Big Ten East VS Big Ten West 2022 Results to date
Most can agree that the divisions have been a lopsided mess over the last several years. Putting the 3 best programs of the last 30 years (UM, OSU, PSU) and a team that was at its programs peak (MSU) in the same division seemed like a bad idea.
Here are some numbers this season in East vs West head to head:
UM/OSU/Penn State
6-0
230-100 (points for - points against)
Key game - Indiana (dead last in the east ) 23 - 20 Illinois (west division leader)
East winning overall 9-5 with Rutgers leading the way with 2 losses. MSU, Maryland, and Indiana have split their games. Michigan still has Nebraska and Illinois and OSU still has Northwestern. Penn State destroyed one of the better teams in Minnesota just last week as well.
EAST total points - 398
West total points - 313
Unfortunately this is with Indiana, MSU, and Rutgers included. I still think Illinois is a solid team that would probably got 11-1 in the ACC.
October 25th, 2022 at 6:56 PM ^
Nebraska is also leading the way in the West with a 2-0 record vs the East because of course its Nebraska*.
October 25th, 2022 at 7:32 PM ^
So, if my math is correct, the dregs of the East (MSU, MD, IU and Rutger) are:
- 4-5 against the West
- getting outscored 168-213
Big 2.5, Little 11.5?
October 25th, 2022 at 7:39 PM ^
This is less lopsided than I figured. The big 3 are carrying the division. The rest have a losing record against the West.
IU beating Illinois is funny though.
October 25th, 2022 at 8:06 PM ^
I agree, this is not nearly as bad as I thought. This is a unique year with Wisconsin and Iowa both taking a big backslide. It probably is not nearly as bad as it seems historically and really what we are seeing might just be a function of OSU having to be in one of the divisions.
October 25th, 2022 at 10:43 PM ^
I think you meant, "Wisconsin and Iowa both taking a big backside."
October 25th, 2022 at 10:44 PM ^
Overall the west has a winning record against the east if you take out osu basically winning all their games against both divisions. It’s not really as lopsided as people make it out to be. The wests problem is they never have the best or even close to elite team. The ceilings of Michigan/psu and osu are much higher than anyone in the west, but it’s not like Michigan and psu are constantly hitting that ceiling.
October 25th, 2022 at 11:35 PM ^
The obvious problem is OSU PSU and UM in a division where the 4th best MSU is as good as anything in the west. The rest really doesnt matter.
October 25th, 2022 at 9:31 PM ^
I’m sure I’ve missed conversations about realignment when the California schools come in, but would it make sense to do a North/South?
NORTH:
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Michigan
MSU
Iowa
Penn St
Nebraska
Northwestern
SOUTH:
OSU
UCLA
USC
Rutgers
Indiana
Purdue
Illinois
Maryland
October 25th, 2022 at 9:38 PM ^
If we're going to have divisions, Michigan and OSU need to be together, unless you want to devalue the rivalry. Swap OSU and PSU.
October 25th, 2022 at 10:56 PM ^
Right, except one problem. Then you have Michigan and OSU almost never playing USC and UCLA. Those are huge TV games, does the big ten want to give those up? Yes, things right now are lopsided but you get the best TV games every year. Ultimately, the conference is about money not about making even divisions.
October 25th, 2022 at 11:54 PM ^
My dream is to get to 20 teams, have 4 divisions, and each team plays the teams within their division each year and rotate between the other 3 divisions. This guarantees 9 B1G games per team/season and that each team plays each other at least once every three years. B1G championship game representatives are determined by record between the divisions that faced each other.
October 26th, 2022 at 10:09 AM ^
We already tried OSU and Michigan in opposite divisions and it sucked. The Game became just a game without much meaning. Don't ruin the greatest rivalry in sports to play USC and UCLA more.
October 25th, 2022 at 11:10 PM ^
It'll never happen but I would be all for an A division and a B division with relegation
Only the A division can compete for the conference championship. Relegation games same day and as appetizer for the B1G championship game.
October 26th, 2022 at 2:28 AM ^
I love that idea. :)
October 26th, 2022 at 3:21 AM ^
Michigan relegated after 2020 and Big Ten winners in 2021. Im guessing they would be ineligible which would just be perfect BPONE.
October 26th, 2022 at 6:38 AM ^
Championship game record: 9-0 for the West. And that's all that needs to be said...
Although Wisconsin did win the first two games as a member of the 'Leaders' division, the first over MSU and the second over Nebraska (!!). I don't know what that means, if anything.
October 26th, 2022 at 9:37 AM ^
Wisconsin also finished 3rd in their division in 2012 behind both PSU and OSU after finishing 4-4 in big ten play. But both of those teams were ineligible for postseason play so even counting that Nebraska game as a win for the current west is a pretty big asterisk.
OSU had already murdered Nebraska 63-38 that year so if they were able to play then I don't have any doubt the outcome would have been the same. Nebraska did beat PSU 32-23 at home that year so I guess that game would have been more of a toss up if PSU had gone while OSU was ineligible.
October 26th, 2022 at 12:07 PM ^
Championship game record: 9-0 for the West.
You may want to double-check that one...
October 26th, 2022 at 8:39 AM ^
I was surprised Maryland lost to purdue but then again I thought purdue was solid. Then they purdon't'ed it and got hammered by wisconsin after they got beat by msu... The big ten west is a mishmash of teams that have weird dynamics and no stand out that forces the rest of the division to have an identity of football to beat them. Wisconsin did, Iowa is iowa and Purdue can't get a lines together on either side of the ball to compete the way they should with athletes they are getting...
IMO though, when Usc/Ucla come, they need to keep the divisions and move Purdue or NW over to the east.
Usc/Ucla are immediately going to be the top teams in the west and that would force better recruiting by some of the west.
East Michigan, Osu, Psu, maryland, msu, indiana,rutgers and nw
West Usc, Ucla, Nebraska, wisconsin, iowa, illinois minnesota, purdue
swap purdue or nw either way. Imo I do think it's better for the conference to keep purdue in the west. But that's jmo.
I also think the Big10 needs to follow the SEC scheduling model but with 9 conference games, 7 division games, 1 locked in rival, 1 rotating home/home game.
There is no need to force usc/michigan, usc/osu, usc/psu matchups to knock top teams out of cfb contention by adding losses. Heck, I'd be fine if the big10 went to 8 conference games and rotated cross divsion home and home series. I'm sick of the sec protecting schedules while the big ten schedules it's teams out of the cfp...
October 26th, 2022 at 10:06 AM ^
This was my exact thinking for the new divisions.
October 26th, 2022 at 8:42 AM ^
That's how we manage to be "Champions of the West" while we're in the East.
didn't you know that?
October 26th, 2022 at 10:03 AM ^
How is this a mess? Because of this, every game in the East means something and any team in the West has a chance of winning their division. Makes for entertaining regular season for different reasons that means something. It was a mess when they had Michigan and OSU in different divisions and The Game was reduced to just a game.
October 26th, 2022 at 2:26 PM ^
The rights to destroy Iowa or Wisconsin havent done much to impact the game. It is its own thing and was diminished when we went to divisions and beyond 10 teams. Winning the east division is kinda meh.
Its perfect for the SEC im sure they love having the top 3-4 teams in the same division. Put Clemson and Georgia in the SEC west and see how that works for them.
Rutgers-OSU means something?
Northwestern still has a chance to go to the Big Ten championship. That is not a good thing. Bottom line is you cant have the 3 best programs in one division.
October 26th, 2022 at 10:09 AM ^
So if you assume historical success is at least somewhat indicative of future success, the Big Ten screwed up the division from the get go.
If you look at the best programs in order historically:
OSU - Blue blood with the resources to always be good
Michigan - Blue blood with the resources to always be good so long as they don't make a terrible coaching hire
Small gap
Nebraska - Blue blood that was teetering on the edge and then made bad hire after bad hire
PSU - Usually the first "near blue blood" mentioned with the resources to always be pretty good
Big Gap
MSU - Most of this was predicated on the 50s and 60s but still
Wisconsin - Most of this was predicated on Alvarez and his immediate successors
Iowa - Always been pretty Iowa
Small Gap
Minnesota - Dependent on 50 years ago
Who cares
So essentially the Big Ten took the #1, #2, #4, and #5 programs historically and put them in the same division. That imbalance was compounded by Nebraska throwing themselves off a cliff and MSU having it's best decade in 40 years. But even if Nebraska rebounded and MSU kind of regressed back to pre-Dantonio success, that still leaves Michigan, OSU, and PSU beating the crap out of each other while the West has, at best, some above average programs beating up on NW and Purdue.
October 26th, 2022 at 12:10 PM ^
There really isn't a gap between Michigan and PSU. The East has unquestionably the three best programs.
October 26th, 2022 at 12:35 PM ^
Currently, yes. But historically PSU is behind Nebraska.
Regardless, if you're looking to set up relatively comparable divisions with equal levels of competition and resources, you wouldn't do what the Big Ten did. They made the East super top heavy with 2 bottom feeders in Indiana and Rutgers and gave the West a bunch of mediocre programs with 1 or 2 potential lead teams who in their best years still can't beat the East's top team.
October 26th, 2022 at 2:28 PM ^
Well said!