Possible conference lay out if we join

husker98

husker98

New member
Got too thinking about who we would play and who potential rivals would be should join the big ten and actually lady and gents it looks rather promising.

Possible (most likely or would make most sense) layout

West Division

Minnesota

Nebraska

Mizzou

Iowa

Great lakes Division

Wisconsin

Northwestern

Michigan

Ohio St.

Cumberland Division

Illinois

Indiana

Purdue

Notre Dame(maybe)

Eastern Division

PSU

Rutgers

Pitt

Michigan St.

Wisconsin and Minnesota could flip flop and if that were the case suddenly the western division would be the best in the Big 10.

even with Minnesota (resurgent) the western division would be a formidable force. you have, if this happened next year, three teams with good chances of making bowl games.

I don't think the west would produce a big 10 champ this year or even next but it could in more than likely in the long run.

thought's

 
I would be very surprised if they break up Wisconsin/Minnesota/Iowa or Ohio State/Michigan/Michigan State. I am not sure if they will break up Nebraska and Missouri to put Nebraska with the Iowa trio as a power division offset to the Ohio State/Michigan division. Missouri will be with Illinois.

And of course I could be completely wrong on everything but that would be my take on it.

 
Until/unless other conferences go to 16, I don't see the Big 10 going to 4 divisions. The NCAA allows a conference championship game if you have 12 or more, but not a 4 team playoff if you have 16. It'll be two 8-team divisions. I could see your Cumberland and West divisions being 8, and the Great Lakes and East being the other.

If Syracuse gets in instead of Notre Dame, you probably move Northwestern or Wisconsin over.

 
They will have probably have subdivisions with rotational pairings to make two 8-team divisions per year VA. This eliminates the issues you find with such things as the Big XII South. It helps protect a quality championship game better as well. How many people really want to see a 3-loss team go up against an undefeated team in the championship like has happened in the past in the Big XII. The 2006 Huskers and the 2005 Buffaloes were pretty weak seeds out of the north.

You also won't see the Wisconin/Iowa/Minnesota trio broken up due to the long-standing trophy games and historic rivalries/hate. You are more than likely going to see the following sub-divisions:

Minnesota

Wisconsin

Iowa

XXXXXXXXX

Ohio State

Michigan

XXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXX

Michigan State

Penn State

XXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXX

With Illinois/Northwestern and Purdue/Indiana joined in whichever sub-divisions they end up in. Toss Nebraska and Missouri into the fourth sub-division and you've got some fairly good parity as well.

 
This would be my picture of the new Big "10"

West

Nebraska

Iowa

Minnestoa

Wisconsin

Missouri

Illinois

Northwestern

Indiana

East

Michigan

Michigan State

Ohio State

Purdue

Penn State

Pittsburgh

Rutgers

Notre Dame

 
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Micheal said:
This would be my picture of the new Big "10"

West

Nebraska

Iowa

Minnestoa

Wisconsin

Missouri

Illinois

Northwestern

Indiana

East

Michigan

Michigan State

Ohio State

Purdue

Penn State

Pittsburgh

Rutgers

Notre Dame
Click to expand...
Agree with ya if its 16 team conference, their will be 2 8 team division. The conference will prob play a 9 game schedule, regardless. If its 14 teams then its 2 7 teams division. These "pods" and other stuff just make it more confusing for the average fan, which in the end will cause them to "tune out."

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Micheal said:
This would be my picture of the new Big "10"

West

Nebraska

Iowa

Minnestoa

Wisconsin

Missouri

Illinois

Northwestern

Indiana

East

Michigan

Michigan State

Ohio State

Purdue

Penn State

Pittsburgh

Rutgers

Notre Dame
Click to expand...
How is this any different from our current situation with a strong Big 12 South and a weak Big 12 North? ND, tOSU, Michigan, and Penn State on one side of the division with Nebraska, possibly Iowa, and maybe a few odd years Wisconsin or Missouri? You're just looking at the disparity between Big 12 North and South except probably even greater. And don't kid yourselves - ND is just waiting for the right coach to be a powerhouse again. I hope that when the division lines are made (assuming there is realignment of course) that it's a bit more balanced than this.

 
Micheal said:
This would be my picture of the new Big "10"

West

Nebraska

Iowa

Minnestoa

Wisconsin

Missouri

Illinois

Northwestern

Indiana

East

Michigan

Michigan State

Ohio State

Purdue

Penn State

Pittsburgh

Rutgers

Notre Dame
Click to expand...
I just don't see this layout at all, because if you played every team in your own division every year, that would only leave 4 games for games outside your own division, so you would either have to do away from outside of conference games (which they will not do - they need those games at the start of the season to make adjustments before conference play and to maybe play one nationally ranked team for revenue and points in polls if they can win), or you would never play teams from the other division. If they go to a 16 team conference, you would just about have to have 4 divisions, where you would play every team in your own division (gotta have rivalries, right?), and then would rotate through the other divisions, that way you could still have 3 out of conference games at the beginning of the year. And if they went to a four division layout, and IF they could get the NCAA on board with the idea, they could have the divisional winners play a two game playoff for the Conference Championship - but I don't see the NCAA getting on board with any kind of playoff system, plus someone would object because of the number of games that good teams would have to play - but just think of the revenue they could bring in for their schools.

If Notre Dame don't jump on board, they could always go to three divisions of five teams, and basically do the same thing, and in the "playoff" add a wild card team - because it seems like there is always one division that has a 2nd place team that is better than the other two first place teams... And this would leave one slot open for Notre Dame (this is the team that the Big Ten wants the worst - this is no secret) when they got their head out of their arse and saw that they were about to be left behind if they didn't eventually get on board.

Then they could always pull a rabbit out of their hat, and go to 20 teams...and have 4 divisions of 5 teams, and really put pressure on the on the other conferences to do something to compete in the form of combining conferences. As far as a long shot - this is more like shooting the moon...probably never happen.

 
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HuskerTrucker said:
Micheal said:
This would be my picture of the new Big "10"

West

Nebraska

Iowa

Minnestoa

Wisconsin

Missouri

Illinois

Northwestern

Indiana

East

Michigan

Michigan State

Ohio State

Purdue

Penn State

Pittsburgh

Rutgers

Notre Dame
Click to expand...
I just don't see this layout at all, because if you played every team in your own division every year, that would only leave 4 games for games outside your own division, so you would either have to do away from outside of conference games (which they will not do - they need those games at the start of the season to make adjustments before conference play), or you would never play teams from the other division. If they go to a 16 team conference, you would just about have to have 4 divisions, where you would play every team in your own division (gotta have rivalries, right?), and then would rotate through the other divisions, that way you could still have 3 out of conference games at the beginning of the year. And if they went to a four division layout, and IF they could get the NCAA on board with the idea, they could have the divisional winners play a two game playoff for the Conference Championship - but I don't see the NCAA getting on board with any kind of playoff system, plus someone would object because of the number of games that good teams would have to play - but just think of the revenue they could bring in for their schools.

If Notre Dame don't jump on board, they could always go to three divisions of five teams, and basically do the same thing, and in the "playoff" add a wild card team - because it seems like there is always one division that has a 2nd place team that is better than the other two first place teams... And this would leave one slot open for Notre Dame (this is the team that the Big Ten wants the worst - this is no secret) when they got their head out of their arse and saw that they were about to be left behind if they didn't eventually get on board.

Then they could always pull a rabbit out of their hat, and go to 20 teams...and have 4 divisions of 5 teams, and really put pressure on the on the other conferences to do something to compete in the form of combining conferences. As far as a long shot - this is more like shooting the moon...probably never happen.
Click to expand...
I realize that the conference powers might be a little uneven in this setting. I was looking from a regional perspective.

 
bbeerma2 said:
They will have probably have subdivisions with rotational pairings to make two 8-team divisions per year VA. This eliminates the issues you find with such things as the Big XII South. It helps protect a quality championship game better as well. How many people really want to see a 3-loss team go up against an undefeated team in the championship like has happened in the past in the Big XII. The 2006 Huskers and the 2005 Buffaloes were pretty weak seeds out of the north.
Click to expand...
I like that idea. So you have 3 constants in your division to preserve/promote rivalries, and a different set of 4 teams from another pod to give you variety and have a better chance for parity, as long as the power isn't all in one pod. So while Iowa and Ohio State (the two best teams last year) might have to battle each other within the division to see who goes to the championship, the next two years they'd be separate and could play each other in the championship. You'd play all 7 division teams, the rest out of conference games, so the championship game would never be a repeat game. You'd play teams outside your pod every 3 years. Yeah, I like that a whole lot.

 
Going back to the first guy, who I think provided really equal pods, have 1 team outside your pod designated as a team you play every year, no matter what. So Minnesota can play Wisconsin for the Ax every year, Missouri can play Illinois, and so on. Giving you 8 conference games (you play your pod + another pod for 7 games).

 
huskernation0201 said:
who would we play every year?
Click to expand...
If they keep Iowa/Wisky/Minny together and want to balance out the potential Michigan/Ohio State/Mich St pod as well as set Nebraska up with the best pod for rivalry games then Nebraska ends up with the Iowa trio and gets Missouri as their out of pod every year rival. At least that is how I hope it ends up.

 
Caven said:
huskernation0201 said:
who would we play every year?
Click to expand...
If they keep Iowa/Wisky/Minny together and want to balance out the potential Michigan/Ohio State/Mich St pod as well as set Nebraska up with the best pod for rivalry games then Nebraska ends up with the Iowa trio and gets Missouri as their out of pod every year rival. At least that is how I hope it ends up.
Click to expand...
I'd actually be OK with not playing Missouri. Not saying I'm scared or they're going to get better (which I personally believe they've already reached their peak) but I just don't like anything about that school. If we only played them once every few years, I'd be fine with it. I'd rather see a regular Michigan/Nebraska game every year.

 
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