DaddyBigBucks;1755051; said:
If that is how that site actually scores that, then I see no reason why that site should ever be cited.
Ohio State and Michigan in different divisions ranks a 97 (A+) for rivalries?
No
Having those two in different divisions should cap the maximum score for Rivalries at somewhere between negative infinity and negative infinity factorial.
As I've said before, I understand the heart behind that statement. I just don't understand the logic.
There
are other rivalries in the BigTen that are also heated, important rivalries to the schools that participate in them. Of course they aren't anywhere NEAR as heated or as anticipated as Ohio State/Michigan, but they DO exist and they ARE important to the overall condition of the conference. That set-up elicits an A+ (97) on that website because it preserves ALL of the 4pt rivalries (outside of the obvious one) and most of the 3pt rivalries (according to the site) in the BigTen.
I don't believe that anybody is arguing that Ohio State/Michigan doesn't trump each and every one of those rivalries combined, but this one game is not the be all end all of the entire conference. If that were the case, we might as well go independent with Michigan since that one game is the only one that matters at all every year, right? Having the BigTen, a major BCS conference, thrive from top to bottom isn't going to give us any advantage toward getting to the title game, right? So who cares if 90% of the conference's followers and fans lose interest because their team's main rivals don't play them every year anymore? Who cares if every other program in the conference suffers as long as we, the mighty mighty Buckeyes, get everything we want with no exceptions? Who cares if the rest of the conference becomes more uninteresting than they already are now as long as Ohio State and Michigan play the final game of the season every year?
Obviously, the sarcasm is unnecessary, but it drives my point.
If the rest of the BigTen is set up to spark national interest and therefore help build the BigTen brand, doesn't that bode well for those at the TOP of the BigTen, i.e: THE Ohio State University?
What good does it do the university to be the kings of a garbage heap when it's possible to be
the kings of a kingdom? For the exact same reasons The Game would lose a little bit of prestige if it were tampered with, all the other rivalries that get nixed in a poor divisional split would suffer the same fate. In TOTALITY it is better for the conference for the largest rivalry in the sport to take a small hit, so that the rivalries that NEED a little bit of help to be relevant get to stay alive. I've played with that website a bit and I can't find a single split where tOSU and tSUN stay in the same division that preserves more pre-existing rivalries than the North/South split already mentioned.
Divisions ARE going to happen and when they happen changes to many of the current rivalries are more than likely going to come with them. That's a given. What's also a given is that with divisions set up every regular season game is going to take some sort of a hit in the scheme of things. When you only have half of the conference to worry about having a better record than, you lose a little bit of urgency. And we KNOW that if they put Ohio State and Michigan in separate divisions The Game would take FAR more of a hit if it were still played the final week of the season. In that scenario, if the teams' success sets up a re-match in the CCG The Game being played during the final week of the regular season could render it ENTIRELY irrelevant. Imagine the years when both teams are leading their division going into that game and the runners up in each division wouldn't slip in barring a loss by the leaders. The Game would be entirely unnecessary. At least in mid-October they would still have something to play for.
So logically that eliminates any idea of them splitting and still playing in the final week.
So the options that gives us are
two:
1) tOSU/tSUN same division and play the final week of the regular season.
2) tOSU/tSUN different divisions play week 6 or 7 in mid-October.
Option one means that while The Game will still be the one where everything is left on the field and every player gives 120% on every play knowing they have either a month or a year to recoup, it will NEVER AGAIN be the game that wins the conference outright for either team. It just can't happen that way because either team will have to play the other division's winner for the title in what would almost always be an anti-climactic game if both teams are having a successful season and The Game is played as a Semi-Final to get in.
Option two means that every year Ohio State and Michigan get to play in mid-October for the opportunity to throw a major roadblock in the other team's path to the CCG and in all likelihood, in most seasons, deliver the first loss on the opponent's schedule. Of course, this also means that no longer will either team be able to play immediate spoiler to the other when they aren't having a winning season themselves. In that same vein, however, when both teams are on top of their game, the CCG has the opportunity to be what it has been in years past, the final battle royale, the endgame of the conference, THE GAME (vol. 2) that determines who takes the crown as the King of the BigTen for that year and the bid to either the Rose Bowl or National Championship game.
In years where The Game is SOLELY about pure hatred and bragging rights it shouldn't much matter WHEN the game is played. It's only in the years where standings come into play that timing and venue are important to discuss. Which is why the more I look at this, the more I can get behind the split. Some of the tradition is completely thrown out the window, but the fire and fervor has EVERY opportunity to be just as hot, and isn't that what it's really all about? The passion? The fire? Aren't the best episodes of The Game the ones where the winner takes the crown outright? Played mid-season, it's more likely that neither team will be completely out the picture either, adding more meaning to that win than if one team is out of the race in the final week.
To site an example of a mid-season rivalry that's withstood the test of time, Texas and Oklahoma have played during the second week of October for 78 years. That rivalry is still as heated (if not more so) than it was upon it's inception and has, on multiple occasions been the coup de grace for one team's conference championship hopes.
HOWEVER, it's now been a BigXII conference game for 14 years, and if you take a look at what has happened with both teams being in the same division you find more evidence that playing that type of rivalry game mid-season is just stupid. Just 2 years ago Texas was left on the doorstep of the CCG after BEATING Oklahoma because of the fact that voters voted for Oklahoma down the stretch and due to the rules regarding tie-breakers and divisional winners the voters had the final say. If a 10-1 Texas beats an 11-0 Oklahoma on the final week of the season, I would venture to say that Texas would've leapfrogged them in the standings and went on to represent the South division in the CCG. If the divisions were set-up with Tech and Texas on one side and Oklahoma and OSU on the other, Oklahoma plays Texas Tech a second time for the championship as Tech wins the head-to-head in their division and Texas has no opportunity to claim the conference title even though they pull even in the head-to-head-to-head.
Just another reason that the aforementioned scenarios should be the only two in consideration.
All-in-all,
my point is that I would love for The Game to go through as little change as possible, but if it WERE to endure some changes there IS an opportunity for it to be just as good, if not better in some ways. Of course, tradition trumps ALL to many fans and any change to that is negative regardless. In those cases simply HAVING divisions might be verging on too much change.
Can't please 'em all I suppose and in this case they obviously won't.
*whew*
EDIT:
Just found the split that scores the highest A+ (100) possible on
Rivalries.
This split only makes 4 pre-existing rivalries inter-divisional (tSUN/MSU, ILL/tOSU, PSU/MSU and IA/NWU).
I would assume in this case the first two could be preserved inter-divisionally. So theoretically this split would only lose two rivalries overall, both 2pt'ers.
Obviously this split is terrible Geography and Competitively though, but in terms of rivalries being preserved this is "the best".
Ohio State/Nebraska
Michigan/Michigan State
Penn State/Illinois
Iowa/Northwestern
Wisconsin/Purdue
Minnesota/Indiana
C: D+ (27)
R: A+ (100)
G: C- (33)
O: C+ (53)
"The best" in terms of
Geography is the East/West split:
Nebraska/Ohio State
Iowa/Michigan
Wisconsin/Michigan State
Illinois/Penn State
Northwestern/Indiana
Minnesota/Purdue
C: B+ (70)
R: A (90)
G: A+ (100)
O: A (87)
"The best" in terms of
Competitiveness is this split:
Ohio State/Nebraska
Michigan/Wisconsin
Michigan State/Penn State
Indiana/Purdue
Illinois/Northwestern
Iowa/Minnesota
C: A+ (100)
R: C (43)
G: C- (35)
O: B- (59)
"The best"
overall is this split:
Ohio State/Nebraska
Michigan/Iowa
Penn State/Wisconsin
Michigan State/Minnesota
Illinois/Northwestern
Indiana/Purdue
C: A- (80)
R: A+ (93)
G: A+ (95)
O: A (90)
