Divisions debate down to Indiana, Purdue

Submitted by Cold War on

The Big Ten's future division alignment is taking shape. Barring a late shift in the discussions between athletic directors and league officials, the only question to sort out is: Will Indiana or Purdue move West?

League sources have told ESPN.com that the Big Ten, as expected, will go with a geographic split for its divisions in 2014. As we first reported last month, time zones are expected to divide the divisions. The only problem: eight Big Ten schools are located in the Eastern time zone, including future members Maryland and Rutgers, while just six are located in the Central time zone.

"East" division

Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Rutgers
Purdue or Indiana

"West" division

Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Purdue or Indiana

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/77632/divisions-debate-down-to-indiana-purdue
 

bronxblue

March 19th, 2013 at 1:49 PM ^

Feels like IU.  Otherwise, the worst team in the East is probably Rutgers or Maryland, two teams that would be in the top half of the other division.  Sucks for IU, but Purdue along with everyone else would be insane.

Needs

March 19th, 2013 at 2:04 PM ^

I actually think IU is going to be better than Purdue if they can hold on to Wilson. Right now, they're the only Big 10 team running a variation of the Air Raid. It's a fun system to play and it's shown it can turn middlling recruits into big stat quarterbacks. They played OSU and MSU very close last year. Now, it's doubtful they ever recruit enough D to contend (and this may cost them Wilson if he can get them to mediocre) but their offense is going to be good enough to be a pain to play against.

 As for Purdue, people say Hazel is a good coach but the last Tressel -> MAC -> Big 10 offensive coach (Beckman) has been a total flop. I'm in wait and see mode about him.

buddhafrog

March 19th, 2013 at 2:51 PM ^

I'd like to comment that I am very glad Northwestern is not in our division.  They are the team I most like to cheer for besides Michigan, and now that they aren't in our division, it is easier to do.  Also, I really believe they are on an upswing and will more often than not be in the divisional championship discussion with who is currently in that division.  I see Wiscy moving back down, Nebraska being the top team, and a bunch of very average teams that will produce a good team on occassion.

Mr. Blue

March 19th, 2013 at 3:10 PM ^

My divisions have always been, especially once we added two more ugly-ass red teams with Rutgers and Maryland:

 

Ugly-ass Red Division      Better-looking Division 

Nebraska                                       Michigan

Ohio State                                     Penn State

Wisconsin                                     Iowa

Indiana                                          Northwestern

Maryland                                       Purdue

Rutgers                                         Illinois

Minnestota                                    Sparty

 

Yes, scarlet, crimson, cardinal, and even maroon are all just types of red (Minnesota is a little bit of a stretch, but close enough). 

Too many of the prominent football teams around the nation are red teams, and I'm just sick of it.

Basketball, on the other hand, is often dominated by blue teams more than red ones (UK, KU, Duke, UNC, UCLA, UCONN, etc)

ChicagoB1GRed

March 19th, 2013 at 3:41 PM ^

first one being how ironic that after only 2 years in the league, we'd end up in the most "old school" division of the B1G, with 6 of the conference's 7 oldest members, while the East will have 5 of the 6 newest members (if you consider OSU's 1912 entry as "new"). 

Second, I'll personally miss having Michigan as our main competitive rival within the division. Wisconsin has done quite well lately--better than NU or UM the last 10 years--but it's a lot more fun competing against a program that measures its success over a century. I think most Nebraska fans feel the same. But we're really not attached to any particular B1G team and good for Michigan getting The Game back the way you want it.

Third, give me another red team to play against, this will be our first year we get to play Indiana, would hate to see that taken away after only 1 game. This year's schedule with them and Illinois will definitely help our chances of repeating in the Legends.

As far as overall divisional strength, I side with those that say go with geography and let the power balance ebb and flow over time.

Look forward to competing with you guys this year and I always enjoy the posting and content on mgoblog, there's always something worth reading including lots of non-sports topics.

San Diego Mick

March 19th, 2013 at 4:51 PM ^

I'm glad we get to be in same division as ohio, but Nebraska is the only traditional power in the west while we have us, ohio and PSU and you never know what sparty can do, they're not as shitty a program as they used to be.

I would have preferred PSU in a division with Neb somehow, I think this mostly sucks unless the 2 new schools that could potentially join the B1G are good football programs and they get put in the west. We shall see.

pbmd

March 19th, 2013 at 4:54 PM ^

the concept of a confernce is to limit the number of teams you compete against .

twenty teams not really a conference. just ignore the other division during the regular  season and then play a playoff game and see what's up with bowls/national championship games.

could just go back to big ten/pac ten and play the rose bowl.

Boom Goes the …

March 19th, 2013 at 5:50 PM ^

to get back to playing Penn State every year and I will also enjoy being able to root against Ohio every game