Around the Big Ten

[Mike]

You can check out but you can never leave.

[hack]

Let's take up a collection to help Maryland and Rutgers on their way...

[THE_WIZARD_]

Let's not.

[WM Wolverine]

Advantages of this round of expansion aren't financial (I see Maryland, Rutgers merely paying their share unless NYC gets basic carriage thanks to Fox), it is enlarging the footprint, weaking a rival conference and enhancing the B10's 'power.'

B10 has a grant of rights but nobody would ever want to leave.

[Da Geezer]

LOL Mike.

I was thinking of having UM and OSU check out and getting together with, say Texas, Nebraska, PSU, UNC, LSU, Bama, Georgia, Florida, Really just trying to cause trouble. Now THAT would be a Big 10. Why does the Big 2 have to carry the Little 8 all my lifetime?

[iam416]

The scuttlebutt is that UVa and NC are the targets. And the Maryland move has caused panic. The B12 is apparently fielding inquiries from everyone with a football program.

[WM Wolverine]

Except Wake. ;)

[WM Wolverine]

NC & Virginia would finish the B10 at 16 universities, 7 division games a season, 1 rivalry game and you'd play 1 of the other 7 every 7th year. Every 14 years, M would play at PSU, Maryland, Rutgers, Virginia, Wisky, Purdue & NC...

[iam416]

I think they would go to a pod system and 9 conference games, WM, to prevent the 14 year thing.

[iam416]

So, four PODs of 4. You play your pod every year (3 games). You are paired with a rotating pod each year (another 4 games). And you have 2 other games, 1 of which is protected.

So:

Pod A: Michigan
Pod B: OSU
Pod C: UNL
Pod D: PSU

Leaders: Pod A + Pod C/D
Legends: Pod B + Pod C/D

So two Pods flip divisions every two years. So, Michigan always plays OSU from Pod B. They play everyone in Pods C/D twice very four years. And then they cycle through the other Pod B teams -- play each twice every 6 years.

I think that's a rough idea of what the B10 has in mind.

[WM Wolverine]

Agree, at 16 teams you pretty much need pods so you don't play your cross division programs so infrequently. In your pods, you need to add your rivals...

Your scenario looks good but putting the pieces together ain't easy; you'd need to split up some schools from being in the same pod to give some teams their protected rival.

[iam416]

Here’s a quick roughed out Pods:

Pod A: Michigan, MSU, Virginia, NW
Pod B: OSU, UNC, Illinois, Rutgers
Pod C: Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana
Pod D: Penn State, Maryland, Purdue, Goofers

Pod A/B Protected games: M-OSU; Illinois-NW; UVa-NC; MSU-Rutgers
Pod C/D Protected games: UNL-PSU; Purdue-Indiana; Wisconsin-Minnesota; Iowa-Maryland

So, Pod A and Pod B are always in opposite divisions. So, you play your protected teams every year and then cycle through the other 3. You play Pods C and D every two years. MSU has to be in Michigan’s Pod b/c OSU is protected. MSU really doesn’t have any other rival of note, so why not stick them with Rutgers. PSU-UNL are protected b/c the B10 wants those games. That means Maryland has to go into PSU’s pod and Iowa into Nebraska’s pod. Iowa gets hosed with Maryland, but some team is going to get hosed.

Alternatively, straightforward East/West works, too with no protected games and 2 inter-divisional games – meaning it’s once every 8 years.

OSU, M, MSU, PSU, Rutgers, Maryland, UVa, UNC
Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, NW, Indiana, Purdue, Goofers

I think you’d want to carefully stagger that to get Nebraska playing one of the big 3 6 years out of 8.

[hack]

I don't wanna be at the table with all the new kids though!!!

Seriously, if the endgame ultimately is 3 or four superconferences, we're going to 20. The word conference won't be as meaningful as the word division. The old Big Ten (plus Nebraska and minus Purdue or Northwestern, in my ideal world) will be meaningful as a division of the new conference, and we can go back to playing games against mostly traditional rivalries.

[iam416]

BTW, if I were doing pods, I would stick OSU and M in the same Pod and PSU and UNL in the same Pod.

Pod A: OSU, Michigan, Maryland, Iowa
Pod B: Penn State, Nebraska, MSU, Rutgers
Pod C: Wisconsin, Virginia, , NW, Indiana
Pod D: UNC, Minnesota, Illinois, Purdue

Protected Rivalries A/B: OSU-PSU; UNL-Iowa; MSU-M; Maryland-Rutgers
Protected Rivalries C/D: UNC-UVa; Wisky-Goofers; NW-Illinois; Indiana-Purdue

Pods A and B would always be in separate divisions, as would C/D.

So Michigan would always play OSU and MSU and then they’d play PSU, UNL and Rutgers in succession. During the M-Rutgers years, the B10 could ensure that OSU-UNL play to make sure they maximize their big-name matchups. That also means that Pods C and D always get 2 of the big name programs. So Wisky-M; Wisky-OSU or UNC-OSU; OSU-M.

That way makes the most sense to me, by a longshot.

[iam416]

Hack:

I don't think they get to 20 unless ND is on-board. I think they want UVa and UNC. If that forces ND's hand and they change their mind, then I think they take 1-3 teams to fill out the conference. Georgia Tech, I think, would be target 1. Whether they bumped up to 20, I dunno.