NCAA Conference Realignment

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I've been reading up on the Big 10 and how it plans to distribute the schools throughout divisions. It seems the major concern is the balance of power between the divisions, as the Big Ten is looking to avoid a Big 12 South Redux with PSU, OSU, and Michigan in the same division.

 

I think the Michigan-OSU rivalry must be preserved and played on the last Saturday of the regular season. It's the marquee game in the league, and should occur every year. This means Penn State will probably end up getting screwed, and have to go west. I don't think Penn State will go quietly. If the conference were to ensure that PSU would play OSU every year then I think the option becomes more palatable. PSU would then play OSU and Nebraska every year. OSU would play Michigan and PSU each year, and Michigan would preserve it's rivalries with MSU and OSU. I think the divisions should look like this:

 

East (Or whatever it ends up being called): OSU, Michigan, MSU, Purdue, IU, Wisconsin

West: Illinois, NU, Iowa, Penn State, Nebraska, Minnesota

 

I don't know how pissed PSU will be about this but they don't have much leverage. This could all change quickly depending upon future expansion as well.

 

this has been discussed in the thread. you don't have to separate UM, OSU, and PSU to get balance of quality teams. OSU is going to sway whatever side of the ledger they're on. But UM, UW, PSU, Iowa, and NU are all close enough that you can split them geographically without making the East dominant. I don't think any single Big Ten school carries the weight that Texas does relative to the Big 12, so that shouldn't be a major concern either.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I'm not buying any sort of balance of power problem. In football, OSU and PSU would likely dominate the east with Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin having a handle on the west. Michigan will likely bounce back eventually, but it's unlikely that the west teams are going to fall off a cliff any time soon. Illinois is pretty irrelevant as long as they have Zook and Minnesota is pretty terrible in-conference, but Northwestern and MSU are also often tough. Purdue and Indiana have a way to go.

 

In basketball, we have OSU, MSU, and Purdue in the east and Wisconsin, Illinois, and sometimes Minnesota in the west. The east has a pretty big advantage there, but I think the gap will close. I'm not sure Indiana will ever quite be the powerhouse they once were, but they're not likely to give up on their tradition and will get stronger. Michigan and Iowa seem committed to build strong basketball programs again, and long gone are the days when Northwestern would just lay there and take it. Each side has a whipping boy in PSU and Nebraska.

[TruffleShuffle]

I'm not buying any sort of balance of power problem. In football, OSU and PSU would likely dominate the east with Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin having a handle on the west. Michigan will likely bounce back eventually, but it's unlikely that the west teams are going to fall off a cliff any time soon. Illinois is pretty irrelevant as long as they have Zook and Minnesota is pretty terrible in-conference, but Northwestern and MSU are also often tough. Purdue and Indiana have a way to go.

 

you're only thinking about this in terms of the last few years. going back 25 years, the top teams in the conference are michigan, OSU, PSU and nebraska. two should be in one division and two should be in the other. divisioning really shouldn't matter in basketball.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I'm not buying any sort of balance of power problem. In football, OSU and PSU would likely dominate the east with Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin having a handle on the west. Michigan will likely bounce back eventually, but it's unlikely that the west teams are going to fall off a cliff any time soon. Illinois is pretty irrelevant as long as they have Zook and Minnesota is pretty terrible in-conference, but Northwestern and MSU are also often tough. Purdue and Indiana have a way to go.

 

you're only thinking about this in terms of the last few years. going back 25 years, the top teams in the conference are michigan, OSU, PSU and nebraska. two should be in one division and two should be in the other. divisioning really shouldn't matter in basketball.

Going back 25 years isn't important. Too many things have changed.

[TruffleShuffle]

I'm not buying any sort of balance of power problem. In football, OSU and PSU would likely dominate the east with Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin having a handle on the west. Michigan will likely bounce back eventually, but it's unlikely that the west teams are going to fall off a cliff any time soon. Illinois is pretty irrelevant as long as they have Zook and Minnesota is pretty terrible in-conference, but Northwestern and MSU are also often tough. Purdue and Indiana have a way to go.

 

you're only thinking about this in terms of the last few years. going back 25 years, the top teams in the conference are michigan, OSU, PSU and nebraska. two should be in one division and two should be in the other. divisioning really shouldn't matter in basketball.

Going back 25 years isn't important. Too many things have changed.

 

over the next 25 years, michigan is a lot more likely to be very good than iowa or wisconsin

[jersey cubs fan]

I'm not buying any sort of balance of power problem. In football, OSU and PSU would likely dominate the east with Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin having a handle on the west. Michigan will likely bounce back eventually, but it's unlikely that the west teams are going to fall off a cliff any time soon. Illinois is pretty irrelevant as long as they have Zook and Minnesota is pretty terrible in-conference, but Northwestern and MSU are also often tough. Purdue and Indiana have a way to go.

 

you're only thinking about this in terms of the last few years. going back 25 years, the top teams in the conference are michigan, OSU, PSU and nebraska. two should be in one division and two should be in the other. divisioning really shouldn't matter in basketball.

Going back 25 years isn't important. Too many things have changed.

 

Yeah, lots of people thought PSU would dominate the big ten when they first came in, but it just hasn't happened. And they are about to go through a major transition when JoePa goes. There is no reason to think of them as some sort of superpower that has to be seperated. The only power is OSU.

[jersey cubs fan]

I don't see why you can't put UM in the west but have them play OSU every year.

[Jon]

Anything before the early to mid 1990s shouldn't carry much weight since that's when scholarship reductions really changed everything.

 

But sentimentality will be a big factor when the Big ten puts divisions together.

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I'm not buying any sort of balance of power problem. In football, OSU and PSU would likely dominate the east with Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin having a handle on the west. Michigan will likely bounce back eventually, but it's unlikely that the west teams are going to fall off a cliff any time soon. Illinois is pretty irrelevant as long as they have Zook and Minnesota is pretty terrible in-conference, but Northwestern and MSU are also often tough. Purdue and Indiana have a way to go.

 

you're only thinking about this in terms of the last few years. going back 25 years, the top teams in the conference are michigan, OSU, PSU and nebraska. two should be in one division and two should be in the other. divisioning really shouldn't matter in basketball.

 

but why are the mid-80s relevant to this discussion? CFB has changed greatly in that time. I think the last 10-15 years are more relevant to trying to determine who has the power programs going forward. you also have to look at the current coaches/programs and try to guess which are headed up, down, or flat. I just don't see a significant separation between any of the give 2nd tier teams that requires making PSU be the odd team out. You'd essentially kill student/local fan travel to half of their conference games by making them travel to 2-3 of Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin every year.

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I'm not buying any sort of balance of power problem. In football, OSU and PSU would likely dominate the east with Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin having a handle on the west. Michigan will likely bounce back eventually, but it's unlikely that the west teams are going to fall off a cliff any time soon. Illinois is pretty irrelevant as long as they have Zook and Minnesota is pretty terrible in-conference, but Northwestern and MSU are also often tough. Purdue and Indiana have a way to go.

 

you're only thinking about this in terms of the last few years. going back 25 years, the top teams in the conference are michigan, OSU, PSU and nebraska. two should be in one division and two should be in the other. divisioning really shouldn't matter in basketball.

Going back 25 years isn't important. Too many things have changed.

 

over the next 25 years, michigan is a lot more likely to be very good than iowa or wisconsin

 

what are you basing that on?

[TruffleShuffle]

because i'm pretty sure michigan has been better in every 25 year segment of college football history than iowa or wisconsin.

[Vanilla Ice]

Are the Big Ten/Pac Ten going to have divisions in basketball? It has worked out really well in the ACC (in my opinion) to have divisions in football, but not in basketball

[jersey cubs fan]

because i'm pretty sure michigan has been better in every 25 year segment of college football history than iowa or wisconsin.

 

The Reds were probably better than the Cubs for most 25 year segments of baseball, but that doesn't mean anything about the next 25. Teams struggle. The really good ones don't struggle that long or that bad. But Michigan has really fallen on very tough times and are still in limbo with no idea if they have the right coach.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

because i'm pretty sure michigan has been better in every 25 year segment of college football history than iowa or wisconsin.

Again, too many things have changed in the last decade or two. College athletics are a much different animal now.

[dew1679666265]

Are the Big Ten/Pac Ten going to have divisions in basketball? It has worked out really well in the ACC (in my opinion) to have divisions in football, but not in basketball

 

I wish the SEC would go away from divisions in basketball, to be honest.

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because i'm pretty sure michigan has been better in every 25 year segment of college football history than iowa or wisconsin.

 

that's true. nothing ever changes in cfb and michigan's program sure seems to be back on the upswing now.

[TruffleShuffle]

because i'm pretty sure michigan has been better in every 25 year segment of college football history than iowa or wisconsin.

 

that's true. nothing ever changes in cfb and michigan's program sure seems to be back on the upswing now.

 

i'll take 100 years of history over how michigan has played the last 2-3 years. i guess we can bet a nickel now and stop back in 25 years to settle our bet.

[radarluv1]

In regards to OSU/UM, I don't think its fair to put a team in the west, but force them to play a powerhouse in the east every year. Make the division along IL/IN border and the talent level should be close enough.

[jersey cubs fan]

because i'm pretty sure michigan has been better in every 25 year segment of college football history than iowa or wisconsin.

 

that's true. nothing ever changes in cfb and michigan's program sure seems to be back on the upswing now.

 

i'll take 100 years of history over how michigan has played the last 2-3 years. i guess we can bet a nickel now and stop back in 25 years to settle our bet.

 

100 years of history tells you nothing about Florida's status in college football. Eras come and go.

 

 

But again, why would PSU be the team that goes west? Why can't Michigan be in the west but still play OSU?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

But again, why would PSU be the team that goes west? Why can't Michigan be in the west but still play OSU?

It doesn't make sense to have either of them go west, but Michigan would be a more logical choice. The 6 most western teams are in the central time zone, and the others are in the east with Indiana making things confusing for me since I don't know what time it is there.

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because i'm pretty sure michigan has been better in every 25 year segment of college football history than iowa or wisconsin.

 

that's true. nothing ever changes in cfb and michigan's program sure seems to be back on the upswing now.

 

i'll take 100 years of history over how michigan has played the last 2-3 years. i guess we can bet a nickel now and stop back in 25 years to settle our bet.

 

are you intentionally being dense about the state of michigan football or do you have no sense of what it's like? this isn't a team that stumbled, had a run of injuries, or just isn't playing up to potential. Rich Rod might turn things around quickly, but all signs aren't pointing that way.

[jersey cubs fan]

In regards to OSU/UM, I don't think its fair to put a team in the west, but force them to play a powerhouse in the east every year. Make the division along IL/IN border and the talent level should be close enough.

 

But can't you just set it up so that you win your division based on record in your division, with other games as tie breaker?

[apete6]

I think they should just play all 11 teams and then 1 non-con game against a patsy. Guaranteed to get a team into the championship game if they're undefeated.

[Tracer Bullet]

But again, why would PSU be the team that goes west? Why can't Michigan be in the west but still play OSU?

It doesn't make sense to have either of them go west, but Michigan would be a more logical choice. The 6 most western teams are in the central time zone, and the others are in the east with Indiana making things confusing for me since I don't know what time it is there.

 

I think Indiana stopped being difficult in that regard. The zone still cuts through the very NW corner of the state, but I thought they got on board with DLS finally (right after I left).

[Ding Dong Johnson]

But again, why would PSU be the team that goes west? Why can't Michigan be in the west but still play OSU?

It doesn't make sense to have either of them go west, but Michigan would be a more logical choice. The 6 most western teams are in the central time zone, and the others are in the east with Indiana making things confusing for me since I don't know what time it is there.

 

I think Indiana stopped being difficult in that regard. The zone still cuts through the very NW corner of the state, but I thought they got on board with DLS finally (right after I left).

There you go. Big Ten East vs. Big Ten Central.