Ohio State Football: Big Ten Realignment Will Cost Buckeyes Something

Since the Big Ten Media Days, the conference realignment has once again become a topic of a lot of conversation.

Sports writers, fans, coaches, and players all want to see a fair divisional split that makes sense, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that it will come at a cost.

For instance, the Ohio State-Michigan game could be moved from the final week of the regular season.

As Adam Rittenberg chronicled yesterday, this idea is starting to gain some momentum. What this means is that Ohio State and Michigan would be split into two different divisions, and the rivalry would be preserved through a "protected crossover."

Unfortunately, that would move the game away from the Saturday before Thanksgiving,
as is the current tradition. Instead, the two teams would meet on an earlier date, maybeeven in October.

I'm guessing that most Buckeye fans will be a bit hesitant about this option, as am I, but it does open the possibility for the teams to meet in the Big Ten Championship. Meeting a second time in December could add some serious fireworks to the best rivalry in sports, and just the idea has some sports writers salivating. Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com had this to say:

"The league has a unique opportunity. Ohio State and Michigan must be separated when the Big Ten ADs divide the league into two six-team divisions for the 2011 season. If the conference's two most marketable, high-profile teams win those divisions going forward, they would play again in the first week of December in the championship game. Ohio State-Michigan for the right to go to the Rose Bowl, possibly the BCS title game, would conjure up visions of Bo's and Woody's Ten Year War."

Obviously, all this assumes that Michigan makes a comeback. If that does happen though, those on either side of the rivalry seem alright with the changes happening. As Dodd later points out in his article, those at Michigan and Ohio State may actually be more ready for this than Big Ten officials.

"I'm fine with that," Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said, "in the championship game, in Tuscaloosa. Anywhere."

"I'm sure our fans would be really excited," Rodriguez said. "If you won it the first time, you may think, 'I don't want to play a second time.' But Michigan loves to compete against Ohio State and Ohio State loves to compete against Michigan."

Unfortunately, the Big Ten doesn't seem to be heading in this direction currently.

Instead, the biggest factor in splitting the divisions is geography. As Dave Biddle pointed out yesterday, this brings a whole new set of problems to the table for the Buckeyes. If the Big Ten does split the conference East-West down the Illinois-Indiana border, Ohio State will find themselves in the same division as Michigan and Penn State.

In the current condition of the conference, Iowa and Nebraska (and possibly Wisconsin) would appear to offer a balance of power in the West division.

The issue is that history shows that Iowa is not a consistent conference power, while the presently weak Wolverines are. That means there would be a terrible balance of power. Not only would the East division be the center of media attention, possibly creating a problem like the Big 12 faced, but the Buckeyes would find themselves with a very difficult road to the championship.

The one major positive would be that the Buckeyes would not lose their most important games with the Nittany Lions and Wolverines, and travel plans would be much easier.
For the traditionalist, this also means the Buckeyes can continue to play Michigan the last game of the year.

I do have to ask the question though: Will this game mean a lot less because of the emergence of a championship game? The reality is yes.

I would hate to see the Buckeyes playing Michigan in October rather than the last week of the season, but could Dodd and Rittenberg's proposed divisional split actually make more sense?

I don't have all the answers, but I do know this is going to cost the Buckeyes something in the end. As fans we need to prepare for compromise, because in the end there is no perfect scenario.