The Big11Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors this week announced its intention to explore the possibility of adding a 12th team to the conference.
As a Chancellor myself, I am all for a 12th team.
Western Division
Iowa
Northwestern
Illinois
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Indiana or Missouri
Eastern Division
Michigan State
Michigan
Ohio State
Purdue
Penn State
Indiana or Rutgers or West Virginia
Though Notre Dame would make the most sense, there is no chance of Notre Dame giving up their NBC contract and their cushy agreement with the BCS to join a conference. Pitt and Cincinnati don't make sense given that Ohio and Western Pennsylvania are already in the conference's foot print.
College football has never been a major player in the NYC market, so Rutgers joining the premier northern conference has nothing but upside, but West Virginia or Missouri feels like the more natural fit to me.
Michigan and Ohio State should be in the same division to protect their regular season finale and preclude them from meeting again in the conference championship game, just as Oklahoma and Texas are both in the Big XII South to protect the Red River Shootout.
The unspoken implication of "loading up" one division with OSU, PSU and UM is that, in an average year, one of those three teams can be in position to play for a national championship. Of course the conference wants the TV rights and gate from a Conference Championship game in Lucas Oil Stadium, but they don't actually want their golden ticket to the BCS Title Game to be in peril, so a match up with Western Division champion Minnesota or whoever the heck wins it would be a nice little bow on that season.
Every now and again you'd get an Iowa vs. Ohio State game (like the one that would've happened in 2002, or the one that by default did happen this past season) and you just hope to be in the SEC's position from this year where the winner is going regardless. But, more often than not, you'd have the Texas/Nebraska scenario from this season and we Presidents and Chancellors will just have to hope that our referees work as hard as the Big XII guys did to keep our champion on track for the title game.
-The Chancellor
11 comments:
OSU
Michigan
Penn State
Those three won't be in the same division. They'll finagle it anyway they can to ensure that.
I think it'll be Syracuse, Rutgers, Missouri or West Virginia in my opinion. Navy also makes sense for football only and ND as basketball only.
Why do you say that? If they are in the same division, they round robin with each other (which they already do)and don't risk any two meeting twice.
It's an incredibly top heavy division. When the Big XII formed, they didn't put juggernaut Nebraska (at the time) in the same division as Texas and Oklahoma.
I'll get a Big 10/12 tattoo if those three are in the same division.
It'll be OSU and Michigan in one division and Penn State in the other. This means OSU and Michigan can keep playing the last game of the regular season and not have to worry about a rematch two weeks later.
A) No you won't. (See Indians comeback victory over Mariners and your unshaved head)
B) I think the lesson of the Big XII last year is load up one side to maximize the opportunity to play in the BCS Championship Game.
We'll see. On record: PSU, UM and OSU will not be in the same division.
Comments 1 and 3 were off the record?
Can't have those 3 in the same division, and OSU and Michigan have to be in the same one - so that means that PSU would have to move.
My guess is that there will largely be no rhyme or reason for the divisions (based on geography) and that Missouri will be in.
They'll just do something like this:
Big 10 Lakes Division
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Big 10 Plains Division
Penn State
Purdue
Iowa
Missouri
Illinois
Indiana
I'm all for it.
We are physically moving the entire Penn State campus to Minnesota.
-Jim Delany
This whole debate would be moot if U. Chicago hadn't blown up their football stadium discovering the hydrogen bomb.
-Hurly the Historian
Totally against expansion and a ridiculous conference championship game.
-Trombone
Trib has a story about the expansion to 14 teams instead of 12.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/chi-17-big-ten-brite-dec17,0,3820862.story
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