[NU Sports] Another domino, not the last one yet?

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> There's an odd irony in that the Pac 10 and Big 10 are
> about to go to title games
> while the Big XII is probably about to lose its title

:) - yup, and there's also a lesson for the Big Ten and Pac 10 to look at for how to structure their title games. The SEC has made it work big-time, the Big XII always seemed to look at theirs as a burden.

Lesson 1: Make sure fans care. The ACC probably has better attendance for their hoops tourney than those dreadful Wake vs. GaTech in front of a high school stadium crowd games recently. We won't have that problem. A Big Ten title game in Indy or Chicago will be big.

Lesson 2: Make it fair (or as fair as possible). Even in the mighty SEC, there have been years where the best two teams haven't met (most of the years up until the last two), but they at least had two divisions that were fairly competitive. There was a bit of an imbalance when Bama went on their spin for "probation rotation" (an SEC hallmark) and the Vols and Gators was THE game, but then LSU rose, Bama returned and you usually have a pretty good team in the east and a pretty good one in the west. The Big XII was tilted toward the south from day one and that only got worse as UNL faded and Colorado self-imploded. Our east/west divisions would be fairly equal. If you look at those "last 10 title games" I sent, I think east vs. west was the top two teams overall 8/10 times.

Lesson 3: Make it count. The Big XII game was meaningless from the day Nebraska didn't even PLAY in it and still went on to the national title. Then OU got clobbered and STILL played for the B(C)S title. So who cares about winning. The SEC game, OTOH, has helped teams rebound from earlier losses to become title contenders and served as a 'play-in' game as well. It means something to win it and I think we will have that as well. Teams like Iowa that play better in November than September should LOVE this - it gives them a chance to rebound from September stumbles and get a big win on a national stage on the final night of the year -- not four weeks before.

I'm not sure if the Pac 10 can pull it off (for starters, where will it be? LA? Phoenix? San Fran? Denver? Seattle?), but the Big Ten has all the ingredients for a fantastic, balanced and meaningful championship game that fans, players and pollsters care about.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

PS - One tweak may be that we want to return to finishing the season the week before Thanksgiving again ... giving the title game teams more build-up and fans more time to travel.


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STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
Super Bowl XLIV Champions!
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