The Good and the Bad for Minny today

[JPIIGopher]

I've been racking my brain about why this new alignment is bad/good for us. I'm coming up with way more positive than negative. Feel free to add on.

Positive:

We get Ohio St off the schedule basically trading them for Nebraska, we are a clear winner here.

Our traditional rivalries are maintained. I hated not playing for the jug the last two years!

Just as the smaller divisions in pro sports have added intrigue to the regular season, so it will be in the bigten. I really believe that just by the nature of having less teams to compete against it will keep people interested longer into the season.

Our big rivalry games against Iowa and Wisky aren't being played on the last game of the season. Many people so far have reacted negatively to this taking it as a slap in the face. I for one hated going up against the Ohio St/Michigan game on TV every year, it really dominates that day. I think playing the game earlier in the year allows for more coverage and the possibility of playing under the lights at TCF.

Negative:

We lose Penn St. as an annual game. Maybe the appeal of this game has more to do with my admiration for Joe Pa than anything else, but I really enjoyed watching this game.

Overall, I think we came out of this way better than Wisky and Iowa. It's a great day to be a Gopher

 

[Schnoodler]

I guess to me it just makes football better. We have the most meaningful games preserved and I think we have five solid but defeatable teams to play each year. If we win the sub division it will have been quite an accomplishment and probably give us a great SOS ranking, if not the best.

The downside is that we could be good and lose all five games. But if we want to be a good program it's perfect. And I think that's what we're trying to achieve.

 

[NateDawgUM]

Penn State has never been an annual game.

 

[gopher7]

Positive:

Win or lose, it's going to be a blast playing Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and Nebraska every year. Those were clearly the top four teams that I would have preferred to play every year. (We did not play Penn State every year, only Iowa and Wisconsin.)

If 2011 is going to be "the year" for Brewster, then the schedule sets up nice. We miss Ohio State & Penn State, and none of the 4 road games looks like a sure fire loss right now (Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan State, Michigan).

Penn State & Ohio State will be better long term than Michigan & Nebraska, IMO. So we'll have the weaker division at the top, which will make it easier to win the division.

Negative:

This is only short term, but it could be a while before we play Indiana again. For sure we'll be missing them in 09, 10, 11 & 12, then in 13 & 14 there is no guarantee either, because we'll rotate Purdue & Illinois out and then can only add 2 teams, so possibly Penn State & Ohio State. I think that is right anyway.

All in all I love it.

 

[JPIIGopher]

Right

Penn State has never been an annual game.

Correct, my bad. So we go from playing 9 out of 11 years to playing 2 out of 5 years? Not sure how they will rotate games with the other division.

 

[sonnygarcia]

Negative:

This is only short term, but it could be a while before we play Indiana again. For sure we'll be missing them in 09, 10, 11 & 12, then in 13 & 14 there is no guarantee either, because we'll rotate Purdue & Illinois out and then can only add 2 teams, so possibly Penn State & Ohio State. I think that is right anyway.

This is the exact reason why I think the Gophs lucked out huge in the whole deal. There is no way that we ever get stuck with PS, OSU and Wisc in the same year. No chance in he!! they do that with a "low Teir" team. Thus, by getting the #3 team each year we assure ourselves of never having to have #1 and #2 in the same year. I would guess that in 13' and 14' we'll get put with Indiana and PS, which after PS falls off a bit from JoPa leaving, should sit pretty well for us. Could work out pretty well for us to possibly miss OSU for 4 straight years!!

 

[MNBadgerGuy]

This is the exact reason why I think the Gophs lucked out huge in the whole deal. There is no way that we ever get stuck with PS, OSU and Wisc in the same year. No chance in he!! they do that with a "low Teir" team. Thus, by getting the #3 team each year we assure ourselves of never having to have #1 and #2 in the same year. I would guess that in 13' and 14' we'll get put with Indiana and PS, which after PS falls off a bit from JoPa leaving, should sit pretty well for us. Could work out pretty well for us to possibly miss OSU for 4 straight years!!

The fanbase that thumps its chest over having such a tough strength of schedule is happy that it misses Ohio State and Penn State? Either way, if you win the subdivision you're going to have to beat OSU, PSU, or the team that beat them in the championship game.

I think what people don't think about is the effect this will have on 2 B10 teams going BCS every year (well, for as long as the BCS still remains). I believe the B10 is the only conference who has never failed to get 2 teams into the BCS since its existence. With the conference championship game adding one more loss to technically the 'second place' B10 team, I think that possibly hampers the chances of gaining that 2nd BCS bid.

At least the next few years should be damn interesting. The college football landscape is changing.

 

[Gophergrrl]

You gotta stretch to find a negative, this is pretty much a best case scenario for the Gophers as far as I'm concerned. I was really stressed about today but I'm thrilled with how things fell.

 

[Maximus]

The fanbase that thumps its chest over having such a tough strength of schedule is happy that it misses Ohio State and Penn State? Either way, if you win the subdivision you're going to have to beat OSU, PSU, or the team that beat them in the championship game.

We might lose to Ohio State or Penn State in the Big Ten Championship game? That would be the worst day in the history of Gopher football.

 

[Letsgogophers]

Looks like it will be a long time before we get to the top of this division. Iowa seems the winner here along with Nebraska.

 

[Maximus]

Looks like it will be a long time before we get to the top of this division. Iowa seems the winner here along with Nebraska.

Shocker

 

[Gopherhurrin]

This is the exact reason why I think the Gophs lucked out huge in the whole deal. There is no way that we ever get stuck with PS, OSU and Wisc in the same year. No chance in he!! they do that with a "low Teir" team. Thus, by getting the #3 team each year we assure ourselves of never having to have #1 and #2 in the same year. I would guess that in 13' and 14' we'll get put with Indiana and PS, which after PS falls off a bit from JoPa leaving, should sit pretty well for us. Could work out pretty well for us to possibly miss OSU for 4 straight years!!

I don't understand how we do not get EVER get OSU and Penn State in the same year. Who says that? The two year pair coming up, luckily, has neither. We rotate in the five we do not play every year. Thus, after the first two years we will rotate in two of three we will not play in 2011 and 12. Why can it not be both the big guys?

 

[GopherGack]

I think the only truly "bad" for Minnesota is that they are revisiting this in 2 years. In all likely hood we'll go through this again when we expand. If not I still can't see them not fixing some of the mistakes like butchering Wisconsin.

 

[Ski U Mah Gopher]

I don't understand how we do not get EVER get OSU and Penn State in the same year. Who says that? The two year pair coming up, luckily, has neither. We rotate in the five we do not play every year. Thus, after the first two years we will rotate in two of three we will not play in 2011 and 12. Why can it not be both the big guys?

We will probably get Indiana and either OSU or PSU.

 

[Gopherhurrin]

I can not say how happy I will be when we start playing actual games in 20 hours. This group hug over how lucky we will be to play so many top teams every year is beginning to hurt my teeth.

 

[MBAGuy]

I can not say how happy I will be when we start playing actual games in 20 hours. This group hug over how lucky we will be to play so many top teams every year is beginning to hurt my teeth.

So you're not happy to be playing Wisconsin every year? I feel like you'd get along better here if you were more clear and forthcoming with your opinions.

 

[Maximus]

I can not say how happy I will be when we start playing actual games in 20 hours. This group hug over how lucky we will be to play so many top teams every year is beginning to hurt my teeth.

No kidding...you can then go back to your true passion. Rooting against the Gophers and wishing they had more white players.

 

[GoAUpher]

I can not say how happy I will be when we start playing actual games in 20 hours. This group hug over how lucky we will be to play so many top teams every year is beginning to hurt my teeth.

BIG TEN WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[imthewalrus]

This sounds about as good as any other allignment might have been. Remember, they have pretty much rubber-stamped a 9 game conference schedule. That will mean that 4 out of the six teams in the other division can be on the schedule every year eventually. As far as I am concerned, the quality of the football season would improve with every Big Ten team that is added to the schedule. I would love to have an 11 game conference schedule. That would be ultimate Big Ten Football!

I also think that it is possible that at some point in the future a couple more teams may be added to the conference. So, I guess I won't bother to get too comfortable with this new allignment. Anything, and possibly everything may change again in a few more years.

Title IX and non-revenue sports demand lots of money to run. The need to increase the conference pay-out to each member school has not been satisfied forever with the simple addition of Nebraska, the move to having a conference championship game and the reallignment of the conference into a two division conference. The possibility of the addition of from two to four more teams will always exist. Non-revenue and Title IX budgets will demand more and more financial resources from any revenue producing sports. In the Gopher's case, that means that football, men's basketball and men's hockey will have to find more ways to bring home the bacon. In the case of the Big Ten Conference, it will mean finding more and more ways to sell the Big Ten Network to more and more viewers and cable markets.

Just hang on to your hats. Watch the money machine Big Ten Network become the driving force for what will and will not happen in the Big Ten Conference Title IX/non-revenue sport sweepstakes and marketing scheme.

 

[axe2grind]

I agree that today is a great day to be a Gopher, with a HUGE sigh of relief we got our rivalries protected and bringing back the Lil' Brown Jug.

However, I think recruiting is going to take a hit for us. I want to believe that we are on the road of a turnaround, but until Brewster can show he can coach, not going to hop on that bandwagon yet. He can recruit, but we need to have a coach. I feel we are near the bottom of division the way it breaks now. Only time will tell for next year's recruiting class to see what the recruits truly think of our chances of being competitive in our division.

Now that we have our rivalries, Maturi has to emphasize winning these games. Winning the Axe only twice since '95 is an EPIC FAIL on our end. Time to bring some of these trophies back to Minny. I am glad that we have our rivalries, but it's TIME to bring these trophies to our case.

So, I am happy with who we play in our division, but I am not too excited about the implications for the future of winning our Division in the upcoming seasons - which Brewster has told us where we should be aspiring to go.