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Big Ten football alignment

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by mustangj17, Sep 1, 2010.

  1. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    Big Ten is on crack. I'd have gone with a northern-southern alignment

    North -- Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State
    South -- Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, Ohio State, Penn State

    Splitting up Illinois-Northwestern and Wisconsin-Minnesota is stupid.
     
  2. nmmetsfan

    nmmetsfan Active Member

    Since Purdue leads the series 69-36-6 I'd struggle to call it a rivalry. But it would make sense that there is bad blood present.
     
  3. mb

    mb Active Member

    Ask the ACC how well gerrymandering divisions works.
     
  4. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    It's an intra-state matchup. It means a ton to both sets of fanbases. And it goes beyond just football.

    Of course it's a rivalry.
     
  5. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    They still don't. Sparty doesn't really have a legitimate "rival" in the league. They like to think they're a huge rival for Michigan but in real life U-M regards them as about their fourth/fifth most important game -- light years behind OSU, far behind ND, and depending who's good (or off the schedule) in any given season, behind PSU/Wisconsin/Iowa, too.
     
  6. WolvEagle

    WolvEagle Well-Known Member

    Agreed that the Big Ten is on crack.

    If they had any brains, it would be:

    East: Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue.
    West: Illinois, Northwestern, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska.

    All the traditional rivalries are intact. And, travel costs for the Olympic (OK, nonrevenue) sports would be reduced. How much is it going to cost for a Michigan-Nebraska (fill in the sport) contest that few people give a crap about?

    Those who say it's better to keep Michigan and Ohio State in different divisions based on football are assuming that Michigan will conquer Nebraska every year. Regardless of DickRod is the coach or not, it ain't happening.
     
  7. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    I don't think Illinois and Northwestern really consider themselves rivals. Or at least the fans don't.
     
  8. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member


    Disagree. They've ended the regular football season up against one another
    an inordinate number of times . . . and it's no accident this year's
    Wrigley Field matchup will feature the pair.
     
  9. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member


    'Way unbalanced. East is far too strong.
     
  10. Captain_Kirk

    Captain_Kirk Well-Known Member

    Hear, hear. I hate when conference try to peer into cloudy crystall balls and play god. But, that's exactly what the Big Ten likes to do.

    WolvEagle for Big Ten Commissioner. of course, he's obviously too smart for the job.
     
  11. franticscribe

    franticscribe Well-Known Member

    I thought they were only using the divisions for football. Don't really need them in basketball, do you? I wouldn't mind it if it meant guaranteeing that Purdue and IU play each other twice a year, every year, again.
     
  12. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    Disagree Starman, MSU is No.2 because you can respect losing to Notre Dame in football because when you lose to them you don't hear about it for the next decade. A SportsJournalists.commer once blogged the truest line about Spartan football as it relates to Michigan: "No team gets more mileage out of one win per decade than the Spartans."
     
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