Division Announcement Tonight Comment Count

Brian

Got your torch? Pitchfork? Great:

A person familiar with the discussions says the Big Ten plans to announce Wednesday night how it will break up into two divisions.

The person, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the conference hasn't released the information, says the process of putting six teams in each division was completed on Wednesday.

Random internet people at Frank The Tank's Slant, the unofficial home of expansion speculation are saying this is the breakdown:

THIS DIVISION

Michigan
Nebraska
Iowa
Michigan State
Minnesota
Northwestern

IS THE DUMBEST THING IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE DIVISION

Ohio State
Penn State
Wisconsin
Purdue
Indiana
Illinois

I'm not vouching for that at all, but I haven't seen anything suggesting people have come to their damn senses and put M and OSU in the same division.

Comments

ChalmersE

September 1st, 2010 at 1:41 PM ^

that they're going to keep Michigan-OSU as the last game.  If that's the case, I can live with this breakdown.   We get the Brown Jug game every year and have the potential to build a new rivalry with Nebraska.  FWIW, if God forbid, they do try to move The Game, my preference would be to have Nebraska as the last game. 

wigeon

September 1st, 2010 at 1:56 PM ^

I think Mich/Nebraska is going to be a killer rivalry. And keeping M/tOSU the last week, if true, is better than a lot of other scenarios we've seen floating around.



No school is going to be 100% happy, but this doesn't seem that bad. 

Dan Man

September 1st, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^

Well, if the reports are true that they are keeping Michigan/OSU as the final game, I'll take that as a satisfactory compromise.  Granted, there will be problems with having Michigan and OSU in separate divisions and as the final game of the season (such as when a rematch the following week is likely), but that is better than having it in the middle of the season, in my opinion.

Section 1

September 1st, 2010 at 1:49 PM ^

If -- and I do mean if -- this is the bargain; this division versus that game (The Game), then I don't mind too much.

Thing is -- won't it screw up scheduling, to have M and OSU doing a rivalry thing on the last week of the regular season?

I had been led to believe that the choice was (1) either M and OSU together in the same division, preserving The Game in November at the cost of ever meeting in the Cialis Big Ten Championship, or (2) going to separate divisions and playing the game (lower case "t" and "g") in October.

Did the rabble win?  Let's hear it, for torches and pitchforks!

FgoWolve

September 1st, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^

I'd much rather keep the game on the last Saturday than keep us in the same division. It sucks that we'll probably end up crossing over to the hardest opponent every year, but at least the game will still feel like THE GAME. (i.e. freezing cold, frozen nuts, grey skies)

Dan Man

September 1st, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^

Once we go to a nine game conference schedule, I think having a difficult crossover game will be diluted somewhat.  Each team in the Big 10 will play all but two teams in the conference.

I agree it's not ideal, but I think it will be ok once we go to the nine game schedule.

Dan Man

September 1st, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^

I disagree.  I think that usually at least one of the two teams will be contending for a spot in the Big 10 championship.  That will always present the opportunity for the other team to knock that team out of the championship.  The Game will nearly always have big ramifications, so long as it's the final game.

Dan Man

September 1st, 2010 at 1:56 PM ^

But it's a lot easier when it's the final game.  I believe it will be pretty rare for any team to make the conference championship when they loose their final game.  Can you think of the last time one of the SEC or Big 12 championship teams lost their final season game?  Not I.  Maybe it's happened, but know it hasn't happened much.

SAvoodoo

September 1st, 2010 at 2:08 PM ^

Interestingly enough I had a whole paragraph ready to post until I looked up how the SEC does it.  Apparently (and I admit I was completely wrong about this) the first criteria for who goes to the championship game is not division record, but rather overall conference record.  If the Big Ten adopts this system then Michigan Ohio State would matter much more every year, even without being in the same division.  Sorry about that, I didn't know that's how it worked, my fault.

jamiemac

September 1st, 2010 at 4:27 PM ^

So, once in the near 20-year history? Seems like an outlier to me

Although, I wonder if it has ever happened to Florida. Losing to the Noles the week before their SECCG, but I dont think that would be relevant to this discussion as FSU is non conference for the Gators.

plaidflannel

September 1st, 2010 at 3:03 PM ^

Your conference record is your conference record.  There is no added weight to a loss whether they are in your division or not.  A loss for Ohio State against Michigan is the same as a loss against someone in their own division.  So you could knock Ohio State out of title game with a victory against them (Example: Ohio State and Wisconsin are both 7-1 going into the final weekend [assuming 9 conference games]; we beat Ohio State, and Wisconsin beats Iowa... Wisconsin in, Ohio State out.)

You do have a valid argument if we're going into tiebreakers though.  In a tiebreaking situation, the division record will be a factor.

Edit: Yeah, I'm super slow.  Sorry.

chitownblue2

September 1st, 2010 at 2:06 PM ^

You are aware of the existence of something called the BCS, right?

And how they take at-large teams?

And how the B10 has frequently sent two teams?

And you understand how any loss late in the year can greatly hurt your BCS bid chances?

NAAAAAAHHHHHH - you're right. Meaningless.

His Dudeness

September 1st, 2010 at 2:14 PM ^

That wasn't a sarcastic question. That was a legit question I didn't know the answer to. You have a certain way about you that makes you come off as the single biggest piece of shit on this board. I realize it is difficult to read sarcasm through this medium, but every once in a great while someone does type an actual question and you still fail to internalize your inner fuckwad dying to rip out through your outter dickface. Congrats and well played, sir.

/tips hat

chitownblue2

September 1st, 2010 at 2:22 PM ^

Come on. You're not stupid. The answer to your question was in the post you responded to. I said that a BCS berth would be on the line, so it would not be meaningless. Then you asked if it would be meaningless. It seemed like a rhetorical question, not a genuine one.

I'm unclear what I've said to you in the past that makes you seemingly have a grudge against me. Whatever it was, I'm sorry.

His Dudeness

September 1st, 2010 at 2:46 PM ^

Nothing against you. You have never replied to my posts in this way, I assume because most of my posts are just simple dick jokes of some kind. Your comments just have a certain snarky, anger filled venom, IME.

On the topic, I didn't even think about the overall record. I was thinking in terms of conference championship. If we are both in the conference championship before the end regular season game it would be meaningless to deciding the conference champion. Unless of course they go by overall record, which some conferences do.

/no hard feelings , chap

//typed "hard feelings" to another man on the internet

///feels weird about it

joeyb

September 1st, 2010 at 2:27 PM ^

Think of it this way. If either team is undefeated, the other team gets two shots at ruining a perfect season. If we ruin their perfect season in the first game, the second one becomes a revenge game. If we lose in the first game and rematch against them, when we ruin their perfect season, we also steal the rose bowl bid which means they need to get picked up by another BCS game as an at-large.

Most of the time, though both teams won't have their divisions locked up, so someone is playing for a right to go to the BTCG in the first place, maybe even both.

ambamb

September 1st, 2010 at 2:59 PM ^

Most likely a cross over loss would be less significant in the standings. So if M beats OSU for their only loss, OSU would still make the BTCG (and vice versa). That team wins the BTCG, goes to the BCS title game with one loss (ala Oklahoma), and wins the national title. The Game is meaningless.

In the now "old days" you could not lose the last game of the year in the Big Ten amd make it to the naional title.

SAvoodoo

September 1st, 2010 at 3:08 PM ^

You're requriring both teams to go into the last week of the season unefeated, which has happened once in 20 years.  Over the last 20 years, if we use the SEC's criteria for championship selection, Michigan and Ohio state would have met there 6 times (91, 92, 98, 03, 06, 07).  I'll take 6 times over 20 years, but maybe that's just me.

grand river fi…

September 1st, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^

Looking at those divisions is very derpressing.  They stripped the game of any meaning, I think it could have continued as a defacto divisional championship game and I'd have felt fine.  Looking at those division makes me sick.

Ed Shuttlesworth

September 1st, 2010 at 1:51 PM ^

The only way The Last Game makes any sense at all is if we're in the same division as OSU.  This "compromise" is the worst of all worlds; typical committee product trying to accomplish too many things and fvcking everything up worse.

Now there will be years where The Last Game doesn't mean a thing.  Nice job.