Shama: Big Ten Realignment May Come Next Week

[BleedGopher]

Big Ten Realignment May Come Next Week

Conference realignment of schools will be discussed among Big Ten athletic directors early next week in Chicago, Gophers football coach Tim Brewster said. Officials representing the league office and conference schools are expected to meet about how the Big Ten will position itself into two football divisions with the arrival of Nebraska as a 12th member in 2011. The gathering in Chicago will also include the conference’s annual media football kickoff with all 11 head coaches having news conferences on Monday.

Brewster said he’s firm about one expectation for scheduling starting in 2011. He wants Wisconsin and Iowa on Minnesota’s schedule each season, even if all three schools aren't in the same division.

Is he concerned that annually the Badgers and Hawkeyes won’t be on the Minnesota schedule? “No, absolutely not, because that’s vital to our conference,” he told Sports Headliners.

Preserving historic football rivalries is expected to receive the highest of priorities when commissioner Jim Delany and others decide who to place where in two six team divisions. What’s the timeline for a decision?

Brewster said he isn’t sure “but this has got to get in place because there’s a tremendous amount of time” involved with scheduling preparation and details. He’s confident Delany will present a plan at the earliest date once things are in place.

Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners he will be surprised if he leaves Chicago on Tuesday without knowledge of a working model for realignment. The model might not be a finished product but certainly a significant step in that direction.

Maturi said he doesn’t know how the Big Ten will ultimately group its 12 schools in various sports. It’s presumed football will have two six-team divisions but basketball, for example, might have a single 12 team league. The advantage for football having two divisions is to allow the conference to stage a lucrative and high profile conference championship game between the two winners.

Brewster will take three players to Chicago to participate in the media sessions, quarterback Adam Weber, defensive tackle Brandon Kirksey and safety Kim Royston.

Brewster plans to tell the media he believes his team, picked by most writers to finish near the bottom of the conference standings, has a “chance to be much better than most people think.” Brewster has a lot of confidence in his fourth Gophers team, a group that is more athletic than in the past.

He has also been impressed with the summer workouts of his team. “Guys are so much stronger, so much bigger,” he said.

A more physical, athletic and better conditioned team can provide a payoff during the season to the messages the Gophers had on their workout shirts this summer: “Finish. Compete Forever.”

Brewster’s Gophers have sometimes been challenged to win games in the fourth quarter. That’s been a reason the team finished around .500 each of the last two seasons, 7-6 in 2008 and 6-7 in 2009.

“We want to take games into the fourth quarter and win games in the fourth quarter,” Brewster said.

http://www.shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!

 

[loki]

I get a "tremendous" kick out of Brewster's language usage. For example, his use of the word tremendous to describe the blaise phrase amount of time cracks me up. How about "a lot of time" or it's "going to take some time." Trememdous means "arousing awe or wonder because of extreme size, power, majesty, etc..." Time just doesn't seem that tremendous too me. Not everything can be tremendous or maybe it can. Anway, back to the article, the only answer that I will be tremendously satisfied with is geography based divisions.

 

[RodentRampage]

I've not seen any split that makes even the remotest bit of sense that doesn't have Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin in the same division. The claims that Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska don't balance Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State are weak, and insufficient to override an east west split.

The Big Ten should go with the East-West split, and if it doesn't work out, then they can address it later. Moving Penn State to the West does impose a cost on fans who want to travel to road games, it makes it a longer and more expensive trip. Given how dominant Ohio State has been, moving Penn State to the West provides a further imbalance, by giving Ohio State an easier path to the championship game. Why should Ohio State only play one of the top teams in division play (Michigan), while the teams in the west would have to play 2 of the top teams? Perhaps their goal is to ensure that either Ohio State or Michigan is in the championship game. Maybe they wake up with night sweats over a Minnesota-Indiana championship game.

 

[frozengopher]

Maybe they wake up with night sweats over a Minnesota-Indiana championship game.

I lol'd. And this is probably true. What it all comes down to is that cfb is cyclical, and there is no way you can assume OSU will be dominant and Indiana won't 10-20 years from now (Guffaw if you want, but there is no way anyone thought we would be where we are now 55 years ago). Break 'em east/west and continue the rivalries. The rest will sort itself out.

 

[re3886]

sorry, but...

Tre-men-dous: adjective
extraordinarily great in size, AMOUNT, or intensity
extraordinary in excellence
dreadful or awful, as in character or effect; exciting fear; frightening; terrifying.

Time is a measurement, therefore it fits the amount part of the definition.

I think he overuses some words, but this constant droning on about tremendous is getting old.
Everybody has words that are favorites, or words they fall back on. I do it, you do it, but we don't have people walking around writing down what we say. Time to move on.

East-West makes the most sense. Unlike the old Big 12, it works for the Big Ten, I for one think that OSU, PSU, and Mich is pretty close to Wisc, Iowa and Neb for balance. Time will shift things Mich will sack Rich Rod, and get better. Teams will fall, hopefully Wisc, lol. Teams will rise, hopefully us, and it will work out. If not? Just change it later. My question is this? Will the West division be allowed to kick off at noon when playing in that time zone?

 

[loki]

I agree it's getting old...He's a smart guy he should improve his word usage.

 

[re3886]

I'm a smart guy too...

I agree it's getting old...He's a smart guy he should improve his word usage.

I lean on hopefully too much. It's not as easy as you think. I tend do it when speaking extemporaneously, hopefully I can fix it.

I wonder if the media people at the "U" work on it with him?

 

[loki]

I remember when Tom Kelly would use the words "and again" over and over again and I would start to focus my attention on those words instead of the message. It would drive me crazy. Eventually, I think he worked with someone and stopped using those words as much. It would be a great idea for TB to work with someone to change his adjective usage just a bit. I have to admit it is fun counting his use of that word and others when he talks. In his world everything is GREAT

 

[SelectionSunday]

Hopefully, nobody will have a tremendously difficult time accepting the Big Ten's final decision on football divisions, no matter the outcome that comes out of Chicago. I'm extremely & tremendously excited to find out how the divisions will pan out the first few seasons after Nebraska arrives.

 

[loki]

ARRRGGGHHHHHHHH! Slowly being driven insane....I mean tremendously and extremely insane.

 

[re3886]

very good

S.S., you did miss the second "hopefully" though.

 

[howeda7]

There seems to be consensus to re-evaluate in 10 years, so if they have any sense, they'll go East/West and then 'fix' it in 10 years if it's really that terrible.

 

[MrGopher]

There seems to be consensus to re-evaluate in 10 years, so if they have any sense, they'll go East/West and then 'fix' it in 10 years if it's really that terrible.

I feel like that's the best way to do it.

Plus it might only be four or five years before two more schools are added. We can evaluate it again then as well.

 

[Schnoodler]

Penn state isn't going to take a hit to make anybody happy. The furthest east team is not going to the west. If they break up PSU, OSU and Michigan, it will be the most western team joining the west. Which I think would be just tremendous.

 

[MrGopher]

Penn state isn't going to take a hit to make anybody happy. The furthest east team is not going to the west. If they break up PSU, OSU and Michigan, it will be the most western team joining the west. Which I think would be just tremendous.

If you have a mostly-geographic alignment, there is no way they will break up Michigan and OSU.

Historically and geographically, the MSU-Mich-OSU grouping is more important to the fans than Mich-OSU-PSU.

Switching PSU for Illinois is the best way to do it, other than straight geography of course.

The fundamental problem, is that we are trying to make two divisions out of three logical groups:
A. Minn, wisc, Iowa, Neb
B. Ill, NU, Pur, Ind
C. Mich, MSU, OSU, PSU

Add in the component of "competitive balance" and there simply is no perfect solution.

 

[Schnoodler]

If you have a mostly-geographic alignment, there is no way they will break up Michigan and OSU.

Historically and geographically, the MSU-Mich-OSU grouping is more important to the fans than Mich-OSU-PSU.

Switching PSU for Illinois is the best way to do it, other than straight geography of course.

The fundamental problem, is that we are trying to make two divisions out of three logical groups:
A. Minn, wisc, Iowa, Neb
B. Ill, NU, Pur, Ind
C. Mich, MSU, OSU, PSU

Add in the component of "competitive balance" and there simply is no perfect solution.

You're assuming OSU and Michigan want to be together. The prize will be the conference title game. Penn State isn't going to take the hit. It's far more likely they'll keep all three together than move Penn State to the West. It really doesn't matter what anybody wants if Penn State won't agree to something clearly bad for them. Moving to the west is bad for them. They simply won't agree to such a thing. So just put it out of your head.

 

[mplsbadger]

You're assuming OSU and Michigan want to be together. The prize will be the conference title game. Penn State isn't going to take the hit. It's far more likely they'll keep all three together than move Penn State to the West. It really doesn't matter what anybody wants if Penn State won't agree to something clearly bad for them. Moving to the west is bad for them. They simply won't agree to such a thing. So just put it out of your head.

Why do you think PSU will have a veto?

 

[SelectionSunday]

Not that they'll have a choice, but football-wise if I'm Penn State and I have the choice of being in a division with Ohio State or in a division without Ohio State, I'd choose the latter. The most difficult path to a Big Ten Championship Game is playing OSU every season.

 

[MrGopher]

You're assuming OSU and Michigan want to be together. The prize will be the conference title game. Penn State isn't going to take the hit. It's far more likely they'll keep all three together than move Penn State to the West. It really doesn't matter what anybody wants if Penn State won't agree to something clearly bad for them. Moving to the west is bad for them. They simply won't agree to such a thing. So just put it out of your head.

You're right, I don't know what Mich and OSU want. But unless we do a zipper-style division setup (something like Minn, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue, OSU, PSU-----wisc, Neb, NU, Ind, Mich, MSU), then why on earth would Mich and OSU want to be separate? All indications are that the league wants to avoid having a rematch championship game only a week after they've already played.

If PSU really and truly objects to moving west, then they likely wont force them too. But I think that PSU is the best choice, from a league-wide standpoint, to move west.

Would I rather have Michigan as a division rival? Yeah! But sadly its not all about the Gophers.

 

[Schnoodler]

I think they'll have alot of say if it appears they're being unfailry treated and being forced to do something cleary bad for them to preserve the OSU/Michigan game. So in a sense they have Veto Power over this matter. The default solution will be geographical, any other alignment will require a unanimous decision. No one team, expecially one as prominent as PSU is going to take the brunt of such a decision. That's not to say there won't be politics and enticements to sway a vote or two.

If they break up the three, Michigan is coming this way. I don't think once it becomes obvious that the three will be in the same division and Michigan is looking at not seeing a comference title game or a big bowl for a few more years they'll think long and hard about moving.

 

[MrGopher]

I think they'll have alot of say if it appears they're being unfailry treated and being forced to do something cleary bad for them to preserve the OSU/Michigan game. So in a sense they have Veto Power over this matter. The default solution will be geographical, any other alignment will require a unanimous decision. No one team, expecially one as prominent as PSU is going to take the brunt of such a decision. That's not to say there won't be politics and enticements to sway a vote or two.

If they break up the three, Michigan is coming this way. I don't think once it becomes obvious that the three will be in the same division and Michigan is looking at not seeing a comference title game or a big bowl for a few more years they'll think long and hard about moving.

Okay. We both agree that straight-up geographical is best.

You say Michigan moves west in the next-best scenario. I wouldn't be offended. It does fit their fight song to be in "the west", so I'll go along with it.

My question to you: Who moves East?

 

[GoAUpher]

Why do you think PSU will have a veto?

Exactly. I suspect the rules will make it a 2/3 vote wins situation (like it is for everything else they take votes on). Which means 8 schools would have to be in favor and to block the move PSU would need 4 other schools to agree with it.

 

[GoAUpher]

I think they'll have alot of say if it appears they're being unfailry treated and being forced to do something cleary bad for them to preserve the OSU/Michigan game. So in a sense they have Veto Power over this matter. The default solution will be geographical, any other alignment will require a unanimous decision. No one team, expecially one as prominent as PSU is going to take the brunt of such a decision. That's not to say there won't be politics and enticements to sway a vote or two.

If they break up the three, Michigan is coming this way. I don't think once it becomes obvious that the three will be in the same division and Michigan is looking at not seeing a comference title game or a big bowl for a few more years they'll think long and hard about moving.

I dunno. I'd love to believe you're right, but everything all the AD's are saying makes it sound like they want competitive balance to come first and a common refrain in that theme is that PSU, OSU, and Mich can't stay together.

Michigan wouldn't be the team to move divisions because of the fact that they can only have 1 protected cross division rival (probably...I've yet to see a suggested setup that works another way). And that would mean that Michigan wouldn't play MSU every year which won't fly.

 

[MrGopher]

I dunno. I'd love to believe you're right, but everything all the AD's are saying makes it sound like they want competitive balance to come first and a common refrain in that theme is that PSU, OSU, and Mich can't stay together.

Michigan wouldn't be the team to move divisions because of the fact that they can only have 1 protected cross division rival (probably...I've yet to see a suggested setup that works another way). And that would mean that Michigan wouldn't play MSU every year which won't fly.

Yes. Exactly. If there are veto powers, then MSU would certainly veto this one.

 

[GoAUpher]

Yes. Exactly. If there are veto powers, then MSU would certainly veto this one.

Well, I'd say its not happening even if there aren't veto powers. There are some rivalries that will just be protected at all costs. And the MSU/Mich game is one of those.

 

[RodentRampage]

With 12 teams, everyone has a veto, but it comes at a steep cost: leave the conference. Penn State could wreck the whole divisional setup by leaving the Big Ten. Of course, they won't. But if they felt sufficiently strongly about it, they could use this as leverage. Moving Penn State to the West means that Penn State's fans have to make much longer trips to travel to road games.

There's no need for anything but an East-West split. But if it was needed to move a team for balance, that team would be Michigan. It's nearly as good a geographical split as the straight east-west split. But it would upset some rivalries, and the Big Ten won't do that. Fine, then stop talking about competitive balance.

The east-west split preserves both rivalries and competitive balance.

 

[GoAUpher]

With 12 teams, everyone has a veto, but it comes at a steep cost: leave the conference. Penn State could wreck the whole divisional setup by leaving the Big Ten. Of course, they won't. But if they felt sufficiently strongly about it, they could use this as leverage. Moving Penn State to the West means that Penn State's fans have to make much longer trips to travel to road games.

There's no need for anything but an East-West split. But if it was needed to move a team for balance, that team would be Michigan. It's nearly as good a geographical split as the straight east-west split. But it would upset some rivalries, and the Big Ten won't do that. Fine, then stop talking about competitive balance.

The east-west split preserves both rivalries and competitive balance.

I'm hoping the conference comes to the same conclusion when all is said and done.

 

[MrGopher]

With 12 teams, everyone has a veto, but it comes at a steep cost: leave the conference. Penn State could wreck the whole divisional setup by leaving the Big Ten. Of course, they won't. But if they felt sufficiently strongly about it, they could use this as leverage. Moving Penn State to the West means that Penn State's fans have to make much longer trips to travel to road games.

There's no need for anything but an East-West split. But if it was needed to move a team for balance, that team would be Michigan. It's nearly as good a geographical split as the straight east-west split. But it would upset some rivalries, and the Big Ten won't do that. Fine, then stop talking about competitive balance.

The east-west split preserves both rivalries and competitive balance.

I seriously doubt that PSU would give even a hint that they would leave. Being in the wrong division is way better than being in any other conference, or being independent. PSU knows that. Nobody would take that threat seriously.

 

[RodentRampage]

Those who want to move PSU to the West want to have 4 of the top 6 teams in the West, with only 2 of the top 6 in the East. That means you take the best team in the conference, and give them a much easier schedule: they have to play less tough teams to win the division, just one (Michigan) in the division, and who knows if Michigan will come back to their past form?

Meanwhile, over in the West, teams would have to play a much more brutal schedule. If you're Iowa, for example, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Penn State are every-year opponents. In the East, OSU would only have Michigan among the tougher teams to contend with on a regular basis.

Or if you're a team like Minnesota, you'll get 4 of the top 6 every year, while Indiana would have only 2 of the top 6 every year.

I was joking about the Big Ten being scared of a Minnesota/Indiana championship game. But the more I think of it, the more sense it makes. It does seem that they are trying to clear a path for OSU or Michigan to be in the championship game each year. There are times to make the marketing people leave the room. Anything but an east-west split not only doesn't help competitive balance, but makes the conference radically unbalanced.

 

[Unregistered User]

Does anyone think that there will be complaints if it does come down to a straight East/West split? Who would the complainers be?

Whatever happened to the results in this survey? Wasn't Skalmo going to post this on a forum for each University and aggregate the results?