schedule, we are apt to see the occasional 2-loss team qualify in a tie-breaker.

Anyway, appreciate your thoughts EYEKWAH. Thanks!

 

[IowaBanker]

I think the Big 10 should avoid following the Big 12 in every reasonable way.

The Big 12 made mistakes when it was formed, but the manner in which schedules were set up was absolutely the best way to go.

Play 8 games...5 against teams in your division and 3 against teams in the other division. Flip-flop the home/road games the next year. Then the next two years do the same thing, but only play the remaining 3 teams in the other division.

It's simple, it's clean, and it guarantees that you will play every opponent at least twice every 4 years, and will host every opponent once every 4 years.

 

[CRhawkeye4life]

Look. This isn't a ******* match.

If you can't see that those are three premier programs...and that they will have a good bit of say regarding alignment...than you're not living in reality. I certainly grant that no single program equates to Texas' dominance in the Big 12...but pretending OSU, MU, and PSU aren't influential in ratio to their status in the football world is naive.

You just can't take the 3 programs perceived as the most dominant, and stick them in one division. I'm not arguing that that perception is borne out statistically, which you keep alluding to...but at some level, perception is reality.

Here's a little reality for you regarding your so called Big 3 this past decade. I posted this on TOS and I'll posted it here.

I would say that the top 5 teams in the Big Ten the past decade are Ohio St., Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Penn St. I did a little checking and since Penn St joined the Big Ten they have a losing record against Michigan(4-10), Ohio St(6-11) and Iowa(5-8). They did fair a little better against Wisconsin, they are 6-6.

In the last decade(2000-2009) these are the records

Ohio St. record is 96-25 over all and 64-16 in the Big Ten
Michigan record 81-43 over all and 53-27 in the Big Ten
Wisconsin record is 86-43 over all and 44-36 in the Big Ten
Iowa record is 81-45 over all and 49-31 in the Big Ten
Penn St. record is 77-44 over all and 45-35 in the Big Ten

Looks like Penn ST. came in 5th

Now you add Nebraska 84-44 over all and 46-34 in Big12

The west isn't as weak as some think it is