blue_hawaii

The entire Big 10(12) will be rooting for you to go undefeated this year at least. May your next loss not occur until November 19, 2011.

really? our series record stands at 3-2 in favor of michigan. i will be disappointed if we can't maintain that ratio. nevertheless, i'd much rather have to play wisconsin and penn state every year than nebraska and iowa. sory should have phrased that better, I feel like we are in the easier to win of the two divisions. the big 12 north of the big 10 if you will. Although I am excited to play Michigan every year, maybe make up some kind of trophy to reprsent the split national title in '97 i should have phrased it better as well. i meant i'd rather play psu and wisconin for ease of schedule purposes not for competitive purposes. for competiveness i'd much rather play nebraska, of course. from my point of view the other division is easier and ours is tougher.

really? our series record stands at 3-2 in favor of michigan. i will be disappointed if we can't maintain that ratio. nevertheless, i'd much rather have to play wisconsin and penn state every year than nebraska and iowa.

Ohio State would love that this year. It might be more balanced next year. Here's mine for what it's worth: you pair up each team with a local rival who will be in the same division, thus psu-msu osu-um iu-pu ui-nw wis-minn neb-iowa then you put the neb-iowa pair with the psu-msu pair and for the sake of psu's geography the iu-pu pair (the eastern division or the southern division) that leaves um-osu, ui-nw and wis-minn as the other division (the western division or the northern division). i had then considered two protected crossover games among the three 'pods' as follows: um-osu-msu-psu iu-pu-ui-nw wis-minn-neb-iowa that might be a little hard on psu and msu but i think it really meets delany's three criteria very well competitive balance, rivalry preservation and geography. the final week matchups would be as follows: um-osu psu-neb iu-pu ui-nw wis-minn neb-psu it seems to me that iowa would be sort of a mini-rival of yours sort of like colorado. psu is more in your league more like oklahoma (although a little further away).

Forgive me my friend, but asking "What good is Osborne" to a bunch of Husker fans is not the brightest question. It'd be like trying to convince a Michigan fan that Bo Schembechler wasn't a qualified coach Osborne is kinda seen as infalible here, what ever the man says or does goes without question Catholics have the infalibility of the Pope, we have the infalibility of Dr. Tom I suppose a happy face after that comment would have been appropriate. Just meant that I thought he could do it if he wanted to. Looks like you guys are pretty ambivalent about the whole thing. It's a violaton one of the fundamental laws of the universe for some of us. I don't mind cracks about Rich Rod or Bo either for that matter. And this Brandon guy is way off base on this one.

NU fans always complained when CU would call their game against us a "rivalry". But...I like Iowa as the "potential" rivalry for reasons already given. Please tell me you weren't one of the fans that claimed CU wasn't our Rival (which they weren't in my opinion) because if so then you wanting Iowa would absolutely make no sense haha. As for me I have been a proponent of playing PSU ever since I started watching college football. They are our best potential Rival (and I capitalize the word "rival" meaning our main #1 rivalry, unlike a second tier rivalry), because they share a fairly even amount of prestige as us, Penn State doesn't share a reciprocal main Rivalry with anyone else, its a very balanced series, and both of us have pushed each other out of a national title. Not to mention both JoePa and Dr. Tom's great history. Personally I believe that if Penn State is not in our division then they in fact will be in our cross-over game, but if they are Michigan will be our cross-over game. I would rather have them in our division to raise the game's importance, but I'd be ok with Michigan in our conference too (although then Michigan State might get screwed and not get to play Michigan, unless they come to our division, but they'll have to take out either Wisconsin and MInnesota and break up the triangle of hate). Personally I see that it would be in everyones best interest to keep Michigan, MSU and OSU in the same division, keep the Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska all together, and add PSu with us to balance the four major programs. Indiana and Purdue need to stay together too That would be the ideal split EXCEPT putting Penn State in with Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin sure does put a lot of travel stress on them. Way too much I expect.

Your post seems to have an underlying motive. This post sounds like you want Husker fans to voice their displeasure so that you can maintain your end of the season rivalry with Ohio State. Correct me if Im wrong. Im perfectly fine being in the same division as Michigan and having OSU and PSU in the other division. NU vs Iowa could be and should be a mid season match up. They are not on the same level as Michigan, Nebraska, Penn State, and Ohio State. Yes indeed that is what I want. I would be happy if we play Nebraska every year and look forward to doing so, but not at the expense of losing the UM/OSU matchup on the last week of the regular season. Any support from you guys in that regard would be sincerely appreciated. That is not my ulterior motive. That is my main motive.

Also, if you don't want Michigan or do want Iowa, you should express that opinion as well. Brandon thinks he can get Nebraska to appease the anger from losing OSU. If he can't do that maybe he'll give up his stupid idea of UM/OSU in the conference championship game.

Mr. Brandon is practically guaranteeing that you will be playing Michigan that weekend. I'd say you chances of getting Iowa are not very good.

Who is your biggest existing rival in the Big 10? Iowa? Wisconsin? Michigan? or is it Penn State? I would have thought it is Penn State. The way it looks now Ohio State and Michigan will be in separate divisions and Ohio State and Penn State will be in the same division. That leaves Michigan and Nebraska for the other division. If you guys have any preference, now is the time to make your opinions heard before the decision is made. Delany is saying that fan input is important and seems to be allowing some wiggle room. This is not written in stone. If Osborne can't deliver Penn State as your main rival and last game of the season, what good is he? If you agree you might consider writing or emailing Osborne and Delany and expressing an opinion. Otherwise, nevermind.

If I get to vote, this Wolverine votes for Ohio State as our last game and we get to play Nebraska or Penn State or Iowa for the conference championship. Michigan will be back. Rodriguez is building a monster. We will be ready for you in 2011. Go Blue.

The 'problem' is explained by this guy: A Buckeye

I wish the divisions would look like this.... ******************************************** Division A Nebraska Penn State Iowa Wisconsin Minnesota Northwestern or Illinois Division B Ohio St. Michigan Michigan St. Purdue Indiana and our crossover game with Michigan ********************************************* but hey it doesn't look like it will be that way, I do hope if Penn State is not in our division that they would be our crossover game though. Northwestern or Illinois That would be perfect if Penn State were located somewhere between Illinois and Iowa

Well, I suppose, it's just the difference between climax and anti-climax. The timing of this game is a big part of what made it great.

This should prob. be in the conference expansion section of the board. They are already discussing the UM/OSU split. The difference between the Oklahoma situation you threw out is we don't play Oklahoma EVERY year like UM/OSU would. We play Oklahoma every two years. And how do you know they will not play in the championship game that often? Its not like UM will be down forever. I don't care who we play or when we play them as long as we win or make it competitive. Also, welcome to the board. Thanks. It takes a little while to get used to how this board works. Where is this expansion section?

I certainly wouldn't mind playing Nebraska as a last game of the season if it can't be Ohio State. It would be a great rivalry. It will just take about 50 years or so to get to the level of UM/OSU.

Well the rumor is going round the Michigan and Ohio State boards and I sent an e-mail to what is purportedly Dave Brandon's (Michigan AD) email address complaining about it and received this reply: "Just wait until you see the facts…and the way the schedule will actually work. I believe you will better understand the choices being made…and the reasons behind them. And, I bet you will be very pleased. "To assimilate Nebraska as a 12th team and to incorporate a conference championship game into our schedule, will require some sacrifices and compromises for everyone in the conference. We will all have to give up something we wish we didn’t have to give up! I will be surprised if you don’t understand why certain choices have been made once you see actual information. We will play OSU every year…. we will have a great match-up for the last game of the season. You just need to relax and wait for the facts to come out! It is going to be OK!!!!! "Best wishes…and Go Blue! "Dave"

Apparently it has all been decided that Michigan and Ohio State are to be in separate divisions in order to allow the possibility of a meeting in a conference championship game in Indianapolis (wow!) once every ten years or so. And Penn State will be in the same division with Ohio State--great new natural rivalry that will really help Ohio State recruiting in Pennsylvania. This will also necessitate moving the game to sometime in October in order to avoid a possible back-to-back rematch. This is being leaked in order to diffuse outrage by all true football fans. This is like putting Nebraska and Oklahoma in different divisions and ending a great football tradition. Wouldn't it be better if Michigan and Ohio State are in one division and Nebraska and Penn State in another and we each play our respective rivals in the last game of the season? Well if not, then certainly it has to be Michigan and Nebraska in one division and Ohio State and Penn State in another with each playing our rival in the last game of the season. Are you guys satisfied playing Wisconsin or Iowa in your last game of the season? If we end up playing Sparty and you guys play Iowa or Wisconsin it will be a joke. They may be good right now but they are certainly not traditional powers in the same class as we (UM, UNL, OSU, PSU) are. How do you guys feel about this outrage?