Around the Big Ten

[Ed in Vermont]

I prefer the eight game conference schedule.

With the nine game schedule, that will reduce good out of conference games.

Each team will likely schedule two or three patsies, and maybe one good team.

[Jamie H]

What good OOC games? They are already gone. The 9th conference game will replace a tomato can.

[Mike]

Agreed. Adding a 9th Big Ten game will increase the quality of the schedule. The norm already is to schedule one decent BCS team as your "marquee" OOC game and 3 tomato cans. They might as well play more conference games. The only problems are the unbalanced schedule having 4 home games and 5 road games every other year and losing revenue from one home OOC game.

There could be huge swings in SOS from year to year. Take, for example, Michigan this year with UNL and osu both at home. With a 9th Big Ten game Michigan could be looking at 4 home games the following year with UNL and osu both away as part of a 5 game road schedule.

[lineygoblue]

To take Mike's point a bit further, suppose the two teams are in a fight for the division title, but it turns out one of them has five home conference games, and the other has five ROAD conference games. Big advantage to the team that gets the extra home game.

And if Michigan has a season where they have five conference road games, along with playing Notre Dame at South Bend, they might as well forget any thought of making the CCG or a BCS game.

[Hannibal]

Along with the 9-game conf schedule, the Big10 may start playing conf games in the first weeks of the season

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/...cuss-schedules

Might as well, since there's nothing but shit that first weekend anyways.

[lineygoblue]

They've done that before.

I remember a #1 ranked Michigan team led by QB Steve Smith going into Madison and getting ambushed in the first game of the year.

I'd prefer to see them get their OOC schedule out of the way at the beginning.

[Dr. Strangelove]

They've done that before.

I remember a #1 ranked Michigan team led by QB Steve Smith going into Madison and getting ambushed in the first game of the year.

I'd prefer to see them get their OOC schedule out of the way at the beginning.

Yeah, I think I'm with you and prefer the OOC games all coming first. But I can see from the coach's POV that it might be nice to do what many SEC teams do and schedule tomato cans late in the year to rest up.

[Mike]

They also opened the season with Illinois in 1996.

[lineygoblue]

It could make for some interesting matchups, though. Could you imagine a quirk in the schedule that makes Michigan open the season in Ann Arbor or East Lansing with the Spartans? Anything would be possible with this two-division setup.

[Mike]

Might be a good idea to rotate the 5th road game among the entire divisions. That way you're not competing for a berth in the CCG with a team that has one more conference home game than your team.

[whodean]

It would be advantageous to play, say Eastern the week before Ohio, for instance last year Bama played Georgia State before the Auburn game, gives the team a chance to reload.

[entropy]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp15N9BbYgY"]‪Kirk Cousins Kickoff Luncheon Speech‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

[Jamie H]

I didn't think of the unbalanced home-away aspect. That does suck. However, right now the schedules are ALREADY ridiculously unbalanced just based on who you skip. So they would remain unbalanced, just in a different way.

[Tom W]

Scheduling is something that works best when the workings are simple. MLB and the NHL all had the best intentions when they came up unbalanced schedules, with 82 and 162 game seasons, and the results are, more often than not, horrific. Mathematically, the 9-game schedule looks rather nightmarish and prone to doom.

If the B10+2 wanted to add more competitive games to the schedules then maybe they should take a cue from their BB programs- Have challenges with other conferences. How about the third weekend in September being reserved for games with the SEC or Pac12?

[Jamie H]

I don't disagree with you, but I don't see what makes the 8-game schedule simple. Choosing who you miss is just random and gives huge advantages to certain teams.