[NU Sports] Grandpa's angry ...

Thu May 28 12:54:44 CDT 2009

I think you're all right on the true round-robin schedule - it would be nice, but it's just not feasible with 12 games and the economic situation of most universities in relying on those home gates.

I think a lot of this is just looking for a scapegoat for recent bowl losses and perhaps some ESPN/ABC push to get a title game and make themselves more money since the Big XII title game isn't the big-ratings alternative to the SEC game that they hoped it would be.

I do think we need to space out the games more - and the upcoming experiment with Thanksgiving weekend games should be a push in that direction for the league. Bye weeks have become part of the game and coaches need to learn to deal with them and turn them into a good thing in terms of healing during midseason. And a Michigan-Ohio State game during the final weekend would top the SEC and Big XII games in the ratings 9 out of 10 years.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

PS - For all the talk of the Big Ten being so down and the Big XII rising, the talking heads on ESPN seem to forget that title-game-robbed Texas needed a last-second miracle to top OSU in a game they were heavily favored to win. Ditto for mighty Mizzou and NU. And if SEC schools ever traveled out of their region, they'd find it difficult to face USC in the Rose Bowl as well.:)

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!

--- On Thu, 5/28/09, Beamsley, Jeff <Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com> wrote:

> From: Beamsley, Jeff <Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com>
> Subject: RE: [NU Sports] Grandpa's angry ...
> To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Date: Thursday, May 28, 2009, 6:37 AM
> Good post.
> 
> The only thing that I would add is that a four game non-con
> schedule
> also benefits the BT.  It allows the league to produce
> more
> bowl-eligible teams because the weaker teams in the
> conference have soft
> non-con schedules.  It also benefits those smaller
> number of teams with
> National Championship aspirations because they can schedule
> marquee
> matchups (OSU/SC) which help position them high in the
> polls early in
> the season while still preserving a couple of cupcake games
> to help pad
> their record.
> 
> An expanded BT schedule and a reduced non-con schedule
> would likely
> reduce the number of bowl eligible BT teams with the only
> benefit that a
> few more BT teams would rank a little higher in the polls.
> 
> As long as money continues to talk, we aren't going to see
> big changes
> in this structure.
> 
> The only thing I think that could cause the league to
> change is if we
> began to see more parity in BT football programs.  If
> the league became
> so competitive that it affected the ability of the league
> to produce a
> BCS contender (because every team had a couple of losses),
> then the
> league might look to a playoff format to boost the late
> season ranking
> of the winner.
> 
> Jeff
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com
> [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com]
> On Behalf Of Jonathan Hodges
> Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 9:18 AM
> To: Dennis W. Brandt
> Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Grandpa's angry ...
> 
> I think that many people would be in favor of a true
> round-robin Big Ten
> conference schedule, unfortunately that would essentially
> take away one
> guaranteed non-conference home game a year since every team
> has 5 home/5
> away games in conference play each year - basically leaving
> 1 home/1
> away non-conference games in most seasons (since virtually
> every
> non-conference opponent demands return visits
> nowadays).  This demand is
> too much to ask for Big Ten schools, who rely on those
> extra home games
> (making a total of
> 7-8 per year) to bring in a ton of revenue. 
> Therefore, don't expect to
> see this happen any time soon (unless the regular season
> schedule is
> expanded beyond 12 games - which is also very unlikely
> given the push
> against a playoff which would add more to the season).
> 
> One idea that is gaining traction is going to a 9 game
> conference
> schedule, which would create a huge headache as given that
> there are 11
> teams in the conference, one team per season would only be
> able to play
> an 8 game conference schedule.  The conference
> schedule is already
> unbalanced enough with each team "missing" 2 random teams
> per season, an
> unequal number of conference games would make things even
> worse.
> 
> I wouldn't expect to see any changes to conference play for
> at least a
> few years - unless NBC somehow voids ND's contract and they
> come
> crawling back to the Big Ten asking for admittance
> (unlikely, given that
> NBC extended their contract during their worst football
> season ever).
> Even then, don't expect to see the Big Ten go to a
> conference
> championship game - the Big Ten still leads all conferences
> in revenue
> and has completely equal revenue sharing - and has seen in
> recent years
> that championship games don't lead to any kind of
> competitive advantage
> (if anything, it's a disadvantage).
> 
> Here's an interesting article on conference revenues,
> showing Big Ten
> holding a significant lead over the other conferences:
> http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1200&u_sid=10640273
> 
> At the end of the day, even with fans wanting more balanced
> schedules, a
> more sensical bowl structure, playoffs, and a lot of other
> things - the
> game is about money and right now the Big Ten has
> positioned itself very
> well.
> It has what is probably the best bowl lineup, its own
> network (which is
> now rather successful after just a couple of years), huge
> stadiums that
> are full throughout the fall, a big TV contract with
> ABC/ESPN, and
> national respect and attention.  So, I don't blame
> them for continuing
> their financial success.
> 
> Joanthan
> 
> On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 5:41 AM, Dennis W. Brandt <tbng at comcast.net>
> wrote:
> 
> > Here is a grandpa with another opinion.
> >
> > Play every team in the Big Ten plus two non-conference
> games.  Then, 
> > we will have no doubt as to whom the Big Ten champion
> would be.  What 
> > if NU goes undefeated this season?  Since we play
> neither Michigan nor
> 
> > Ohio State, no one would take our championship
> seriously.  We would 
> > likely be ranked eighth or so and have no shot at the
> national 
> > championship game, especially if Penn State has a less
> than stellar
> year.
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> 
> 
> 
> --
> Jonathan W. Hodges
> 1237 Emerson St Apt 2
> Evanston, IL  60201-3577
> (847) 736-2449
> jonathanwhodges at gmail.com
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