Align the new B1G

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Gopher07

Gopher07

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How will it shake out with Maryland and Rutgers? Who ends up where, and will we ditch the Leaders and Legends? What about crossover games?

Here's one guess

jQWFE.png


Cross-over games -

For sure:
Michigan-Ohio State
Northwestern-Illinois

Could be changed, but just because for now:
Nebraska-Penn State
Michigan State-Indiana
Maryland-Wisconsin
Minnesota-Rutgers

It makes one side much worse than the other but geographically it makes sense.

What I'd like to see - from a competitive AND geographic standpoint - is:

0xQHc.png
 

I sure hope not. That is a STACKED division we're in. For us to play in a BT championship game we have to finish ahead of Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin for starters and then obviously the others who we do from time to time. The other division has five schools with only Ohio State and Penn State consistently at the top of a conference and PSU about to enter some very difficult years.

Go Gophers!!
 

Gopher07 said:
How will it shake out with Maryland and Rutgers? Who ends up where, and will we ditch the Leaders and Legends? What about crossover games?

Here's my best guess:

jQWFE.png




Cross-over games -

For sure:
Michigan-Ohio State
Northwestern-Illinois

Could be changed, but just because for now:
Nebraska-Penn State
Michigan State-Indiana
Maryland-Wisconsin
Minnesota-Rutgers
Click to expand...

Tough to have this split for football...Division A is way deeper...conversely, Division B in basketball is stronger. Move MI to B and IL to A and I think you have it.
 

Division A
Minnesota
Indiana
Purdue
Illinois
Iowa
Maryland
Rutgers


Division B
Ohio St
Michigan
Penn St
Nebraska
Wisconsin
Michigan State
Northwestern
 

How about have one division with Minnesota, Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois. This division can be called something like "Big 10". The other division can be Rutgers, Maryland, Nebraska, and Penn State. Perhaps call it "Necessary Evils"

:)
 


East/West

East: Rugers, Maryland, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana

West: Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue
 



They'll move Illinois to our division and put Maryland/Rutgers in the other. They aren't going to put Michigan/Ohio State in the same division and I got a feeling that they don't want to move Wisconsin.
 



I don't think you'd have to have two divisions for basketball would you? You could just keep that a 14 team division couldn't you?

I'd prefer a more east-west breakdown...I think Gopher07's proposal seems fair.
 

westcoastgopher11 said:
They'll move Illinois to our division and put Maryland/Rutgers in the other. They aren't going to put Michigan/Ohio State in the same division and I got a feeling that they don't want to move Wisconsin.
Click to expand...

You are right:

Brett McMurphy ‏@McMurphyESPN
Maryland prez tells regents MD, RU in Leaders Division w/OSU, PSU, Wisconsin, Purdue & Indiana. Illinois moves to Legends
Click to expand...
 

So...

Legends
Nebraska
Iowa
Minnesota
Illinois
Northwestern
Michigan
Michigan State

Leaders
Ohio State
Penn State
Wisconsin
Purdue
Indiana
Rutgers
Maryland
 

Pewterschmidt said:
Division A
Minnesota
Indiana
Purdue
Illinois
Iowa
Maryland
Rutgers


Division B
Ohio St
Michigan
Penn St
Nebraska
Wisconsin
Michigan State
Northwestern
Click to expand...

Jerry Kill approves of this. But he'd like to know how much to buy out of the Iowa game?
 



Do you think the Big Ten planned the Leaders and Legends divisions with the eastward move in mind? Seems like a pretty easy change with only moving Illinois.
 

Assumption 1: The Maryland Prez is correct and Illinois slides over to the Legends division while the leaders adds Maryland and Rutgers
Assumption 2: The B1G stays with an 8 game schedule
Assumption 3: The cross-over games stay in tact to preserve the precious Ohio St vs Michigan annual rivalry

If all of the 3 assumptions are correct, we will play all non-Wisconsin teams in the Leaders division once every 6 years. Seriously, we may never play Ohio State again (half joking). We miss them for 3 straight years before the additions and it's possible they're last in line in the new format, which could mean 9 years between a matchup. Haha...

They need to figure this out and just add 2 more schools to the conference and then go with the 4 pod system where we would go no longer than 3 years in between playing a conference opponent, not 6 years. We will play non-conference opponents more frequently than teams in our own confererence and I'm not kidding on that one.
 

I think we are definitely in the tougher division. In the other division we would have had four teams we are perennially at the similar level with Maryland, Rutgers, Purdue and Indiana. The way it ends up if what they say is right, we only have Illinois, Northwestern and Iowa. Not the end of the world, but it is tougher.
 

Group by longest consistent tenure in conference:

Old School
----------
Illinois (1896)
Minnesota (1896)
Northwestern (1896)
Purdue (1896)
Wisconsin (1896)
Indiana (1899)
Iowa (1899)

NKOTB
----------------
Ohio State (1912)
Michigan (1916)
Michigan State (1950)
Penn State (1990)
Nebraska (2011)
Maryland (2014)
Rutgers (2014)
 

Pewterschmidt said:
Assumption 1: The Maryland Prez is correct and Illinois slides over to the Legends division while the leaders adds Maryland and Rutgers
Assumption 2: The B1G stays with an 8 game schedule
Assumption 3: The cross-over games stay in tact to preserve the precious Ohio St vs Michigan annual rivalry

If all of the 3 assumptions are correct, we will play all non-Wisconsin teams in the Leaders division once every 6 years. Seriously, we may never play Ohio State again (half joking). We miss them for 3 straight years before the additions and it's possible they're last in line in the new format, which could mean 9 years between a matchup. Haha...

They need to figure this out and just add 2 more schools to the conference and then go with the 4 pod system where we would go no longer than 3 years in between playing a conference opponent, not 6 years. We will play non-conference opponents more frequently than teams in our own confererence and I'm not kidding on that one.
Click to expand...

This will be how it goes down I believe. I think the Big Ten will try to get to 16 quickly. Rumors of UNC, Georgia Tech already out there. How about two division of 8 and you play seven division games and then 1/2 of other division? 11 conference game and 1 freebie for non conference. I'd then like them to do what MPLS./St.PAUL do for HS championship. 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and so on. Every team would then get 13 games. More money, more money.
 

you have to break up purdue, indiana, illinois, maryland, rutgers. having them all in the same division makes it significantly easier for the top team (or two) in that division to win it every single year. those 5 schools are weaker imo, and will not all be in the same division.
 

MinnyGopherfan said:
I think we are definitely in the tougher division. In the other division we would have had four teams we are perennially at the similar level with Maryland, Rutgers, Purdue and Indiana. The way it ends up if what they say is right, we only have Illinois, Northwestern and Iowa. Not the end of the world, but it is tougher.
Click to expand...

At least we aren't in the same division as tO$U/Urban Meyer. That is the *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#ty thing for Wisconsin, I see them pretty much winning that division in perpetuity as long as Urban is there. The powers in our division are much more up and down (ie Mich and Nebraska).
 

Gopher07 said:
So...

Legends
Nebraska
Iowa
Minnesota
Illinois
Northwestern
Michigan
Michigan State

Leaders
Ohio State
Penn State
Wisconsin
Purdue
Indiana
Rutgers
Maryland
Click to expand...

Pewterschmidt said:
Assumption 1: The Maryland Prez is correct and Illinois slides over to the Legends division while the leaders adds Maryland and Rutgers
Assumption 2: The B1G stays with an 8 game schedule
Assumption 3: The cross-over games stay in tact to preserve the precious Ohio St vs Michigan annual rivalry.
Click to expand...

This alignment makes the most sense without a total shake-up. The cross-over games don't totally stay intact because NW and Ill are now in the same division. They would have to either pick up Md or Rutgers as their XO game or shuffle the existing XOs slightly.

Now:
Ohio State-Michigan
Wisconsin-Minnesota
Penn State-Nebraska
Illinois-Northwestern
Indiana-Michigan State
Purdue-Iowa

B1G4:
Ohio State-Michigan
Wisconsin-Minnesota
Penn State-Nebraska
Indiana-Illinois
Purdue-Iowa
Maryland-Michigan State
Rutgers-Northwestern

Or something like that...
 

brucekaupa said:
Group by longest consistent tenure in conference:

Old School
----------
Illinois (1896)
Minnesota (1896)
Northwestern (1896)
Purdue (1896)
Wisconsin (1896)
Indiana (1899)
Iowa (1899)

NKOTB
----------------
Ohio State (1912)
Michigan (1916)
Michigan State (1950)
Penn State (1990)
Nebraska (2011)
Maryland (2014)
Rutgers (2014)
Click to expand...

Switch Michigan and Indiana and that's a winner. Michigan was a charter member of the conference, and even though they left for a few years, should be in the old school division.
 

I think this whole thing will turn out good for the U in the long run. We gain another winnable game, and if they stick with an 8 game schedule it means we play Ohio State even less then we would have.
 

Nice maps. Your west/east (second) map makes the most sense but they'll probably come up with something weird.
 


brucekaupa said:
Group by longest consistent tenure in conference:

Old School
----------
Illinois (1896)
Minnesota (1896)
Northwestern (1896)
Purdue (1896)
Wisconsin (1896)
Indiana (1899)
Iowa (1899)

NKOTB
----------------
Ohio State (1912)
Michigan (1916)
Michigan State (1950)
Penn State (1990)
Nebraska (2011)
Maryland (2014)
Rutgers (2014)
Click to expand...

Michigan is an original member of the Big Ten (joined 1896), but was kicked out in 1907 for some reason. Michigan RE-joined in 1916.
 

Pewterschmidt said:
Assumption 1: The Maryland Prez is correct and Illinois slides over to the Legends division while the leaders adds Maryland and Rutgers
Assumption 2: The B1G stays with an 8 game schedule
Assumption 3: The cross-over games stay in tact to preserve the precious Ohio St vs Michigan annual rivalry

If all of the 3 assumptions are correct, we will play all non-Wisconsin teams in the Leaders division once every 6 years. Seriously, we may never play Ohio State again (half joking). We miss them for 3 straight years before the additions and it's possible they're last in line in the new format, which could mean 9 years between a matchup. Haha...

They need to figure this out and just add 2 more schools to the conference and then go with the 4 pod system where we would go no longer than 3 years in between playing a conference opponent, not 6 years. We will play non-conference opponents more frequently than teams in our own confererence and I'm not kidding on that one.
Click to expand...

We'll run into them every few years in the Big Ten Championship game. I have to imagine they'll make it at least once every three.
 

It sounds like Illinois is moving to the Legends and Maryland, and Rutgers will be in the Leaders. Bucky probably doesn't like it, but they need Wisconsin to balance out of the football divisions.
 

i say bring illinois and indiana over from the leaders to the legends. and move northwestern from the legends over to the leaders along with maryland & rutgers. northwestern and indiana are essentially the same place geographically, but it does more to equal out competitive balance considering penn state is going to be under severe sanctions for the next 4 to 5 years.
 

Assuming we have one protected game with the other division, that leaves one more game per year, which means we'll play AT Ohio State, Penn State or whomever once every 12 years and they'll come to Minnesota once every 12 years. Fun way to build rivalries!

Go Gophers!!
 

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