New B1G Scheduling Model

[Enhance]

It is going to be very interesting to me to see how these free flowing Pac 12 teams do when they have to start playing BIG 10 defenses week in and week out.  Will they suffer the same way Nebraska did coming from the free flowing Big 12?

No matter what anyone says this league is definitely "different" in how they play football, and the ones that jump on that sooner rather than later will flourish.  

(I tried to compare how Rutgers and Maryland have done since they came in, but they have never adjusted, nor where they really all that great to begin with)

I'm also interested to see how they fare, particularly Oregon and UCLA because of their styles. I have decent confidence Oregon is going to be a pretty powerful player in the league, but, I do think each conference tends to have a little bit of its own unique flare and character. The B1G has historically been viewed as a bit of an ugly, gritty conference. I thought Nebraska handled this transition decently well when they first entered the league, but over time I've grown to appreciate the toughness it takes to operate at a high level in the league. I don't know if Oregon can do things as they do them today and hope to be among the top 3-4 teams consistently, but it'll be fun to find out.

USC could be interesting. Their recruiting potential is among the best in the nation but again you wonder how they will fare in the dog days of October and November in the B1G, and what (if any) changes they might make in their approach (and geesh, talk about an awful schedule next year. LSU, at Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn St., Washington, Notre Dame... if they're anywhere close to double digit wins next season I'll be super impressed).

Also, the 12-team playoff couldn't have come at a better time. In super conferences loaded with this many teams, I imagine most B1G conference championship contenders will have 1-2 losses most seasons.

 

[Lorewarn]

The B1G has historically been viewed as a bit of an ugly, gritty conference. I thought Nebraska handled this transition decently well when they first entered the league, but over time I've grown to appreciate the toughness it takes to operate at a high level in the league. 

The league has also changed pretty dramatically since we entered.

Not only was the offense league-wide much more open (OSU was doing what they always do, Michigan was in the Dennard Robinson/Devin Gardner spread era, Northwestern could be lethal with Kain Colter, WIsconsin had their best year and best stretch ever, Iowa was still Iowa but not all-time-terrible-offense Iowa, etc.), but the floor of competitiveness has been raised substantially. You look through the list of head coaches and over half the league has head guys that were one of the top 3 biggest hires of their cycle and coach of the year winners.

 

[huskerfan74]

Basically starting next year we should not expect to play in the Big ten championship anytime soon. Especially with our offense. Unless Rhule pulls some magic, I do not see us competing for a conference championship in the next 5 years (or more).

 

[VectorVictor]

It's even more insane to me, seeing that they worked out protected games in a conference this big (including 2 or 3 for some teams), that the Big 12 couldn't keep the annual Nebaska Oklahoma game.

It was *never* a question of ability, but whether both parties wanted to. Oklahoma already had Texass, ATM University, and an upstart Okie Lite to deal with, they didn't want (at the time) to face another potential Top 25 team regularly unless they had to. 

Now, in the SEC, the Top 25 teams are just gonna be back to back to back to back to back to back...