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Big Ten Conference Re-Alignment

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.

Go Blue!
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