Ohio and Iowa have ideas on how the conference might look like

[huKSer]

Delaney said he wanted 1) balance 2) rivalries to remain intact and 3) geography in that order. I can see splitting up the 4 "storied" programs or evening them out but as we saw in the Big 12 team strengths change. Plus with the addition of Nebraska and 2 or 4 more teams the situation changes and past performances might not hold up. UM is down now, will they stay down? JoePa might coach until he is 120 and retire with Beano Cook, but will PSU maintain what they have? Husker fans thought that we would never dip down to the depths that we were in. However most of the time the "storied" programs have a good chance of bouncing back.

 

Maybe this will work out for the long haul, but it will be very interesting.

[GopherSkuUMah]

Minnesota vetoes the Ohio division, and will veto any division alignment that doesnt stick us with Wisconsin

[HuskerTrucker]

I think the balance thing is going to be hard to achieve if you do anything that is geographical. I fear it would look like the Big 12, with the South having better teams beating each other up all the time, leaving maybe 2 teams in the other division to battle it out. No matter what they do, someone is not going to like their division, you can bet on it.

[sd'sker]

i could see a difference division for football than for the rest of the sports. i think what is important, in football at least, is that michigan, michigan state, and osu stay together and NU, iowa, minnesota, and penn state are together. those divisions would be balanced and solid.

[UGAHusker]

One thing to keep in mind when proposing "balance" is the likelihood/probability that situations WILL CHANGE. Remember when the Big 12 started? Looked like the North was going to be loaded! 1994 final USA Today poll: 1. Nebraska 3. Colorado 16. K-State 23. Texas. 1995: 1. Nebraska 5. Colorado 7. Kansas State 9. Kansas 14. Texas 15. A&M 23. Texas Tech. Now, we all know the North is pretty much a joke compared to the South. I think keeping rivalries intact is most important, followed by geography. Trying to predict balance is like trying to predict the weather 80 years from now.

[nemajordude]

The reason why they won't do it that way from everything I've read is that there are 4 teams in the Big 10 that have over 800 wins which are Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska, and Penn State. Having 4 teams with over 800 wins they want to separate those teams into two different divisions and there is no way they'll separate the Ohio State/Michigan rivalry so they kept that and assigned Nebraska and Penn State in the same division.

 

Keep in mind this is just speculation and like a mock draft...nothing is written in stone yet.

I think that is the most logical way I have seen to look at this.