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

You're short-changing Penn State drastically.

People love saying...it's over or that program is done - hell they said it about Nebraska and Notre Dame. My sister went to Penn State...never underestimate their size and influence 1 out of every 5 college grads in the US went to Penn State...I went to games there in the 80's - the place is football - will always be football - State College becomes the 3rd largest city in the State on Saturday. This will not be an alumni-fanbase that acquiesces to forever mediocrity. And they have a good coach. It's actually quite easy to rebound these days in college with scholie limits and parity across the nation. All it takes is one or two monster classes and the ball starts rolling downhill. (And of course, the opposite can happen.) College football success or failure is fragile...

Penn State will be a player the next 100 years in football in the B1G - they're too big to fail - trust me. To say PSU will never be a power again is pretty dramatic and completely baseless.

So...

East Division

Penn State - 2 National Championships (7 perfect seasons)

Ohio State - 7 National Championships

Michigan - 11 National Championships

Michigan State - 6 National Championships

 
Drive1010 said:
You're short-changing Penn State drastically.

People love saying...it's over or that program is done - hell they said it about Nebraska and Notre Dame. My sister went to Penn State...never underestimate their size and influence 1 out of every 5 college grads in the US went to Penn State...I went to games there in the 80's - the place is football - will always be football - State College becomes the 3rd largest city in the State on Saturday. This will not be an alumni-fanbase that acquiesces to forever mediocrity. And they have a good coach. It's actually quite easy to rebound these days in college with scholie limits and parity across the nation. All it takes is one or two monster classes and the ball starts rolling downhill. (And of course, the opposite can happen.) College football success or failure is fragile...

Penn State will be a player the next 100 years in football in the B1G - they're too big to fail - trust me. To say PSU will never be a power again is pretty dramatic and completely baseless.

So...

East Division

Penn State - 2 National Championships (7 perfect seasons)

Ohio State - 7 National Championships

Michigan - 11 National Championships

Michigan State - 6 National Championships
Click to expand...
Back the crazy up!

 
I am in the camp that thinks the East is stronger than the West but I agree with Tschu in that it's not a huge difference and one more power/tradition team in the west would even it out.

The way I see it if you had to 'match' them up. Obviously you could match them up different ways but this is just to show comparative balance.

OSU - Nebr

MICH - Wisky

PSU - Iowa

MSU - Northwestern

Maryland - Illinois

Rutgers - Purdue

Indianna - Minny

Now if we had someone like Domers. It would look pretty even to me.

OSU - ND or okie or TU

MICH - Nebr

PSU - Wiscy

MSU - Iowa

Maryland - Illinois

Rutgers - Northwestern

Indianna - Minny

Purdue - Missery or Kansas

So really it's not that far off. What they do with the expansion will make a big difference. Trouble is the west choices are limited as far as name teams.. You got the ND who really should be a b1g team. OU which they wont add because of academic ranking. Texas is a possibility when cowpie-tv folds. Another solution would be add FSU, Purdue to the east and shift Michicken to the west and add KU.

 
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1 out of every 5 college grads in the US went to Penn State.
Click to expand...
LOL

Michigan has 1 title in the last 60 years.

Ohio State has 1 title in the last 45 years.

Michigan State hasn't won a title since 1966.

Penn State has 2 titles, none since 1986.

All-in-all, 2 total titles since Penn State joined the B1G. Nebraska has more than that by themselves. What modern football powers...

Look, the East is stronger than the West. But it's not some juggernaut.

 
If Northwestern can go to Rose Bowls...and Kansas St. can win thr Big 12 and Rutgers can become good in football and Oregon State can beat ND in the Fiesta and Oregon can become a power...Penn State will vertainly be back. All 5 historically god-awful programs.

Know your history and then we'll talk CFB...okay?

 
tschu said:
1 out of every 5 college grads in the US went to Penn State.
Click to expand...
LOL

Michigan has 1 title in the last 60 years.

Ohio State has 1 title in the last 45 years.

Michigan State hasn't won a title since 1966.

Penn State has 2 titles, none since 1986.

All-in-all, 2 total titles since Penn State joined the B1G. Nebraska has more than that by themselves. What modern football powers...

Look, the East is stronger than the West. But it's not some juggernaut.
Click to expand...
There's more to CFB than winning MNC...look at what teams have gone to the BCS bowls the last 20 years. Michigan, tOSU, Penn St. and Wisky. If the divisions are about winning your conference, Nebraska has the easiest road imaginable considering...Michigan/OSU still dominate and PSU/State will be players.

 
I think the only surprise from the final division split was MSU being in the East - I was pretty sure that they would be pushed West to help balance out the divisions.

Then again, if that's the price to pay to not have protected crossovers then it's probably for the best for everyone.

 
If Cousins still played for Michigan State, and the Penn State fiasco didn't occur, those would be some lopsided divisions. As is, the one with Ohio State is the stronger division. But not by some huge margin.

 
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Did a rudimentary little exercise to compare the 2 divisions. Assigned points based on strength of each program for the next decade or so. These are just my rankings so feel free to dispute and discuss. This is obviously really flawed for a variety of reasons, but still fun to look at:

14 OSU

13 Michigan

12 Nebraska

11 Wisconsin

10 Sparty

9 Iowa

8 Penn State

7 Northwestern

6 Purdue

5 Rutgers

4 Minnesota

3 Maryland

2 Illinois

1 Indiana

total:

East: 54

West: 51

 
tschu said:
Divisions aren't as horrible as they appear at first. MSU has basically reached the peak heights their program is capable of. Penn State will never be Penn State again. Rutgers and Maryland are both atrocious. It's going to be MSU/Mich/OSU in the East for like 90% of the forseeable future.

Meanwhile we have it pretty good. The reason that I say we have it pretty good is 1) we are *the team* to beat in our division (although you could make a case for Wisconsin I suppose) and 2) our schedule is a lot more appealing from a rivalry (we get the Badgers every year!) and a travel standpoint.

The presence of 4 "big names" in the East make their division look stronger than it really is. While it is definitely stronger than the West, it isn't by any huge margin. After MSU/OSU/Mich, the drop-off is huge. The West is stronger at the middle and bottom, which does even the playing field quite a bit. Most of the teams in our division are pretty far down from what they could be. Nebraska hasn't quite gotten back to where we should be. Iowa is obviously slumping pretty hard but should be an 8-win team every year if Kirk can remember how to coach football. Wisconsin is bordering on powerhouse. Minnesota has a lot going for them, they just need to get rid of seizure crazy abusive madman Kill. Pat Fitzgerald has Northwestern in a solid 8-9 wins a year state.
Click to expand...
You mean the guy that has begotten them more success in the last 2 years than they've had in, say, the last 10? Sure, whatever.

 
Creighton Duke said:
You mean the guy that has begotten them more success in the last 2 years than they've had in, say, the last 10? Sure, whatever.
Click to expand...
You're kidding, right? A 3-9 season and a 6-7 season is not more success than they've had in the last 10. Glen Mason and Tim Brewster led them to 7 bowl games in 8 years during the last decade.

 
Drive1010 said:
You're short-changing Penn State drastically.

People love saying...it's over or that program is done - hell they said it about Nebraska and Notre Dame. My sister went to Penn State...never underestimate their size and influence 1 out of every 5 college grads in the US went to Penn State...I went to games there in the 80's - the place is football - will always be football - State College becomes the 3rd largest city in the State on Saturday. This will not be an alumni-fanbase that acquiesces to forever mediocrity. And they have a good coach. It's actually quite easy to rebound these days in college with scholie limits and parity across the nation. All it takes is one or two monster classes and the ball starts rolling downhill. (And of course, the opposite can happen.) College football success or failure is fragile...

Penn State will be a player the next 100 years in football in the B1G - they're too big to fail - trust me. To say PSU will never be a power again is pretty dramatic and completely baseless.

So...

East Division

Penn State - 2 National Championships (7 perfect seasons)

Ohio State - 7 National Championships

Michigan - 11 10 National Championships

Michigan State - 6 National Championships
Click to expand...
West Division

Nebraska - 5 National Championships

Minnesota - 7 National Championships

Iowa - 1 National Championships

Wisconsin - 28 National Championships (OK, none in football)

Illinois - 5 National Championships

And why the emphasis on National Championships? I thought the Rose Bowl was the end all and be all for B1G?

 
huKSer said:
Drive1010 said:
You're short-changing Penn State drastically.

People love saying...it's over or that program is done - hell they said it about Nebraska and Notre Dame. My sister went to Penn State...never underestimate their size and influence 1 out of every 5 college grads in the US went to Penn State...I went to games there in the 80's - the place is football - will always be football - State College becomes the 3rd largest city in the State on Saturday. This will not be an alumni-fanbase that acquiesces to forever mediocrity. And they have a good coach. It's actually quite easy to rebound these days in college with scholie limits and parity across the nation. All it takes is one or two monster classes and the ball starts rolling downhill. (And of course, the opposite can happen.) College football success or failure is fragile...

Penn State will be a player the next 100 years in football in the B1G - they're too big to fail - trust me. To say PSU will never be a power again is pretty dramatic and completely baseless.

So...

East Division

Penn State - 2 National Championships (7 perfect seasons)

Ohio State - 7 National Championships

Michigan - 11 10 National Championships

Michigan State - 6 National Championships
Click to expand...
West Division

Nebraska - 5 National Championships

Minnesota - 7 National Championships

Iowa - 1 National Championships

Wisconsin - 28 National Championships (OK, none in football)

Illinois - 5 National Championships

And why the emphasis on National Championships? I thought the Rose Bowl was the end all and be all for B1G?
Click to expand...
And how many since World War 2?

 
It's about time the Big Ten realigned based on geography. IMO it's the only move that makes sense. The one comment I have is what the article refers to as "protected games". It states the only game that will be protected is IU vs. Purdue - since the schools are in opposite divisions. I agree with this. But I believe there are other games that should be protected as well that are important to the Big Ten and its rivalries. The league should keep the big trophy games like Illibuck (Ohio State vs. Illinois) and the Little Brown Jug (Michigan-Minnesota) going on an annual basis. Even though these rivalries are one-sided, they are still fun to watch and great for the Big Ten, IMO.

 
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