Notre Dame Joe

If those div are correct then Big Red has a pretty favorable road to the title game in your half of the division, asssuming the inter-division games are balanced.

ESPN commentators are there to entertain, not inform. I love/hate Mark May but never change the channel. I just wish I was alaways able to watch there final wrap up show @midnight.

The sole memory most outsiders had of NU pre-2008 was Lou's pep talk before your USC game.

If they do have the Michigan-OSU split will the divisions look like this?

 

West

Nebraska

Michigan

Michigan State

Iowa

Wisconsin

Minnesota

 

East

Ohio State

Penn State

Illinois

Northwestern

Purdue

Indiana

I don't think so because you need to fairly spread out the 2nd tier teams like Wisconsin, MSU, and Iowa (which would all be in our division in this split).

Our division would be way harder if it was structured like this, but hey this is just my opinion.

Indeed. Nebraska has a tough draw in that half, especially since Blue won't stay down forever, more's the pity.

If PSU is a protected rival, count me out. I dont want any part of having to play MU, PSU, OSU, Iowa and/or Wisc all in the same season. That would just be brutal.

 

I see the divisions breaking down like this:

East

OSU, PSU, Wisc, Minn, Ind, Purdue

 

West

MU, MSU, NU, Iowa, NW, ILL

 

Protected Rivals

MU/OSU, PSU/MSU, Wisc/NU, Iowa/Minn, Ind/NW, Purdue/ILL

 

Rivalry Weekend Matchups

MU/MSU, PSU/OSU, Iowa/NU, Minn/Wisc, Ind/Purdue, NW/ILL

 

I think matching us up with PSU as our protected rival could potentially be to our detriment depending on how the schedule will fall. We could have a gauntlet, let MSU and Wisc deal with that.

Wow. You just hit upon the ultimate gauntlet as Wisc is the only team you could avoid. Is it balance with eOSU, M and PSU? It seems everyone would play two powers and then the 3rd in the title game if necessary.

If The Game isn't the last game of the season, then hopefully Michigan-Nebraska would be the last game. It hurts losing The Game at the end of the season but I understand what they mean by playing back-to-back weeks and It'd be cool to see The Game (part II) FOR the Championship.

 

 

West

Iowa

Michigan

Minnesota

Nebraska

Purdue

Wisconsin

 

East

Illinois

Indiana

Michigan State

Northwestern

Ohio State

Penn State

 

Do you think they would split up Mich and Mich State? I was under the impression that was a pretty big rivalry. If they do just one rivalry game across divisions that would be Ohio State and would make the UM vs. MSU not happen on a regular basis.

 

I think this may be the only time I've seen someone split those two teams.

 

If they could do it like this I am all on board. We'd get UM, IA, Wiscy and Minnesota plus PSU as our cross division rivalry game...that would be great for Nebraska. Put NU vs. UM the day after Thanksgiving with OSU vs. PSU that's a heckuva line up for the day after Turkey Day.

 

 

It may be a big thing in-state, but it means nothing in the national scene, It has no national relevance. It goes Michigan-OSU, Michigan-ND. Hell, Michigan-Wisconsin is more of a rivalry to most of us M fans I would say.

Are they the same M fans that claim 1985 as a national title? Nuts in either case.

I so called it!

I picked 1945 because that was the year that I had records readily available. Yea, I could've picked any date. It could've been all time, it could've just been the past 10 years, but I picked 1945 because it supports the point I am trying to make.

 

 

That's true this year. But the perception is that the power of the Big Integer is in the east; the Big2 eOSU and M as parents, with perennial outsider Penn St as the eccentric uncle as #3.

 

Now there is variance on any given year but that is the perception and probably accurate in the long run. No one expects Wisc and Iowa to be good for a long time which means one of the top3 must go West if they want two balanced divisions.

 

Exactly! Sure, Wisconsin and Iowa are great this year. They will probably be good for the net few years. But, will they both be this good (or better) in 10 years? If they have 5 down years, will you expect them to come back strong and be a dominant team for 10 years?

No one knows. I think the hallmark of first tier team is how quickly the coach gets sacked for mediocre results. I don't think the pitchforks come for the the other teams.

On the scUM vs eOSU, in many years it was the de facto conference title game. The state of ohio cares about it more than bowl games. I just don't see them passing on a chance to make it the official title game.

Who had consecutive losing seasons?

Mods sorry about the noise, maybe a other teams arguement containment thread?

Or let's look at the geographic split if it was done this year, wrt AP pre-season rankins

 

West: NU #8, Iowa #9, Wisconsin #12

East: OSU #2, PSU #19

 

Nobody else got a vote.

 

The East isn't exactly tipping the scales heavily here.

That's true this year. But the perception is that the power of the Big Integer is in the east; the Big2 eOSU and M as parents, with perennial outsider Penn St as the eccentric uncle as #3.

Now there is variance on any given year but that is the perception and probably accurate in the long run. No one expects Wisc and Iowa to be good for a long time which means one of the top3 must go West if they want two balanced divisions.

Stay in Denial.

and PLEASE arrange it again to keep RRod in AA a couple more. When else will you ever get Irish fans okay with a blue win? (also no 3rd meltdown in a row against the not exactly toughest conferernce)

lot's of big# teams play for a trinket. But this thread is on the mark. An east west geographic split allows Nebraska to punch her own ticket into the title game each year. I can't see the conference allowing that to happen.

Lol. The referees put that game in infamy well beyond the Big12 Championship. Your denials actually made it more obvious.

Hopefully Kelly does better at Notre Dame than the last Big East Coach that went to "greener pasture". I see that he's going to be questioned about NCAA violations that occurred when he was at West Virginia. I wonder if Michigan will be as fast to defend him now that it seems like more than a one time incident.

 

I'd be fine with BK throwing the first UM game if it will save RR's job for a little while longer.

 

I find it laughable that you think beating Notre Dame is a significant enough accomplishment to save anyone's job...

It is for delusional fans that watch even a rigged win getting replayed all year long on the conference tv station.

Masoli got chased down by the frat boy. Practice for the SEC I guess.

Could you have kept Callahan's O with Bo's D or are the two mutually exclusive?

Hopefully Kelly does better at Notre Dame than the last Big East Coach that went to "greener pasture". I see that he's going to be questioned about NCAA violations that occurred when he was at West Virginia. I wonder if Michigan will be as fast to defend him now that it seems like more than a one time incident.

I'd be fine with BK throwing the first UM game if it will save RR's job for a little while longer.

mm. This discussion is floating around ND boards too. I mention that Ga Tech got stuffed agaist the good defenses. Even Navy didn't do that well against our inept D last year, with 7 2nd half points.

A lot of Big# teams don't use the traditional power run anymore. Purdue, eOSU, scUM, and PSU all run some spread version.

I think I'd accept the Texas/NU call more if it happened in other big games that ended in similar situations. Michigan/ND and FSU/Miami ended with the clock running off after Tate ran out of bounds and an incomplete pass by FSU. The refs didn't put the extra second back on in either of those games, so Texas was beneficial to an exception and not the rule.

I think the rule was pretty much the same

And to the argument above, not all seconds are equal. It's like losing a millionaire losing a dollar vs losing one's last dollar.

Not your problem, but we really needed Rabassa after our opening scene in the Chris Martin soap opera.

EDIT x2: Am I the only one that acknowledges losing that way sucked but it was probably the right call?

I think 99% of Husker fans can probably agree it was the right call, because it was. The reason we continue to whine about it is I'm not so sure the :01 would have been added back onto the clock if it was Nebraska in position to kick a game-winning FG.

 

We hope your current coach would never be so inept as to not rmeind the QB of the importance of the clock,; so it would never be in doubt. Then again, Mack Brown and Les Miles have won national titles.

 

Would you consider either of these coaches great coaches? I'll throw another coaches name that I feel belongs with these two: Howard Schnellenberger. All three of these coaches have won a NC. All three of these coaches did it at schools that were smack dab in the middle of a recruiting hotbed. I consider these three coaches great recruiters, but I don't consider them great coaches. I can actually see Les Miles being fired within the next 2-3 seasons.

Howard Schnellenberger b. 1934 is still coaching which means he has to be pretty good, and probably has a feud with Joe Paterno. Whether he is great is uncertain; what has Miami achieved when they aren't running a Thug U program? Just the 2000-2002 stretch.

I am ready to jump on board the "Less Miles" bandwagon after that game where they squandered their final seconds. His only title in the extremely screwey year of 2007 where the #2 team changed every hour. I would much rather see Miles made the next coach at UM than Harbaugh.

I don't know that much about Brown since I only watch the Red River and the B12CG. He recently said something about the Spread lacks power running that they needed, which appealed to the traditionalists on NDNation. But given the amount of talent he can recruit without leaving his office, yes, one title in that many years is not great.

You can get into a lot of Chicken and the Egg arguments regarding local talent and team achievements. The players become great under good coaching and thus raise the local profile. That being said, the SEC is certainly running away with the CFB world right now but I think it will change. If the best players are from Florida, Texas, and California then those states have actually UNDERachieved over the past 100 years in winning national titles. If they couldn't have broken the rules and run NFL farm teams then they didn't win much of anything.

I'd say that clearly Notre Dame and Nebraska have won the most while starting out without regional advantages. Nebraska makes the most out of Nebraska while we do the best in getting great players to Northwest Indiana, not a football hotbed.

EDIT x2: Am I the only one that acknowledges losing that way sucked but it was probably the right call?

I think 99% of Husker fans can probably agree it was the right call, because it was. The reason we continue to whine about it is I'm not so sure the :01 would have been added back onto the clock if it was Nebraska in position to kick a game-winning FG.

We hope your current coach would never be so inept as to not rmeind the QB of the importance of the clock,; so it would never be in doubt. Then again, Mack Brown and Les Miles have won national titles.

Call me crazy, but what's up with the little game Bob? If memory serves me correctly, Bob Stoops has won just as many NC's as Mack Brown. However, Stoops has won several more Big 12 Championships than Mack and has easily owned Mack Brown and Texas. Even in some of his worst seasons there like last year, Texas barely limped in for the victory. How many NC's has OU gotten to play for? How many has Texas gotten to play for? I just don't get why Texas clowns on OU so much when it's been quite obvious who has been the best team in the South since the Big 12 was formed.

 

 

It's not about Brown's record vs Stoops' record and this poster isn't the first to use it. I first heard it from OSU fans. The nickname has to do with Bob Stoops recent record in big games, which has been less than stellar. Stoops was pegged with "Big Game Bob" for his amazing record the first years at OU. But recently in any game against a top 25 team, games played outside of Oklahoma, and bowl games, Bob's record has been dismal the past few years. Stoop's teams do well against teams they are supposed to beat, but in the last 5 years they haven't done well in close games.

Yes but the sheer entertainment value of Stoops losses make him a net positive for the conference. How much has College Football benefited from the constant replays of OU vs Boise St? I'm very happy that Bob Stoops will make a lot of interesting games and that he will be staying in Oklahoma to do so.

IMO N should hate the most:

1. Miami for cheating their way to one and a half dynasties.

2. FSU for having home field advantage, like UM, in title games.

3. Texas for being Texas and wrecking two conferencs.

4. Oklahoma for whatever it is they did.

and finally,

The big2, scUM and eOSU for what WILL happen to you when you play them in a conference title game. mark my words.