Comments on: Sound off: Should B1G keep Legends & Leaders?

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:19:35 +0000

Expand to 16 with Boston College and Notre Dame, keep the Leaders and Legends but go to a four “pod” division set up with the other two divisions being the Liberty and Legacy.

Legends
Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern

Leaders
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Wisconsin

Liberty
Boston College, Maryland, Penn State, Rutgers

Legacy
Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Purdue

By: mike b

mike b — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 23:19:32 +0000

East and West as set forth above (sorry Indiana and Purdue, but that would be my first choice for a protected rivalry game for each). Wisconsin needs to play Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska every year. Michigan – Ohio State end of season is fine, but let them play in the same division for gosh sakes. Makes that game more relevant. Nobody and I mean NOBODY should want to see them play on consecutive weekends. ANyone who overlooks Wisconsin in a parity discussion is fooling themselves. Rather than focus on the PAST, let’s look at the PRESENT and apply reason. If we’re focussed on the past, Nebraska has a pretty strong history in that regard to balance things out.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 12:08:06 +0000

Looking forward to a 16-team Conference, (at least in FB) there should be four 4-team Divisions (i.e.: Northwest / Midwest / Central / East / or whatever geography dictates at the time of that expansion).
Games played are:
3 Non-Conference opponents
1 Rival game (i.e.: Mich./OSU) played earlier in season (maybe in week 4 or 5)
4 Cross-Divisional opponents (played between weeks 4 – 10) similar to NFL
3 Divisional opponents (played between weeks 6 – 11)
1 Position game (played in week 12)
+1 Championship Game

The Cross-Divisional opponents will be set up like:
Year 1 A vs B / C vs D
Year 2 B vs C / D vs A
Year 3 A vs C / D vs B
etc. ~OR ~ you may play the same Cross-Divisional opponents in 2 year increments.

The Position game will be against a Division NOT involved in the Cross-Divisional games (so you don’t play an opponent twice EXCEPT if it happens to be against a Rival opponent which you played earlier in the season). Each year, two Divisions will be HOME for the games and they would rotate that each year. The four Divisional winners entering week #12 essentially will be set up as a Conference Semi-Final allowing the winners to advance to the Championship Game. EXCEPT for the top seeds in each Division, adjustments could occur for the Positional game. The 4 HOME teams (in two of the Divisions) will already be pre-determined before the season starts each year.

There will be 4 HOME and 4 AWAY Conference games (prior to Position games). If you potentially play your Rival the same year as a crossover, make sure that it does not allow playing at the same site twice.

By: Cody

Cody — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 01:34:15 +0000

It should be the Michigan and Ohio State divisions. We all know those are about the only two teams that matter to the conference and Delany.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:22:12 +0000

I would like “Legends” and “Leaders” as division names to be discontinued. It is fine as a slogan for the conference if continued use is desired by B1G leadership … “B1G the Conference of Legends and Leaders”. However, I would prefer a geographic alignment and associated division names … “B1G East” and B1G West”. The focus should be on the universities and their respective teams not the division names which have caused enough ridicule. I would really like to see traditional rivals linked together within a division. As the conference expands, I think it is important that these rivalries be maintained and would prefer this be done via geographic alignment rather than attempting to do this via division crossover games.

I understand the concern about competitive balance but take a contrarian view on this issue. Rather than try to maintain competitive balance between divisions, I would like to see competitive balance within divisions. I want to see Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State compete with each other for the right to go to the B1G championship game from their east division. As a graduate of Ohio State, I want the last game of the regular season between Ohio State and Michigan to potentially have that opportunity on the line. I disagree with the idea that the western teams, such as Wisconsin and Nebraska, could not compete with the eastern teams in the B1G championship game. I think that focusing on competitive balance within divisions also has the potential to open up the door to the B1G championship to more teams.

By: Mike A

Mike A — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:34:50 +0000

Legends and Leaders is a nightmare. Simplify it… please.

By: BTN.com staff

BTN.com staff — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:21:50 +0000

Fair enough. If you feel strongly about it, we would suggest putting your answers to those unasked questions in Question No. 17 (“Do you have any further comments about Big Ten expansion?”). But maybe we can put together another survey down the road for these types of questions. Thanks for suggesting the idea.

By: J.C.

J.C. — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 18:48:52 +0000

-I kind of wish there were additional questions regarding television habits, which may be useful for the next TV contract for the conference. For example, there is a growing backlash against ESPN in recent years and a growing minority only watch ESPN for games (avoiding the network/website at all costs).
-Also, what about questions in relation to where the conference championship game is played (neutral/home sites) or feelings on where national semifinals are played.
-The survey is on expansion, but there are so many other issues out there (such as if Ohio State and Michigan should be in the same division). Might as well use this opportunity to gauge other issues as well.

By: gobucks

gobucks — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 16:42:23 +0000

The divisions can be any way you want as long as OSU-mich get to always play each other during the last week of the year. This may sound selfish or arrogant to all the other schools in the conference, but let’s be honest. These two schools represent the longest most enduring commodities for the entire conference in football. Playing the last week of the year is just part of the tradition that has been rated the greatest rivalry in all of sports. The conference can’t afford to mess with the best product it has to offer.

By: Al

Al — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 14:51:48 +0000

Get rid of it!, “East” and “West” is fine, L & L, had to look it up every time.