[Husker] Lucky 13?

[Mike Nolan]

Some interesting things that people on the Northwestern list have pointed out:

This would make the Big Ten the dominant conference in women's lacrosse, because Northwestern
and Maryland have been the top 2 schools for most of the past decade.

Maryland and Rutgers both have wrestling teams, so the Big Ten would still be the only 
conference where every school has a wrestling team.

Conference alignment for football will be an interesting debate.  If they drew the line strictly 
geographically, I believe West Lafayette is a bit further west than East Lansing,
Ann Arbor or Bloomington, so the West division would be:

Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern and Purdue.

Other options would be to shift Indiana west, or to leave Michigan State in the West.
Would the latter mean an end to the annual Michigan-Michigan State game, known in Ann Arbor
as the 'little brother game' or would protected cross-division rivalries still exist,
which would almost certainly require a 9 game conference schedule?

Some people think this will put the final nail in the Notre Dame/Big Ten coffin, but
I disagree.  The Irish are still the ultimate brass ring.  There would be room for Notre Dame 
and one other school in a 16 team superconference.  Do I expect Notre Dame to come crawling 
to Jim Delaney to join up?  No.

Academically, I think Rutgers and Maryland are good fits for the Big Ten, but there's no
doubt this is not as big a win as getting Nebraska was in terms of name brand recognition.  
In terms of market footprint, it might be a better deal than Nebraska was, but one with
more risk.
--
Mike Nolan