Jim Delany was unusually candid during The Big Ten annual meeting in Chicago on Monday. He did not shy away from questions regarding Conference Expansion, A Conference Championship Game, and of course Conference re-alignment.
Here is his address to the press:
Hail to The Victors Blog is going to try again to re-align the Big Ten.
Well, Mr. Delany made some things much more clear in regards to how they would divide the new 12 team conference. Competitive Balance, Tradition and Rivalry’s, and Geography in that order, would be the major factors when determining how the league will be divided. In addition, Delany mentioned the year 1993 as a fair starting point to judge the modern era of the Big Ten, noting Nebraska had won 3 National Championships during that time period.
Here is a look at The Big Ten Conference during that time period.
| Big Ten Games | Overall | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | T | Pct | W | L | T | Pct |
| Ohio State | 106 | 29 | 1 | 0.783 | 170 | 43 | 1 | 0.797 |
| Michigan | 94 | 42 | 0 | 0.691 | 146 | 64 | 0 | 0.695 |
| Penn State | 86 | 50 | 0 | 0.632 | 147 | 62 | 0 | 0.703 |
| Wisconsin | 79 | 54 | 3 | 0.592 | 144 | 66 | 4 | 0.682 |
| Iowa | 71 | 64 | 1 | 0.526 | 119 | 86 | 1 | 0.580 |
| Purdue | 63 | 70 | 3 | 0.474 | 104 | 98 | 3 | 0.515 |
| Michigan State | 63 | 72 | 1 | 0.467 | 106 | 98 | 1 | 0.520 |
| Northwestern | 59 | 77 | 0 | 0.434 | 96 | 106 | 1 | 0.475 |
| Illinois | 45 | 90 | 1 | 0.335 | 75 | 121 | 1 | 0.383 |
| Minnesota | 44 | 92 | 0 | 0.324 | 92 | 111 | 0 | 0.453 |
| Indiana | 33 | 103 | 0 | 0.243 | 68 | 127 | 0 | 0.349 |
Hail To The Victors Blog believes conference record gives a clearer picture of the Big Ten hierarchy.
With that said, here we go.
Michigan and Ohio State must be in the same division, This ensures the greatest rivalry in sport keeps its……..
Edge!
But lets not forget who got the last word in this argument……
David Why?
OK back to re-alignment.
Bo-Woody Division:
Ohio State
Michigan
MSU
Purdue
NW
Minnesota
Joe Pa-Osborne Division:
Nebraska
Penn State
Wisconsin
Iowa
Indy
Illini
Since 1993 the Bo-Woody Division has 429 league wins between them. While if you give Nebraska 100 wins the Joe Pa-Osborne Division has 414 wins. This seems to provide a very competitive environment while splitting the 4 major powers in the conference. 15 games over a 17 year period seems very even to me.
In addition, Hail To The Victors Blog would propose one intersectional game that remains on the schedule yearly. This contest will help the league keep some of those trophy games the fans seem to love, while producing some others.
We propose the following intersectional games.
Michigan-Nebraska
Ohio State-Penn State
MSU-Wisconsin
Purdue-Indy
NW-Illini
Minnesota-Iowa
Although all rivalry’s were unable to be saved, many new rivals will arise under this alignment. Most notably, Iowa v. Nebraska and Nebraska v. Wisconsin.
Finally, geography may be an issue for teams like Penn State and Minnesota. But if you look at possible schedules for such teams it really isn’t that much more travel.
Example Penn State:
8 game sample schedule:
6 automatic games.
Nebraska (Home)
Wisconsin (Away)
Iowa (Home)
Indy (Away)
Illini (Home)
Ohio State (Away)
2 sectional games:
MSU (Away)
NW (Home)
If you look at that example, Penn State which is the eastern most team would really only have two western trips in one season every other year. Of course the sectional games would change randomly, but with Ohio State being their intersectional rival, Penn State has a yearly opponent close by not overly straining travel.
Hail To The Victors Blog believes this schedule is not only consistent with other Penn State schedules but we believe it is in the best interest of the league to have U of M and OSU in the same division.
To further speculation, if Joe-Pa agrees to these terms without any real objection, we believe he has been told an eastern expansion will change divisions within 5 years anyway. (*speculation alert*)
Of course this is an example/prediction, and Hail To The Victors Blog remains committed to changing its mind if someone can provide the ammunition to do so. So as always all input is welcomed.