New B1G Scheduling Model

[Lorewarn]

The B1G has historically been viewed as a bit of an ugly, gritty conference. I thought Nebraska handled this transition decently well when they first entered the league, but over time I've grown to appreciate the toughness it takes to operate at a high level in the league. 

The league has also changed pretty dramatically since we entered.

Not only was the offense league-wide much more open (OSU was doing what they always do, Michigan was in the Dennard Robinson/Devin Gardner spread era, Northwestern could be lethal with Kain Colter, WIsconsin had their best year and best stretch ever, Iowa was still Iowa but not all-time-terrible-offense Iowa, etc.), but the floor of competitiveness has been raised substantially. You look through the list of head coaches and over half the league has head guys that were one of the top 3 biggest hires of their cycle and coach of the year winners.

 

[huskerfan74]

Basically starting next year we should not expect to play in the Big ten championship anytime soon. Especially with our offense. Unless Rhule pulls some magic, I do not see us competing for a conference championship in the next 5 years (or more).

 

[VectorVictor]

It's even more insane to me, seeing that they worked out protected games in a conference this big (including 2 or 3 for some teams), that the Big 12 couldn't keep the annual Nebaska Oklahoma game.

It was *never* a question of ability, but whether both parties wanted to. Oklahoma already had Texass, ATM University, and an upstart Okie Lite to deal with, they didn't want (at the time) to face another potential Top 25 team regularly unless they had to. 

Now, in the SEC, the Top 25 teams are just gonna be back to back to back to back to back to back...