The ordeal of no divisions

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Great Plains Gopher

Great Plains Gopher

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If fans don't raise hell, we may be stuck with an 18-team "league" indefinitely. Also, send UCLA, USC, Washington, and especially, Oregon, back to the West Coast where they belong. With them gone, we'd have two 7-team divisions, based again on geography. The massive greed has led to massive cash for the B10, but still most schools will be short on the new crazy cost of paying players. It never ends - so a 16 team playoff, then more teams added, as in basketball, the playoffs being a second season. The greed leads down a rabbit hole that has no end.
 

What hell have you been raising? I haven’t seen you protesting outside the league offices with the rest of us.
 

The division system had its fair share of criticism, too. Reaction to Leagues and Legends was mixed and the West was often looked at as the lesser of the two during its existance.

Regardless, I don't see anything changing. The recent changes were all about TV. I don't think that was always the case. Adding Penn State and Nebraska was genuinely expanding the conference with two prolific football programs in Midwest/B1G adjacent states.

That's not the case with the East and West Coast additions. By bringing those in, the Big Ten now has a presence in states with 4 of the top 5 media markets, and 18 of the top 40. The recent additions, in bold, added 8, including the 2 largest.

No. 1 New York City - Rutgers
No. 2 Los Angeles - USC, UCLA
No. 3 Chicago - Illinois, Northwestern
No. 5 Philadelphia - Penn State
No. 8 Washington DC - Maryland
No. 10 Bay Area - USC, UCLA
No. 13 Seattle - Washington
No. 14 Detroit - Michigan, Michigan State
No. 16 Twin Cities - Minnesota
No. 19 Cleveland - Ohio State
No. 23 Portland - Oregon
No. 25 Indianapolis - Indiana, Purdue
No. 27 Pittsburgh - Penn State
No. 29 Baltimore - Maryland
No. 30 San Diego - USC, UCLA
No. 35 Columbus - Ohio State
No. 37 Cincinnati - Ohio State
No. 38 Milwaukee - Wisconsin
 

IceBoxGopher said:
The division system had its fair share of criticism, too. Reaction to Leagues and Legends was mixed and the West was often looked at as the lesser of the two during its existance.

Regardless, I don't see anything changing. The recent changes were all about TV. I don't think that was always the case. Adding Penn State and Nebraska was genuinely expanding the conference with two prolific football programs in Midwest/B1G adjacent states.

That's not the case with the East and West Coast additions. By bringing those in, the Big Ten now has a presence in states with 4 of the top 5 media markets, and 18 of the top 40. The recent additions, in bold, added 8, including the 2 largest.

No. 1 New York City - Rutgers
No. 2 Los Angeles - USC, UCLA
No. 3 Chicago - Illinois, Northwestern
No. 5 Philadelphia - Penn State
No. 8 Washington DC - Maryland
No. 10 Bay Area - USC, UCLA
No. 13 Seattle - Washington
No. 14 Detroit - Michigan, Michigan State
No. 16 Twin Cities - Minnesota
No. 19 Cleveland - Ohio State
No. 23 Portland - Oregon
No. 25 Indianapolis - Indiana, Purdue
No. 27 Pittsburgh - Penn State
No. 29 Baltimore - Maryland
No. 30 San Diego - USC, UCLA
No. 35 Columbus - Ohio State
No. 37 Cincinnati - Ohio State
No. 38 Milwaukee - Wisconsin
Click to expand...
Time to break into Texas.
 

18 doesn’t really work
Once it expands to 20, 24, or 28 it’ll go to two sides round robin

I don’t think there’ll be divisions but basically there’ll be scheduling divisions that could change every year
 



Great Plains Gopher said:
If fans don't raise hell, we may be stuck with an 18-team "league" indefinitely. Also, send UCLA, USC, Washington, and especially, Oregon, back to the West Coast where they belong. With them gone, we'd have two 7-team divisions, based again on geography. The massive greed has led to massive cash for the B10, but still most schools will be short on the new crazy cost of paying players. It never ends - so a 16 team playoff, then more teams added, as in basketball, the playoffs being a second season. The greed leads down a rabbit hole that has no end.
Click to expand...
Virtually no fans will raise hell. You, I guess.
 


Perhaps after the Big 10 & SEC merge to form a Super Duper Conference, divisions will return.
 



Some guy said:
18 doesn’t really work
Once it expands to 20, 24, or 28 it’ll go to two sides round robin

I don’t think there’ll be divisions but basically there’ll be scheduling divisions that could change every year
Click to expand...
Agree 18 is tough for scheduling. I’m guessing they’ll use a “pods” scenario once they get to 20+ and still put the top 2 teams in CCG. Everyone would play all the teams in their pod and one other, plus 1 or 2 more conf games. I’d actually love an unscheduled opponent the last week of the season who finishes in the same spot in a 3rd pod (1 v 1, 2 v 2, etc.) like some HS conferences do.
 

MGGopher said:
Agree 18 is tough for scheduling. I’m guessing they’ll use a “pods” scenario once they get to 20+ and still put the top 2 teams in CCG. Everyone would play all the teams in their pod and one other, plus 1 or 2 more conf games. I’d actually love an unscheduled opponent the last week of the season who finishes in the same spot in a 3rd pod (1 v 1, 2 v 2, etc.) like some HS conferences do.
Click to expand...
20 teams you go 4 groups of 5
You play your 4 plus an entire other group of 5
You play 4 teams every year. You play everyone home and home in 6.

Top two go. essentially rotating scheduling divisions but not actually divisions
 

If fans remain quiet and subservient, The B10 will go on dangling 18 teams in a meaningless string that offers little to most fans. The West Coast teams should have remained in some kind of B10 West (without that title), so we could have 14 here in two geographic divisions, as before. No matter how much money the new system brings, it is never enough - and won't be. Time to stop the expansion, restore sitting out a year for transfers, and restoring NCAA authority, even if it means going to the Supreme Court. This anarchy and greed is bad for the game, has destroyed century-old conferences, is costing schools a fortune which most can't meet now and won't be able to meet in the future.
 




All I know is it was kind of fun trying to win the west.

That is gone.

Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin will be stuck in the middle now forever.

Meh
 

kg21 said:
All I know is it was kind of fun trying to win the west.

That is gone.

Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin will be stuck in the middle now forever.

Meh
Click to expand...
Yup, fighting your rivals to see who can get 6th in the conference isn’t too exciting.
 

IceBoxGopher said:
The division system had its fair share of criticism, too. Reaction to Leagues and Legends was mixed and the West was often looked at as the as the lesser of the two weakest P5 division during its existance.

Regardless, I don't see anything changing. The recent changes were all about TV. I don't think that was always the case. Adding Penn State and Nebraska was genuinely expanding the conference with two prolific football programs in Midwest/B1G adjacent states.

That's not the case with the East and West Coast additions. By bringing those in, the Big Ten now has a presence in states with 4 of the top 5 media markets, and 18 of the top 40. The recent additions, in bold, added 8, including the 2 largest.

No. 1 New York City - Rutgers
No. 2 Los Angeles - USC, UCLA
No. 3 Chicago - Illinois, Northwestern
No. 5 Philadelphia - Penn State
No. 8 Washington DC - Maryland
No. 10 Bay Area - USC, UCLA
No. 13 Seattle - Washington
No. 14 Detroit - Michigan, Michigan State
No. 16 Twin Cities - Minnesota
No. 19 Cleveland - Ohio State
No. 23 Portland - Oregon
No. 25 Indianapolis - Indiana, Purdue
No. 27 Pittsburgh - Penn State
No. 29 Baltimore - Maryland
No. 30 San Diego - USC, UCLA
No. 35 Columbus - Ohio State
No. 37 Cincinnati - Ohio State
No. 38 Milwaukee - Wisconsin
Click to expand...
FIFY
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
If fans remain quiet and subservient, The B10 will go on dangling 18 teams in a meaningless string that offers little to most fans. The West Coast teams should have remained in some kind of B10 West (without that title), so we could have 14 here in two geographic divisions, as before. No matter how much money the new system brings, it is never enough - and won't be. Time to stop the expansion, restore sitting out a year for transfers, and restoring NCAA authority, even if it means going to the Supreme Court. This anarchy and greed is bad for the game, has destroyed century-old conferences, is costing schools a fortune which most can't meet now and won't be able to meet in the future.
Click to expand...

Good luck with that.
 

Add 2 more to get to 20 and hit the top markets we are missing.

Dallas
Atlanta
Houston

So, picking a low fruit conference, let’s poach from the Big 12!

TCU would be my choice right in Ft. Worth.
Then take Georgia Tech once the ACC implodes.

B1G divisions
East
Maryland
Penn State
Rutgers
Ohio State
Georgia Tech

North
Michigan
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Minnesota
MSU

South
Nebraska
Illinois
Purdue
Iowa
Indiana


WEST
Oregon
Washington
USC
UCLA
TCU

Scrap the 9 game conference schedule and go to 8 with a wild card 9th game for the semi finals and filler games pitting the rest of the teams against teams with similar records.

Then the B1G championship.

Or just play 9 games and play the top two ranked teams for the title! But you still offer the four division champs to the cfp playoff.

But if I had my way, I’d add Notre Dame and FSU and just go with 2 divisions.
 

Otis said:
Add 2 more to get to 20 and hit the top markets we are missing.

Dallas
Atlanta
Houston

So, picking a low fruit conference, let’s poach from the Big 12!

TCU would be my choice right in Ft. Worth.
Then take Georgia Tech once the ACC implodes.

B1G divisions
East
Maryland
Penn State
Rutgers
Ohio State
Georgia Tech

North
Michigan
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Minnesota
MSU

South
Nebraska
Illinois
Purdue
Iowa
Indiana


WEST
Oregon
Washington
USC
UCLA
TCU

Scrap the 9 game conference schedule and go to 8 with a wild card 9th game for the semi finals and filler games pitting the rest of the teams against teams with similar records.

Then the B1G championship.

Or just play 9 games and play the top two ranked teams for the title! But you still offer the four division champs to the cfp playoff.

But if I had my way, I’d add Notre Dame and FSU and just go with 2 divisions.
Click to expand...
I actually think B1G should go to 10 conference games. Add Irish and Stanford/Cal.
 

caliGopher said:
FIFY
Click to expand...
Not that the West ever looked phenomenal, but I don't think it was ever that bad when compared to the other "lesser" divisions from 2014 through about 2023. The PAC 12 South, SEC East and ACC Coastal also regularly lost to their counterpart in their respective title games. Plus in bowl season the B1G West usually did relatively well.
 

Otis said:
Add 2 more to get to 20 and hit the top markets we are missing.

Dallas
Atlanta
Houston

So, picking a low fruit conference, let’s poach from the Big 12!

TCU would be my choice right in Ft. Worth.
Then take Georgia Tech once the ACC implodes.

B1G divisions
East
Maryland
Penn State
Rutgers
Ohio State
Georgia Tech

North
Michigan
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Minnesota
MSU

South
Nebraska
Illinois
Purdue
Iowa
Indiana


WEST
Oregon
Washington
USC
UCLA
TCU

Scrap the 9 game conference schedule and go to 8 with a wild card 9th game for the semi finals and filler games pitting the rest of the teams against teams with similar records.

Then the B1G championship.

Or just play 9 games and play the top two ranked teams for the title! But you still offer the four division champs to the cfp playoff.

But if I had my way, I’d add Notre Dame and FSU and just go with 2 divisions.
Click to expand...
I like this a lot, but you're jumping into SEC territory with TCU & Georgia Tech. Does that start a war with them and they start grabbing teams from our traditional footprint? We're at an uneasy truce right now. True, they blew up the old truce by taking Texas and Oklahoma. Also true there are no good teams remaining in our traditional footprint that would help them except Notre Dame. I don't think ND would go to the SEC because they'd just be average there. Still, their response is worth thinking about.
 


The long-game by the college administrators is having a 16 week regular season. Having large conferences makes scheduling 16 games much easier. With players getting paid now, all the excuses about 'need time to study' and 'too hard on their bodies' is out the window.
 

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