[Husker] Making sense of Big Ten divisions (fwd)

[Paul Dalen]

a= and
read=real

I gotta stop drinking and posting.

On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 4:27 PM, Paul Dalen <quesohusker at gmail.com> wrote:

> After reading what seems like a hundred articles about this, I have to
> think that they all boil down to a lot of sound a fury signifying nothing.
> As I understand it, the only read decision to be made is whether to put UM
> and OSU in the same division.  Once that decision is made, there seem to be
> only one realistic course of action for the league to follow.
>
> There's a lot of talk about if you split them up then they could meet in
> the championship game.  Uhhhh....Hello.  Any two teams that play out of
> division could conceivably meet in the championship game.  Why is this such
> a big issue for these two schools?  It looks to me like the Big Ten has an
> unhealthy regard for the UM OSU rivalry game, which may be just as
> destructive as the complete disregard paid to NU OU rivalry.  In the end,
> it's important, but it's still just a game.  Let's keep it in perspective.
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 12:42 PM, Mike Nolan <nolan at romaine.tssi.com>wrote:
>
>> > Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune has an interesting article about
>> how
>> > the Big Ten may set up their divisions:http://bit.ly/dthIqq. He
>> supports SI's
>> > Stewart Mandel's<
>> http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/stewart_mandel/06/22/expansion-divisions/index.html
>> >idea
>> > of a "West Division" comprised of: Nebraska,
>> > Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota...and Penn State!
>>
>> Putting Penn State and Nebraska in one division with Ohio State and
>> Michigan in the other division makes sense to me based based on the past
>> 25 years of records, but as a Northwestern alum I think I would hate
>> this alignment, as our natural rivalries are against Illinois, Iowa
>> and Wisconsin, and possibly Minnesota.  (Illinois-Northwestern is a trophy
>> game that goes back quite a few years, though the trophy itself recently
>> changed for political correctness.)
>>
>> Figuring out the middle and lower tiers of both divisions is interesting.
>> Indiana has been the doormat of the Big Ten more frequently than
>> Northwestern, at least since 1995.  Purdue and Michigan State have had
>> their good and their bad years, as have Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.
>> Penn State had a down cycle, as did Nebraska, and Michigan is still
>> working to get out of its current slump.  (Rich Rod is going to be on
>> the hot seat this year, at least as far as the media is concerned.)  The
>> most consistent teams have been Wisconsin and Ohio State.
>>
>> However, Northwestern has always gotten the shaft from the Big Ten
>> when it comes to scheduling, so this strikes me as another opportunity
>> for the conference to stick it to the Cats.
>>
>> I did see one post from an Iowa fan that struck me as funny, he was
>> commenting
>> on the possibility of Northwestern being in the other division with one
>> protected cross-division rivalry per team so that the teams see
>> their cross-division opponents only 4 times a decade (meaning only two
>> home games a decade) as being a big plus for them , since Northwestern
>> has a winning record in Iowa City over the past 15 years.  In fact,
>> if the Cats only came to Iowa City once a decade, that would have been OK
>> with him!
>> --
>> Mike Nolan
>>
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>
>