Per Delany - B1G considering new conference title format, best 2 teams square off
The B1G is considering just sending the best 2 teams to the conference title game regardless of divisions. I think most would like this change and our favorite comedian/masturbator says it is getting more talk than ever before.
https://www.maizenbrew.com/football/2018/12/5/18127454/new-big-ten-championship-format-may-be-coming-michigan-ohio-state?fbclid=IwAR3jumO55jJzukl0Xbs_NWE_3RsVrLea7ILstGrJEOB8vrMW-jioGU_dNgI
December 5th, 2018 at 1:26 PM ^
Maybe we could get rid of the divisions and relegate some teams to other conferences, like in soccer? Thinking Rutgers and Maryland, perhaps.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:29 PM ^
Illinois would go before Maryland
December 5th, 2018 at 5:49 PM ^
Rival exemptions apply
December 5th, 2018 at 1:33 PM ^
I misread your idea at first, thinking you were saying the Rutgers and Maryland football teams would be relegated to soccer. I think that would work too.
December 5th, 2018 at 2:08 PM ^
I am 100% in support of a B1G-MAC relegation system.
December 5th, 2018 at 2:08 PM ^
Exactly. If you go to two best teams, you almost by definition have to get rid of the divisions otherwise they serve no purpose
December 5th, 2018 at 2:41 PM ^
Getting rid of the divisions would allow for better scheduling, so we could play all teams more regularly, and not go several years without playing.
December 5th, 2018 at 3:04 PM ^
We have 9 games out of the year for conference. Why not keep the divisions and make the first 6 weeks inter-division play. Form a B10 rank and create a B10 playoff.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:18 PM ^
Try transposing some white facepaint, a bulbous red nose, and some gelled pointy hair--both sides of his head--onto Delany's head with photoshop. He'd make a good clown.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:19 PM ^
You cannot do that if you don't have a round-robin schedule!
If the top three teams are a 9-0 Michigan, an 8-1 OSU, and an 8-1 Wisconsin and Wisconsin didn't play either of the other two, who will Michigan play?
The divisions set-up is the only fair method unless you go full round-robin, and that's impossible with a conference this size.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:28 PM ^
The division setup still has disparity due to unequal quality of cross-division opponents. This would be the same problem. You'd have the same type of tie-breakers.
In fact, I'd argue a full round-robin makes even less sense for this format as the championship game would be a guaranteed rematch.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:34 PM ^
I do think that division record should determine the division winner, then look at head-to-head, then full conference records.
December 6th, 2018 at 1:15 AM ^
In that case you would never get to step two because every team plays their whole division ergo the head to head would resolve all ties.
December 6th, 2018 at 8:41 AM ^
No, you could have a 3-way tie where each team lost to one and beat one of the others.
December 5th, 2018 at 4:42 PM ^
That's easy, the B1G would select Wisconsin to play Ohio State and screw Michigan in that scenario! /s (well sorta)
December 5th, 2018 at 1:19 PM ^
I wonder if that would force The Game to earlier in the season.
December 5th, 2018 at 2:58 PM ^
Who cares, man. People stuck in their ways so much.
December 5th, 2018 at 4:08 PM ^
I think that if you want the two best teams to play but absolutely do not want the possibility of Michigan-OSU in consecutive weeks, then I think you would definitely be forced to move it to, say, October to mitigate the prospect of cheapening The Game.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:19 PM ^
Do this and get rid of divisions.
The Rutger should be evenly distributed until it is killed.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
The biggest problem is that one side is so much weaker than the other. The big 12 can do it because they all play each other but a team from the west could play Rutgers and Indiana and make it to the championship game without playing anyone that good. So I don’t know if it still solves the problem
December 5th, 2018 at 2:11 PM ^
Yup, the West is horrible.....'18 Purdue and '17 Iowa would have zero chance to beat OSU.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
Beating OSU twice a year for the foreseeable future would help to restore order and truth and decency
December 5th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^
I love the idea of 2 best teams...but in this case they should just drop divisions because winning them is meaningless. Maybe even do a 10 game conference schedule and do round robin thru the years. Interesting talking point though
December 5th, 2018 at 1:25 PM ^
I honestly wish college football would just drop divisions and conference championship games all together
December 5th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^
This is a terrible idea put forth by people with routinely awful ideas. With Nebraska and Purdue on the rise this would go into effect just when the conference doesn't need it. Consistency please. Geography counts.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:24 PM ^
"With Purdue on the rise"
Hilarious.
December 5th, 2018 at 2:01 PM ^
With Nebraska and Purdue POTENTIALLY on the rise. Both teams were terribly inconsistent this year.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^
Meh... Who selects the "best" two teams? Sounds like another way for the B1G to screw some teams over.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:30 PM ^
That probably means the two teams with the best records.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:43 PM ^
Or the two highest ranked teams. Or some other random criteria. It will rapidly devolve into the four best teams. Then people will complain that it should be six or eight.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:22 PM ^
I mean, I guess. As long as you just abolish divisions. I wouldn't put it past Delany at all to leave them intact. He's really good at coming up with the "worst of both worlds" type of ideas.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:22 PM ^
This is a bad idea. Thus, it will probably happen.
December 5th, 2018 at 6:43 PM ^
You win the internets today.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:24 PM ^
The Big Ten office who gave us "Leaders and Legends" with a straight face is going to credibly figure out who the 2 best teams are?
What could possibly go wrong?
December 5th, 2018 at 2:52 PM ^
Hot Take: Leaders and Legends were better actual divisions than East and West, despite the silly names. Replace Michigan State with Ohio State in the Legends division to avoid rematches and you have the best conference you could possibly have:
Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota
Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Purdue, Indiana, Illinois.
Fuck Rutgers and Maryland.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:26 PM ^
My suggestion: expel Penn State, Rutgers, Nebraska, and Maryland from the conference. Then decide the champion as we did before those teams entered the Big Ten.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:28 PM ^
Yes! What a wonderful world it would be.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:31 PM ^
Just get rid of the conference championship game, add a 10th conference game and move the final week to the conference championship game week.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:31 PM ^
So who would get picked this year? Ohio State and us again? After a 62 point fiasco?
That does not sound like a good system.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:34 PM ^
Beating Northwestern does nothing to improve your playoff chances.
Beating 10-2 Michigan would have, despite the result of the first game.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:37 PM ^
If this three ring circus is all about improving playoff chances, then the Big Ten should just use its clout to push for an 8 team playoff. https://mgoblog.com/diaries/what-8-team-playoff-would-look-season
The current four team playoff, coupled with extreme SEC and ACC rankings bias, is still not going to be solved by a gerrymandered Big Ten Championship Game.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:32 PM ^
Super stupid idea.
No. No. Fucking NO!
December 5th, 2018 at 1:33 PM ^
How this would have looked past four years:
2015: Iowa vs. Michigan State (same)
2016: Penn State vs. Ohio State (Wisconsin out)
2017: Wisconsin vs. Ohio State (same)
2018: Ohio State vs. Michigan (Northwestern out)
December 5th, 2018 at 1:34 PM ^
I will take whatever helps us start kicking the balls off of Ohio State.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:35 PM ^
It'd be easier to just re-balance the divisions...
December 5th, 2018 at 1:39 PM ^
And then give them catchier names like "Leaders" and "Legends".
December 5th, 2018 at 1:37 PM ^
I wonder if this is a precursor to auto-bids for conference champs to an expanded playoff? The format in M-Dog's diary would have been killer this year, unless OSU got Purdued again and Clemson went back to "Clemsoning". At least if you go with the "best 2" method like Big 12 does you won't end up with any clunkers representing the conference.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:39 PM ^
Keep divisions just try and make them equal ... I think by now we all know the top 5-6 teams in the BIG are OSU, Mich, Penn St, MSU ,Wisconsin and Iowa .. OSU and Michigan should be in different divisions and that game should be played earlier in the year I’m sure neither team would want to play each other in back to back weeks ...
December 5th, 2018 at 2:56 PM ^
I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't give a crap about moving the game. Something something tradition. Who cares?