Big Ten

No idea what this will be called (Lions Bowl? Motor City Bowl Part Deux?), but the Pizza Bowl  is on the way out.

Detroit Lions expected to start new bowl in 2014, likely B1G vs. ACC, at Ford Field sources told @espn. Would eliminate Little Caesars Bowl

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) May 21, 2013

Update: The Pizza Bowl folks don't seem like they will go quietly into that good bowl night just yet. They are looking at moving the game to Comerica Park.

Bielema, on Saban:

"... he can't compare."

That's not all, but it's the best part. You can read the rest here:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21...

Saw this on Chris from Smart Football's Twitter feed. Visual representation of the B1G conference in the form of Simpson's characters. Pretty spot on...

Here is the link:

http://i.imgur.com/N7Alr77.jpg

All of those empty seats we saw in a large number of  non-Big House games this year were no mirage.  College football attendance is at its lowest levels since 2003.  It also seems that our students are not alone with respect to their attendance "issues" of the last few years.

I also thought this piece was relevant in view of yesterday's PSD increases noted on an Mgoboard thread.

Five of the six BCS conferences reported attendance decreases, and per al.comreporter Jon Solomon, the only exception -- the Pac-12 -- was an exception only because Cal left its temporary limited-capacity stadium setup in 2011 for its newly renovated Memorial Stadium.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21...

Note - this was not OT because BIG football was discussed.

Now that the Big Ten is in full meltdown expansion mode, a lot of people are asking about The Game and its impact on the Big Ten championship game, now and in the future.  How often both teams appear, how The Game affects the division champions for better and for worse, and everything affliated with it.

The biggest complaint has been a schedule that has Michigan and Ohio State playing each other every year, with weaker teams having guaranteed rivalries against each other.  As it turns out, due to regularly dominant teams...Michigan and Ohio State typically come out on top anyway.

I looked at the Big Ten standings and results from 1969-2011.  1969 is the arrival of Bo Schembechler, the start of the modern M/O rivalry.  And in 2012, Ohio State is ineligible to win the division, the first time that's happened as the game was being played.

The standings are from the regular Big Ten schedule, without it being weighted for divisional matchups.  Division winners were the two teams that finished highest in the Big Ten standings, as divided up by the current divisions.  (If a 4th place team was the highest of a current division's teams, they were the appointed division champions.)  Ties were broken with head-to-head matchups, and if the teams did not play each other, I split the division title.

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First off, here's how the Big Ten championship games would have looked like, under the current divisions.

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With that in mind, let's first look at the potential for rematches.

Going by the eventual matchups, 20 seasons would have featured Michigan/Ohio State rematches for the Big Ten title, or about 47% of the time.  16 of those, or 38% of the time, were outright victories with no tiebreakers.

Those seasons are as follows:  1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2006, 2007

Michigan would have won the Legends division title in 28 seasons, with 27 of those outright.  Michigan won more division titles than any other team, pulling ahead of Ohio State for two reasons.  The first is that Nebraska, a division rival, does not factor into these seasons at all, winning zero titles in their one eligible year.  The second is that Minnesota, a longtime doormat, also won zero division titles over 43 seasons.  In comparison, every team in the Leaders division won a division title, with five of the six (all but Indiana) winning at least three titles.

Michigan's division titles are as follows:  1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

Ohio State won a division title in 26 seasons, with 23 of those outright.  The Buckeyes had a much stronger division to contend with, but much of their faults were somewhat of their own doing, from timely losses over the years.

Ohio State's division titles are as follows:  1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009

In only 9 seasons, the Big Ten championship game would not feature either Michigan or Ohio State, with 8 of those without any tiebreakers.  In only 19% of the time, a Big Ten championship game did not feature either Michigan or Ohio State.  Those seasons, with a matchup, are below.