College Football '10 - Conference switching chaos!!

[Drake Tungsten]

If Sloww think that Nebraska was a handful, wait until he gets a load of the California schools. Stanford is going to make Nebraska look like the most contented partner ever.

[Drake Tungsten]

Apparently Nebraska applied for and was denied membership in the Big Ten in both 1901 and 1912...

http://www.cornnation.com/2010/6/12/1512987/so-long-folks-a-historical-look-at

[Drake Tungsten]

This is the most competitively balanced divisional alignment I've seen, but I don't see how Penn State goes for it. That's a lot of travel for them.

Here are the schools, with their records over the past 10 years and their records over the past 25 years.

Big Ten Black

Ohio State, 102-25 (.803) -- 230-74-5 (.752)
Michigan, 81-43 (.653) -- 222-80-5 (.731)
Wisconsin, 86-43 (.667) -- 170-129-4 (.568)
Michigan State, 60-62 (.492) -- 153-141-4 (.520)
Purdue, 67-57 (.540) -- 133-156-4 (.461)
Indiana, 39-78 (.333) -- 118-167-3 (.415)

Totals 435-308 (.585) -- 1026-747-25 (.578)

Big Ten Blue

Nebraska, 84-44 (.656) -- 242-71-1 (.772)
Penn State, 77-46 (.626) --218-86-1 (.716)
Iowa, 80-45 (.640) -- 182-116-5 (.609)
Minnesota, 62-62 (.500) -- 129-162-2 (.444)
Illinois, 45-73 (.381) -- 124-162-5 (.435)
Northwestern, 61-61 (.500) -- 116-172-3 (.404)

Totals 409-331 (.553) -- 1011-769-17 (.567)

http://www.cleveland.com/buckeyeblog/index.ssf/2010/06/big_ten_expansion_details_how.html

edit: I'm also not sure if Wisconsin would accept being in a different division than Iowa and Minnesota.

[Guynemer]

Yeah, that ain't happening. I really don't see any way around a Michigan-Ohio State-Penn State troika.

[Drake Tungsten]

Simple East-West split it is, then?

[Guynemer]

It keeps all the most important rivalries together, and is the easiest for travel.

Perhaps they could have a conference schedule where every team plays round-robin with their division, plus one team from the other division each year: PSU-Neb, Mich-Minn, OSU-Ill... and then, pick 'em, maybe MSU-NW, Pur-Wisky, Ind-Iowa

[Drake Tungsten]

It keeps all the most important rivalries together, and is the easiest for travel.

Agreed. I really don't see a better alternative.

[-Jrabbit]

So we're thinking...

Big Ten Black

Ohio State, 102-25 (.803) -- 230-74-5 (.752)
Michigan, 81-43 (.653) -- 222-80-5 (.731)
Penn State, 77-46 (.626) --218-86-1 (.716)
Michigan State, 60-62 (.492) -- 153-141-4 (.520)
Purdue, 67-57 (.540) -- 133-156-4 (.461)
Indiana, 39-78 (.333) -- 118-167-3 (.415)

Big Ten Blue

Nebraska, 84-44 (.656) -- 242-71-1 (.772)
Wisconsin, 86-43 (.667) -- 170-129-4 (.568)
Iowa, 80-45 (.640) -- 182-116-5 (.609)
Minnesota, 62-62 (.500) -- 129-162-2 (.444)
Illinois, 45-73 (.381) -- 124-162-5 (.435)
Northwestern, 61-61 (.500) -- 116-172-3 (.404)

Is that right? Is so -- man, Nebraska will be in the title game every year! This would be a huge deal for them.

[Drake Tungsten]

Nebraska would make the title game quite often if they play up to their historical standard and Wisconsin and Iowa play down to theirs. That's hardly a sure thing, however, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Badgers and Hawkeyes continue to play at a high level. The expansion to 12 teams and separation into a division away from the Big Three might be very good for them.

[SlowwHand]

If Sloww think that Nebraska was a handful, wait until he gets a load of the California schools. Stanford is going to make Nebraska look like the most contented partner ever.

Nebraska has sucked since Turner Gill left. We got used to Nebraska whining, we can get used to Stanford whining.

[Drake Tungsten]

Looking at it another way...

Big Ten ranking over the last 25 seasons:

1. Nebraska
2. Ohio State
3. Michigan
4. Penn State
5. Iowa
6. Wisconsin
7. Michigan State
8. Purdue
9. Minnesota
10. Illinois
11. Indiana
12. Northwestern

Big Ten ranking over the last 10 seasons:

1. Ohio State
2. Wisconsin
3. Nebraska
4. Michigan
5. Iowa
6. Penn State
7. Purdue
8a. Minnesota
8b. Northwestern
10. Michigan State
11. Illinois
12. Indiana

If the next ten seasons are anything like the last ten, the Big Ten West might actually be the tougher division.

[Drake Tungsten]

Nebraska has sucked since Turner Gill left.

Nebraska won as many national titles in the '90s (a decade after Turner Gill's playing days) as Texas has in its entire history.

[Drake Tungsten]

This episode of The Big Ten's Best: Running Backs of the 70s on the Big Ten Network will be greatly improved once I.M. Hipp is included.

[-Jrabbit]

Don't get me wrong, Drake. I'm down with the probable alignment.

If Illinois can escape OSU/PSU/Mich, I gotta be happy.

[Drake Tungsten]

Hopefully Nebraska won't be any better for you.