There's been much debate regarding how the Big Ten can improve to remain among the BCS elite, having been overshadowed (and in some cases, downright humiliated) by bigger and better conferences the past few seasons, such as the SEC and Pac-10.
The obvious choice would be to bring in a twelfth school, one that has the academic prestige of the other Big Ten schools such as Northwestern and Michigan (keep in mind that the Big Ten was originally formed as an alliance of academic institutions, not as a sports conference).
While there are still many who oppose the idea of a twelfth school and a possible conference championship, it seems to me that stretching out the season into early or mid December would help the conference remain competitive with other conferences in the long run.
In that regard, Notre Dame always seemed like a perfect fit. It has all the qualifications. Academically, it's one of the most-respected colleges in the nation, and the Fighting Irish are practically synonymous with college football and South Bend is in the heart of the Heartland.
The Big Ten tried courting Notre Dame in 1999, but were shot down. However, with the exception of football, Notre Dame participates in the Big East in every other sport.
Trouble is, Notre Dame has a lucrative TV contract with NBC, and they’d be fools to give that up and risk losing the national exposure. Then again, if Notre Dame continues to have sub-par seasons like 2007, NBC will more than likely dump them in a heartbeat.
Fellow columnist Adam Helfgott made an even more interesting proposal in suggesting that the Big Ten bring in Rutgers as the twelfth team (you can read his article here: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/29958-The-Big-Ten-and-Rutgers-A-Perfect-Match-160608).
That’s partially what inspired this column, as the Big Ten expansion is something I’ve been thinking about over the last two seasons and since I love to theorize about what’s good for the Big Ten despite not having lived in the Midwest for over a decade.
I applaud Adam’s analysis (Rutgers definitely has the academic prestige to become a part of the Big Ten), but my only qualms with the possibility of Rutgers would be that:
- The Big Ten is primarily a Midwestern conference, and I don’t know how open conference officials would be to bringing in a team from New Jersey. Then again, Penn State’s been with the conference since 1994, and whether or not Pennsylvania (or at least, State College) is Midwestern is debatable.
- I have to be honest: I’m sure Rutgers has some fine football traditions, but outside of a freak run at the Big East title in 2006 and another run at greatness in 2007, how much success has the team seen in the last few decades?
That doesn’t mean I disrespect Rutgers as a current football powerhouse. The Scarlet Knights of the past few seasons have proven to almost everyone that they are a force to be reckoned with.
Also, consider that the Big Ten currently has Northwestern, which last saw success on the gridiron in the mid-to-late 1990s. Hell, Michigan State’s been in a rebuilding mode since forever (so it seems) and Wisconsin football was hardly ever relevant until Barry Alvarez was hired as head coach.
Another possibility is Pitt, which is closer to the Midwest boundary (in this case, the Ohio-Pennsylvania border) than State College, but Pitt already has an established rivalry with West Virginia in the Big East.
Regardless of whom the Big Ten selects as a twelfth team (if it ever happens), several questions remain:
- Would the Big Ten restore some of the respect it’s lost the past few years to the Sunbelt conferences?
- Would they prove themselves to be a tougher conference if in fact they expanded and added a conference championship?
Much of the criticism of the Big Ten in its current form is due to the fact that the seasons ends two weeks earlier than most other conferences, leaving bowl-bound teams from the conference unprepared to take on teams in late December or January that had been playing well into mid-December.
One of the best examples was the 2006 Ohio State Buckeyes, which had a 51-day lull in between its final game of the season against Michigan and the disastrous BCS National Championship Game against the Florida Gators. Some believe that if the Buckeyes hadn’t had 51 days off between games, they would’ve been better prepared to play the Gators.
Another factor is where the conference championship would be played, and whether it should be in an indoor or outdoor facility, preferably one suited for the NFL as most other conference championships are played in NFL stadiums and take away the possibility of any home-field advantages (were the championship held in a Big Ten stadium).
Indoor facilities include Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Detroit. Outdoor facilities include Green Bay, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. For the sake of neutrality, Minneapolis would be left off the list of potential sites until the Golden Gophers move out of the Metrodome and into their new facility.
If the Big Ten added a twelfth team and extended its schedule into mid December, how in the world would the conference be divided? There are several different scenarios, based on who and where the twelfth team came from. Since I’ve already used Notre Dame and Rutgers as examples of possible expansion teams, I’ll set up conference divisions using those two schools, starting with Notre Dame.
Considering where the schools are in proximity to one another, it seems that dividing the conference up between East and West divisions would potentially be easier than North and South divisions, but these are just hypotheses to consider for right now:
Big Ten North:
Michigan
Notre Dame
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Michigan State
Big Ten South:
Ohio State
Indiana
Iowa
Illinois
Penn State
Purdue
While it is arguable that Iowa is a “southern” Big Ten school, the balance of power is fairly even, with the North’s strongest teams being Michigan, Notre Dame and Wisconsin, and the South’s strongest being Ohio State and Penn State and Illinois.
Big Ten East:
Michigan
Penn State
Ohio State
Michigan State
Notre Dame
Purdue or Indiana
Big Ten West:
Iowa
Minnesota
Northwestern
Illinois
Wisconsin
Purdue or Indiana
The problem with the East/West split is the balance of power. The best teams in the conference are in the East, with relatively few powerhouses in the West with the exception of Wisconsin and Illinois.
Adding Rutgers, the conference divisions could look something like this:
Big Ten North:
Rutgers
Michigan
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Michigan State
Big Ten South:
Ohio State
Indiana
Iowa
Illinois
Penn State
Purdue
It’s debatable whether Rutgers is really a “northern” school or that Penn State is a “southern school.” The balance of power is still fairly even with Rutgers, Michigan, and Wisconsin in the North and Ohio State, Penn State, and Illinois in the South.
Big Ten East:
Michigan
Penn State
Ohio State
Michigan State
Rutgers
Purdue or Indiana
Big Ten West:
Iowa
Minnesota
Northwestern
Illinois
Wisconsin
Purdue or Indiana
Again, the balance of power is skewed toward the East, with only a few powerhouse teams in the West.
Of course, whether or not the Big Ten adds another school and whether or not they divide the conference is pure speculation at this point, but it’s interesting to consider what would happen if and how the conference would change if a twelfth school was added to their ranks.
If it happened, some of the Big Ten schools might finally be able to beat those pesky SEC and Pac-10 teams instead of getting slaughtered in bowl games, as has been the case the last few seasons.
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3 months ago
Notre Dame would be the perfect fit but it will never happen... How does Western Kentucky sound... they are independent and just south of Ohio... not to mention they would bring good basketball to the Big 10 and they were always good in 1-AA football... don't get me wrong it would take them awhile to get the recruits but right now that seems like a better choice than trying to take a team from another conference.
from 3 months ago
Hadn't considered that, and unfortunately, I was only looking at this from a football perspective, so I didn't take into consideration basketball, which I should have. If I'm not mistaken, Western Kentucky's in Bowling Green, which isn't "too" far from Bloomington Indiana (home of IU). And as last season showed, 1-AA schools CAN beat 1-A schools in the Big Ten ;)
3 months ago
great read. i once spent an entire class back in college trying to figure out how to split up the big 10 into divisions and adding ND with keeping rivarlies in tact instead of paying attention.
i basically came up with your version of adding ND and splitting the conference into the north/south like you have it there.
good work.
i hope it happens, ND shouldn't get to be part of a conference only when it benefits them. they get to keep all shared revenue with the big east in other sports but don't share it with a conference in football. it's absurd.
from 3 months ago
Consider also that ND has established rivalries with Michigan and MSU. God knows I'm no fan of the Domers, but if they played football in the Big Ten maybe it'd force them to recruit better (although 2008 was a good year for their recruiting) and force them to strive for tougher regular season competition than what they currently play.
from 3 months ago
Notre Dame doesn't play a tough schedule, give me a break. I Irish must not play enough MAC teams.
3 months ago
love the article, i love the breakdowns, one thing ill add to this if the big ten would take rutgers is you have to match them up with penn state, it would renew an old rivalry and stir up a lot of emotions from the past, plus it would be great to see those two go at it every year...
i still agree notre dame is the best choice, but id be shocked if they would go to the big ten. geography should not be an issue here because money comes before that. rutgers gives you the best opportunity to make money, theres no way pitt can get the same exposure rutgers can. remember so many topics go into who is the best candidate, and those range from the talent in the program, to the prestige, the history, the location, and the name.
to me rutgers has a lot of qualities... an uprising program, a well known head coach, it was the first school playing college football, and the location near NYC brings the big ten network for exposure.
from 3 months ago
Like you said here and in your article, the closeness to NYC would benefit the Big Ten tenfold. Based on the divisional scenarios I offered, I know at least Ohio State doesn't stand to lose much, as Penn State and Michigan are their de-facto rivals in the Big Ten, and they play Illinois for the Illibuck Trophy. There's no reason why OSU couldn't play scUM or PSU if the conference is split up, so long as they play all of their divisional rivals during the season, it shouldn't really matter when. If they had to play scUM or PSU again in the championship, so be it.
3 months ago
Notre Dame has a rivalry with Ohio State even thought they have only played 3 times..... adding Notre Dame would be great for the conference.... unfortunately Notre Dame is just too stupid to ever join the Big 10 in football.
3 months ago
ND joining the Big11 is never going to happen.
First off, ND was turned down from joining the Big 10 a long long time ago. Was not thought to be enough of a school at the time. This of course only helped ND is it took on anyone and became what it is today. The first no towards ND from the Big 10 was a big sign of arrogance. Now that ND does not need the Big 10 and says no, Big 10 fans claim arrogance. Pot Meet Kettle.
Secondly, ND has no reason to join the Big 10 because it would not benefit in doing so. Notre Dame and Michigan, which is our #2 game behind USC is set for another 20 years. This fits both teams as we are the #2 for Michigan behind OSU. Outside of Michigan, not many fans would care if we played Purdue or Michigan State every year. While these are good games, they will never come close to the passion that we have for our Big 3. Which is USC, Michigan and Boston College. Even though we do not play BC every year, there is a lot more meaning to that game. A lot of fans would give up Purdue or State in a second to have BC on the schedule every year.
Next is the tradition of Military schools. ND will NEVER stop playing Navy. For those who do not know this, ND was saved from closing during WWII because the Navy used ND as an officers school. Because of this favor, ND will play Navy every year that Navy wants a game and do it in a home and home. ND is also looking to add Army to the schedule. Call it what you want but I would rather add a win most years against a service academy v. adding it on a D-II school.
Lastly, there is a lot of hope for the new mindset of the next AD for ND. A lot of ND fans want to go back to playing more of a national schedule. We want Home and Homes with schools in the Big 12 and SEC added to the home and home with USC, Michigan and our 3 BE games.
So when you consider that USC and Navy are a must. Boston College, 1 SEC and 1 Big 12 schools are a very strong desire, there is no chance ND fans would ever forgive the school in joining the Big 11. Playing all of these games PLUS Michigan and OSU EVERY year would be crazy.
3 months ago
I think one of the major reasons that the SEC is recognised as the Premier Football Conference is their depth from top to bottom. On any given Saturday, any team could beat the other, for example Kentucky vs LSU last year. One of the problems that the Big Ten has is that there is a large drop off from top to bottom, as such, teams like OSU and Michigan get reasonably easier games against teams like Minnesota and Northwestern. I liked the article, and fully support ND joining the Big Ten, however I think that adding another team will not necessarily add the depth that the team requires.
3 months ago
nice article. i too have spent plenty of time daydreaming about expanding the big ten. rutgers definitely seems like the logical choice, but the divisional alignment will be tricky no matter what. balance of power is important, but so is preserving rivalries.
it's likely that they would take on a schedule like the SEC's: play five games against your division, have one set annual opponent from the other division, and then rotate through the other division for the remaining two conference games.
that means that traditional annual conference rivalries have to stay within their division, except for one inter-divisional rivalry. for this reason, it seems like the east-west divide makes more sense. that, and the travel would be easier if it's divided east-west... rutgers and minnesota in the same division would be quite an annual trip to commit to.
then you also have the problem of the conference's name. can they keep "big ten" if they expand to twelve teams? at that point, it gets a little ridiculous. maybe something like the "big north" would work. who knows?
i'd really be interested to see how the departure of rutgers would affect the big east's setup. it might start a chain reaction leading the basketball and football big east schools to split into two different conferences. surely the big east wouldn't survive with just seven football-playing schools. maybe expanding with a FCS team like appalachian state, umass, or even delaware would be worth looking at for them.
from 3 months ago
oh yeah, and i would expect the conference championship to be played in a domed stadium, since by that time of year it's getting awfully cold up there. i hear that's a part of the reason their schedules end so early. that and tradition. Delany seems quite stuck on tradition.
3 months ago
I wrote a post on this a couple of years ago and still think it applies today:
http://frankthetank.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/big-ten-from-eleven-to-twelve/
Essentially, I believe that if the Big Ten really believes that Notre Dame will never ever join, then it will choose Syracuse as a 12th member. Rutgers is nice on paper today, but until it proves that it is more than a 2-year wonder after it has had a century of mediocrity in football, there is no way it is getting an invite even with the NYC/New Jersey market. I will agree, though, that the Big Ten would absolutely look toward the East Coast and Northeast to give it a geographic partner for Penn State than to look at other Midwestern schools at the margins (i.e. Missouri). The thought that the Big Ten is only a "Midwestern" league is quaint old fashioned thinking - the conference already has an Eastern power in Penn State and with its cable network looking for the maximum number of households possible, it makes complete sense to look eastward.
2 months ago
how about this, missouri and iowa st to the big 10.(geographically good fit) Vanderbilt to the acc. (academically better fit than sec). East carolina to sec.(giving them a schoool in north carolina).Big 12 takes two from c-usa say houston and smu. Big east splits, takes in penn st, BC, Memphis and notre dame(i know it wont happen)or central florida. Giving that conference old school football powers,+ florida school(s) all in east(time zone anyway) c-usa would need to restock, lets say western kentucky,la tech,no illinois and depending if cen fla leaves for BE, temple and/or buffalo.Since we're at it the pac 10 takes utah and byu(fits their pairing of schools that they seem so fond of)
Big east basketball schools can then either (depending upon ND) expand or stay like they are. Most likely ND stays with them SO they could take 2-4 new schools if tHEy want to go to 10 or 12. Xavier and st louis first 2. Followed by 2 of the following (3 if ND is out) Butler,(indianapolis) Dayton, Umass, (boston audience not location)Drake (maybe be too far but gives st louis good partner and elevates program)and an upstate NY team, maybe Siena.(most of the other northeast teams are already in another BE schools area ie fordham, st joe's. or dont have great programs ) Richmond and charlotte too far south Then have a midwest and a northeast division. Not an all catholic conference but close
from 2 months ago
Interesting take, and Penn State to the Big East would/should respark the old PSU-Pitt rivalry that has all but vanished since PSU joined the Big Ten.
As for the Pac-10 taking Utah and BYU, their school pairings seem odd having at least two schools in a major region within the Pac, but at least it makes logical sense, moreso than what you see in some of the eastern conferences. Mizzou and Iowa State would be interesting choices for the Big Ten, considering the historic rivalries between Iowa State and Iowa, not to mention Mizzou and Illinois.
2 months ago
in a (large) nut shell changes in all CAPS
ACC:
Duke ,NC State,Unc,Wake.Miami,Va Tech,UVa,Ga Tech,Fla St.,Maryland,Clemson &"VANDERBILT"
SEC:
Arkansas,Ole Miss, Miss St.,Auburn, Bama, Lsu, So Carolina,Fla, Georgia,Kentucky, Tenn & EAST CAROLINA
BIG12:
Kansas, K-State,Ok St, Okla,Tex tech,Tex A&M,Tex, Baylor,Colorado, Nebraska & HOUSTON + SMU
BIG10:
Indiana,Illinois,Iowa,Minnesota, Msu.Mich,Osu,Purdue,No Western,Wisc & IOWA ST+ MIZZOU
BIG EAST(foot)--NEW NAME?:
UConnSo Fla,Pitt,WVa,Cincy, Louisville,Rutgers,Syracuse & PENN ST., BC,MEMPHIS+ CEN FLA or ND!!!(i know)
C-USA:
Tulsa,UAB,Tulane,UTEP, Marshall, So Miss,Rice & LA TECH,W.KENT,NO. ILL,TEMPLE +BUFFALO
BIG EAST(BBALL):
Gtown,DePaul,Nova,Marq, Prov,St J, Seton Hall, ND & ST LOUIS, XAVIER.(10) (BUTLER,DRAKE,UMASS,DAYTON,SIENA) pick 2 for a 12 member conf
2 months ago
The Big Ten drops Iowa and picks up Notre Dame and either Pitt or Syracuse and becomes known as The Great Lakes Conference.
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