Divisions Leaking Like Whoah Comment Count

Brian

Web

Consume in store! 

So: everyone and their twitter feed has been pumping out confirmations/assertions that

  1. the initial reports of the divisions are accurate,
  2. Michigan and Ohio State will be left at the end of the season,
  3. the other protected rivalries are PSU-Nebraska, Iowa-Purdue, Wisconsin-Minnesota, Michigan State-Indiana, and NW-Illinois, and
  4. rumors that cross-division games are just tiebreakers are flatlining.

The only person dropping BREAKING RUMORS to the contrary is Dennis Dodd, who looks like Gollum and can safely be ignored.

Obviously those protected rivals are thoroughly stupid, and Michigan's going to have a tough hill to climb most years, but at least the other historical heavyweights have guaranteed matchups. Iowa and Wisconsin should have been paired with each other to make things even. I guess the MSU-Indiana game is slanted towards MSU but is that ever going to be relevant?

If all this stuff is true, and it's coming from so many different directions now that it almost has to be, Michigan and Ohio State fans can declare Mission Accomplished. At least 80% of the mission. #4 above is more an absence of crazy information than a presence of sane. I would like to see the first tiebreaker in divisions be overall conference record of opponents, even superseding head-to-head, but I don't think that's likely.

Comments

Gene

September 1st, 2010 at 6:38 PM ^

I think those protected games make a lot more sense if you think about them as balancing the schedule for teams of equivalent (historical) strength - i.e. if Michigan and Ohio State had to play each other out of division each year and Penn State and Nebraska didn't, the latter two would almost always have an easier conference schedule (again, historical speaking <sigh> ) And of course there's probably the real reason behind the above reason - more top-vs-top games means more TV $$$. But in this case since it means we get better games, I think it's win-win. Rivalries have nothing to do with it, though if PSU and N play each other every year, particularly with divisional title implications, then 10 years down the line it'll probably turn into a decent rivalry.

dahblue

September 1st, 2010 at 6:12 PM ^

"Dantonio is the greatest coach ever!"  I can just hear Mike Valenti singing from the rooftops as MSU toughs out another big year against Montana State, Central Louisiana Tech Community College and Indiana.  The new divisions (and MSU's super weak OOC scheduling) pretty much guarantee them 6 wins (3 OOC scrubs, Indiana, Minnesota, NW) each season.  That's only one win away from a great year for Sparty.  

dahblue

September 1st, 2010 at 6:34 PM ^

You mean like not playing OSU last year or this year?  Or playing only one decent OOC team (yes, ND, that we also play)?  If they played OSU last year, they would've been 5-7.

C'mon now.  Even this year, they get 5 wins just for showing up.  They better schedule a decent OOC in future years, or else they might win 8/9 and not crack the top 25.

madtadder

September 1st, 2010 at 6:42 PM ^

 

Since the only teams with a guaranteed game against OSU are us and Penn State, every other team in the league gets a chance to miss OSU. Its not their fault, just the way of mathematics. And they have arguably the toughest two protected games in the league in us and PSU. And you shouldn't make fun of MSU for playing Notre Dame, 1-AA teams and directional Michigan schools since we do the exact same thing.

cutter

September 1st, 2010 at 6:13 PM ^

Here's the way Andy Katz reported the divisions earlier today:



Division A - Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern



Division B - Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin



Projected Inter-Divisional Games:



Michigan-Ohio State

Nebraska-Penn State

Iowa-Purdue

Wisconsin-Minnesota

Illinois-Northwestern

Indiana-Michigan State



The current 2011 schedule as follows:



Sept. 3 WESTERN MICHIGAN

Sept. 10 NOTRE DAME

Sept. 17 EASTERN MICHIGAN

Sept. 24 SAN DIEGO STATE

Oct. 1 Bye Week

Oct. 8 at Wisconsin (B)

Oct. 15 INDIANA (B)

Oct. 22 at Michigan State (A)

Oct. 29 at Iowa (A)

Nov. 5 MINNESOTA (A)

Nov. 12 ILLINOIS (B)

Nov. 19 at Northwestern (A)

Nov. 26 OHIO STATE (B-Protected Rivalry)



With the divisions listed above, Nebraska has to to added to the schedule and one the B Division teams have to be dropped. With the Ohio State game being played in Ann Arbor, the UN-L game would be in Lincoln. The game with Iowa would go from a road to a home game and Michigan State would stay as a road game.



Sept. 3 WESTERN MICHIGAN

Sept. 10 NOTRE DAME

Sept. 17 EASTERN MICHIGAN

Sept. 24 SAN DIEGO STATE

Oct. 1 Bye Week

Oct. 8 at Nebraska (A)

Oct. 15 INDIANA (B)

Oct. 22 IOWA (A)

Oct. 29 at Michigan State (A)

Nov. 5 MINNESOTA (A)

Nov. 12 at Purdue (B)

Nov. 19 at Northwestern (A)

Nov. 26 OHIO STATE (B-Protected Rivalry)



Michgan does not play Penn State, Illinois or Wisconsin in the schedule above. The conference schedule includes two home games within the division and the other two from the other division.



If Ohio State isn't the last game of the season (although we're hearing it will be) and the conference decides it has to play the last two games within the division, then we may be looking at someting like this:



Sept. 3 WESTERN MICHIGAN

Sept. 10 NOTRE DAME

Sept. 17 EASTERN MICHIGAN

Sept. 24 SAN DIEGO STATE

Oct. 1 Bye Week

Oct. 8 at Northwestern (A)

Oct. 15 IOWA (A)

Oct. 22 INDIANA (B)

Oct. 29 at Michigan State (A)

Nov. 5 OHIO STATE (B-Protected)

Nov. 12 at Purdue (B)

Nov. 19 MINNESOTA (A)

Nov. 26 at Nebraska (A)



With a ninth-game and a 5-5-2 alignment, Michigan would need a second protected game besides Ohio State. I would guess Purdue, so that means Illinois/Indiana and Penn State/Wisconsin would rotate on and off the schedule.


 

markusr2007

September 1st, 2010 at 6:23 PM ^

I don't understand the rivalries mentioned: MSU vs. Indiana and Purdue vs. Iowa.

I wonder whether what was really meant was instead: MSU vs. Michigan and Purdue vs. Indiana

I like the re-instatement of a rivalry between PSU and Nebraska, because they did have an excellent series of non-conf. games between 1979 and 1984.

The great thing about Nebraska in the Big 10 will be the new rivalries that will form vs. Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin.  I-80 is one long ass highway to Lincoln.

zlionsfan

September 1st, 2010 at 6:31 PM ^

and with UM-MSU in one division and Purdue-IU in the other, there's no need to protect those.

As mentioned above, it's probably for balance more than anything else. Everyone has to be paired with someone, even if there aren't existing rivalries to match.

smwilliams

September 1st, 2010 at 6:24 PM ^

It seems like the whole concept of "protected rivalry games" was to ensure Michigan and Ohio State were in separate divisions but played every year. Wisconsin-Minnesota is really the only other true rivalry game being protected.

Still, The Game is still the last game which was hugely important and regardless of the naysayers will most likely have implications every year. 

80% seems a bit high, but I'd say 70% at least.

Ed Shuttlesworth

September 1st, 2010 at 6:57 PM ^

Mat hits it on the head.  With the B10CG, UM/OSU is forever and unavoidably altered.  If people had simply made their peace with that, this process would have ended up with a schedule like cutter's third one, which is basically perfect.  Sacrilege though it may be, ending the season with Nebraska, the best division rival, with OSU the last week of October/first week of November, is the way this should have turned out.

A non-division game ending the season is ridiculous.

Section 1

September 1st, 2010 at 7:26 PM ^

lose.

You might have just stopped at "sacrilege."  This isn't baseball, and this isn't the NFL.  We're not watching regular season results to see who gets lottery picks in the upcoming draft.  We're not aiming for The Playoffs.

We, the fans and the voices of tradition, spoke.  It might all have worked out easier, if Michigan and Ohio State were in the same division.  But the rest of the Conference balked at that, based on tradition.  One "tradition" interest was the rest of the Conference; the inevitable "others" didn't want to be without both a Michigan and an Ohio State.  And the other "tradition" was the Michigan-Ohio State contingent that said they'd rather keep The Game right where it is, thank you very little, no matter what else happened.  Tradition, and more tradition, won the day.

SC Wolverine

September 1st, 2010 at 7:48 PM ^

The point is that Michigan-Ohio State does not keep its intensity just by being a rivalry.  It also has to have major stakes on the line, so that the loser's whole season can be spoiled.  For this to be retained it was absolutely necessary for the game to end the regular season.  If we conclude our season with Nebraska, a division opponent, then Nebraska becomes our true rival.  I have too much invested in hatred for Ohio State to be happy about that (although I am willing to work on hating Nebraska anyway).

Seth

September 1st, 2010 at 7:03 PM ^

According to BTN announcement, we are temporarily the "O" division.

Rhymes with Bo.

Please please don't name them for cardinal directions.

sterling1213

September 1st, 2010 at 10:37 PM ^

I hate this different divisions crap.  Why in the world would you split up the two teams that defined this conference.  And oh by the way they defined the conference by playing each other in the greatest rivalry.   Now we have a watered down game at the end of the year.  You can argue that it isn't watered down a lot but I would argue that by devaluing it at all is unacceptable.  If we were in the same division the championship would still go through the other team.  The finality of The Game adds to the rivalry.  The possibility of meeting the next week, even if rarely, takes that finality out of it.   those who are ok with this set up are ok with diminishing that aspect for what?  In their words the "unlikely" event of a rematch.  So let me get this straight.  You think it is better to diminish The Game on the off chance that we may have an osu vs. M title game?  Those kind of compromises are the ones that could really do some damage to what the rivalry is.