Big 10 Expansion: Four by Four?

DIVISION ONE:  Syracuse, Pittsburg, Rutgers & Penn State
DIVISION TWO:  Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Minnesota
DIVISION THREE:  Ohio State, Purdue, Indiana and Illinois or Northwestern
DIVISION FOUR: IOWA, Missouri, Nebraska and Illinois or Northwestern

Wow, a lot to digest and discuss, such as how would the scheduling line up?  You’d play the three teams in your division each year, then play either five or six more conference games.  The PAC-10 plays nine conference games, which means one year you get four home games an five roadies and the next year its 5 & 4, so I guess that is possible, but not perfect.  Which teams do you get to play from the other divisions?  There would have to be at least one protected rivalry game, because there is no way Ohio State and Michigan won’t play one another in the final regular season game.  Well, I guess there is a way, as Nebraska and Oklahoma interrupted their great and storied rivalry when they joined the Big 12 more than a decade ago.  The last thing those schools would want would be to play the last game of the regular season then have some sort of rematch for the league title game.

How the league would determine just who would play for the league title would be very complicated, and there is also no way that the league expands and does NOT have a league title game…or at least, I don’t think so.  Too much money on the table.  I’d be fine if they expanded and didn’t have a league title game, because they could schedule some amazing games the last two or three weeks of the college football regular season and play the day before the BCS bowl games are announced.  I think that is the most important thing in all of this; staying relevant all season long and not having that long layoff before the bowl game.

So I guess I should probably stop using the term ‘no way’ as it relates to the Big Ten and expansion, because this league is going to blaze its own trail and make its own rules.

Now, as for these division that Dienhart tweeted about (again, he is the national college football writer for Rivals/Yahoo, not some dude from the Grand Island Bee), Ohio State gets far too easy of a pass here.  I don’t think Michigan would stand for that.  Division One listed above makes sense, and gives Penn State regional and historical rivalries.  Division Two is solid and balanced geographically and with history in mind.  Which schools would be giving up the most history and tradition in this hypothetical?

Illinois or Northwestern, one of those two, along with Iowa.

While I would love to be in the same division as Missouri and Nebraska, because that means Iowa would play them each year and the rivalries that would grow out of those series could be epic and entertaining, Hawkeye fans would be losing traditional rivalry games with Wisconsin or Minnesota; I doubt they’d get to protect both of those rivalries.

Would it be worth it?  I am going to have to chew on this one a bit.  It’s likely all moot, because I cannot fathom Ohio State getting that much of a free ride to being 3-0 in their division each year.

As for the five new teams listed in general, that’s a pretty solid basketball league, too.  Missouri, Pitt and Syracuse would all be great additions on the hardcourt, with Nebraska and Rutgers throw ins.  Rutgers’ basketball program would get a boost from this, while Nebraska’s program would likely continue to languish in mediocrity.  Missouri and Nebraska would be solid wrestling additions as well, and Nebraska has a very good baseball program.

From a television standpoint, the Big Ten Network would pretty much own New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa (sorry Iowa State).  That’s a lot of real estate and that is a lot of subscription dollars and homes with television sets.  You are basically talking about one third of the population of the United States here and all of it running together contiguously.

This move would also destabilize the Big East and the Big 12, and it would really hurt Iowa State; they’d lose their two most natural rivals in the Big 12, two border states, where Iowa would gain those.  Figuring that Iowa and Iowa State would still meet in football, you are talking about three games each year against programs that are within a five hour drive of Iowa City.  Throw in a fourth with either Illinois or Northwestern in this example, and a fifth if one of Minnesota and Wisconsin can be kept as an annual rival.  Indiana and Purdue would fall into this category, or real close, whenever you had to play there.  Iowa’s road traveling legacy would be expanded upon, which is what the bowl scouts love.

I still think that items like this get leaked out there to put pressure on Notre Dame.  I’d be content if the Big Ten only added the Irish and moved to 12 teams and said ‘we’re good’.  To me, that’s the best case scenario; you keep your traditional league intact, get to play your traditional rivals and you add the history and tradition of Notre Dame that has some degree of history playing against most every team in the league, and they are located in Indiana.

But if that won’t happen, I’d much rather see Nebraska and Missouri join the league than any of the teams from Texas, because I think Iowa would wind up in their division…and that is not something I am remotely interested in.