In what would be a huge boost for PSU, Iowa AD Gary Barta has told The Athletic that the Big Ten has discussed eliminating divisions and dropping to eight conference games as soon as 2023.
Football REPORT: Big Ten could eliminate divisions
- Thread starter CSauertiegPSU
- Start date
Positioning to be ready for an expanded playoff. Expect all conferences to do similar things since right now the conference championship game is relatively worthless.
This will also allow them to handpick who the champ is when there are two undefeated teams, or who should go to the playoffs.
Oh wait…
Now it's really going to come down to scheduling. That's where the Big Ten powers that be can make things favorable for a few select teams.
Great news, Now Penn State's conference schedule can be as follows:
at Wisconsin
Purdue
at Iowa
at Michigan
Ohio State
Michigan State
at Minnesota
Maryland
Reverse home/away the next year
Should make for a terrific October-November record.
at Wisconsin
Purdue
at Iowa
at Michigan
Ohio State
Michigan State
at Minnesota
Maryland
Reverse home/away the next year
Should make for a terrific October-November record.
One or two out of the eight should or could guarantee rest home and away every two years.
ACC and PAC should be interesting shouldn't see any team more than once a decade. If a home and home is the standard 5 in a decade or power rank them.
ACC and PAC should be interesting shouldn't see any team more than once a decade. If a home and home is the standard 5 in a decade or power rank them.
Disagree. If that were the case make OSU-UM the first game of the year instead of the last. That way the loser has time to recover.
As long as they play that game one time and either UM or OSU makes the championship the Big Ten is good with it. Alvarez practically runs the conference anyhow.
They'll still play a championship game but now the winner will get an automatic playoff birth regardless or record.
The BIG should do an SEC/BIG challenge in football similar to the BIG/ACC basketball challenge. The only way to see your weaknesses and get better is to play better competition. Having a big opening game makes for more focused practices and coaching preparations. Losing early or catching them early are the pluses in these matchups.
The only real path to a true democratic national champ is via conferences with no divisions with the conference championship games being the first stage (round) of a playoff.
Kudo's to the B1G for getting ahead on this. The cross conference challenge game is great too.
I hate to burst peoples bubble but if you cannot make it to you conference championship game or win your conference championship, you cannot be the national champ. Until the system is setup in such a manor it will never be a true national champ. We are closer than we've ever been but yet so far away.
Yes, sometimes the "best" team on paper doesn't win the title because they get upset or lose a game they shouldn't, just ask the 2007 Patriots or the 1986 Miami Hurricanes. That's why they play the games. In fact such a sentiment happens all the time in nearly every sport, because performing at your best in the most crucial moments and games is an important characteristic of a championship team.
Kudo's to the B1G for getting ahead on this. The cross conference challenge game is great too.
I hate to burst peoples bubble but if you cannot make it to you conference championship game or win your conference championship, you cannot be the national champ. Until the system is setup in such a manor it will never be a true national champ. We are closer than we've ever been but yet so far away.
Yes, sometimes the "best" team on paper doesn't win the title because they get upset or lose a game they shouldn't, just ask the 2007 Patriots or the 1986 Miami Hurricanes. That's why they play the games. In fact such a sentiment happens all the time in nearly every sport, because performing at your best in the most crucial moments and games is an important characteristic of a championship team.
I'll always remember the Leaders and Legends fondly
Damn, I was hoping the cross conference games would be in addition to the current 9 conference games. Anything that can be done to eliminate the "buy" games would be welcome. I realize the athletic department needs these "buy" games to pay the bills, but as a fan, I'd like to see us continue to play 9 conference games plus the cross conference on they are trying to add each year.
I would imagine if they do go with 3 set teams for each school, we would almost certainly get Rutgers, Maryland and Ohio State which would generally be good for us in terms of it being relatively easier. tOSU would likely get us and Michigan as two of theirs and Michigan would likely have Ohio State and Michigan State. Wisconsin would likely be Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska (those four teams would probably all just have each other).
Maybe that’s the scheme. Move “The Game” to the opener so that the loser can still go on to a good season and both make the playoffs.
Doubtful. "The Game" has been the last game of the regular season for over 50 years. It is too bound in tradition. That means the loser of that game is effectively out, as happened this year. To be honest, OSU did not have the defense to beat either Georgia or Alabama this year.
If they were to go to three set "rivals" per team and then rotating the other 10 teams so they are played 2 times every 4 years each, this is my thought on who each team's fixed opponents would be:
PSU: Rutgers, Maryland, Ohio St
Rutgers: Maryland, PSU, Indiana
Maryland: PSU, Rutgers, Purdue
Ohio St: PSU, Michigan, Illinois
Michigan: Ohio St, Michigan St, Minnesota
Michigan St: Michigan, Northwestern, Indiana
Indiana: Purdue, Rutgers, Michigan St
Purdue: Indiana, Illinois, Maryland
Illinois: Purdue, Ohio St, Northwestern
Northwestern: Illinois, Michigan St, Nebraska
Minnesota: Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa
Wisconsin: Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska
Iowa: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska
Nebraska: Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern
I think this does a reasonable job of keeping key rivalries intact and making sense geographically. Some that are a little odd are historical trophy games.
PSU: Rutgers, Maryland, Ohio St
Rutgers: Maryland, PSU, Indiana
Maryland: PSU, Rutgers, Purdue
Ohio St: PSU, Michigan, Illinois
Michigan: Ohio St, Michigan St, Minnesota
Michigan St: Michigan, Northwestern, Indiana
Indiana: Purdue, Rutgers, Michigan St
Purdue: Indiana, Illinois, Maryland
Illinois: Purdue, Ohio St, Northwestern
Northwestern: Illinois, Michigan St, Nebraska
Minnesota: Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa
Wisconsin: Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska
Iowa: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska
Nebraska: Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern
I think this does a reasonable job of keeping key rivalries intact and making sense geographically. Some that are a little odd are historical trophy games.
Last edited:
If this is how they do it then yes I see us playing OHowIhate every year. They are definitely one of our top rivals and I use that term loosely in this context. The only other scenario would be for us to play Sparty every year along with Rutgers and Maryland. I don't see that though as a realistic scenario. CFB and the B10 will want to see us getting boatraced by....uh I mean us playing the Luckeyes every year. Strap it on James!
Really great stuff here. Nice work on that lineup card.
It's amazing that "people" have been willing to throw away potentially great systems that could solve some of the subjective ways of college football that deprive real performance over an old bucket or an axe named after a fairy tail character between a couple of 5 loss teams.
It's truly amazing and so self serving in the face of making the entire system real, true and objective.
Someone let people know that it's OK to not play for your made up trophy twice a decade. Everything will be just fine, just ask Pitt & Penn State or Texas & Texas A&M or Oklahoma & Nebraska or WVU & VaTech.
I've said it before, the only reason college football is so subjective, is because people actually want it that way. Objectivity is a punchline in college football.
Double the number of refs on the field….have each shadow the other, alternate each series of downs
Our BIG refs are already a flustercluck by themselves….. make the game a “Festivis holiday” to entertain the fans
Last edited:
