Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

[RugbyBuck]

I wouldn't mind Rutgers. We'd be a big help to them and, apart from the NY/NJ/PHL market, it would be a great Fuck You to Our Lady of the Large Fat Man. That said, I'm against the championship model. Why make it that much harder for us to get to the NC? Yes, the layoff hurt us last year, but I don't see this year's version becoming complacent.

 

[bkochmc]

Expand or contract. I don't care which one it is, but 11 teams is stupid. Either boot someone or get us to twelve teams. Either way we can add a conference game and get rid of at least one weak sisters game.

I'm not nearly as afraid of weakening the meaning of The Game as most seem to be. I honestly don't think that an extra game will do any damage to its importance whatsoever. Whatever we do, something has to be done. Because the current format of this conference is complete ass.

If the Big10 would boot a team (don't know who they would boot) I would like to see a 9-game round robin like the Pac10... eliminates that extra OOC game against a cupcake.

 

[daveeb]

We could just have all the Big Ten teams play each other instead. 13 game schedule, 10 in-conference games, 3 out of conference games. Have a bye week as well.

Think of it this way:

9/1 YSU/Akron/Kent
9/8 YSU/Akron/Kent
9/15 Washington
9/22 Northwestern
9/29 Minnesota
10/6 Purdue
10/13 Bye
10/20 MSU
10/27 Penn State
11/3 Wisconsin
11/10 Illinois
11/17 Iowa
11/24 Indiana
12/1 Michigan

That way, instead of having as big of a layoff, we play every team in our conference (Big 12, ACC, and SEC don't need to with a Championship Game), and we still finish with tradition (Just 1 week later).

Just a thought.

 

[kn1f3party]

The Capital times (free)

Mertz: Will BTN lead to Big Ten expansion?

Adam Mertz ? 11/02/2007 8:34 am

Interesting article where Mertz outlines some of the reasons why going a week early or late wouldn't work. I also find it interesting he mentions ND, Texas, and Florida but states we'll be looking past those to Rutgers, Syracuse, Missouri, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Iowa State.

I just don't see it happening any time soon with the schools he states. However, Rutgers fans are adament about mentioning secretive talks with the network. From the standpoint of TV market, this could be the push they need to get in to a lot of cable carriers.

 

[3yardsandacloud]

Interesting article where Mertz outlines some of the reasons why going a week early or late wouldn't work. I also find it interesting he mentions ND, Texas, and Florida but states we'll be looking past those to Rutgers, Syracuse, Missouri, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Iowa State.

BigTen Bylaws state that any expansion must be within, or next to, current Big Ten territory.

It is assumed that means neighboring states. If so, Florida and Texas are NOT options for expansion. Only states that border current BigTen geography would have expansion possibilities. Oh, that also eliminates Vandy.

Additionally, I highly doubt any BigTen member is EVER forced to leave the conference. The only way this has ever happen is at the request of the member institution.

 

[Emperor Brutus]

What if you add another team, add an extra game to the big10 schedule, but still NOT add a confrence championship.

Now, in the event of a tie and the teams have not gone head-to-head, have a one game playoff for the crown only IF needed.

Agreed, I said the same thing a few pages back and mapped out the way I?d like it to work, again the Big Ten would be a leader and not a follower.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

I agree.. but not playing an extra game did hurt the buckeyes last year..

What if you add another team, add an extra game to the big10 schedule, but still NOT add a confrence championship.

Now, in the event of a tie and the teams have not gone head-to-head, have a one game playoff for the crown only IF needed.

So, if we played a game after The Game (which wouldn't have been needed because we were the only undefeated team in the conference), you think a 45-day layoff would've made that much of a difference over a 52-day layoff? Uh, no. All the "title" game would've done is give someone (likely a team we'd already beaten) a chance to upset us and keep us from the title game.

We getting get pounded by Florida because we had such a long layoff (Florida had a 38-day layoff themselves), but rather we went into the game thinking we had it won already...

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

All the "title" game would've done ...

Well, there is the total destruction of the greatest rivalry in sports, but other than that...


And yes, even if it were a game that were only played "if needed", it would still diminish the importance of The Game. So many people claimed that nothing could harm the importance of the Oklahoma/Nebraska rivalry; now, I would bet there are people on this board who don't even know that OK/NE used to be a rivalry at all.

The very thought of a conference game involving either OSU or scUM being played AFTER the game is anathema to me.

 

[kinch]

The very thought of a conference game involving either OSU or scUM being played AFTER the game is anathema to me.

I know that to most people anathemas sound dirty or weird, but don't knock 'em until you've tried 'em.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

The very thought of a conference game involving either OSU or scUM being played AFTER the game is anathema to me.

I know that to most people anathemas sound dirty or weird, but don't knock 'em until you've tried 'em.

I had an anathema once and I about shit all over the place...

 

[buckeyebri]

Well, there is the total destruction of the greatest rivalry in sports, but other than that...


And yes, even if it were a game that were only played "if needed", it would still diminish the importance of The Game. So many people claimed that nothing could harm the importance of the Oklahoma/Nebraska rivalry; now, I would bet there are people on this board who don't even know that OK/NE used to be a rivalry at all.

The very thought of a conference game involving either OSU or scUM being played AFTER the game is anathema to me.

OK/NE was always the day after Thanksgiving if i recall correctly. It was one of the biggest games outside of OSU/UM. Since the formation of the BIG 12 that game has been moved in the schedule and totally lost any significance in College Football.

 

[NightmaresDad]

Well, there is the total destruction of the greatest rivalry in sports, but other than that...


And yes, even if it were a game that were only played "if needed", it would still diminish the importance of The Game. So many people claimed that nothing could harm the importance of the Oklahoma/Nebraska rivalry; now, I would bet there are people on this board who don't even know that OK/NE used to be a rivalry at all.

The very thought of a conference game involving either OSU or scUM being played AFTER the game is anathema to me.

AMEN. brother!

 

[Bleed S & G]

you think a 45-day layoff would've made that much of a difference over a 52-day layoff?

I would like to re-tract my earlier statement that the layoff hurt the buckeyes..

Looking at the number of days.. i think the layoff gets too much credit for being a factor in our loss. Perhaps it came into play.. but not as much as I orginally thought

We getting get pounded by Florida because we had such a long layoff (Florida had a 38-day layoff themselves), but rather we went into the game thinking we had it won already...

As much as I love Troy, he was the reason we lost IMO. He was out of shape and partying the week of the game. He stayed out of trouble since the last incident he had, but IMO, really dropped the ball for the NC.

Lets recap the UF loss..

• 50+ days lay-off between The Game and the game
• Ted Ginn, who demands 2 DBs to cover and provides great mismatches on Gonzo, Hall, Pittman out of the backfield and TEs, goes down on the first play of the game
• Troy Smith was fat and out of shape, wrong game to do it as he was running for his life all night
• Along with the mismatches out the window, our gameplan never recovered from losing Ginn while UF was able to rush hard all night
• UF played their best game of the year
• tOSU played their worst game of the year
• Minimal adjustments by the staff and players alike
• ESPiN hype providing bulletin board material for a month (conspiracy? :tongue2:)

Add these all together, it's easy to see why we got our clocks cleaned last January. And yes Mili, you're right it wasn't just the layoff

 

[spurrier]

Hey buckeye nation..2 questions

number 1..How would you guys view Notre Dame joining the big Ten for football? First of all let me say that we, ummm, hate ND. Saying that, lots of us think it would only be natural to have them join your conference. the matchups are regional and fierce, and you could then actually have a conference championship game. ND OSU would be a nice game question 2...as a buckeye fan do you think it is fair that a loser of a league championship game should be punished in the polls when a big ten team can just sit home on dec 4? this is a legit question. I personally think that it blows that any school who plays in any ccg, wich is for money only, can lose a shot at the nc by playing in a game that 2 major conferences can skip. An example is kansas going to the orange bowl. Missouri beats kansas in the regular season, goes to the ccg against oklahoma, whom kansas didnt ever play in the first place, and sit on their duffs, eat popcorn and wish for missouri to lose. i personally loathe when an sec team is ranked 1 or 2 and has to win it to stay in it.

 

[mross34]

number 1..How would you guys view Notre Dame joining the big eleven for football? First of all let me say that we, ummm, hate ND. Saying that, lots of us think it would only be natural to have them join the big ten and even up the league so you could then actually have a conference championshiop game. ND OSU would be a nice game question 2...as a buckeye fan do you think it is fair that a loser of a league championship game should be punished in the polls when a big ten team can just sit home on dec 4? this is a legit question. I personally think that it blows that any school who plays in any ccg, wich is for money only, can lose a shot at the nc by playing in a game that 2 major conferences can skip. An example is kansas going to the orange bowl. Missouri beats kansas in the regular season, goes to the ccg against oklahoma, whom kansas didnt ever play in the first place, and sit on their duffs, eat popcorn and wish for missouri to lose.

#1) Personally, I'd like kicking the shit out of Ntre Ame every year.

#2) It's your own G-D fault for playing a gimmick-ass conference championship game. The Pac-10 has it right with the regular season round-robin set up.