The B1G needs a change and the stiff that runs it agrees
- Thread starter PearlSUJam
- Start date
I'm all for this. But we all know that any changes will be made around The Big 2. So my recommendation is to play "The Stupid Game" as the first game of the season, not the last. That way, whoever loses the opener can work all season to get back to the title game for a potential rematch. That also spares everyone a potential back to back game of OSU and UM.
They need to split the divisions up in a more sensible manner, and if that means that The Game isnt played every once in awhile, so be it. Michigan and tOSU fans might not believe this, but most people outside of Ohio and Michigan won’t care.
The first thing that needs to happen is to get rid of Delany and put someone in charge that actually understands what the issues are and has a true plan to fix them.
It's a non issue. This season would have been the first time OSU and UM have finished 1-2 in the conference since 2006. The talking heads act like it'd be an every year issue, it wouldn't.
The divisions are not the problem. The problem is the 4 team playoff. Realign to 8 conferences. Eight conference CHAMPIONS make it to the 8 team playoff. No wild cards, no at large. Win or you're out. Winners only.
Problem solved. Somebody needs to make it happen.
THERE"S LOTS OF MONEY TO BE MADE!!!
Problem solved. Somebody needs to make it happen.
THERE"S LOTS OF MONEY TO BE MADE!!!
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https://www.mcall.com/sports/colleg...0181203-ax63sxz34nc6fkwelw7n5m2xji-story.html
Following Big Ten playoff snub, Penn State's James Franklin has some questions
Big Ten champion missed the College Football Playoff for the third consecutive year, leaving Penn State’s James Franklin with a few questions.
Specifically, Franklin wants to know whether the Big Ten is putting its teams in the best positions to reach the playoff. Conference teams play nine games, can’t play Football Championship Subdivision games anymore and, particularly in the East, run concentrated gauntlets during the season.
Maybe it’s time for some changes, the Penn State coach said Sunday.
“We’ve got to look at our model and see it if makes sense, especially on our side of the conference,” Franklin said. “We’re beating each other up week in and week out.”
Ohio State was this year’s Big Ten champ to miss the playoffs, doing so for the second consecutive year. Penn State was left out in 2016, partly in favor of nonchamp Ohio State.
The Buckeyes (12-1) were sixth, behind Oklahoma and Georgia, in Sunday’s final CFP rankings. The primary reason: It had the only loss to an unranked team among the group, CFP committee chair Rob Mullens said.
Franklin said he was rooting for Ohio State to make the playoff, which would have helped Penn State’s cause in making a New Year’s Six bowl game for the third straight season. The Lions will play Kentucky in the Jan. 1 Citrus Bowl.
But Franklin also had a larger point. This three-year run coincides with a conference scheduling change. The Big Ten expanded its conference schedule to nine games in 2016, in part to generate more programming for its television network.
Jim Delanyacknowledged this summer that the nine-game schedule “makes achieving an undefeated season more difficult.” The Big 12 and ACC also play nine conference games, while the SEC and Pac-12 play eight.
That discrepancy leads to inconsistent comparisons. Because of that, Franklin said the Big Ten should re-examine its scheduling strategy.
“Obviously when you play eight conference games, then each school has a little bit more ability to schedule what they think gives them the best chance to be undefeated,” Franklin said. “In my mind, that’s what you need to do. You need to do everything in your power to give yourself the best chance to be undefeated at the end of the season.”
Consistency of comparison has been an undercurrent of the CFP rankings. In addition to playing nine conference games, for instance, the Big Ten banned games against FCS opponents.
Michigan State in consecutive games for two straight seasons. Last year, the Lions played those teams on the road. Next year, Penn State will play Iowa, Michigan and Michigan State in succession.
The SEC, meanwhile, permits its teams to schedule nonconference games during the second-to-last week of the season. Most of those games are against FCS teams. This year, Georgia played Massachusetts, and Alabama played The Citadel.
As a result, Franklin said, the CFP committee can’t make “apples-to-apples” comparisons. The coach wants that to change.
“If we’re going to have a playoff, that’s the only way you can do it, is to make sure that everybody is playing with the same criteria,” Franklin said. “I think it needs to start there.
“Then, we’ve got to ask [in the Big Ten], are we putting our programs in the Big Ten in the best position to compete for national championships?”
Only the shadow knows. No matter what, that's a unprofessional statment.
Easy first step toward reform: all B1G schools chip in to send Jim Delaney to PJ Durkin's summer conditioning camp.
If he is injured, get Nasser to treat him. Lou Anna Simon can be interim NCAA chief, with Mark Dambly handling the money and Urban Meyer as NCAA historian.
If he is injured, get Nasser to treat him. Lou Anna Simon can be interim NCAA chief, with Mark Dambly handling the money and Urban Meyer as NCAA historian.
Delaney is going to propose that Ohio State gets to play Illinois 3 times for its cross over games since the last 2 years the B1G's playoff hopes have been dashed by mediocre Iowa and Purdue crushing Ohio State's nuts. Ohio State will also get to play Illinois at the horse for all 3 games too.
Shocking! Here I thought being a Member of the Big10 Football Conference was the be all and end all...
The only way getting rid of divisions will have an impact is if they mix up the scheduling. If they continue to make sure OSU, PSU, Michigan and MSU all play each other, then the teams that don’t play those schools will still have an advantage. They need to get rid of the annual rivalry games and make sure the schedule is balanced every year. That won’t happen so getting rid of the divisions will still result in OSU, PSU or Michigan playing whichever team played the fewest of OSU, PSU, Michigan and MSU (same as it is now).
If the B1G was serious about reforming the conference to improve their chances of getting into the CFP they need to look at the division structure and scheduling, they cannot control the number of teams in the playoff
1. Create divisions where Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State are not in the same division. This most likely means moving Penn State because they have to have the "game" every year.
2. Have 8 conference games, this allows everyone to add a cupcake, removes 7 losses from B1G teams which also helps place more B1G teams in bowl games and increases the SOS of most teams because of the reduction of 7 losses.
3. Allow for non conference games in late October and November. Every year Alabama gets a cupcake before they play Auburn. This would allow B1G to spread the difficult conference games throughout the schedule.
5. Be smart in the conference scheduling. Very frequently Alabama and LSU have a bye before playing each other. Stop scheduling difficult conference games back to back, see PSU playing Ohio State and Michigan back to back.
6. Do not announce the conference schedule no more than 1 year ahead of time. This makes it easier to sprinkle weak conference games throughout the conference's stronger teams' schedules. It was ridiculous that PSU finished the season with Rutgers and Maryland after coming off of a string of games against Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin.
1. Create divisions where Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State are not in the same division. This most likely means moving Penn State because they have to have the "game" every year.
2. Have 8 conference games, this allows everyone to add a cupcake, removes 7 losses from B1G teams which also helps place more B1G teams in bowl games and increases the SOS of most teams because of the reduction of 7 losses.
3. Allow for non conference games in late October and November. Every year Alabama gets a cupcake before they play Auburn. This would allow B1G to spread the difficult conference games throughout the schedule.
5. Be smart in the conference scheduling. Very frequently Alabama and LSU have a bye before playing each other. Stop scheduling difficult conference games back to back, see PSU playing Ohio State and Michigan back to back.
6. Do not announce the conference schedule no more than 1 year ahead of time. This makes it easier to sprinkle weak conference games throughout the conference's stronger teams' schedules. It was ridiculous that PSU finished the season with Rutgers and Maryland after coming off of a string of games against Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin.
The B1G's screwed up scheduling is because of tOSU vs UM. The B1G's conferences are screwed up because of tOSU vs UM. This continues to be the B1G Two little Eight (metaphorically) as the "leadership" bastardizes the conference to make sure the last game of the year, every year, is tOSU vs Michigan.
We've all seen it...the reffing, the advertising, the comments on the B1G Network.....and so on and so forth.
That is the bottom line and is so simple to see that it is stunning. Until they come to grips with this, it will continue. You first have to recognize the problem to fix it.
We've all seen it...the reffing, the advertising, the comments on the B1G Network.....and so on and so forth.
That is the bottom line and is so simple to see that it is stunning. Until they come to grips with this, it will continue. You first have to recognize the problem to fix it.
They could keep the same number of conference games and just have the East not play one division opponent and instead play someone in the West, because that division sucks.
And if the b1g gets a team in 2 of the last 3 seasons no one thinks there is a problem. The problem is winning games. Stacking the East makes that a problem when traditionally the 3 best teams in the East are the 3 best teams in the conference.
Nebraska is a major problem. They should at least put MSU in the West. Sorry Sparty. Nebraska sucking is a major problem for the conference.
And if the b1g gets a team in 2 of the last 3 seasons no one thinks there is a problem. The problem is winning games. Stacking the East makes that a problem when traditionally the 3 best teams in the East are the 3 best teams in the conference.
Nebraska is a major problem. They should at least put MSU in the West. Sorry Sparty. Nebraska sucking is a major problem for the conference.
I suggest Delany make 2 conferences, the B2 conference composed of Michigan and OSU. They can play each other every week because it makes the Big Ten and the country so happy when they play. The other conference would be the RT conference, the remaining teams who could set up a schedule and see who plays the B2 conference winner for the championship. It only makes sense since the B2 are always the best of the best. Wouldn't that be lovely!
Take psu and MSU out of the east. Swap them for the two teams currently in the west who have the worst B1G record over the last 5 years. Then, load their interconference sched with the Rut and whoever else is as bad as the Rut. Give the big 2 the most cupcake sched possible. They will eventually vanish.
It's easy enough to fix. They have Purdue and Indiana play a yearly crossover across divisions now.
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Actually, starting in 2022, Ohio State gets Wisconsin as a crossover through 2025 and Michigan gets Nebraska. Penn State's crossover opponent is, wait for it, ILLINOIS!
Would love to see PSU vs OSU in B1G Week 1, PSU vs UM in B1G Week 5 and OSU vs UM in B1G Week 9 every single year.
If the committee's stated reason for keeping OSU out- a bad loss to an unranked Purdue team- is why OSU was not in the playoffs this year....how do any of the above solutions help that?
Does division realignment somehow prevent OSU from laying that egg?
I will agree the one additional Big conference game is unfair. We're playing MSU while Bama plays Mercer.
Does division realignment somehow prevent OSU from laying that egg?
I will agree the one additional Big conference game is unfair. We're playing MSU while Bama plays Mercer.
Many Penn State fans don't understand rivalry games because Penn State doesn't play any.
Until more B1G schools start beating Ohio State, this perception is somewhat accurate.
I actually like the idea of eliminating the divisions. The Big 12 takes the two best teams from the conference and has them play in the championship game. Set it up so the scheduling rotates around just like it did when the conference had 11 teams and only played 8 conference games. Yes, there will be some years where we might not play a Michigan or an Ohio State but I’m fine with that. The ACC needs to do this too as it was a joke that a terrible Pitt team played Clemson in the ACC championship just because they won the tradionally “weak” ACC division.
As for reducing the schedule to less than 9 conference games, I’m completely against it. If that were to happen, Penn State would add another cupcake to the schedule and we’d end up with another “over by halftime” home game that season ticket holders would be expected to pay $60 to attend.
As for reducing the schedule to less than 9 conference games, I’m completely against it. If that were to happen, Penn State would add another cupcake to the schedule and we’d end up with another “over by halftime” home game that season ticket holders would be expected to pay $60 to attend.
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It’s not just MSU and Mercer, but nice try.
They also played (and beat) GA, MSST, MIZZ, TA&M and LSU, while we played OSU, got pummeled by UM and wet the bed v MSU. The one additional B1G game was intended to help neutralize the relative weakness of conference competition. ...this from the brain trust that brought us Legends and Leaders.
Did you see how great PSU played this season? Yet we led OSU (who got pummeled by Purdue and gave up 50 to Maryland). And we lost big to UM, which lost handily to ND and got crushed by an underwhelming OSU.
This is not the year to whine about the great B1G being left out, or that it’s unfair how hard we have it. None of the 3 who Delaney said could win it all could actually win it all. Hey Jim, maybe focus on your credibility by thinking a bit more.
If you have a problem and want to solve it, the first step is to get rid of the causes of the problem. delaney created the problem by trying to protect the rivalry game between michigan and ohio state at the expense of every other school in the big ten. So it follows, that the solution is to get rid of delaney and anyone with his mindset and schedule all members of the conference fairly, without protecting any single rivalry.
The problem with the BIG or any other conference doing this is scheduled inequities. The Big12 can do it because they have a round robin.
Lets say PSU plays OSU, UM, MD, MSU, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska
Lets say that wisconsin plays Minnesota, NW, MD, RU, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska.
Lets say that PSU loses to OSU @ the shoe in overtime by 1 point and beats the rest by an average of 17 points
Lets now say that Wisconsin wins all of its games in conference but only wins by an average of 5 points (lots of close games).
Wisconsin would be 9-0, while PSU would be 8-1. PSU would have faced 3 of the top 4/5 teams in the conference - while Wisconsin missed them. PSU would have looked much better than Wiscy. but Wiscy would go to the title game.
I know this might not be realistic - but it highlights the point that I don't feel taking the top 2 teams without a round robin schedule is realistic.
The best way to fix the schedule is to guarantee 1-2 matchups per team (how they used to do it) - and then every 3-4 years rotate divisions. You can guarantee 1-2 matchups (so OSU/UM, IU/PU, PSU/MD or whoever) will always play.
By doing 3-4 years - you can also guarantee that all teams will play in that cycle (like today).
Respectfully, this is a non-starter.
The conferences are independent and are not going to realign to reduce their number of teams or relative strength.
The money is not there. IF it were, this would have already happened.
The answer must be something that works with whatever conference alignment exists.
I'll write what I have posted a few other times.
IMHO opinion, the number is 6, made up of the 6 highest-ranked conference champs/ND.
This year that would be
Alabama
Clemson
ND
OK
OSU
UCF
UW and the Pac12 would be left out.
Alabama & Clemson get a bye
QuarterFinals: UCF plays in South Bend and OSU goes to Norman the 2nd week of Dec.
The rest is handled just as the Top 4 is today.
Agree. This year it's hard to make a case that any Big Ten team belongs in the playoff. I think Delany is getting grief from ADS and presidents and this is a knee-jerk reaction. I rue the day that they unveil their Rube Goldbergian solution.
Believe it or not, he actually mentioned by name Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State. This was a couple of days ago - not a quote from last year, 2016, etc..
The problem with using a ranking is that it's always subjective i.e. it represents the opinions of a bunch of nimrods sitting in a room. There will always be arguments that one (or more) team(s) are left out in favor of others. And in your case, what happens if ND doesn't have a particularly good year, say winds up at 8-4 and is ranked 20th? Presumably there is a PAC 12 ranked ahead of it. What if there are no A5s ranked ahead of ND?
Previously I suggested going with the five P5 champs. No subjectivity, every school knows ahead of time what it needs to do to get into the playoff. Further, don't seed them, again eliminating subjectivity. Put five numbered slips in a hat. Teams drawing 4-5 play in. Go forward from there.
The only thing the B10 is going to do is keep shoving it up Penn State's ass as long as they can continue to get away with it.
I've always been of the opinion that if you let someone continually jam something up your ass, you either deserve it or like it.
