Why East/West and not North/South Split

K

keswhisk

Member
First post here but been reading for a while now.

Sorry if this has been brought up before.

I know that just about every combination of divisions has been thrown out at some point or another but I am wondering why everyone seems to think that there will be an East/West split possible?

The way I see it we can also split into North and South using I-80 as the dividing line. The one exception would be Penn State which is really outside the scope of the main B10 Footprint anyway. This kind of makes the distance each team needs to travel equal as all teams are spread east to West in each division.

Here is what I think the Divisions would be.

North:
Penn State
Michigan
Michigan State
Northwestern
Minnesota
Wisconsin

South:
Ohio State
Purdue
Indiana
Illinois
Iowa
Nebraska

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

I will freely admit that I do not like any of this Division stuff as I think rather then making a balanced conference it will ultimately screw things up more then it will fix.

Thoughts?

FYI keswhisk = Kessler Whiskey, no love for Wisconsin here!:)
 
I think your South division is quite a bit weaker than the North. Putting Illinois, Indiana, and Purdue in the same group is the majority of the bottom feeders in the Big 10. And why didn't you list Iowa-Minnesota as a protected rivalry instead of Iowa-Wisconsin? Iowa-Wisconsin has been a better series lately as Minnesota's been down, but Iowa-Minnesota is has more tradition, a much longer history, and a much cooler trophy. Even though I like UI-UW more right now, Iowa-Minnesota would be the game to protect.
 
It will always be slightly unbalanced but I think it is hard to call Illinois and Purdue bottom feeders. Recently maybe, but Illinois has been to 2 BCS games and Purdue has had success within the last 10 years.

I looked at it like this. Each team can closely be matched up with a team that is close to their equal in success. I do agree that the lower end is not necessarily exact as is it becomes kind of murky. I left Michigan State-Indiana because it is a trophy game, how important of one I am not familiar with it to comment.

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

I put Iowa Wisconsin as a Protected Game solely because I was looking at it from a TV revenue stand point. I think Iowa-Wisconsin would have a better chance of getting on ABC then Iowa-Minnesota.

I love Floyd and do not want to see him go from a every year to every few year trophy but if you are ranking the teams on success since 1993 Iowa and Wisconsin line up better.
 
I think we've moved past the proposals state ... Delany said they are 80% done

I prefer E/W but it's not going to happen
 
They are looking at competetive balance as much as geography. If schedule expands to 9 conference games, it wont matter as much as only two teams you wont play. Travel wont be that much different.

Way I read article today, they are down to two plans. No idea what the two choices may be.
 
Why do the teams need to be fixed in one division? Keep the current tandem groups and team Penn State with Nebraska for the sixth tandem. Put three tandems in each division and then rotate the tandems every two years.
 
nearscratch said:
Why do the teams need to be fixed in one division? Keep the current tandem groups and team Penn State with Nebraska for the sixth tandem. Put three tandems in each division and then rotate the tandems every two years.
Click to expand...

I'd be alright with that
 
nearscratch said:
Why do the teams need to be fixed in one division? Keep the current tandem groups and team Penn State with Nebraska for the sixth tandem. Put three tandems in each division and then rotate the tandems every two years.
Click to expand...


I think we might have a winner with this one. Too bad it more then likely will not happen.
 
If Sconsin and Nebby are in different divisions, they will have a protected game IMO. No doubt Alverez wants that game.
 
If they are going to ignore geography in alligning the divisions....there should be no directions in the divisional names. (no east/west/north/south) They should be 2 divisional names with Big Ten Ties....Obviously, the name of our division should be the "Kinnick Division". The conference has a lot of history, use it when naming the divisions if they have no geographical significance. Go Hawks.
 
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