Big Ten "likely" to change its divisions at some point soon?

Roommate Switch! https://theroommateswitch.wordpress.com/

Pool A: Mich, MSU, OSU

Pool B: PSU, MD, Rut

Pool C: Neb, Wisc, Minn & Iowa

Pool D: Ill, NW, IU, PU.

Iowa came within one play of knocking off MSU in the Big Ten Championship Game.  Why all the fuss about "competitive balance"?

I think Drew Sharp floated this turd last Fall as well. 

I think a division change with Michigan State and Purdue swapping and having an annual cross division game with MSU would be fine--but with a couple of caveats.

From 2016 to 2019, the Big Ten is pairing up teams on the schedule in the two divisions to playone one another each year based on their relative strengths.  For Michigan, that team will be Wisconsin.

So let's say that MSU/Purdue swap out for the 2020 season.  Okay, then let's waive the "pairing" between East and West teams for Michigan (and Michigan State) and build the schedule from there.  You could have a rotation that had MSU every year with two other teams from the West, i.e., Nebraska/Illinois, Wisconsin/Minnesota and Iowa/Northwestern. 

For those of you who have been outraged that Michigan State hosted two home games in a row in East Lansing, a second caveat could be that MSU would have to play in Ann Arbor in back-to-back seasons as part of the "scheduling adustment".

Michigan already plays Ohio State and Michigan State anyway, so there's little change there.  Also, if you think about it,U-M is swapping Purdue for MSU when it comes to winning the Big Ten East.  Heck, depending on how long it takes Penn State to get back to its traditional form, the B1G East could proably be called the Big Two (U-M, OSU), Medium One (PSU), Little Four Division (Purdue, Indiana, Rutgers, Maryland).

If I were designing this, then Ohio State-Indiana-Rutgers would be on one schedule rotation and Michgian State-Penn State-Purdue-Maryland would be in the other.  Since U-M hosts MSU in 2019, they should do it again in 2020.  Here's what the conference schedules would look like in 2020 to 2022 (current non-conference games on schedule in brackens):

2020 Home (7):  Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue, Maryland, Illinois, (Ball State, Virginia Tech) 

2020 Road (5):  @ Ohio State, @ Indiana, @ Rutgers, @ Nebraska, @ Washington

2021 Home (6):  Ohio State, Indiana, Rutgers, Wisconsin, (Washington, TBD)

2021 Road (6):  @ Michigan State, @ Penn State, @ Purdue, @ Maryland, @Minnesota (@ Virginia Tech)

2022 Home (7 or 8):  Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue, Maryland, Northwestern, (UCLA, TBD X 2?)

2022 Road (4 or 5):  @ Ohio State, @ Indiana, @ Rutgers, @ Iowa, (@ TBD?)

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but honestly, I don't have a big problem with how the divisions are currently situated, especially considering the move to nine game conference seasons. Yeah, it sucks that the Big Ten East teams have a tougher route, but I think from a long-term perspective, it's better to have a bunch of relevant regular season games than a big time title game matchup. After all, the SEC's title games are usually garbage and their conference is doing just fine.

If State goes to the weaker division, there shouldn't be a protected rivalry matchup vs. MSU. They'll likely have a cakewalk through the West, and I don't like repeat matchups in championship games. I guess these changes would make the B1G Championship Game a tad more exciting if MSU wins the West often, though, but I'd rather have Nebraska on the schedule instead of Purdue.

And funny how all of these conference changes never seem to benefit Michigan. 

Put them both in the West, and move Illinois or Northwestern to the East.

I like the swap.

It would make us care even less about the MSU game.

Rank B1G teams by overall win%

Top 10s
Michigan - 2
Ohio State - 3
Nebraska - 8
Penn State - 9

Top 50s
Michigan State - 20
Wisconsin - 31
Minnesota - 42

Top 100s* (inlcuded the 101, and 102 since it wasn't a huge drop off)
Iowa - 60
Maryland - 62
Purdue - 64
Illinois - 70
Rutgers - 73
Northwestern - 101
Indiana - 102

There was much better 'historic' balance between the old divisions, and you could have simply added Maryland and Rutgers to one division and called it a guaranteed crossover game.

B1G East
3 Top 10
1 Top 50
3 Top 100

B1G West
1 Top 10
2 Top 50
4 Top 100

B1G Legends
2 Top 10
2 Top 50
2 Top 100

B1G Leaders
2 Top 10
1 Top 50
3 Top 100

That being said, I preferred the 'inner/outer' division split since it is balanced historically and it preserves the most historic and regional rivalry games within the conference.

B1G Inner: Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, Purdue, Indiana, Illinois, Northwestern

B1G Outer: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers

B1G Inner
2 Top 10
1 Top 50
4 Top 100

B1G Outer
2 Top 10
2 Top 50
3 Top 100

If the SEC isn't going to switch up their divisions or the ACC their divisions then there is no reason for the B1G to switch ours up only 2 YEARS after they switched them the last time. College football has been played for over a century. Have some damn patience.

The problem here is that there really is no way to protect rivalries and balance schedules.  OSU and M are recruiting with the best in the country and MSU punches above its starzz every year.  Meanwhile Wisco and Nebraska--who were supposed to anchor the West--are only begining the downward spiral from shit coaching hires last year.  The result is a conference moving toward Big 3, Little 11 and we have to play the other members of the Big 3. The current set-up--diluting the East with three tirefires and PSU--is about as much as can be done to balance things.  But as long our two big rivals are the only two other regularly competent programs in the conference, our schedule will always be significantly harder than others either because of protected crossovers or unbalanced divisions. 

...is a fool's errand.

That. Is. The. Problem.

No one asked me.  So here is the answer.

* Move Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern, Minny, and Purdue into the Big Ten East.

* Move Rutgers to the ACC or AAC or MAC or anywhere else willing to take it.

* Move PSU to state prison.

* Rename "Big Ten East" to "Big Ten."

That is all.

The divisions are fine the way they are. If it seems unbalanced because the west is weak, I only see one solution:

The west needs to step the fuck up.

That SB Nation article links to an ESPN Insider story about ranking the Power 5 football jobs. It is not a about realligning the B1G's divisions. A quick search on Google for "B1G divisions" shows nothing, so this seems more like Travis Haney throwing stuff out there. If it were happening, (and it clearly isn't, nice try Travis), it would be a mistake for several reasons.

First, you can't gerrymander divisions to acheive balance (see ACC). Things change, programs rise and fall (see SEC East in the 90s vs. SEC West currently). The one thing that remains constant is geography, which leads to natural rivalries. Over time, PSU will build rivalries with Maryland and Rutgers. Nebraska will build rivalries with Minnesota and Iowa.

The recruiting gap between the EAST and WEST is concerning but I don't see a way to fix this short of a massive influx of population to the WEST. Most high school players from NJ and the DMV are either going to PSU, Michigan, MSU, OSU (which are all power programs nearby that also have good recruiting territory within their states) or they are going to Rutgers or Maryland or they will head to ACC schools. If you moved Maryland and Rutgers to the WEST and moved Northwestern and Purdue to the EAST, the players from NJ and the DMV would still flow to PSU, Michigan, MSU, OSU, since the phyiscal location of those schools isn't changing. They are not going to suddenly go to Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska which remain far away from the East Coast.

Second, there really isn't a good way to acheive balance. Any division with Michigan and OSU in it is automatically the strongest division. Those are the only schools that recruit at an elite level (MSU and PSU are in the next tier, but still way behind). You could flip MSU and Purdue, but the EAST is still much stronger. And that would be a competitive disadvantage for Michigan since they would have a locked crossover game with MSU, while the rest of the EAST would rotate among the bottom feeders of the WEST more often. Really, the only way to acheive balance is to split OSU and Michigan but that's a non starter (see Legends and Leaders, dumb).

Finally, I think the division are perfect. Yes they are imbalanced, but if you are a WEST team, you have a legit shot at winning the division each season (that includes Purdue). If you are a big boy in the EAST, running the gauntlet with just 1 loss almost assures you of a playoff spot. It really sucks for Indiana, Rutgers and Maryland, who have virtually no shot, but what can you do? From Michigan's perspective, the EAST is where they want to be. There are more alumni in the EAST and the recruiting is better in the EAST.

a ten team league.

When we add: Virgina, North Carolina, Duke and Georiga Tech  we can

East:                                            West:

Michigan                                    Nebraska

OSU                                            Wisconsin 

PSU                                            Iowa

Michigan State                         Minnesota

Virginia                                      Northwestern 

Rutgers                                      Illinois

Maryland                                   Georgia Tech

Indiana                                      North Carolina

Purdue                                      Duke

(Boston College)                     (Notre Dame)

It will allow the "West" divison teams to annually play in Atlanta or North Carolina and help with recruiting.   10 in each divsion so B1G, still applies