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Realignment is coming for the B1G

Per Michigan State's AD: >>...what you see next year at this time will be much different than what we’re doing right now...there will be changes, quite a bit of them.<<

Wow. Can't wait.
 
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Future schedules were pulled off of the Big 10 website a couple of days ago. I do hope that the Big 10 wises up and starts scheduling in a manner to set up their premier teams for playoff runs instead of hindering them. Move to 8 conference games, put byes and creampuff opponents before tough matchups, avoid many tough matchups in succession, etc. This is what the SEC does. The downside is that makes for a worse product for fans throughout the season but all will be forgiven if playoff appearances improve, and that's the only measuring stick that really matters in today's game.
 
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Jed and Phil say Pod's are coming PSU will be in the Maryland, Rutgers, OSU, and Michigan State Pod- but No UM. Will see I guess.
 
Jed and Phil say Pod's are coming PSU will be in the Maryland, Rutgers, OSU, and Michigan State Pod- but No UM. Will see I guess.
5 teams in a pod? who are they adding to make 15?
 
5 teams in a pod? who are they adding to make 15?
I doubt there is "pods" per se. More likely, each team has a set number of fixed opponents they will play every year. And then they rotate through the rest.

If it is 4 fixed opponents and assuming the Big Ten keeps a 9 game conference schedule - they came out a few months ago and said they wanted to stay at 9 games - then they can rotate through every team home and away in 4 seasons.
 
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I mean, Michigan and Ohio St are going to be an every year thing too so...
Big2 will get everything they want - that you can rest assured.

Should have left the Big10 long ago.

Too late now, College football is kaput shortly anyway.

Welcome to minor league football…with lots of people in “could care less column”…

…Rrmember when boxing was a headline sport…their powers to be made changes and…well, you know the rest
 
Big2 will get everything they want - that you can rest assured.

Should have left the Big10 long ago.

Too late now, College football is kaput shortly anyway.

Welcome to minor league football…with lots of people in “could care less column”…

…Rrmember when boxing was a headline sport…their powers to be made changes and…well, you know the rest

Ohio State is going to have to play Michigan and Penn STate every year -- and probably Michigan State, depending on their pod.

Michigan will have to play Ohio State and Michigan State every year.

Come on. OSU wins the title almost every year because they have the best talent, coaches, etc. Not because of any schedule favors or Big Ten front office conspiratorial favors.

If we want to win championships, gonna have to beat OSU. Period. No point whining about having to play Ohio State. They have to play us, after all. The opportunity is there for us. If we don't win it, nobody to blame but us.
 
Ohio State is going to have to play Michigan and Penn STate every year -- and probably Michigan State, depending on their pod.

Michigan will have to play Ohio State and Michigan State every year.

Come on. OSU wins the title almost every year because they have the best talent, coaches, etc. Not because of any schedule favors or Big Ten front office conspiratorial favors.

If we want to win championships, gonna have to beat OSU. Period. No point whining about having to play Ohio State. They have to play us, after all. The opportunity is there for us. If we don't win it, nobody to blame but us.
word is that each team will have two protected "rivalry games" each year. I suggest we do Purdue and Illinois.
 
word is that each team will have two protected "rivalry games" each year. I suggest we do Purdue and Illinois.
if that is the case, PSU rivalry game will not be OSU as OSU is not going to sign up for Michigan and PSU yearly. OSU will have Michigan and Illinois or Northwestern type of second match-up.

I suspect that PSU will get MSU and one of Rutgers or Maryland as their two rivalry games.
 
if that is the case, PSU rivalry game will not be OSU as OSU is not going to sign up for Michigan and PSU yearly. OSU will have Michigan and Illinois or Northwestern type of second match-up.

I suspect that PSU will get MSU and one of Rutgers or Maryland as their two rivalry games.
Yeah.....I suspect we'll get MSU and Maryland/Rutgers.

OSU will have Michigan and possibly Illinois given the Illibuck trophy. Although several schools claim rivalries with OSU.

I'd see the Big Ten as follows:

Penn State: Michigan State and Maryland
Ohio State: Michigan and Illinois
Michigan: Ohio State and Michigan State
Michigan State: Penn State and Michigan
Maryland: Penn State and Rutgers
Rutgers: Maryland and Indiana
Indiana: Purdue and Rutgers
Wisconsin: Minnesota and Iowa
Iowa: Wisconsin and Nebraska
Nebraska: Iowa and Minnesota
Minnesota: Wisconsin and Nebraska
Illinois: Ohio State and Northwestern
Northwestern: Illinois and Purdue
Purdue: Indiana and Northwestern

The Michigan schools have the toughest slate given that they have each other while also have Ohio State and Penn State as rivals.
 
I think 4 rivalry games plus 5 games of 2 on and 2 off make the most sense. Not pods. Each team's rivalries would be different. It could be a scheduling nightmare tho.
For example something like this:
Psu: osu, md, ru, msu
Osu: um, psu, ill, ind
Um: osu, msu, Wisconsin, ind
Msu: um, psu, Wisconsin, pur
Etc.
 
Seems to me like 3 set games is more likely than 2. Even 4 seems possible. There's no particular reason to make it only two as you can play every team in a 2 year cycle if desired with 3 set games. And the only reason to make it fewer set games would be to play other teams more frequently.

Maybe if the Big Ten were expanding to more teams, I could see only 2 set games, but little reason at 14 members.
 
Ohio State is going to have to play Michigan and Penn STate every year -- and probably Michigan State, depending on their pod.

Michigan will have to play Ohio State and Michigan State every year.

Come on. OSU wins the title almost every year because they have the best talent, coaches, etc. Not because of any schedule favors or Big Ten front office conspiratorial favors.

If we want to win championships, gonna have to beat OSU. Period. No point whining about having to play Ohio State. They have to play us, after all. The opportunity is there for us. If we don't win it, nobody to blame but us.

I think the favoritism lies more with the man Barry and his team Wisconsin.

No other team has had such an easy route to the title year after year.
 
It would make sense to get PSU away from Michigan and OSU, least I hope so. I don’t think you can separate Michigan and OSU.
 
if that is the case, PSU rivalry game will not be OSU as OSU is not going to sign up for Michigan and PSU yearly. OSU will have Michigan and Illinois or Northwestern type of second match-up.

I suspect that PSU will get MSU and one of Rutgers or Maryland as their two rivalry games.
Don't forget that the AD is going to want at least one big home game per year so that season ticket sales don't suffer.
 
Why can't we have protected, 2 year rotation on then off, and fully rotating categories. For example,

Ohio St - protected Michigan;
2-year rotating on then off PSU, Illinois, Michigan St, etc.;
All else fully rotating

This allows for an every year rival, several other rivals that are played either every other year or you could do 2 years on and one off, and then a random mix of everyone else.

I am guessing PSU gets stuck with MSU as the annual rival but then we could rotate on again off again with Ohio St, Michigan, Maryland, Rutgres and then fully rotating through the rest. So we would get either Ohio St or Michigan every year, all away of course per B1G desires. 😆 And we still get either Maryland or Rutgres each year.
 
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Future schedules were pulled off of the Big 10 website a couple of days ago. I do hope that the Big 10 wises up and starts scheduling in a manner to set up their premier teams for playoff runs instead of hindering them. Move to 8 conference games, put byes and creampuff opponents before tough matchups, avoid many tough matchups in succession, etc. This is what the SEC does. The downside is that makes for a worse product for fans throughout the season but all will be forgiven if playoff appearances improve, and that's the only measuring stick that really matters in today's game.
what's the point of having a league if 1/3 of the games are out of conference rather than playing the teams in your league? Frankly, I think the leagues with 12 or more teams should have to play 10 league games.

Does your local high school play all the teams in their league?
 
what's the point of having a league if 1/3 of the games are out of conference rather than playing the teams in your league? Frankly, I think the leagues with 12 or more teams should have to play 10 league games.

Does your local high school play all the teams in their league?
simple answer to that question....$$$$$$$. out of conference games is where you bring in the mid and low majors and get that added home game every year. also, you won't get the coaches to sign up for that as 10 conference games means 10 teams that can actually beat you and one less auto win. coaches like that OOC patsy schedule to get a few wins and act as a preseason.

I think the answer at this point since players are now getting paid is to add another game to the schedule. so basically start on Labor day and go through Thanksgiving and eliminate the bye game to have a 13 game schedule.
 
simple answer to that question....$$$$$$$. out of conference games is where you bring in the mid and low majors and get that added home game every year. also, you won't get the coaches to sign up for that as 10 conference games means 10 teams that can actually beat you and one less auto win. coaches like that OOC patsy schedule to get a few wins and act as a preseason.

I think the answer at this point since players are now getting paid is to add another game to the schedule. so basically start on Labor day and go through Thanksgiving and eliminate the bye game to have a 13 game schedule.

You are right that we will be keeping it to a 9 game Conference schedule so as to allow for 7 Home Games. But no one will be extending the full regular season beyond 12 Games because of the upcoming expanded Playoffs.
 
You guys are all missing the most important piece of the puzzle.....THE LAND GRANT TROPHY! We must play Sparty every year and keep the greatest tradition in the history of sports alive. THE LAND GRANT TROPHY!
 
You guys are all missing the most important piece of the puzzle.....THE LAND GRANT TROPHY! We must play Sparty every year and keep the greatest tradition in the history of sports alive. THE LAND GRANT TROPHY!
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Why can't we have protected, 2 year rotation on then off, and fully rotating categories. For example,

Ohio St - protected Michigan;
2-year rotating on then off PSU, Illinois, Michigan St, etc.;
All else fully rotating

This allows for an every year rival, several other rivals that are played either every other year or you could do 2 years on and one off, and then a random mix of everyone else.

I am guessing PSU gets stuck with MSU as the annual rival but then we could rotate on again off again with Ohio St, Michigan, Maryland, Rutgres and then fully rotating through the rest. So we would get either Ohio St or Michigan every year, all away of course per B1G desires. 😆 And we still get either Maryland or Rutgres each year.
With 9 conference games, the Big Ten can have up to 4 teams you play every year and still be able to play every other team in the conference 2 out of every 4 years. there's no particular reason to limit to only 1 set rival every year and in fact I'm sure many teams would not be happy there being some teams they wouldn't play every year.

Personally, I think the sweet spot in 3 set opponents that each school plays every season and then every other team gets rotated and played 2 years on (home and away) then then 2 years off. You can actually do that and make it work with only 8 conference games.
 
what's the point of having a league if 1/3 of the games are out of conference rather than playing the teams in your league? Frankly, I think the leagues with 12 or more teams should have to play 10 league games.

Does your local high school play all the teams in their league?
I'm fine with playing more conference teams but if other conferences don't do it and play weak non-conference opponents, the Big 10 is at a competitive disadvantage for making the playoff if they don't follow suit. The SEC hasn't shown any desire to move to 9 conference games. While Bama is beating Citadel by 60 points in November, PSU is losing games to Minnesota. Making the playoff is very important and gives exposure and money to the conference, and scheduling needs to make that a priority.
 
I'm fine with playing more conference teams but if other conferences don't do it and play weak non-conference opponents, the Big 10 is at a competitive disadvantage for making the playoff if they don't follow suit. The SEC hasn't shown any desire to move to 9 conference games. While Bama is beating Citadel by 60 points in November, PSU is losing games to Minnesota. Making the playoff is very important and gives exposure and money to the conference, and scheduling needs to make that a priority.

Actually, the SEC is discussing the possibility of going to as many as 10 Conference games and having their own Playoff.

My guess is they will vote on a 9 game conference schedule, if not next week, then effective upon the arrival of Texas and Oklahoma.
 
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Actually, the SEC is discussing the possibility of going to as many as 10 Conference games and having their own Playoff.

My guess is they will vote on a 9 game conference schedule, if not next week, then effective upon the arrival of Texas and Oklahoma.
First I've heard of that but I haven't seen much about their plans after UT and OU join either, which obviously changes the dynamics a bit. Personally I think all playoff eligible conferences need to have similar scheduling rules. It's simply impossible to compare and rank 130 teams when they all play such different schedules and don't play head to head.
 
Btw? How could pods work with 14 teams? 2 pods of 3 teams and 2 pods of 4 teams?

Maybe you could do this:
pods of 3 play the other 2 teams in their pod + alternate every 4 years against the 2 pods of 4 + 1 other game rotated against the other pod of 3 to get 7 games per year. Flip that with pods of 4s where they play 3 + alternating against pods of 3 + 1 rotating game against each of the other pod of 4.

Pods could be:
PSU, MD & Rutgers
Osu, UM, MSU
Wis, Mn, Iowa, neb
Ind, pur, nw, ill
 
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Probably already mentioned but just a way to assure that Michigan plays OSU every year for the championship and playoff bid.
In years like last year, yes.

Recent history, Michigan wasn't even better than 3rd/4th in the East.
 
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