The Big Ten Wants to Move Northwestern into Ohio State's Division

By 11W Staff - 04 January 2013
26 Comments
- Football
- Hoops

Woo-hoo: Perfect excuse for a trip to the Windy City every other year. (twitter.com)

Comments

OSUStu on 4 Jan 2013 - 2:06pm #

This would be great. It makes a great trip and comes at a pretty reasonable cost - especially for me since I have family living there that I can stay with.

Bucksfan on 4 Jan 2013 - 2:12pm #

There the Big Ten goes again, trying to tell everyone that the laws of 3-dimensional physics and math are wrong.

703Buckeye on 4 Jan 2013 - 2:14pm #

I have to side with Northwestern here. If the B1G goes with the expected east/west split, NW would be separated from all the western schools. Without those western schools, NW will see their attendance sag.

"Attack the Strong, Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead!"
-Former OSU S&C Coach Lichter

VintonCountyBuck on 4 Jan 2013 - 2:22pm #

And...Allows for a nice new "open" spot for Notre Dame, without the In-state rivals of Indiana, Purdue and Northwestern being in the same division.

Hmmmm.....

“Right now, Michigan is not at the pinnacle of college football, and that’s all Urban Meyer cares about...He’s been there and knows what it takes to get there.”

popeurban on 4 Jan 2013 - 2:30pm #

OSUStu on 4 Jan 2013 - 2:31pm #

pssstt...NW is in Illinois

VintonCountyBuck on 4 Jan 2013 - 3:16pm #

EDIT:

Yes, I know..thank you for pointing it out. +1

Northwestern must've got switched accidentaly when I was trying to edit my orgiinal comment.

“Right now, Michigan is not at the pinnacle of college football, and that’s all Urban Meyer cares about...He’s been there and knows what it takes to get there.”

OSUStu on 4 Jan 2013 - 3:34pm #

Sure thing. Thought it might be better to just let it slide...but eh, we're all friends here.

brylee on 4 Jan 2013 - 5:06pm #

edit: delete previous comment for not making much sense

beserkr29 on 4 Jan 2013 - 2:43pm #

Selfishly, I'd rather have Illinois stay in the East and NW go west. 80 minutes is a lot better driving time than 3 hours. But as long as there's a game in-state that I can go watch Ohio State play in, I am all for it.

M Man on 4 Jan 2013 - 2:45pm #

I still have a hard time believing that Michigan and Ohio State won't be separated. That was the guiding principle in the last realignment.

How pissed would you be, if you were a fan and a donor at school like Wisconsin or Northwestern or Iowa (you pick -- however you think the divisional alignments might look) and you were told that at best, you'd get Michigan or Ohio State at home once every seven or eight years. You might as well be in the Metro Conference. Do they still have a Metro Conference?

It is the notion of playing an Ohio State or a Michigan, in your stadium, that makes life worth living if you are in a place like Iowa City or West Lafayette or Champaign-Urbana. They may hate us, but they love to hate us.

Bucksfan on 4 Jan 2013 - 3:53pm #

Tough to say. The overwhelming majority of B1G school fans who voted in that survey likely voted for an east-west split with UM and OSU in the same division. Obviously, Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State fans probably represented the largest proportion of voters, so I guess have to take it with a grain of salt.

The Network's biggest concern is having a major presence in New York, DC and Chicago. This Northwestern obviously reflects that. Having the 3 biggest draws playing the teams from the new markets would also make sense. So I don't think it's as clear cut that OSU and UM will be separated. I could see it going either way.

Brutus Greyshield on 4 Jan 2013 - 4:22pm #

Ohio State and Michigan are going to play the same number of non-conference away games regardless of whether they are in the same division or not. Having them in the same division would just do more to diversify their appearances out west as the school tries to establish the brand in the east.

With the auto tie-in between UM & OSU out of the way, the east teams would play one of the 'Big Two' at home every four years. Plus, with Ohio State and Michigan out of the division, those teams can increase their dreams of playing the conference championship game. I think it would be fun. It create a division of dreamers like the SEC East. Look how much a lopsided conference has helped them. It would promote Iowa and Wisconsin to Georgia status on those years that they don't draw either school.

lamplighter on 4 Jan 2013 - 4:41pm #

metro = Big East = future ACC

FROMTHE18 on 4 Jan 2013 - 2:49pm #

think its simple: Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana in East... Purdue, Northwestern, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa in the West... Purdue/IU have about a 2% chance of playing eachother twice in a year with the Big 10 title game, also, of the Big 10 rivalries, its not particularly up there in terms of intensity and what it means for the rest of the conference so breaking that one up isnt a big deal... keeps the michigan schools agaisnt each other, removes the OSU/Michigan back to back week issue, PSU/OSU remains, PSU/Maryland can happen, and Rutgers gets the big boys (OSU, Michigan, Penn State) which would draw more of an audience from the NY market...on top of that, gets rid of the stupid division names

Brutus Greyshield on 4 Jan 2013 - 4:38pm #

I think this helps the conference overall. Keep Mich and OSU on the last week of the season and then put Wisconsin and Nebraska as the last game for the West. Then, start branding like the SEC has done (i.e. work the season so that on the eve of the conference championship game you have the maximum number of undefeated and one-loss teams. So, for six years, have Ohio State and Michigan not play Wisconsin or Nebraska. The conference would have four teams on 'rivalry weekend' with a really good shot at being 11-0 or 10-1.

In a typical year it would keep the teams in the top end of the national conversarion longer by postponing the odds of an early loss.

NYC Buckeye on 4 Jan 2013 - 5:04pm #

I couldn't agree with you more, it is very simple, however I feel that the potential revenue from a second OSU-Mich matchup, especially in a championship game, continues to be what is preventing the B1G from following the alignment above (which it seems most are in favor of)...

and I'm sure this season's championship game didnt help matters.. I didnt even watch it and I heard there were like 57 people in the stadium... I think, in Delany's mind, the goal is figure out how to get Ohio State vs Michigan as the championship game matchup as often as possible, not prevent it from happening...

Nick on 4 Jan 2013 - 5:29pm #

I think an Ohio State-Nebraska championship would be just as good or close enough to a rerun Ohio State-scUM

Bucksfan on 4 Jan 2013 - 7:11pm #

NYC, couldn't agree more about the 57 people in the stadium at the championship game. I really don't get that, either. It is surprising that Nebraska being there alone didn't result in a sellout.

Denny on 4 Jan 2013 - 3:10pm #

I like that the linked tweet says "better 4 fans" because jNWU has like 4 fans.

Taquitos.

Estrada on 4 Jan 2013 - 3:42pm #

And I think 3 of them run blogs about Nerdwestern.

Run_Fido_Run on 4 Jan 2013 - 5:36pm #

"The Great Albums: The Velvet Underground & Nico," March 24, 2002, by Jim DeRogatis:

The band's influence has been cited so many times that it seems to be part of the name: the "Seminal" Velvet Underground. Producer Brian Eno famously noted that, although the group didn't sell a lot of records in its lifetime, everyone who bought one went out and started a band of their own.

DetroitBuckeye on 4 Jan 2013 - 3:24pm #

This should help our sos especially if NW doesn't have a landslide.

GV9 on 4 Jan 2013 - 4:35pm #

Hopefully a realignment will also be a good excuse for getting rid of those asinine "Leaders" and "Legends" division names.

NoVA Buckeye on 4 Jan 2013 - 5:43pm #

Bring on the Rotel and Velveeta divisions!

/Duff'd It

Savage45 on 4 Jan 2013 - 4:52pm #

I love this, it is great road trip I've vowed to make every time. I was real disappointed that NW was not in our division and this wouldn't be a regular thing. I mean it'll have been 5 years since the last trip, that's half a flipping decade.

Everytime I wrote in to the conference I suggested switching NW and Wisco even if they only wanted input on names. So I feel like this was partly my doing and it makes me very happy.