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Comments
Both in the same division is the best plan. They play the last game of the of the reg season that potentially could be for the chance to play in the B1G title game and we avoid the 'rematch'.
That down vote was supposed to be an up vote FWIW. Sorry.
My damn phone does that all the time....or like my one post below...fracking auto corrects to words I didn't want....like important as opposed to what I wanted with importance. Got to love technology right...???
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987
As much as I would love to beat The Other Michigan State back-to-back, such a thing would diminish the importance of The Game. Each team gets one shot per year and then gets to either be a sad panda or a happy fan until the next year. That is how it should always remain.
To err is human. Really sucking requires having yellow stripes on your helmet.
Exactly. That's one thing that makes football great. You play your rivalry game only once a year. To do so more than that would diminish the importance of it.
YES. It will happen that their normal meeting will be such that no matter who wins, they will rematch anyway. The game is almost meaningless then. Yes, there's the passion of thr rivalry, but ti seems the best part about this rivalry is that a B1G championship or BCS bowl bid is on the line.
I'm sure this has probably been previously mentioned but why not make it like other conferences by having East and West divisions. Sorry if this has been said before...it just seems to be an easy fit if you ask me. This way you preserve The Game...which I agree with many that it would have it's important diminished if OSU and ttun played twice in one year. I was thinking that it might be a good thing in order to get more help from voters by beating them twice. Since listening to devils advocate from others, I've changed my mind...it should be one time a year and let that be that.
East West
OSU Nebraska
TTUN Northwestern
MSU Wiscy
Maryland Purdue (you could flip flop these guys or IU...I'd rather have IU;-)
PSU Illinois
Rutgers Iowa
IU Minnesota
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987
In my opinion this is the best and most logical breakdown for divisions.
For travel budgets alone, I can't understand why they won't just decide to do it this way and put an end to all the debate. Much cheaper to transport a team, staff and equipment from, for example, Columbus to East Lansing every year than from Iowa City to College Park, MD.
And anything is better than that awful inner/outer idea.
I worry about competitive balance with these divisions, but it's difficult to make any changes without substantially affectiving rivalries or making the divisions geographically unpleasant. If Iowa can return to relevance and Wisconsin can continue its success under the new HC then it's no concern, but I see four of the five best B1G teams in the East with up-and-coming Rutgers and Indiana
Agree that the competitive imbalance is huge.
I must be as dumb as Delaney, but Wisconsin moving east (along with a Chicago team) solves the imbalance problem. Would move the Michigans west. The probability of us playing UM 2 weeks in a row are low (look for example how often Texas played Nebraska in Big x11) and would be cool when it did happen.
Keeping the east the way its proposed will cost us multiple conference championships
I fully agree with your breakdown of the 2 possible divisions. I'm most definitely in the crowd that wants The Game played once a year..at the end of the year!
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
You nailed it. Protected rivalries would be:
tOSU-Illinois
Meatchicken-Minnesota
Penn State-Nebraska
IU-Purdue
Not sure who Sparty's rivals are in the west division. I would say Wisconsin or Iowa.
Dustin Fox was our leading tackler as a corner.... because his guy always caught the ball.
I'm surprised the consensus seems to be leaning toward a "same division" construct:
1.) Besides Tressel, who other than Meyer is capable of dominating Michigan? Giving him the chance to lead the Buckeyes over scUM twice in a year, holds no appeal?
2.) Michigan leads, 58-44-6 in the series. Being in opposing divisions under UFM's leadership might put evening-up that score, on the fast track.
3.) People argue that a rematch in the B1G diminishes the rivalry. Before the B1G CG, The Game decided the Big Ten Championship, more often than not. That fact helped intensify the rivalry. Doesn't playing The Game for the right to play in the B1G CG diminish the rivalry, as well? Imagine: "Ohio State beats Michigan and will face...Minnesota, in the B1G CG!"
4.) Money and ratings. What other match-up is going to attract the kind of attention an Ohio State-Michigan B1G CG will bring?
It may hold appeal to us fans of tOSU or even UM but would it be good for the B1G? I think not, imagine if roles were reversed and we had to watch UM/insert any team two weeks in a row. Lest you forget this is a Rivaly and lets say we beat Michigan in the regular season to go undefeated and by some miracle THEY beat us in the championship game.
I just feel like your outlook on the possibility of playing our Rival twice a year is more cockiness than confidence.
Hoody I agree with everything except #2. When TTUN fans throw out that stat it only proves how desperate they are. Intelligent ones don't. I could not care less how quickly we catch up with the leather helmet days.
#3 is dead on the money. But, I have to admit, in the SEC having LSU and Alabama in the west division makes their division look loaded. Neither Georgia or Florida are better year in/out than LSU or Alabama. If #3 doesn't result in a dominance for our division (which thank god, Delaney has hinted the stupid names will be changed in realignment) then I'll be happy. I think it's a wait-n-see.
Great point^^^^this was the devil's advocate I was speaking of...and it really makes sense. Like I said above...after going undefeated and feeling sick to my stomach bc I know this years team would have beat ND in a NC game (not so confident vs Bama.but we'll have to see about that may be some other time;-). But all the while thinking of next year and what could make it a great season in the voters eyes so we are shoe ins for the NC next year. However...Andy's point is exactly why I don't think playing tTUN twice is such a spectacular scenario to wish for.
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987
Plus how do you keep your players pumped and focused for a rematch that they already won? The loser of The Game would have more motivation to show up the following week than the winner which could spell trouble for OSU (I always assume we will win The Game).
“There are some people addicted to alcohol, some people are addicted to gambling,” Luginbill said. “Urban Meyer is addicted to football, and he’s addicted to winning.”
Same division is the only logical answer. So, we know that wont happen. But seriously, being the last regular season game is the way God intended it, not again a week later at a neutral site. Make this right B1G.
This would be blasphemy should it ever come to pass...
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Being in different divisions and having the game on the last week of the season gives us a chance of both teams going into the game and already being locks for the championship game. The game isnt as important because it has no effect on who wins the big ten. This is what I am most afraid of.
This. I want The Game to remain The Game and not become The Meaningless Warm Up. Now if we get to meet Michigan later in the play-offs...hehehehehe!!
To err is human. Really sucking requires having yellow stripes on your helmet.
Excellent point.
I'd prefer them to be in the same division, and that would be the right thing to do. Because teams will be playing 6 of their 8 conference games against division opponents, and if everyone has a cross-division rival that they play every year, then that only leaves 1 game where teams can rotate on or off.
They need to go to a 9-game conference schedule if they split up OSU-UM.
I couldn't give two sh**s about competitive balance. In order to be the best, you have to beat the best anyway, plain and simple. Keep The Game for the last game of the regular season, and only once a year. Screw everything else.
Understand and respect your position.
What was your position 6 years ago when we beat UM 42-37 and there was talk of a rematch in the NCS. Were you against that??
Yes I was. I was relieved when I found out we were playing Florida. I actually think a small factor in us getting blown out in that game was b/c OSU already felt they beat the #2 team. But I digress. And it was 42-39, Lol.
I know I wasn't asked but I'd like to answer. In that scenario, I was for it. Yes I want them In the same divisions now, game played once at the end of the year, & don't want a rematch a week later. But if they ever get rematched in the NC game, I would be for it.
With the benefit of hindsight now, I really wish there had been a rematch that year!
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
It's THE GAME not a game. Same divisions.
Opposite division only works if you play earlier in the year, and screw that. One shot at Michigan, that's it. It actually will give the B1G a more meaningful end of the season. You have a meaningful game that will likely decide the division (in some form) a huge percentage of the time. You have a likely meaningful game in the other division. Then you have either Ohio State or Michigan in the Championship game a huge percentage of the time vs. a fairly decent program like Nebraska, Wisconsin, or Penn State (depending on the divisions) for a good championship game.
Based on rivalries, you have to have
and
together.
PSU/Maryland/Rutgers are probably going to have to be stuck together somewhere.
Indiana/Illinois/Purdue/Northwestern make sense to put together as well.
So there you have it, add the 4 to the first division, and the 3 to the second. Resembles the inside/outside division structure (may exactly be it), but it has decent competitive balance and has the important rivalries intact.
The problem with the inner/outer divisions are the teams in the "outer" are at a significant travel disadvantage. In those divisions Ohio State fans longest trip would be a pleasant trip to Chicago whereas you'd be asking Nebraska fans to go to New York or Maryland. I don't mind a whole lot because I'm partial to the Bucks but if I were a fan of one of the outers I think I'd be upset
I actually see the outer problem as due more to rivalry losses and manufactured rivalries than travel. Most of the schools fly to most others, so there is not much if any extra travel cost. Our travel to Rutgers is going to cost more than to Nebraska even though Nebraska is further.
I was referring to the fans being able to travel
oops