Who gets their way in alignment: Wisconsin or Iowa?

Scott Dochterman tweeted in reply to Jon's tweet on this this morning with something to the effect that the first step will be to pair teams so:

Michigan-Michigan State
Penn State - Ohio State
Minnesota - Wisconsin
Iowa - Nebraska
Illinois - Northwestern
Indiana - Purdue

So the paired teams will be in the same division.

Based on this you have divisions that look like the following:

East
Ohio State
Penn State
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Purdue
Indiana

West
Michigan
Nebraska
Iowa
Michigan State
Northwestern
Illinois

I know that a lot has been made of the influence that Alvarez potentially has but remember there is a guy named Tom Osborne who carries some weight and other than Barry being a Nebraska grad what 'relationship' does Nebraska/Wisconsin have? Iowa is a border state, a natural rivalry, and Iowa and Nebraska has played in recent history. I think that if Nebraska has a say in the matter and I believe that they do that they would prefer Iowa as a rival vs Wisconsin. But that is just my opinion.

Plus, who would want to turn in on Big Ten rivalry Saturday to see what basically looks like a spring game because Wisconsin/Nebraska's uniforms are so much alike?

iahawk72
 
I dont see anyway Iowa is not in the same division as NU. If the B10 puts Iowa and NU in the same division they **** off Wisky. If the B10 puts Wisky and NU in the same division they **** off Iowa AND NU. The safest route and the smartest route is to let Wisky go East. Remember Osborne stated that a scenario in which Iowa and NU dont play would not be well received. I am betting that NU will have some say in who it wants as its inner division rival. That being said if NU and Iowa do not play annually there will be riots.
 
JonDMiller said:
Michigan and Nebraska will be in one division. Penn State and Ohio State will be in the opposite division. The next two most successful programs since 1993, the criteria Jim Delany set out, are Wisconsin and Iowa.

I would suggest both programs would want to be in the west with Michigan and Nebraska....who gets their way? Who gets to call in their marker? Barry Alvarez is like a freaking unofficial spokesman for the Big Ten right now...one of two men to ever win three Rose Bowls as a coach...along with Woody Hayes...he is very active..and young.

Who wins the showdown?

Have you considered this? I had not, until this morning.

WEST

Michigan
Nebraska
WISCONSIN
Michigan State
Minnesota
Northwestern

EAST

OSU
PSU
IOWA
Indiana
Purdue
Illinois

Have you thought about this? Do you like it? I am not a fan of it...and I understand the instant thought; no way is Iowa not playing Nebraska....well, Wisconsin wants exactly what Iowa wants...someone is going to be ticked off...who gets to play their chip?
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This is one of the reasons (among many) that I am not a fan of Barta. The guy has absolutely no clout in the conference whatsoever. Bump Elliott had clout. Bob Bowlsbey (love him or hate him) had clout. Barta has nothing. If it comes down to a pi$$ing match between Barta and Alvarez, Barta will lose every time. Our only hope is that Osborne goes to bat for us. However, I'm not too thrilled about having to have the Nebraska AD save the day for us.....
 
The could just use geography and you would have an even league.

That would be too easy though
 
Rawkhawk73 said:
This is one of the reasons (among many) that I am not a fan of Barta. The guy has absolutely no clout in the conference whatsoever. Bump Elliott had clout. Bob Bowlsbey (love him or hate him) had clout. Barta has nothing. If it comes down to a pi$$ing match between Barta and Alvarez, Barta will lose every time. Our only hope is that Osborne goes to bat for us. However, I'm not too thrilled about having to have the Nebraska AD save the day for us.....
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Its ok, it'll just make the rivalry that much better. It'll be a love/hate thing. Love us because we were able to solidify the rivalry but hate us because we were the ones that got it done. LOL.

I just cant imagine the B10 screwing up a budding border rivalry. There is only a small portion of NU fans that want Wisky as a rival. If the B10 screws the pooch on this, there will be alot of unhappy campers on both sides of the river.
 
So why should Michigan be in the west other than the words in their fight song and them being too scared to have OSU in their division?
 
PeoriaHWKI said:
West:
Iowa
Nebraska
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern
Minnesota

East:
OSU
PSU
Mich
MSU
Indiana
Purdue


That is it... easy... we need to stop looking at who was good 20 years ago in deciding Divisions. Times have changed. Rivalries aren't as big of Paydays as they used to be and are gettign old. They get hyped up for nothing anymore. A Conf Championship is going to be huge. If anything based on the past 10 years you could argue the West is the much stronger division if set up this way.
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+1

Jon, being the local expert on this< what are your thoughts on future expansion? Im betting the Big ten is not stopping at 12, and when they do expand it will be out east, which means that Delany would have to start over with the divisions, are they considering this?
 
I personally don't care for this whole "protected rival" stuff. I would like to see a schedule similar to the Big 12. However they decide to divide the conferences, we play an 8-game schedule, 3 from the opposite league, and then the other 3 the next year. This **** is getting way to damn complicated and everyone is looking to "protect" this or "ensure" this. Every team should keep there most long-standing rival decided on by the AD's and the other rivalries will just have to wait maybe a year or two inbetween games. It's not like the "Oaken Bucket" or "Jug of Nails" are gonna get thrown in the trash as soon as they stop playing every year. These rivalries will go on. I think they hit it on the head when Delany discussed the home games available to teams in a 9 game schedule. It will be tough for some teams to get to 7 home games on off years. Keeping 8 games eases the burden on non-con scheduling, and leaves the possibility of better non-conference games. Myself, I would like to see this alignment...

Ohio St.
Michigan
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Indiana
Purdue

Penn St.
Michigan St.
Nebraska
Iowa
Northwestern
Illinois

Call the divisions whatever you want, but keep the 8 game schedule, rotate 3 out of each league, and rotate them on a periodic basis. Leaves each team with 4 non-con games, you'll get more exciting non-con games, and each team should have no trouble getting to 6-7 home games. Regardless of how it works out, each team is gonna have to win there games every year to be champions. Divisions, 8-games, 9-games, etc. is not gonna change that.
 
Iowa vs. Nebraska is the game that EVERYONE talked about when they got announced. EVERYONE.

As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Nebraska put being in the same division (or a yearly game) with Iowa as a pre requisite to them joining the league.
 
HwkFn4Life said:
I personally don't care for this whole "protected rival" stuff. I would like to see a schedule similar to the Big 12. However they decide to divide the conferences, we play an 8-game schedule, 3 from the opposite league, and then the other 3 the next year. This **** is getting way to damn complicated and everyone is looking to "protect" this or "ensure" this. Every team should keep there most long-standing rival decided on by the AD's and the other rivalries will just have to wait maybe a year or two inbetween games. It's not like the "Oaken Bucket" or "Jug of Nails" are gonna get thrown in the trash as soon as they stop playing every year. These rivalries will go on. I think they hit it on the head when Delany discussed the home games available to teams in a 9 game schedule. It will be tough for some teams to get to 7 home games on off years. Keeping 8 games eases the burden on non-con scheduling, and leaves the possibility of better non-conference games. Myself, I would like to see this alignment...

Ohio St.
Michigan
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Indiana
Purdue

Penn St.
Michigan St.
Nebraska
Iowa
Northwestern
Illinois

Call the divisions whatever you want, but keep the 8 game schedule, rotate 3 out of each league, and rotate them on a periodic basis. Leaves each team with 4 non-con games, you'll get more exciting non-con games, and each team should have no trouble getting to 6-7 home games. Regardless of how it works out, each team is gonna have to win there games every year to be champions. Divisions, 8-games, 9-games, etc. is not gonna change that.
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Not to be rude, but you obviously werent alive when the B12 thought the same thing. The NU/OU rivalry was one of the greatest in college football. It was as big as UM/OSU. Then they killed it and now its just another game when they play every two years. Hopefuylly the B10 will learn from this and try to preserve as much of the old historical rivalries that make college football great, along with possibly building new rivalries that will make it even better. There is no doubt someone is going to get the shaft, I just hope it isnt to the detriment of the league.
 
billdozer15 said:
The NU/OU rivalry was one of the greatest in college football. It was as big as UM/OSU. Then they killed it and now its just another game when they play every two years.
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Very true. The Big 12 did drop the ball on that one. But the fact is the Big Ten has too many so-called rivalries. Each school I'm sure has one that stands out. Heck, each fan does, and they may change over time. The fact is every rivalry game can not get played every year if you want divisions. So pick your most cherished and move on.
 
When will the final decision on realignment be made? Can it wait until 11/21/10?

There may be some short lived knee-jerk consideration to keep Iowa on the other side of the fence from OSU should the Hawks beat Wisky and OSU and win the Big 10 title this year.
 
This would be very bad for Iowa IMO. It takes 3 of our 4 biggest projected rivalries (PSU being the 4th) and ruins them. Minny, Nebby, Wisky, we need to be in the same division as 2 of the 3. I'm in favor of dropping Minny, that game has never meant much to the group of fans I hang out with (all under 40). I mean it's another B10 game but we all get more pumped up for Wisky.
 
If Iowa, Nebby and Wisc are fine with Geographic boundries, then who would be against it??? No one from what i can tell. Just have a gentlemans agreement that if ND comes they go to the West. Its as simple as that.
 
iahawk72 said:
Scott Dochterman tweeted in reply to Jon's tweet on this this morning with something to the effect that the first step will be to pair teams so:

Michigan-Michigan State
Penn State - Ohio State
Minnesota - Wisconsin
Iowa - Nebraska
Illinois - Northwestern
Indiana - Purdue

So the paired teams will be in the same division.

Based on this you have divisions that look like the following:

East
Ohio State
Penn State
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Purdue
Indiana

West
Michigan
Nebraska
Iowa
Michigan State
Northwestern
Illinois

I know that a lot has been made of the influence that Alvarez potentially has but remember there is a guy named Tom Osborne who carries some weight and other than Barry being a Nebraska grad what 'relationship' does Nebraska/Wisconsin have? Iowa is a border state, a natural rivalry, and Iowa and Nebraska has played in recent history. I think that if Nebraska has a say in the matter and I believe that they do that they would prefer Iowa as a rival vs Wisconsin. But that is just my opinion.

Plus, who would want to turn in on Big Ten rivalry Saturday to see what basically looks like a spring game because Wisconsin/Nebraska's uniforms are so much alike?

iahawk72
Click to expand...

I like this set-up.. Taking it a step further, to keep Wisconsin from ******** and moaning too much you can give them Neb as their protected rival. Protected rivals would be:

Neb & Wisc
Mich & tOSU
Iowa & Minn
psu & mich st
nw & ind
ill & purdue
 
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