September 1st, 2010 at 11:43 AM ^
We get to make sure the Little Brown Jug is up for grabs every year. That, and the Paul Bunyan Trophy. I really like how the B10 is paying homage to tradition.
/SARCASM
September 1st, 2010 at 11:58 AM ^
The Jug will never again truly be up for grabs. From this point forward (well, from 2006 forward, actually), Minnesota will never have even the slightest chance of beating Michigan.
Or so I hope.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:17 PM ^
The way I figure it, if they got blown out by 2008 Michigan with Sheridan at QB, it's gonna be a while till they beat us(in football or basketball)
September 1st, 2010 at 12:20 PM ^
DAMN RIGHT
September 1st, 2010 at 11:44 AM ^
Only one cupcake in that division (maybe 2 if you count MSU)
September 1st, 2010 at 11:46 AM ^
IU, Illinois and Purdue in one division? Looks a little unbalanced to me.
September 1st, 2010 at 11:50 AM ^
They seeded teams based on their performance since Penn State came into the Big 10. Purdue has had some good teams.
September 1st, 2010 at 11:56 AM ^
Yeah... they beat Ohio State last year. Plus I don't get what people think NU is, a powerhouse or something?
September 1st, 2010 at 11:56 AM ^
I look at the teams in 3 groups:
- Upper: OSU, UM, Neb, PSU
- Middle: Wis, Iowa, MSU, NW
- Lower: Pur, ILL, IU, Minn
By that grouping, the upper is split evenly, but we have 3/4 of the middle and only 1/4 of the lower. I guess if you switch Pur and MSU it would even out. I really don't care that much as long as The Game is the last week of the season. Ideally we'd be in the same division, but I'll take this as a second-best option.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:01 PM ^
I'd like to trade Northwestern for Indiana. That would be nice.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:06 PM ^
Seriously? If the report is correct, we get to keep the Game intact, the Brown Jug game returns to every year status ... in short, expansion actually improves the rivalry status, and you're complaining about wanting Indiana instead of Northwestern?
If this report turns out right I will be ecstatic. Who gives a shit about Indiana?
September 1st, 2010 at 12:25 PM ^
Agreed - lets replace Northwestern (who we should beat) with Indiana (who we should beat) - eh. If this report is true, then I am happy.
On another note, this would give Alvarez his crosover game against Nebraska ont he same day as the game maybe?
September 1st, 2010 at 4:56 PM ^
I'm guessing Wisc crosses over with Minny. PSU and Neb would crossover. That's just my uneducated guess.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:02 PM ^
Out of NU and Minny, which don't you see as a cupcake? I'd consider either of them before Purdue.
September 1st, 2010 at 11:46 AM ^
Please let this news be accurate. I will take a division comprised of any B10 teams stitched together like Frankenstein's monster as long as the Game remains at the end of the season.
Screw New Coke, this Classic tastes great!
September 1st, 2010 at 11:47 AM ^
game stays = good. all else we can deal with.
September 1st, 2010 at 11:48 AM ^
Man, oh man, do I hope this is true. Added bonus for us Chicago guys is that we won't have Northwestern rolling off the schedule so we'll get a guaranteed "home" game every two years. Plus, as already stated, a yearly battle for the Jug. I'm sure MVictors will be pleased.
September 1st, 2010 at 11:49 AM ^
will be
Nebraska, Iowa, MSU, NW, Minn plus Wis, OSU and Penn State.
bet on it.
September 1st, 2010 at 11:56 AM ^
So we play the best three teams on the other side?
Hopefully not, that's a ridiculous competitive disadvantage if true.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:36 PM ^
That may happen on occasion. In 8-gm conference format, we play six teams every year (MSU, NEB,MINN,IOWA,NW and OSU) and then we play the other teams in the other division twice every 5 years
Going to a nine-gm schedule gives us 3 games with each Non-OSU team out of the other division every 5 yrs. This sucks not being able to play teams as often as normal, but its not that BAD nor is it too unfair from a scheduling stanpoint.
Every so often, a team will get a bad draw and possibly play the 9 toughest teams in the conference exclluding itself ( say if we play OSU, PSU, WISC and PUR in a year with Illinois and IU being terrible). But it is likely possible that they can stagger the years in which we play PSU and Wisky.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:38 PM ^
Say, Minnesota, you could play those 3 AND Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa. Or OSU could play the latter 3, and PSU and Wisconsin.
September 1st, 2010 at 11:52 AM ^
You couldn't have put this in the thread that is 3 spots down on the sidebar where this exact conversation is happening?
September 1st, 2010 at 12:29 PM ^
....how did people decide whether to post in this thread, or the one right before it...?
A sociological study to be had there. Anyone need a Masters thesis?
September 1st, 2010 at 12:57 PM ^
Well, to be fair, A LOT of the people who post here never even look at the sidebar. Ever. They look at the MGoBoard page, which lists posts by most recent post. So, the decision to post in this one versus the other one probably results from the fact that this one was further toward the top of the page than the other one (which it was when I clicked on it).
September 1st, 2010 at 11:54 AM ^
Obviously Michigan and OSU same division, last game of season is the #1 choice but if we're thrown into separate divisions, playing an out of division game in the last week is a major con. If those are the divisions as listed above I think a serious argument could be made for having Michigan v. Nebraska as the last game to potentially decide who goes to the B10 championship game. Part of what makes Michigan OSU great are the high stakes involved, if the game is the last of the season but Michigan and OSU are in separate divisions the high stakes are removed, somewhat limiting the power of the rivalry.
September 1st, 2010 at 11:58 AM ^
Or could this just still be speculation?
Bueller?
September 1st, 2010 at 11:58 AM ^
Counting the protected OSU game, this gives Michigan one of the toughest schedules in the conference on a regular basis, while OSU gets off easy. To elaborate on what Gryphon wrote, OSU plays Indiana, Illinois, and Purdue at the bottom of their division while Michigan plays MSU, NU, and Minny.
Even though I fully expect Michigan to reassert their superiority over MSU, an inferior MSU still averages three wins per decade against Michigan because of the nature of the rivalry. Also, NU has a way of producing unexpectedly good teams from time to time, and Minnesota has flirted with being a decent team on occasion.
I don't like this.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:04 PM ^
It's far from perfect from our perspective, but it's still a hell of a lot better than it was when I went to sleep last night.
I see the point about having a tougher schedule, but I'm looking forward to the days when we'll have teams that will *WANT* to play a tougher schedule because we're the leaders and best. Let's take on all comers and show them who THE VICTORS are!
September 1st, 2010 at 12:19 PM ^
I said this on another post a while ago but the whole "Michigan is gonna have a tougher schedule" is BS. OSU has protected games right now against PSU and us, if you were to line that up against everyone else's protected games, you would consider that the toughest of the bunch and they have owned the Big Ten this decade.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:34 PM ^
Isn't that tough?
I don't know that the bottom is that much tougher. Yeah, NW might make it so, a little. But we were going to play MSU anyway. That wasn't going to change. And really, if you look at it, of the groups of 3-
In ours, only Northwestern has won a Big Ten title in most of our lifetimes. In theirs, Illinois and Purdue have. I don't know than other those couple of years that they played us tough that Minnesota has been any better than Indiana has. I think our teams are more consistent....theirs have bigger ups and downs.
And Wisconsin has been better than Iowa, and Nebraska probably better than PSU...so, it evens out.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:03 PM ^
If The Game remains at the end of the season, these divisions are fine.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:09 PM ^
I broke it down historically in my first post here, but the tiers are essentially...
TIER 1: Michigan, OSU, PSU, Nebraska
TIER 2: Wisconsin, Iowa
TIER 3: Purdue, Michigan State, Northwestern
TIER 4: Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana
We do end up in a tougher division. Wisconsin gets the short end of the stick as far as rivalries though. Lose Minnesota and don't get Nebraska. What did Barry Alvarez do at that meeting?
September 1st, 2010 at 12:36 PM ^
..they don't get Nebraska? Does that mean we don't get OSU? Most of the "rivalry" games are cross conference. That might be their reward for leaving Iowa and Minn.
And with their history, it wouldn't really be that hard to move Illinois up to Tier 3. They were co-champs just a couple of years ago. That would even it out.
September 1st, 2010 at 1:09 PM ^
September 1st, 2010 at 12:06 PM ^
and "The Game" remains the last game of the season, this is the best news to come out of East Lansing since they...
...what good news has ever come out of East Lansing?
September 1st, 2010 at 12:08 PM ^
If this is from a reliable source (which, to this point, has not been proven) I like it. We get the game at the end of the season (check), our other rivalries remain intact on an annual basis (check) and we have the opportunity to crap on Nebraska every year and remind them that it was OUR national championship in '97 (bonus).
No matter how you slice it, there are going to be pros and cons; that's just the nature of major changes. But keep in mind that Illinois and Purdue have are about on par with Northwestern and Minnesota.
If this is true and we actually do keep The Game at the end of the season, I can live with this alignment.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:11 PM ^
Or does this still kind of suck for the rivalry even though it's still the last game of the season?
I mean... let's say that M and OSU both have their divisions won at that point in the season - or, either one of them for that matter...
Then they know they have a Big 10 championship game in a couple weeks to prep for that could give them a berth in the MNC game, so what's the point of risking injury in a game the may not matter as much?
Of course, The Game will always matter, however if both teams know they're going to meet each other again for all the marbles what's keeping them from only going half throttle in the end of the season classic?
The only way I could see around this is if this out-of-division game actually counted toward their division standings. Is there any possibility of this happening?
September 1st, 2010 at 12:19 PM ^
How often do you really think that's going to be the case?
September 1st, 2010 at 12:21 PM ^
There have been times in the last 15 years where one team has had the conference championship locked up going into The Game. I don't think either team took it easy to prep for the Rose Bowl. It's UM/OSU. More times than not, it will determine if one/both of the teams will proceed to the BTCG.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:26 PM ^
Well if one or both teams have thier division locked up, chances are they are playing for a National Title so I highly doubt any team is going to go half throttle.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:31 PM ^
September 1st, 2010 at 12:31 PM ^
I have to imagine they'll count toward division standings. Otherwise, there's not really a Big 10 conference, there are two conferences that have an agreement to play a championship game and to hold a series of non-conference games.
In-division records will likely be a key tie-breaker (right after head-to-head, I'd imagine), but all Big 10 games should/will count toward the divisional standings.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:35 PM ^
After that I'm feeling pretty good about this setup. The world still makes sense and all
September 1st, 2010 at 12:44 PM ^
September 1st, 2010 at 12:24 PM ^
They're fucking sucking today.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:32 PM ^
I wonder why the city of the school that is getting the worst of the deal (not playing UM on last Saturday, losing the last Saturday rilvarly with PSU) is breaking the divisional alignment news. Have fun with the Hoosiers or whoever else you call a rival Sparty
September 1st, 2010 at 12:36 PM ^
I wish it was possible to merge threads
Maybe I'll write an angry email to Mary Sue Coleman, Dave Brandon, Jim Delaney, Tom Osborne...
September 1st, 2010 at 12:39 PM ^
It seemed to work last time....
September 1st, 2010 at 12:52 PM ^
We are Michigan.
Act like you've been there before. I say bring it on.
The day Michigan is scared of MSU and NU, we might as well disband the team and use the Big House for competitive dancing.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:53 PM ^
OSU wins again. That's the problem with breaking up based on past performance. The team with the best performance gets the easiest in division schedule because they don't have to play themselves.
Before long we will have six rivalry games: Iowa, OSU, MSU, ND, Minn, Neb. Our players will be even more beaten up and burned out.
And our bean counter AD will not blame himself. This is not how you turn around a struggling program.