Iceland12
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The ESPN B1G Blog is on fire!
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten
"Most Big Ten athletic directors entered their meetings Sunday and Monday at league headquarters thinking that geography would drive the discussion about the soon-to-be revamped football divisions.
When the ADs emerged from the meetings, their sentiment hadn't changed.
"This time, it's geography that's probably the No. 1 priority," Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips told ESPN.com.
"We wanted to try and find a way to be geographic in our divisions," Ohio State AD Gene Smith said.
"There's nothing unanimous about this," added league commissioner Jim Delany, "but there's strong support for geography."
Although the Big Ten presented the athletic directors -- and several university presidents who came to the league office Sunday -- with several models for divisions, don't be surprised if the league decides to keep things simple with an East-West alignment following the additions of both Maryland and Rutgers in 2014. The simplest solution -- one the athletic directors are discussing -- is to assign teams based on their time zone (Eastern or Central).
The lone caveat: there will be eight Big Ten teams in the Eastern time zone -- Maryland, Rutgers, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana and Purdue -- and only six in the Central time zone (Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Illinois). So one team from the Eastern time zone would need to move. "
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"The Big Ten has traditionally been reluctant to stage night games in November. That could be changing.
League coaches expressed support for more primetime games in the final full month of the regular season during conference meetings the past two days. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told ESPN.com that the conference has no objection if schools want to schedule more night games in general, including ones in November.
Delany said Penn State, Nebraska and Ohio State are among the schools that have been pushing for more games under the lights.
"We've been very supportive of night games," Delany said. "We've gone from zero to 15, and our television partners like them if it's the right game. ...
"So there seems to be more of an openness to open that window on the game-day experience, whether it's in November or October. We won't stand in the way. We just have to figure out the best way to do it, but I think there's value there."
Though the Big Ten doesn't have a specific policy against November night games, it hasn't exactly been encouraged, either. The last Big Ten night game in November was in 2008 when Iowa went to Minnesota. And that was played in the Metrodome."
Uh, that didn't go very well..
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten
"Most Big Ten athletic directors entered their meetings Sunday and Monday at league headquarters thinking that geography would drive the discussion about the soon-to-be revamped football divisions.
When the ADs emerged from the meetings, their sentiment hadn't changed.
"This time, it's geography that's probably the No. 1 priority," Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips told ESPN.com.
"We wanted to try and find a way to be geographic in our divisions," Ohio State AD Gene Smith said.
"There's nothing unanimous about this," added league commissioner Jim Delany, "but there's strong support for geography."
Although the Big Ten presented the athletic directors -- and several university presidents who came to the league office Sunday -- with several models for divisions, don't be surprised if the league decides to keep things simple with an East-West alignment following the additions of both Maryland and Rutgers in 2014. The simplest solution -- one the athletic directors are discussing -- is to assign teams based on their time zone (Eastern or Central).
The lone caveat: there will be eight Big Ten teams in the Eastern time zone -- Maryland, Rutgers, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana and Purdue -- and only six in the Central time zone (Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Illinois). So one team from the Eastern time zone would need to move. "
- - - - - - - - - -
"The Big Ten has traditionally been reluctant to stage night games in November. That could be changing.
League coaches expressed support for more primetime games in the final full month of the regular season during conference meetings the past two days. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told ESPN.com that the conference has no objection if schools want to schedule more night games in general, including ones in November.
Delany said Penn State, Nebraska and Ohio State are among the schools that have been pushing for more games under the lights.
"We've been very supportive of night games," Delany said. "We've gone from zero to 15, and our television partners like them if it's the right game. ...
"So there seems to be more of an openness to open that window on the game-day experience, whether it's in November or October. We won't stand in the way. We just have to figure out the best way to do it, but I think there's value there."
Though the Big Ten doesn't have a specific policy against November night games, it hasn't exactly been encouraged, either. The last Big Ten night game in November was in 2008 when Iowa went to Minnesota. And that was played in the Metrodome."
Uh, that didn't go very well..
