The Mother of All Big Ten Football Realignment Division Plans
by the_Ketch on Jul 21, 2010 11:10 PM CDT
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PrintThere have been so many plans suggested, but here is the one that I think makes the most sense. Call it "Ketch's Divisions Plus One Rival Plan."
Div 1 Div 2
(each team's rival is listed opposite it)
Michigan Ohio State
Nebraska Penn State
Iowa Wisconsin
Indiana Purdue
Michigan State Minnesota
Illinois Northwestern
Teams play each team in their division (five games) plus one designated rival annually (one game), while rotating games against the remaining teams (two games). That’s a total of eight league contests per year (you could also play nine and add one more interdivisional game).
Division winners play in the title game.
One advantage of this plan is the competitive balance of the divisions: Each have two of the traditional superpowers (Ohio State, Nebraska, Michigan, and Penn State) and one of the very competitive teams (Iowa and Wisconsin). The other outstanding teams are fairly evenly distributed.
This plan also maintains most of the rivalries either with division play or the designated rival. Remember, no plan is perfect when it comes to retaining rivalries (sorry, Iowa and Wisconsin).
Additionally, since we're all about TV revenue, the "haves" play each other more often, creating maximum interest in the league, and therefore, TV money. Consider that every year you will get these quality games, in addition to the championship game that every once in a while could have Michigan play a rematch with Ohio State:
o Michigan vs. Nebraska, Ohio State, and Iowa
o Ohio State vs. Michigan, Penn State, and Wisconsin
o Penn State vs. Ohio State, Nebraska, and Wisconsin
o Nebraska vs. Michigan, Iowa, and Penn State oWisconsin vs. Iowa
What I really think is great about this plan is the geographical balance.
Many of the plans I've seen create competitive balance in the East/West divisions by moving Penn State west with Nebraska and Iowa (and oftentimes, Wisconsin east). What the Big 12 taught us is not to divide your league primarily on a geographical basis.
Under this plan, each division's teams are located evenly throughout the entire Big Ten area, meaning that fans won't come to ignore or hate a more distant half of their own league
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Don't like the name of the plan, since I've never really been keen to the term "Plus One" . . .
but this is a plan that could work.
As far as protected football interdivisional rivalries go, the only choice I’d quabble with is Penn State-Nebraska and Michigan State-Minnesota. This mostly has to do with the annual Land Grant Trophy game between PSU and MSU. Plus, Minnesota is already getting shafted enough from their annual Paul Bunyan’s Axe game with Wisconsin and, possibly, the mostly-annual Little Brown Jug game with Michigan, so it’d probably be nice to pair them with a school that’s close to them (as Nebraska most certainly is), even if they’d get pasted every year.
Depending on how they look at it, Minnesota has the most to either gain or lose with the New Big Ten, football-wise. They gain if they show they can play with the New Monster On The Block and everyone else. They lose if they fail to do this. God, Glen Mason probably is now ECSTATIC that he was fired a few years back.
St. Louis Game Time . . . I need another beer.
And I can also write things in 140 characters or fewer.
Aaaaaand I just noticed you'd put Wisconsin and Minnesota in the same division.
Because I’m fucking blind. Sorry about that.
St. Louis Game Time . . . I need another beer.
And I can also write things in 140 characters or fewer.
nice job
In conversations with folks I too have been saying that I am not at all convinced that the Big 10/12 is going to do an east-west split. There’s simply no way to do that and keep a decent balance, since 3 of the 4 powerhouse teams (historically)—namely OSU, UM, and PSU…are the three easternmost schools in the conference.
So if that was the split, what would the names of the divisions be? Any guesses?
Hope It Isn't
Actually, I hope the powers that are working on the schedule don’t break it down to an east-west or north-south split. I’m hoping they will be a bit more creative than that. A monkey can be that predictable.
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