New Divisions: ESPN We are in the West of course.

HuskerTrucker said:
I am thinking that if the alignment goes the way that ESPN says, Nebraska will be better off in the West, EXCEPT - if they were in that Eastern division, they would get higher rankings in the polls if they won. I don't think they will get the same respect in the West Division.
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I generally agree. Maybe NU can beef up their non-conference schedule to compensate for playing against weaker division opponents? The cross-over games should rotate, right? Meaning, NU could play OSU and UM is some years.

 
I think these divisions are only solid for a couple years anyway, and more expansion will come in the next 3-5 years at the latest. That would reset everything again, and the plan appears to be further East and South expansion.

If that is the case, it only makes sense that some teams currently in the east will find themselves relocated to the west.

The above would happen before we could reasonably redo our OOC scheduling. We might end up stacked in the OOC with top flight opponents just in time to also face OSU and/or other current eastern powers every year, after they were placed in our division. That could be good, but could just as easily be a disaster.

I have always liked the "Pod" idea, myself, but that seems to have been shelved for now.

 
Flood said:
I think these divisions are only solid for a couple years anyway, and more expansion will come in the next 3-5 years at the latest. That would reset everything again, and the plan appears to be further East and South expansion.

If that is the case, it only makes sense that some teams currently in the east will find themselves relocated to the west.

The above would happen before we could reasonably redo our OOC scheduling. We might end up stacked in the OOC with top flight opponents just in time to also face OSU and/or other current eastern powers every year, after they were placed in our division. That could be good, but could just as easily be a disaster.

I have always liked the "Pod" idea, myself, but that seems to have been shelved for now.
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But if Delaney buys a team in each half, say Mizzou and UCONN, then the conference would be even more extremely divided into eastern and western halves. It just smells like the Big12 north again without the guaranteed games in Texas. You can guess which half will get the prime tv slots.

 
Flood said:
I think these divisions are only solid for a couple years anyway, and more expansion will come in the next 3-5 years at the latest. That would reset everything again, and the plan appears to be further East and South expansion.

If that is the case, it only makes sense that some teams currently in the east will find themselves relocated to the west.

The above would happen before we could reasonably redo our OOC scheduling. We might end up stacked in the OOC with top flight opponents just in time to also face OSU and/or other current eastern powers every year, after they were placed in our division. That could be good, but could just as easily be a disaster.

I have always liked the "Pod" idea, myself, but that seems to have been shelved for now.
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I can agree the current divisions are only for the time being. The Big Ten just expanded to the East with Maryland and Rutgers... I'm not sure they would add any big schools from the south that are currently in the SEC like Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, etc. However, IMO, if they do attempt to expand further south, plucking ACC schools like UVA and maybe a Carolina school or two is possible. Cincinnati also may be another possible target. That would give the state of Ohio two B10 programs. Aside, the only other southern schools aside from the ACC and SEC are in current non-Big Six conferences such as C-USA. I don't see the B10 grabbing for those schools.

I like your idea of playing a more aggressive non-conference schedule. It would be great to see Nebraska play traditional powers like it used to. More exciting games, more television, more big games for the school and the fans are all benefits. Plus, it would give us a good measuring stick as to our program against some of the top powers in the country. In order for that to be a benefit, we need to pick up our recruiting and level of play. As you say, doing this could also be a disaster on the other hand. If we aren't up to are competition, then yes it would not be great for all the aforementioned benefits.

 
I've finially chimed into this thread after reading it over many of times through the months.

First off yes it does seem much like the old BIG XII North. But the numbers are really not that much different between the two divisions surprisingly. I would also point out the split in divisions isn't going away. If the B1G expands further, that will continue the split. Where we are located, we will always be playing teams like Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and very likely Wisconsin. That isn't going to change no matter if the B1G decides to bring in some BIG XII schools or teams to the East.

I'm in the boat that doesn't think Wisconsin is trending down. I think Andersen arguably could be a better coach than BB. They are still loaded with a lot of talent. They are going to be a thorn in our side for many many years. They have a certain brand of football they play and they gear everything towards that brand. That keeps stability regardless of who the head coach is to an extent.

One thing you have to realize about Wisconsin is the fact they do not fear us. Frankly none of the teams in the B1G fear us currently. What we did against BIG XII and namely BIG XII North opponents means very little going forth in the fear factor with the B1G West or even East teams. That is something to keep in mind.

I also don't expect Iowa to stay down very long either. I think we are going to see the B1G as a whole improve as the years go by with the some of the focus of recruiting changing. The league is recruiting more southern athletes but only time will tell how effective that will be. We are going to face some recruiting challenges possibly with this split. How effective will we be recruiting East now that we won't be there all the time? We also have the whole ESPN/SEC crap the B1G as a whole has to fight.

We stand a great chance of being the power of the West but at this moment Wisconsin can say the same or if not more so.

 
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I agree about Wisconsin. They seem to reload every year. But I will be interested to see how they play without Bielema leading them. Not saying they will regress, but I wonder how long it may/will take them to adjust to a new coach. I think if NU gets it together in a couple years we could be challenging them on an annual basis for the West Division title. Iowa should be back soon and that will add a little more intensity to the division. But first things first, let's see some improvement this fall!

 
I truly think Bo is starting to recruit how we wants his players particularly on defense. Not sure what he recruited at LSU but there sort of seems to be a trend with his defense. His safeties are big and fast(singleton, Gerry, martinez) Corners are bigger and physical(Boaz joesph, jason hall) with a smaller, quicker dime (mitchell, trai mosley) fast linebackers (santos, anderson, aflava) speed rushers and big DT. We have a young defense that should improve. the offense will only get better. I may be drinking the Kool Aid but I think we are going to be pretty good in the years to come

 
iowahuskers said:
I truly think Bo is starting to recruit how we wants his players particularly on defense. Not sure what he recruited at LSU but there sort of seems to be a trend with his defense. His safeties are big and fast(singleton, Gerry, martinez) Corners are bigger and physical(Boaz joesph, jason hall) with a smaller, quicker dime (mitchell, trai mosley) fast linebackers (santos, anderson, aflava) speed rushers and big DT. We have a young defense that should improve. the offense will only get better. I may be drinking the Kool Aid but I think we are going to be pretty good in the years to come
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I agree and we should challenge Wiscy for the title, as I said, in the coming years. It would be great for us to beat them a couple times.

 
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