The Rest of College Football

[THE_WIZARD_]

Buh bye Purdue.

[Cody_Russell]

Most likely, yes. Unless Purdue randomly hits a home run with this hire.

There’s so much competition in the Big Ten West:
- Illinois. The Fighting BERTS seem to be near peak Illinois football.
- Northwestern. They will never have a better head coach than Pat Fitzgerald. Capable of having a quality Northwestern season any given year. Not to forget their new world class football facility.
- Minnesota. PJ Fleck has Minnesota rowing the boat to their most successful stretch in years.
- Iowa. Ferentz always has Iowa competing hard. Now with a revamped offense led by Cade McNamara and Erick All… watch out.
- Wisconsin. Just hired Luke Fickell with high expectations.
- Nebraska. Just hired Matt Rhule with high expectations.
- Purdue. Was at its peak for modern day Purdue football… the question is “what happens next” after losing a quality head coach in Jeff Brohm.

USC and UCLA are entering the Big Ten in 2024. Supposedly, divisions are going away. Interesting times ahead for Purdue. Seems to be bad if they miss on this coach hire.

[WM Wolverine]

Nothing official about divisions going away, it just doesn't make sense to play everyone in your division 7-games and 2 games vs the opposite division. You just don't play the competing division often enough, similar to what the SEC is like now.

[AlabamAlum]

The SEC is doing away with divisions when Oklahoma and Texas are in.

[CGVT]

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[THE_WIZARD_]

Do away with divisions. Do Pods if you want. Keep rivalries. No CCG once 12 team playoff is here.

[lineygoblue]

Do away with divisions. Do Pods if you want. Keep rivalries. No CCG once 12 team playoff is here.

Agreed. CCG's aren't necessary once the 12 team playoff starts. The major conference regular season winners are going to make the cut anyway. And, eliminating CCG's adds another week where the playoffs can take place, instead of starting a week later.

[WM Wolverine]

Pods could work if done correctly, I've just seen too many people suggest pods that are a bad idea as they are even less balanced than the B1G East and West; e.g. a pod of Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Sparty.

[Cody_Russell]

It makes sense to go away with divisions. Then randomize the scheduling with a few locks (like Michigan vs Ohio State, Purdue vs IU, Wisconsin vs Minnesota, etc). Pods idea is interesting.

…

Purdue coaching search update. A few names I’ve seen:
TCU OC Garrett Riley, Washington AHC JaMarcus Shephard, Dan Mullen, Syracuse HC Dino Babers, Georgia OC Todd Munken, ex-Wisconsin DC Jim Leonhard.

I think Garrett Riley would be a fun choice. Though please make Riley install the QB sneak in his playbook if he is the choice. Obvious reasons.
Munken sounds very boring. I don’t think Dino Babers is a good choice. Babers has consistently displayed poor clock management and Syracuse can’t recruit. Ranking #66 in team talent composite: https://247sports.com/Season/2022-Fo...lentComposite/

[THE_WIZARD_]

You could redo pods every so many years...but keep rivalries. Play every program at least once every 3-4 years.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Simplest scheduling is what I've described before. Play 9 games. Everyone gets 3 permanent "rivals". Everyone else rotates. You wouldn't go more than 2 years without playing anyone in the conference.

So say Nebraska's three designated rivals are USC, Iowa, and Penn State

2024-2025
USC (H/A)
Iowa (H/A)
Penn State (H/A)
Ohio State (H/A)
Michigan State (H/A)
Minnesota (H/A)
Illinois (H/A)
Purdue (H/A)
Rutgers (H/A)

2026-2027
USC (H/A)
Iowa (H/A)
Penn State (H/A)
Michigan (H/A)
UCLA (H/A)
Wisconsin (H/A)
Northwestern (H/A)
Indiana (H/A)
Maryland (H/A)

[Cody_Russell]

M having Ohio State, Michigan State, and Minnesota as locks makes sense.

Whatever they can do to get rid of playing Rutgers on a yearly basis. I don’t care about the free win. It’s rather that I have zero emotional attachment to the game. Most boring yearly game there is… Rutgers vs M. 🤮

[Mike]

What about our rivalry games with Northwestern and Nebraska?

[THE_WIZARD_]

Simplest scheduling is what I've described before. Play 9 games. Everyone gets 3 permanent "rivals". Everyone else rotates. You wouldn't go more than 2 years without playing anyone in the conference.

So say Nebraska's three designated rivals are USC, Iowa, and Penn State

2024-2025
USC (H/A)
Iowa (H/A)
Penn State (H/A)
Ohio State (H/A)
Michigan State (H/A)
Minnesota (H/A)
Illinois (H/A)
Purdue (H/A)
Rutgers (H/A)

2026-2027
USC (H/A)
Iowa (H/A)
Penn State (H/A)
Michigan (H/A)
UCLA (H/A)
Wisconsin (H/A)
Northwestern (H/A)
Indiana (H/A)
Maryland (H/A)

This is a likely scenario. The 12 team CFP changes everything. A team at 9-3 has a realistic shot at the CFP...hell an 8-4 team with a strong SOS could sneak in so your schedule strength is going to be critical for those "bubble" teams.

[Cody_Russell]

Read the first part of the headline and it freighted me because I feared it was going to say Purdue. Nope. Stanford. Thank goodness it would kick Jason Garrett out of the media.