Big Ten "Championship": Ohio Duckeyes vs Wisconsin Head Hunters (3rd time in 6 Years Since B10 Divisional Alignment)
Have written about this topic a bit this season and some of my fellow blue faithful are coming around to my way of thinking / prescription. I do not think there is some "grand conspiracy" to keep OSU in the championship game... but the scheduling since divisional alignment (the cross overs, lack of OSU having to go to Camp Randall or Iowa as often as us, the way they never open on the road -- see PSU opening on the road at Wiscy in 2021, etc) has been atrocious and I don't buy that it can't be fixed to encourage more parity.
This will be the 3rd time in 6 years (and 2nd of the last 3) where dirty, head-hunting Wisconsin (see injuries caused to U-M QBs in 2017, 2019) is playing against a Ohio State semi-pro, no school team. This is entirely a result of weak divisional alignment and awful scheduling.
Member institutions of the Big Ten need to come together and demand fair scheduling or divisional re-alignment or scrapping the divisions altogether at this point. This punk Delany and his minions treat this like a semi-pro league... well then... encourage real parity just like the NFL does it. Switch up scheduling every year or every two years. Scrap this rolling four or five year junk. And get rid of stupid protected crossovers.
The league is looking at a decade of basically Ohio vs Wisconsin in their faux championship game. The two best teams aren't meeting in Indy year after year and the fan interest and ratings are waning and will continue to wane. Is this what they want? They'll sure as heck get more of it at this rate. I'm boycotting this garbage next week. Won't watch a snap, and encourage others to do the same. In the meantime, we have to figure out how to get attention to this scheduling and divisional alignment issue and bring in our fellow fans from basically every institution outside of Ohio and Wisconsin, the only ones that benefit from this garbage status quo.
Oh, and boot Rutgers and Maryland out of the Big Ten already. They can easily be replaced, if the league is determined to be 14.
November 30th, 2019 at 7:24 PM ^
OSU by 17+.
November 30th, 2019 at 7:32 PM ^
For sure. OSU will crush them. Just like they crushed us. Another boat race in this punk "conference" championship. A pathetic joke. At least with parity and scrapping divisions you might get PSU and OSU again or Michigan vs OSU on a neutral field or any number of things. Not saying the lying scumbag cheats and semi-pros won't win again but at least there will be more interest in the championship.
And people need to stop with the stupid "bu-bu-but 'the game' is always last on the calendar... you don't want to play that twice in two weeks"... nobody cares about that. Honestly nobody should give a crap about that. Heck I'd love to have another crack at them a week later. Maybe in that span, we'd learn not to jump off sides on 4th and 5. Unlikely but who knows. And it would be indoors too.
November 30th, 2019 at 10:03 PM ^
OSU on a fast track would beat us by 40.
November 30th, 2019 at 7:25 PM ^
Shut up and beat OSU and win games your supposed to and this isn’t an issue.
November 30th, 2019 at 7:31 PM ^
This post doesn't exactly fit the facts:
In the last 6 years, OSU's B1G opener has been on the road 5 times. Including at Penn State last year. The thing is, OSU just goes out and wins all those games.
And the 3 times OSU/Wisconsin has been the B1G title game:
2014 and 2017. Wisconsin won their division by a full 2.5 games (counting their tiebreakers over the 2nd-place teams,in the West, who they beat each year). They would have been going to Indy regardless of whether a game vs OSU was on their schedule.
For that matter, OSU would have gone to the 2014/2017 Championship games even with another loss on their schedule (to Wisconsin). They had the tie-breakers over the 2nd place teams in those years too, they won the division by 1.5 games.
2019. Wisconsin did play OSU - and still won the division.
As for scrapping the divisions - that is a no-go right now. If you play a Championship Game, you either (1) need divisions, or (2) need a full round-robin. Those are the NCAA rules, like them or not.
November 30th, 2019 at 7:37 PM ^
OSU opened at PSU in week 5... Sept. 29th. Had 4 easy jokes / tune ups before that.
PSU is opening up AT WISCY in 2021. Honestly think the Big Ten would EVER schedule OSU to open up at Camp Randall to kick off a season?
And the facts are also that the divisional alignment is weak, the cross overs favor OSU (yeah yeah yeah I got that they "assigned" Nebraska pre-Nebraska meltdown but...) and they need to scrap the divisions and ensure parity by revamping scheduling every year or two years based on results prior. That would be more equitable and result in actual champions. Not pathetic matchups like OSU vs Wisconsin for the 3rd time in 6 seasons. A joke. And you of all fans should be just as upset.
And PSU's lone appearance was a straight-up farce and is unlikely to be repeated any time soon without divisional realignment and better scheduling.
November 30th, 2019 at 7:43 PM ^
And in 2021 --- Ohio State's game number 1 at Minnesota. I know that's not Wisconsin, but Minnesota will probably be a legit West team as long as PJ Fleck is there.
Here's the real reason as regards Ohio State and them getting to Indianapolis:
In 2014, 2017, 2018, and 2019. OSU went 6-0 against B1G East foes. They won the East all 4 years.
In 2015, 2016. OSU went 5-1 against B1G East foes. OSU didn't win the East that year, someone else did.
If you want to go to Indianapolis, the clearest path is generally to go 6-0 vs your division. Then all you have to do is go 2-1 vs the other division, and you're still good. Lose a divisional game though, and the door can open for someone else.
That's a tough road to hoe for U-M, PSU, MSU and the other East teams. But it is our road. Short of the NCAA rules being changed, we simply have to deal with it.
November 30th, 2019 at 7:51 PM ^
Join with us to demand scrapping the Big Ten divisions! It is truly the only way to have an actual championship game! Stop making excuses. We need a full effort across this crap conference.
November 30th, 2019 at 8:43 PM ^
Eh - does U-M or PSU really want to play OSU twice in a season?
Even without divisions, OSU/PSU and OSU/U-M are games that aren't going anywhere on the schedule. They will be played.
As it is now - if either of us can beat them, we're well-positioned to play in a B1G Championship game that doesn't include Ohio State.
The trick is - we gotta beat em. They're 34-2 against East teams in the 2014-2019 era, unfortunately.
November 30th, 2019 at 7:45 PM ^
It would be nice if UW finally beats OSU in this game. I'm looking forward to it. In many ways it would be nice to play and beat OSU twice in the same season...
November 30th, 2019 at 8:46 PM ^
Last year we would’ve just had to play OsU again. Isn’t it enough to only have to lose to them once a year?
November 30th, 2019 at 9:13 PM ^
I don’t understand the point of this thread. Why does anyone here watch the B1G championship game if Michigan isn’t playing? Do you watch the bowl games that Ohio State plays in, too?
Don’t like the same teams playing for the championship every year? Try out-recruiting, out-coaching, and out-playing more teams on your schedule every year. If that’s too much to expect, take your “9-10 wins in a good year” mentality to the Gator Bowl and be happy that we’re not losing to Rutgers, Maryland, and Minnesota anymore, ‘cause that’s the ceiling of this program now.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:28 AM ^
All I know to tell you is get used to it.