Published reports are inconclusive as to whether or not the Ohio State/Michigan game will remain the last game of the regular season for both teams or will occur another time during the year. Also speculation as to whether or not Ohio State and Michigan will be in the same division or in opposite divisions. What is the preference of Ohio State and Michigan fans? I guess we all find out in Sept according to Jim Delaney.
I would hate to see anything happen to the season finale positioning....although with the addition of a league championship, the dynamic would likely change. Preferred case for me would be to have us in the same division and keep the game date....
Possibly they will be in different divisions. If so you could possibly have them meeting in consecutive games. The easy way to avoid that would be to move the game earlier in the season. Just a thought.
That is my concern Gip.....if we are in different divisions, it would seem that to avoid the possibilty of consecutive meetings they would seriously consider moving the game date..... I think you could realistically achieve divisional parity without having to put us in separate divisions....I could see a Big 10 slate on the final day of the regular season of Penn State-Nebraska followed by Ohio State-M winners determining the conference championship being a pretty good day of football....
Hmmm, interesting question. A geographical split: East PSU OSU Mich MSU Indiana Purdue West Nebraska Iowa Minnesota Wisconsin Northwestern Illinois or North Minnesota Wisconsin Iowa Northwestern Mich MSU South PSU OSU Indiana Purdue Illinois Nebraska Will the new Big-12 (what is the new name?) use a 5+3 format, where a team plays it's 5 divisional opponents every season then plays 3 from the other division - ie 3 rotating or 2 rotating + 1 permanent?
Gaterz' north-south split looks to me to make the most sense. People talk about the traditional powers, MI, OSU, PSU, and NE, but IMO you need to consider the year-to-year strength of Iowa and WI in trying to achieve some sort of parity in the two divisions. The 5-3 idea also makes sense. I guess the only stickler is the need to maintain continutity of the traditional rivalries if the rivals are placed in separate divisions.
My understanding is that they will keep the name regardless of the ultimate number of schools..... I'm certain about the intra/inter division game split, but Delaney has announced the criteria for divisional alignment.....parity, geography and traditional rivalries. That said, it seems likely that OSU, M, Nebr and PSU will be split 2/2 between the divisions. There are a number of scenarios that could make sense from there.....
I think I read that the Big 10 has something like 15 "traditional" rivalries that result in some trophy such as the Old Oaken Bucket, etc. Not all can be maintained on an annual basis.
The north south setup looks pretty good to me except that I'd exchange Neb and Northwestern. I'd like to see Northwestern and Ill. in the same division and Neb belongs with Iowa and Minn. We could change the names to perhaps the Bo and Woody divisions. Most guys of course would favor the Woody group.
I think that is the only way to preserve the tradition and I am all for that. I think the geography needs to be ignored slightly with PSU joining Nebraska in the West: East: UM MSU Ohio St Il In NW West: PSU Neb Iowa Wis Purdue Mn Does anybody really care what weekend In plays Purdue?
Texas and OU have done just fine being in the same B12 division, while the Neb/OU rivalry was killed by them not being in the same division and playing only 2 times in 4 years. The B12 did not allow for a "perm" rivalry game with a team in the opposite division, and truthfully I think that is the way to go. 5-3 and just rotate through the other division any other way and the schedules just get uneven and at times flat out unfair.
Florida has kept it's annual series going with LSU since the inception of SEC divisions and LSU has been consistently good....and won two national titles. The other team that would have been an annual possibility in lieu of LSU was Auburn and they have been tough at times as well and for UF playing at Auburn has mostly been more difficult than playing at LSU. It's probably a wash for the Gators as to which one was kept and both of those teams have historically been on the Florida schedule annually so I think it was important to at least keep one of them. So....I think OSU-Mich needs to remain right where it is and the other Big Ten rivalries need to flex as best they can.
Terry's point about the disintegration of the Nebraska-OU rivalry after the teams were placed in different divisions in a good one. That was a great rivalry that got snuffed out. Even though the OSU/M rivalry dates back to the early 1900's, there were times with the rivalry went into the doldrums. It is what is today largely because: (a) Woody and Bo's 10 year duel reignited the rivalry into a bonfire; (b) after Bo and Woody left the game, both schools remained national powers so the game usually had conference and national ranking implications that were magnified by the game's traditional timing as the last game of the season. I am not saying that separating Ohio and Michigan into separate conferences and having the game played in the middle of the season will cause the demise of the rivalry for as long as Ohio and Michigan exist, we will continue to hate one another. But, it does have the potential to significantly diminish the intensity of the rivalry. The rivalry would also be assisted by Michigan holding up its end of the bargain by fielding teams able to compete with the Buckeyes. Minnesota and Michigan and Michigan and Illinois were great rivalries that petered out because the teams lost competitive equilibrium. One example somewhat comparable to Terry's is in hockey. When I was growing up, the rivalry between the Red Wings versus Toronto and Montreal was longstanding and bitter. When I was a kid growing up in Detroit, you were raised to hate the Leafs and Canadians. After NHL expanded and later moved Montreal and Toronto to a different conference, those rivalries died and young Red Wing fans of today probably think of Toronto and Montreal only as teams with cool uniforms that the RW's play once a year. In contrast, the NFL was smart and kept teams like the Bears and Vikings and Packers in the same division which allowed their historical rivalries to endure. I would have included the Lions in that mix but thanks to Matt Millen, Packer, Bears and Vikings fans now see the Lions more as a patsy to beat down twice a year than an enemy. My hope is that soon will change.
How many times did the OSU-M game determine who went to the Rose Bowl. No longer. The conference championship game with determine that. That alone will take some of the lustre if not the intensity of the game.
I really hate to see the Ohio State Michigan rivalry to fall at any time other than the last game of the season. Tradition counts for a lot in my opinion, but I fear it is coming to an end with the ralignment of the conference and the championship game beginning next year. Again everythig in sports is about money and that drives all of these proposed changes. Don
It would seem like the best thing for the rivalry would be to make them Division foes like Texas/OU, that way they could preserve the end of season part of the rivalry. If they put them in different divisions and give each B10 team 1 opposite division permanent game they should then move the game to mid season or even early season so that some distance would be put between them if they should both end up in the Championship game.
Terry is on track with OU/Texas. Fla/Ga and Fla/Tenn is another good example. Intense rivalries that go a long way in determining who plays the SEC Title game. I see OSU-UM as having that potential once Michigan gets it's head out of it's rear. ( sorry Bobda )
College Football News: http://cfn.scout.com/2/995789.html Just a stupid idea to put OSU and UM in different divisions.
Not necessarily. The Alabama/Auburn game has not lost any of it's luster because of the SECCG. Do you know that the reason Alabama and Auburn didn't play each other from the early 1900's until the 50's was because of fights at the early games????
The SEC started out with two permanent games from the other division and rotating the rest. The Gators had LSU and Auburn. However several years ago we moved to one permanent game and rotate the rest. I would expect we would maintain the one game. Traditional rivalries like Auburn - Georgia and Alabama - Tennessee will likely be maintained. I hated it when we gave up Auburn, however it brought Bama on the schedule more often. The only constant thing in life is change.