With the addition of Maryland and presumably Rutgers, does this give the B1G a chance to realign the conferences? I was wondering if anyone had insight as to how possible or realistic it would be for the B1G to realign? Hopefully putting the divisions into more of a regional split with us and TSUN in the same division as well as an excuse to change the names.
*Edit: Maryland and Rutgers will join the Leaders Division while Illinois move to Legends Division.
This makes our conference alignment as follows:
Leaders
Ohio State
Wisconsin
Penn State
Indiana
Purdue
Maryland
Rutgers
Legends
Nebraska
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Northwestern
Iowa
Illinois
It's inevitable. If two more teams get added to each division, that leaves room for 1 cross-divisional game. Which means that The Game would be the only one each year. Which is means we miss out on high profile matchups like MSU and Nebraska in favor of games that people don't want to see as much.
If you look at OSU's future schedules you'll see we dont play Nebraska during the regular season any for the next 4 years at least. As long as we get to play TSUN every year I really dont care who we play regularly. We'll beat their asses anyway.
"Sherman ran an option play right through the south" - Greatest.Civil.War.Analogy.Ever
@BUCK-I.8 - If we have a sixteen team conference, we'll have two eight team divisions. That means seven interdivision games, and two cross-division games (since we're moving to the nine game conference schedule soon).
My money says that--if we get one or two of ND and Texas (GT would be the other one, probably)--you'll see this:
EAST DIVISION: WEST DIVISION:
Ohio State Nebraska
Michigan Texas*
Penn State Michigan State OR Notre Dame*
Maryland Iowa
Rutgers Wisconsin
Michigan State OR Georgia Tech* Northwestern
Indiana Illinois
Purdue Minnesota
Relatively balanced, OSU and Michigan will only play once in-conference, good mix of traditional rivalry, and geographically sound.
It is very hard to imagine how they're going to split it up now. They split Michigan and Ohio State on purpose, and I don't see the addition of Rutgers and Maryland as altering the competitive balance of those divisions. Ohio State and Michigan are still leading the entire region in recruiting, and it has been that way all decade. I think they keep Ohio State and Michigan separate, add Maryland and Rutgers to the Leaders, and think about how to best split up Wisconsin, Indiana, Purdue, and Illinois.
I might be alone in this (at least this week), but I HATE this move. Nebraska was a great fit. I think Notre Dame [would have] made perfect sense. I would've liked it if we opened our doors to Va Tech, Pitt, WVU, Missouri...even Texas or Oklahoma. Clearly, money talks.
It's bad enough that Michigan isn't playing Wisconsin and Penn State every year and OSU doesn't play MSU, Nebraska, and Iowa, but this could get just plain stupid.
Those who stay will be CHAMPIONS!
~Bo Schembechler
If we go to 16 teams, which is probable, then my guess is we go to a pod structure with 4 teams in each pod. This structure allows for greater variability in scheduling from year to year.
@Hodge, just saw a tweet where MD leaked the alignment
I think they want to divide and conquer Chicago, wo will split up Illinois/Nwestern.
The above way works fine - okay to split up OSU/UM and have rivalry game also. Then will have to decide whether rivalry games will try to bring up the other boats or stick with ABC national night games (i.e., Michigan/Nebraska or Michigan/Minnesota)
imo we won't see geographically alligned divisions. seems risky in terms of the whole expanded footprint concept.
The easy way - Maryland goes to one division (probably the Legends), Rutgers to the other (probably the Leaders), and Maryland vs. Rutgers as a protected crossover game. This is the least impact solution. This is what the SEC did when they brought in Missouri and Texas A&M.
Some are thinking both go to the Leaders, and Illinois moves to the Legends. Weird protected crossovers happen then - Illinois/Rutgers and NW/Maryland or Illinois/Maryland and NW/Rutgers. Certainly also possible. This makes sense more geographically. I don't think the Leaders/Legends were designed to be geographical splits, even though they are for the most part (flip Wisconsin and TSUN and they would be 100%). If they meant to do that, then I think this scenario takes place.
Class of 2010.
Hail I can't agree with any more. They add only money and make our conference even weaker than it is already. (I can't believe I just agreed w/ a TUN fan during hate week.) I even tried to upvote you, but my vote wasn't recorded. Weird. I guess I am not a very good hater. :(
Edit: the upvote must have gone through
@right again - thanks for sharing. i want to puke...osu is now part of a quasi east coast / mid atlantic division. wish we could play the likes of msu, iowa, nebraska more regularly
Three things:
1) I'm disappointed that this realignment essentially removes MSU and Nebraska from our schedule except for possible meetings in B1G championship games.
2) Although the thought of playing Rutgers and Maryland every year -ugh- nearly brings me to tears, NJ and MD are both fertile and underappreciated recruiting grounds. This new alignment could help us pick up a couple of good prospects each year (can you tell I'm desperately looking for a silver lining).
3) Might as well go ahead and accept the fact that the Cheese Puffs are going to be a rival, since that is likely to be one of the only interesting B1G games we play in each season.
That's the goods right there. Small states that do produce some pretty darned good players. NJ especially.
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
At this rate, we'll see Nebraska again in 2025 after Pelini has a heart attack on the sideline or something.
Really, the only non-"East" team in the Leaders now is Wisconsin. Switch them with MSU or Michigan, but then one of those fanbases would be crying that they're not playing each other every year.
Going to have to lose a non-conference game now if you ask me.... but then we typically have 4 home games for non conference or 1 road game and 3 home games...
The competitive climate will undoubtedly be diminished, and making Maryland/Rugers a rivalry game is just as much nonsense as attempt to make Penn ST/Mich St a rivalry game
To be fair though, OSU has never had a problem skipping Iowa/Minnesota/Wisconsin/N'western or even Purdue and MSU.
I'd be okay with rotation of divison rivalry (so long as OSU/Mich in same division). Having OSU play Michigan interdivision puts them at disadvantage with whoever gets Maryland or Minesota.
I like idea of geographical because then IT WON'T MATTER that we rotate interdivision games, because Wisconsin already playing Iowa and Minesota, and Purdue already playing Indiana and MSU.
It would have been really nice to only take Maryland OR Rutgers, then pick up Ga Tech, Texas, and Notre Dame to round out our 16. That would be a bitchin conference in terms of tv coverage and recruiting footholds.
I want to play Michigan every year. I don't care who else Ohio State plays every year in conference as long as they face off against Michigan in last Saturday of every regular season.
If the B1G tries to change this, Michigan and Ohio State should leave the B1G.These two program make the conference.
Oh no! We are in the PIP WORM division. Maybe PRIM POW?
So based on that alignment, PSU and Purdue will be the only Leaders Division teams not wearing red on game days? Interesting.
@Jugdish
Pimp Row
You can kill a fly with your slipper or a cannon. Either way, the fly dies. -Ramzy
I, for one, am looking forward to playing at Maryland. I have numerous friends in both the DC/Baltimore areas that are OSU alums. Will be fun to travel there and should be relatively easy to get moderately priced tickets.
My one fear in this whole process is Under Armour somehow becoming the uniform provider for more of the BIG10 subjecting me to more hideous uniforms.
I'm not really in favor of this, but can we please at least take this opportunity to change the absolutely horrendous conference names?
With conferences expanding and inevetably heading to 16 does the NCAA consider allowing a 13th or even 14th game? Even w/ 9 conf games there will be 2 teams from the other Div we won't see for 4 years in a row assuming the maintain the 2 yr rotation of home and home.
I'd love to see more CFB and am excited but depsressed for this weekend knowing it's our last game already. Feels like we're just getting warmed up. I'm not sure the "student athlete" welfare argument holds water. We've time and time again where the NCAA does not put the student athletes welfare priority 1.
Thoughts?
I love this move. NYC/NJ has a lot of Buckeye fans (including myself). I can now go see my Bucks play Rutgers AND Maryland play.
Also, give some respect to Rutgers. It's a quality program who I expect to be in the Top 25 every year. And Maryland is only going to get better- they're being funded by the Under Armor CEO, who wants them to be the Oregon of the East Coast
The 2012 National Champions.
I personally think that this move is a disaster. The Nebraska move was brilliant. It is a storied program with a huge national following. On the east coast, college football is not really on the radar for most people. So I am not sure that I believe that this adds much in the way of TV watchers. Oklahoma would have made sense. Notre Dame would have been the dream. But whatever.
@ YANKEESCUM
the Nebraska move was not an act of brilliance. it was simply there, and Delany did the prudent thing, he took it. from reported accounts, Nebraska was fed up with Texas' hoarding of cash, and wanted to be a part of an equitable distribution model that the B1G offered. Nebraska approached Delany, and he accepted along with the presidents approval. that's not brilliance. that's being at the right place, at the right time, and making the right decision. Delany's brilliance... if he has it... and i contend the jury is still out on that one... is whether he can mastermind his way into a ND/Texas two-step into the B1G
@yankeescum
TV watchers are 100 percent unimportant.
The BTN gets paid per subscriber to cable service that carries the BTN. A subscriber in a BTN footprint state pays nine to ten times as much as a subscriber in a non-BTN footprint state.
Thanks to the contract, MD counts not just for Maryland, but also for DC and Northern Virginia. BTN is already carried in those areas, so all subscribers in the DC/Baltimore tv area, which is a lot, just became ten times more profitable.
Also thanks to the contract, Rutgers counts not just for NJ but also for the huge NYC area. BTN is not carried by most NYC providers, so what's the point? Well, Fox, who just happens to be the largest partner in the BTN, is about to buy the YES network. The YES network is the Yankees station. In other words, all those cable providers are about to be told that they can carry the BTN and pay the B1G a whole ton of money or they can lose the right to broadcast the Yankees in NYC.
Welcome to hardball.
In short, the BTN is about to make far, far more money than Oklahoma could offer in a hundred years.
It makes almost no difference if anybody in NYC cares about college football at all. It only mAtters that the NYC cable companies carry BTN, and they're about to be forced to.
Now, if it turns out those people start caring between now and 2017, then in the next contract instead of about a buck per footprint subscriber we can start looking at something like the 5 bucks per subscriber ESPN commands. Even without that, this is a cash cow that dwarfs Nebraska.
This is where college football is going, like it or not, and Delaney is smart to get us ahead of the curve.
I really like these additions. OSU has massive fan bases both in the Baltimore/DC region and also in the east coast region. In fact do you know what are the two most popular college football programs in NYC? It's not Rutgers...Not Syracuse....It's OSU and Michigan. Jersey and Maryland are fertile recruiting ground, and the DC/Maryland region is going through a population boom. Bigger populations and television markets not only make for the obvious, which is more television revenue for the BTN, but also a whole new market for recruits.
Academically these teams also fit because they are in the AAU. Right now we have 13 of 14 (everyone but Nebraska) members who are in the top sixty research universities in the US. I just think that is cool.
I really believe that the ultimate prize out there is ND. What we are building academically with our massive research partnership will be HUGE for trying to lure ND. Do you really think ND gives a crap about money? They are awash in cash. In fact, with revenue sharing ND will probably lose money no matter what conference they join! The big ten is already a super-rich, storied athletic conference, but now it is becoming the largest partnership of top tier research facilities in the US. I think that will go farther with ND than almost anything else.
Also Maryland's unis are sweet.
Our honor Defend!
If both Rutger & Maryland goto Leaders it will be like having 4 Indiana teams....... damn
O H I O is the Buckeye State
Its like we're not even in the big ten anymore. I would rather be in the legends division now. They have all the traditional teams while we have md and rutgers. These are terrible fits to the conference.
I am trying to get myself happy about this . . . much better than being mad about it. My hope is that Maryland become the Oregon of the East Coast and uses the UA money to become a new power. They have the recruiting ground and the backing of a super donor, I think that they are one solid coach away from being a force.
"Because the rules won't let you go for three." - Woody Hayes
THE Ohio State University
I like the addition of Rutgers a lot because they have had a strong program from some time now and they have Don Bosco (I think that's the school) right there and will open up more recruiting for those players to the B1G. I hate the Maryland addition it makes no sense to me.
i like Rutgers because Delany now has access to one of the five families. the Maryland move is great too because the B1G can better sway K Street lobbyists to insure the conference survives the fiscal cliff. nothing but good news from today's action
I can't wait to be ridiculed for our now even weaker conference schedule. If the divisions stay as stated above we will have no choice but to open our season with 4 major games just to be considered for the NC game/playoffs. If our only possible difficult games are Wisky, PSU and SCum each year. I realize this is about $$ but Delany's lack of consern for tradition bothers me a great deal. I thought we learned recently with Occupy Wall Street etc. that everything can't always be about greed.
I hate to say this but maybe we should petition to join the SEC along with SCum. At least they seem to have tradition and care about conference strength. They actually added a very good A&M and an ok Mizzu.
Yes there are two Buckeyes in Ann arbor on this site!
Agree with the tradition piece, Ann Arbor.
Lost me though on the Occupy Movement representing anything but senselessness and wandering aimlessly while having the means to do so only because their parents were dialed into the system well enough to support the spoiled mush heads while they throw their tantrums.
Could be generational though??
This would give the Buckeyes an honorrary week schedule every year. I hope & pray they dont go with the following division.
Leaders
Ohio State
Wisconsin
Penn State
Indiana
Purdue
Maryland
Rutgers
O H I O is the Buckeye State
Xtreme
2 things, one we would also have Michigan and two Rutgers would have helped our SoS this year.
My only concern is that it may hurt our team by not playing better schools. Think about ND this year and SEC most years (not this), by the time the bowls come around those teams are hardened by playing good games week in and week out. Not sure this helps us there as you are essentially replacing MSU or Nebraska with MD and Rutgers.
From my standpoint I will be buying season tickets to UMD. My wife is a graduate and we live in MD. I'm excited to see the Bucks/PSU/Michigan/Nebraska/MSU in town every other year or so.
I think at the momment we take breaks from schools in the other division in 3 year blocks. Keep in mind that strength of schedule will be a factor in the championship games starting in 2014. This will put even more pressure on us to schedule Big games right out of the gate. I can't believe I'm getting downvoted for wanting to protect the BIG traditions over the schools making even more revenue by adding crap atheletic programs. Or was it the SEC comment?
Yes there are two Buckeyes in Ann arbor on this site!
The winner of each major conference is going to be gaurenteed a spot in the playoff so this strength of schedule thing will be diminished imo.
Nick: I believe you are wrong about that. My understanding is that strength of schedule will be weighted about as much as winning the conference. I don't believe the winner of each major conference is guaranteed anything in the new playoff system. Please correct me if I am wrong though, I have been wrong before.
Yes there are two Buckeyes in Ann arbor on this site!
@CC I see your point and some others but Maryland & Rutgers football would have to be better than Indiana/Purdue to be an asset to the B!G football. Whats done is done & hopfully it works out for the better.
O H I O is the Buckeye State
Agreed Xtrmeme. Nothing we can do about it. I am still coming to terms..sorry if I got pissy with anyone here.
Yes there are two Buckeyes in Ann arbor on this site!
this is definitely going to put an emphasis on the B1G Championship game. IMO this is also why we should be in the same division as Um. Play once, for all the marbles. *if we were eligible this year, there's a realistic chance we end up playing Um twice. By being in the same division, there's a chance we could play them twice too, but the second time would really be for ALL the marbles, a la 'bama/Lsu. This year, as past years, has proven that you pretty much have to run the table to be a lock for a "try" at the national title. but the truth is....
M!chigan STILL SUCKS!
#fistpumpgobuckeyes
theDuke
ann arbor, you're a troll. its ok. ;)
theDuke
The winner of each conference is NOT guaranteed a spot in the playoff. Conference championships are to be "taken into account" but the committee does not have any obligation to take a major conference champ. They could choose 4 SEC teams if they decide the strength of schedule outweighs those of the major conference champs.
That division will hurt us if the teams remain how they are in terms of ability. I actually think Rutgers is something of a sleeping giant (well not giant, but large man). They're fully capable of becoming a team that holds a similar slot to a Michigan State or a Wisconsin. In recent times they've been an 8 to 11 win team most years, and that's without the benefit of B1G recruiting or money for facilities. They're in a strong and growing high school football area.
Maryland, eh. Probably at best they become along the lines of a Purdue, at worst another Indiana.
So I'd say this- I think trading Rutgers for Illinois will turn out to be a plus for our SOS in the future, while Maryland doesn't help much. However, I don't think we're done with expansion yet (although we might hold steady for a year or two) so we're not really looking at the final divisions.
The only thing we can hope is that this move, along with under armor thing and Maryland, really improves their football team. I think Rutgers has been up and coming and moving to the B1G can give them the final momentum to become a real contender.
I am hoping for 2 Northwesterns rather than 2 Hoosiers. Sad, but true.
so is it that easy to assume that both Rutgers and Maryland will both be the in Leaders? is that because of the geographical setup or just because Delany wants to put the Illinois and Northwestern together. I honestly just hope that Rutgers finds its way into the leaders, that way more viewers can see that division from the NYC market
"The will to win is not as important as the will to prepare to win." - Wayne Woodrow Hayes
@APHILL89
Supposedly Maryland accidently let the realignment slip. They had Illinois moving and Rutgers and Maryland in the Leaders.
There is no definitive official statement.
Along with money comes better coaches, and better facilities, which should lead to better teams. The quality of the football programs will steadily improve. I think this will work for Maryland and Rutgers because of the population surrounding these universities. Indiana will always be Indiana. Nerdwestern seems fairly competitive considering their academic requirements. I hope Rutgers and Maryland become additions that make the conference better.