Big Ten To Announce Divisions Tonight

[NobodyBeatsCy]

Is Jim Gray hosting?

[theshadow]

Check out the front page of the BTN:

Big Ten Network

Also, note the name of the file for that picture includes the words Big Ten Divisions.

Nice catch.

[DMjazz]

Check out the front page of the BTN:

Big Ten Network

Also, note the name of the file for that picture includes the words Big Ten Divisions.

I really doubt that Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota (3 western most schools) wind up in the East. I also doubt Penn St ends up in the West.

[hawkeyescott]

I really doubt that Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota (3 western most schools) wind up in the East. I also doubt Penn St ends up in the West.

The Big Ten has said along that geography will be the least deciding factor in divisions and they won't name them East/West or North/South either for this reason. They want competitive balance, rivalries, then geography in determining the divisions, so I could see these as divisions as well.

[stateofmind]

Everybody sees this as balanced. I'm sure the Big XII was balanced in '96 or whenever it was we formed. But look at it earlier this decade? How do you plan for the shift of power? You can't, so keep it geographic.

[theshadow]

I really doubt that Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota (3 western most schools) wind up in the East. I also doubt Penn St ends up in the West.

If those helmets are lined up accurately (and they probably aren't), you have:

"West" - Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio St, Purdue
"East" - Michigan, Penn St, Indiana, Mich St, Wisconsin, Northwestern

[MNCyGuy]

Everybody sees this as balanced. I'm sure the Big XII was balanced in '96 or whenever it was we formed. But look at it earlier this decade? How do you plan for the shift of power? You can't, so keep it geographic.

Yea, but the Big XII essentially unbalanced because one of the divisions sat in the conferences main recruiting territory and one didn't. Big Ten won't have that problem.

[stateofmind]

If those helmets are lined up accurately (and they probably aren't), you have:

"West" - Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio St, Purdue
"East" - Michigan, Penn St, Indiana, Mich St, Wisconsin, Northwestern

@BIGTEN Twitter says it is in no particular order. We shall see.

[3GenClone]

Everybody sees this as balanced. I'm sure the Big XII was balanced in '96 or whenever it was we formed. But look at it earlier this decade? How do you plan for the shift of power? You can't, so keep it geographic.

Yea, but the Big XII essentially unbalanced because one of the divisions sat in the conferences main recruiting territory and one didn't. Big Ten won't have that problem.

I actually think the benefit of the Big 10 will be this balance of talent over geography. What it does it keeps the Big 10 fanbase centralized - in this proposal you have Wisconsin in the "East", but it's still in the middle of the "West" division, making those displaced Wiscy fans in Eastern Minnesota, Upper Peninsula Michigan and Northern Illionis (Not Chicago) interested in ALL things Big 10. This is a problem in the Big 12, as the conference was formed based on geography and cut off the 2 divisions - I don't think recruiting would be as favorible to the southern schools had the Big 12 formed 2 divisions made up of 3 south universities and 3 north universities each

[hawkeyescott]

@BIGTEN Twitter says it is in no particular order. We shall see.

Jon is in Chicago and has seen the divisions already and he stated he doesn't see a resemblance of the divisions to the way the helmets are lined up either.

[isuno1fan]

I do not see this as favorable to Iowa in anyway. That division is extremely balanced minus Mn. Any one of those 5 could win on any given year.

The other division is ridiculously top heavy.

[DaddyMac]

I do not see this as favorable to Iowa in anyway. That division is extremely balanced minus Mn. Any one of those 5 could win on any given year.

The other division is ridiculously top heavy.

I was thinking just the opposite. Not having either PSU or OSU in your division?

Their's might be more balanced, but I would think Iowa is still the top of that division - yes, even with NU. And we'll see what the future holds for Michigan.

I don't see MSU, NW or MN being of particular concern.

(I know NW has Iowa's number, and Iowa seemingly has PSU's)

What I find somewhat funny is that for as much as Iowa fan thinks every team has them circled on the schedule (playing Iowa is THAT big of a deal), it would seem to be a toss-up between they and MSU for getting the leftovers in the "rivalry" pool.

[CycloneYoda]

Looks like Michigan State has a trip to the big 10 bball championship locked down for the next 5-10 years.

I don't think you thought through this before you posted it.

[edr247]

I was thinking just the opposite. Not having either PSU or OSU in your division?

Their's might be more balanced, but I would think Iowa is still the top of that division - yes, even with NU. And we'll see what the future holds for Michigan.

I don't see MSU, NW or MN being of particular concern.

(I know NW has Iowa's number, and Iowa seemingly has PSU's)

What I find somewhat funny is that for as much as Iowa fan thinks every team has them circled on the schedule (playing Iowa is THAT big of a deal), it would seem to be a toss-up between they and MSU for getting the leftovers in the "rivalry" pool.

I don't know how many Iowa fans think everyone's circling them on the schedule. This year, perhaps, but most of the time it would just really be Wisconsin and Minnesota, IMO.

Iowa's main rivalry with Minnesota is safe, as we're in the same division, and we get the potential Nebraska rivalry. Since Wisconsin gets it's protected rivalry with Minnesota, we can't pick them up as ours. PSU could be paired with Iowa, but I think the Big 10 would love to make money by having PSU and Nebraska play each other.

Iowa-Northwestern has the potential to be a recognized rivalry. As Fitzgerald said about Northwestern former coach Barnett,

Barnett supposedly planted the seed of discontent toward Iowa during the early stages of his seven-year reign as the Northwestern coach from 1992-98.
He basically used Iowa as the measuring stick for his program.
He also supposedly used a comment by former Iowa coach Hayden Fry to inspire his players.
As the story goes, Iowa had just demolished Northwestern 49-13 in 1994 at Kinnick Stadium, and while Fry and Barnett were shaking hands at midfield after the game, Fry reportedly said to Barnett that he hoped that none of his players got hurt during the game.
Barnett supposedly considered it a slap in the face of his program. And from that point on, defeating Iowa was a major part of his motivation.
“I know when coach came, he had the utmost respect for coach Fry,” Fitzgerald said. “I remember more what he said to us behind closed doors. He said, ‘If we want to take the next step, we’ve got to compete and be able to beat Iowa on a regular basis’ because they were a team that was kind of at that next level from a consistently winning standpoint in Big Ten play.”

They've certainly done a good job against us.

[DaddyMac]

I don't know how many Iowa fans think everyone's circling them on the schedule. This year, perhaps, but most of the time it would just really be Wisconsin and Minnesota, IMO.

Iowa's main rivalry with Minnesota is safe, as we're in the same division, and we get the potential Nebraska rivalry. Since Wisconsin gets it's protected rivalry with Minnesota, we can't pick them up as ours. PSU could be paired with Iowa, but I think the Big 10 would love to make money by having PSU and Nebraska play each other.

Oh come on! a) there was a certain amount of sarcasm in my "eveyone's rival" post. But come on this board, and you'll quickly get the feeling from hawks that everyone is Iowa's rival EXCEPT ISU. b) you can't be happy with Purdue as a "rival" game? Patsy... sure. Rival?

I suppose it's been 20+ years since I called myself a hawk fan, and I grew up in Dubuque, so certainly had a skewed viewpoint. But Iowa/Purdue held zero meaning of any importance. It was all about Iowa/Wisc and Iowa/Ill (again, tri-state area)

I get the WI/MN thing. But I have to say I don't when it comes to IL/NW. Instate, sure. Maybe some Ill residents could chime in on that.