2021 Big Ten schedule changes

[Darren72]

The Athletic has an article this morning about the need for schedule changes for the upcoming year:

Big Ten will need to revise its 2021 schedule and here’s what needs to be done

A truncated and jagged 2020 Big Ten football season has left a handful of scheduling issues for the league office and its 14 members for the upcoming 2021 season.

No conversations have taken place quite yet with the league still working through Olympic sports’ scheduling. But expect the 2021 football schedule to gain significant dialogue in the coming weeks. It initially was approved in September 2017, but with six different location switches plus seven crossover games removed from the 2020 schedule, the 2021 blueprint needs major revisions.

Not much concrete info in the article about how NU would be affected next year, other than possibly adjusting which games are played at home. But the most intriguing thing is the possibility of scrapping the divisions at some point down the line.

The Big Ten currently has schedules set from 2022 through 2025. Yet with the NCAA removing divisional requirements for conference championship games, perhaps the league should re-evaluate its entire structure.

Recent complaints have stemmed from East Division coaches, primarily Penn State’s James Franklin, that the league is too one-sided competitively. Based on history, Ohio State would tip the balance of any divisional structure. Plus, the East Division has won all seven league championship games since the current alignment debuted in 2014.

Maybe now or 2022 is the right time to abolish the divisional structure. The best way to do this is for each team to designate three rivals for annual competition and then play five other opponents per year. Outside of the permanent rivals, each program would face the other 10 conference teams twice over a four-year period. That makes for an easy-to-create eight-game schedule, especially if the non-permanent rotation is two years on, two years off.

Not sure how I feel about this. But we don't want a system where multiple teams have a claim to play in a championship game. The article goes into rivalry games that would be played every year. I think our rivalries with Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska are a lot of fun, mainly because this group has a lot of parity from year to year.

 

[loyolacat]

I dislike the playoff system.....it seems it it always truncated to get the major tv powers on tv more often to get more tv money in the pockets of media companies, sell more beer, more chips, more dips and increase the size of my hips....I much preferred the old system where we played the bowl games ( after arguing about who should have gone where) and then arguing about who the coaches and media had voted #1 which I didnt care about a whole lot either,,,,,WHO won the BIG10 that is what I care about....and now I like winning the Division as well.......everything else is chump change

 

[NUCat320]

The Athletic has an article this morning about the need for schedule changes for the upcoming year:

Big Ten will need to revise its 2021 schedule and here’s what needs to be done



Not much concrete info in the article about how NU would be affected next year, other than possibly adjusting which games are played at home. But the most intriguing thing is the possibility of scrapping the divisions at some point down the line.



Not sure how I feel about this. But we don't want a system where multiple teams have a claim to play in a championship game. The article goes into rivalry games that would be played every year. I think our rivalries with Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska are a lot of fun, mainly because this group has a lot of parity from year to year.

Scrapping divisions would be terrible. The divisional rivalries that have formed are worth maintaining.

 

[Catreporter]

Scrapping the divisional system because James Franklin doesn't like it makes absolutely no sense to me. The reason the East has won all the Big Ten titles is because OHIO STATE is in it. Are you going to ditch the title game? I doubt it. There haven't been many blowouts and the last three games have been pretty competitive, but in the end the Buckeyes prevailed. How do you determine the best two teams in a 14-team league when you are playing only nine games? Ohio State could finish 9-0 and then a bunch of teams might be 7-2 or whatever and what about the advantage there for the team that DIDN'T play Ohio State.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Scrapping the divisional system because James Franklin doesn't like it makes absolutely no sense to me. The reason the East has won all the Big Ten titles is because OHIO STATE is in it. Are you going to ditch the title game? I doubt it. There haven't been many blowouts and the last three games have been pretty competitive, but in the end the Buckeyes prevailed. How do you determine the best two teams in a 14-team league when you are playing only nine games? Ohio State could finish 9-0 and then a bunch of teams might be 7-2 or whatever and what about the advantage there for the team that DIDN'T play Ohio State.

Easy, in the case of a tie, just take PSU. James says so.

 

[zeek55]

The Athletic has an article this morning about the need for schedule changes for the upcoming year:

Big Ten will need to revise its 2021 schedule and here’s what needs to be done



Not much concrete info in the article about how NU would be affected next year, other than possibly adjusting which games are played at home. But the most intriguing thing is the possibility of scrapping the divisions at some point down the line.



Not sure how I feel about this. But we don't want a system where multiple teams have a claim to play in a championship game. The article goes into rivalry games that would be played every year. I think our rivalries with Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska are a lot of fun, mainly because this group has a lot of parity from year to year.

The divisions work out great for us, I'd hate for them to scrap them though I'd imagine Penn State/Rutgers/Indiana/Maryland are all pushing for them to be removed.

 

[zeek55]

I also feel like we'd get the short end of the stick on rivalries if each team selected only 3.

Iowa/Wisconsin/Nebraska/Minnesota would all end up tied together.

Who would we end up with? Illinois and then who? Michigan? Michigan State? Teams we have no long-term history with?

The divisions at least make sense in terms of rivalries/geography. Yes, they're competitively imbalanced but so is the SEC.

Any division with Alabama is going to look way stronger than the other division in that league. Any team that can beat Alabama is probably going to win the whole SEC:

The SEC West is 11-1 in the last 12 SEC Championship games. Should the SEC redo their divisions or scrap them? No because 7 of those wins are from Alabama.

The teams Northwestern has played the most are Illinois/Wisconsin/Minnesota/Iowa. Would be stupid for us to not be with those teams every year; they're functionally our rivals.

 

[catsattackfor3]

The division format is perfect as is. Ohio State has been king regardless of where you put them. In looking at the history of the B1G title game many times since the East /West split went into effect the championship game has pitted the 2 teams both ranked in the top 10 in the polls 4 out of 7 times. The other 3 times at least the West division team was ranked in the top 20. In a geographically diverse league the geographical split gives it some semblance of order. This is a really dumb suggestion but with Warren in charge watch the divisions get blown up.

 

[JVENETOS]

The answer is to acknowledge what we have here and give Ohio State its own division. They won't need to play in the Big Championship to go to the playoffs.

 

[GeauxCatsGeaux]

You could realign the divisions into North/South and Ohio State would not be in the stronger half. They would have a Clemson-like cakewalk some years (still tougher than Clemson's schedule because they'd have Iowa + rivalry with Michigan). Penn State and Michigan would get out from under Ohio State, but they'd have a far more grueling road. We probably get the short end of the stick here.

North:
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Michigan State
Michigan
Penn State
Rutgers

South:
Nebraska
Iowa
Illinois
Purdue
Indiana
Ohio State
Maryland

 

[zeek55]

You could realign the divisions into North/South and Ohio State would not be in the stronger half. They would have a Clemson-like cakewalk some years (still tougher than Clemson's schedule because they'd have Iowa + rivalry with Michigan). Penn State and Michigan would get out from under Ohio State, but they'd have a far more grueling road. We probably get the short end of the stick here.

North:
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Michigan State
Michigan
Penn State
Rutgers

South:
Nebraska
Iowa
Illinois
Purdue
Indiana
Ohio State
Maryland

We basically tried something like that (with Penn State swapped with Nebraska) with the Leaders/Legends divisions.

It's pointless and would harm Ohio State. Ohio State's schedules would get diluted, so I don't see why they'd want that.

Maybe it helps everyone else in the South division, but it basically will end up the same way, Ohio State would be in the conference championship nearly every year and still win it nearly every year.

The current East/West split is the best one even though it looks as imbalanced as the SEC.

But the SEC is fine with the West taking 11 of the last 12 championships, and I don't see why it's a big deal that the Big Ten is as imbalanced.

Alabama/Ohio State are in their own league.

 

[willycat]

I also feel like we'd get the short end of the stick on rivalries if each team selected only 3.

Iowa/Wisconsin/Nebraska/Minnesota would all end up tied together.

Who would we end up with? Illinois and then who? Michigan? Michigan State? Teams we have no long-term history with?

The divisions at least make sense in terms of rivalries/geography. Yes, they're competitively imbalanced but so is the SEC.

Any division with Alabama is going to look way stronger than the other division in that league. Any team that can beat Alabama is probably going to win the whole SEC:

The SEC West is 11-1 in the last 12 SEC Championship games. Should the SEC redo their divisions or scrap them? No because 7 of those wins are from Alabama.

The teams Northwestern has played the most are Illinois/Wisconsin/Minnesota/Iowa. Would be stupid for us to not be with those teams every year; they're functionally our rivals.

maybe try Purdue and Wisconsin.

 

[willycat]

The answer is to acknowledge what we have here and give Ohio State its own division. They won't need to play in the Big Championship to go to the playoffs.

Ohio State to the SEC. Vandy to the Big Ten. Problem solved.

 

[JoeWildcat]

Divisions are just fine the way they are. Other than for OSU winning the championship all the time, the divisions have actually been quite balanced in terms of interdivisional won-lost records. Wherever they put OSU, OSU will probably win most of the titles, so rearranging won't change that. If they do make changes, the one requirement should be that PSU is in the same division as OSU.

 

[ChicagoFan29]

We obviously love the divisions as Northwestern fans, but I agree it is not balanced.

PSU, OSU, and Michigan are perpetually the most talented teams in the conference. It does suck for MSU, IU, Rutgers, and Maryland as the path to Indy is consistently more challenging.

The issue is the rivalries. If Michigan moved to the west and OSU and MSU were still in the east then the conference would need to lock in their cross-divisional games with MSU and OSU every year. It’s okay to do this with Purdue and Indiana, but they don’t want their darlings in Columbus and Ann Arbor locked into cross-divisional matchup. That would limit their exposure throughout the rest of the conference.

 

[NJCat]

We obviously love the divisions as Northwestern fans, but I agree it is not balanced.

PSU, OSU, and Michigan are perpetually the most talented teams in the conference. It does suck for MSU, IU, Rutgers, and Maryland as the path to Indy is consistently more challenging.

The issue is the rivalries. If Michigan moved to the west and OSU and MSU were still in the east then the conference would need to lock in their cross-divisional games with MSU and OSU every year. It’s okay to do this with Purdue and Indiana, but they don’t want their darlings in Columbus and Ann Arbor locked into cross-divisional matchup. That would limit their exposure throughout the rest of the conference.

It doesn't matter who is in the OSU Division. They will be the division champ most years for the forseeable future. The other 6 teams are playing for bowl seeding.

 

[catsattackfor3]

We obviously love the divisions as Northwestern fans, but I agree it is not balanced.

PSU, OSU, and Michigan are perpetually the most talented teams in the conference. It does suck for MSU, IU, Rutgers, and Maryland as the path to Indy is consistently more challenging.

The issue is the rivalries. If Michigan moved to the west and OSU and MSU were still in the east then the conference would need to lock in their cross-divisional games with MSU and OSU every year. It’s okay to do this with Purdue and Indiana, but they don’t want their darlings in Columbus and Ann Arbor locked into cross-divisional matchup. That would limit their exposure throughout the rest of the conference.

Your statement that the divisions are not balanced is completely flawed though. Over the past ten years +OSU is by far the most successful program in the B1G in terms of Wins, top 20 finishes. But Wisconsin is far and away 2nd with wins and 7 times a top 20 finish. Michigan is next, then Iowa, MSU, Penn State. In fact NU has had 5 top 20 final rankings in the last decade which is more than Penn State. Send MSU or Michigan to West and Purdue to East if it makes everyone feel better. The bottom line none of those east teams want to be in a division with Ohio State because they cannot make the Championship game

 

[rwhitney014]

If they wanted to be truly revolutionary, they could abolish non-con games and the conference championship game and do a true 13-game schedule, where everyone plays everyone. Every rivalry is preserved. Best record wins, period.

This won't happen because it's much harder to go undefeated against 13 Big Ten teams than it is against 9 + 2 or 3 cupcakes, and I'm sure someone will decry the loss of certain noncon series (ND vs. Michigan?). We don't have anyone with an annual, sacred non-con game along the lines of Florida-Florida State, ND v. Stanford, Colorado-Colorado State, Louisville-Kentucky, etc., though.

Unless and until that happens, someone's gonna claim they got the short end of the stick. It's the nature of the beast.

(The other option would be to abolish divisions as we know them and build schedules via shuffle/snake based on the prior year's records. Top finisher from prior last year goes into Division A, 2nd place to Division B, etc:

Ara
#1
#4 or #3
#5
#8 or #7
#9
#12 or #11
#13

Barnett
#2
#3 or #4
#6
#7 or #8
#10
#11 or #12
#14

You could attempt to preserve some rivalries, though obviously some would remain in place each year by virtue of previous year's results. But I'm sure you'd miss some in some years, so again, someone's upset. Someone's upset no matter what. That's what 14-team conferences get you.)

 

[eastbaycat99]

The answer is to reduce the current divisions by one team each, Nebraska and PSU. These two are in their own division, get a division title to themselves every year, and get to play for the conference title when both the East and West champions have losing records in conference. They can whine every year about being left out!

 

[JournCat]

I can't imagine the coach at Penn State not wanting to play Ohio State. That's a potential College GameDay/white-out matchup every year. Even if OSU and PSU were in separate divisions, the conference would schedule that matchup most years just for the publicity. Same thing with Nebraska. You can try to duck tough opponents or brand yourself as "unrivaled" or having "the greatest fans in college football," but you can't do both.

 

[Overly_Invested_Cat]

Let's permanently assign dOSU, Clemson, Alabama, ND, Oklahoma, Georgia and a few others to a Champions division, like they do in soccer. Then, the rest of us can play college football, not semi-pro. Teams could be promoted to the semi-pro division based on a three-year cumulative record.

 

[NURoseBowl]

Scrapping the divisional system because James Franklin doesn't like it makes absolutely no sense to me. The reason the East has won all the Big Ten titles is because OHIO STATE is in it. Are you going to ditch the title game? I doubt it. There haven't been many blowouts and the last three games have been pretty competitive, but in the end the Buckeyes prevailed. How do you determine the best two teams in a 14-team league when you are playing only nine games? Ohio State could finish 9-0 and then a bunch of teams might be 7-2 or whatever and what about the advantage there for the team that DIDN'T play Ohio State.

Franklin should speak when spoken to. In Big Ten matters, the significance of his opinion can be found under one's shoe.

 

[kaTNap]

I can't imagine the coach at Penn State not wanting to play Ohio State. That's a potential College GameDay/white-out matchup every year. Even if OSU and PSU were in separate divisions, the conference would schedule that matchup most years just for the publicity. Same thing with Nebraska. You can try to duck tough opponents or brand yourself as "unrivaled" or having "the greatest fans in college football," but you can't do both.

Remember, Franklin is the same guy who whined to his bosses at Vanderbilt that playing NU was too hard for his kiddies, and got the last two years of the series cancelled by fax message.

 

[JournCat]

Remember, Franklin is the same guy who whined to his bosses at Vanderbilt that playing NU was too hard for his kiddies, and got the last two years of the series cancelled by fax message.

It was by mail! But yes, point made.

Vanderbilt backs out of NU football series

www.chicagotribune.com

 

[Alvious]

I think traditional conferences are going to go the way of leather helmets and the single wing. Sooner or later the top 16-18 teams in the country are going to form their own mega-conference and squeeze out everyone else from the national championship picture.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

I think traditional conferences are going to go the way of leather helmets and the single wing. Sooner or later the top 16-18 teams in the country are going to form their own mega-conference and squeeze out everyone else from the national championship picture.

I don’t think they will beat up each other every week in the regular season. Still need the Illinois, Kansas, Arizona’s as practice dummies.

I think they should consider a Natty for the non P5 schools. It’s clear being undefeated doesn’t get you a seat at the CFP table. I think the P5 could organize into 4 mega conferences each having 2 divisions of 8 or so teams where the division winners square off in the conference title game. Winners are your final 4. Everyone else eligible for traditional bowls.

 

[Catreporter]

The Big 10 name is iconic. That's why it's still around with 14 teams in it. It's not going anywhere. Might add a couple more teams, who knows, but the Big Ten will go on.

 

[phatcat]

To paraphrase Samuel Gompers, we will have more reviews and less natural game flow, more overtimes and less (fewer,) deserving winners, and (key point) more playoff participants and less (fewer) deserving participants.

And so on

 

[GeauxCatsGeaux]

I think traditional conferences are going to go the way of leather helmets and the single wing. Sooner or later the top 16-18 teams in the country are going to form their own mega-conference and squeeze out everyone else from the national championship picture.

Why? They basically have this now + they get all of the revenue from home games against Northwestern and TV inventory from Iowa-Nebraska.

 

[WestCoastWildcat]

Remember, Franklin is the same guy who whined to his bosses at Vanderbilt that playing NU was too hard for his kiddies, and got the last two years of the series cancelled by fax message.

As I remember, the cancellation was sent by snail mail. No phone call prior to discuss. Incredibly unprofessional. I have no respect for Franklin, he’s got a long history of whining.

 

[thewildcat2011]

Divisions are just fine the way they are. Other than for OSU winning the championship all the time, the divisions have actually been quite balanced in terms of interdivisional won-lost records. Wherever they put OSU, OSU will probably win most of the titles, so rearranging won't change that. If they do make changes, the one requirement should be that PSU is in the same division as OSU.

 

[LACatFan]

View embedded media

Thanks for the share. I'll be keeping in my back pocket for the next time that misinformed B1G East fans reach for their, "we're better than you" cards (note: Ohio State fans exempted).

 

[cidsports]

So, Scott Dochterman of The Athletic proposes the end of divisions, and a 8 game schedule with a 9th game in a Champions week, as proposed in 2020.

3 protected teams, and the 10 other teams played twice every 4 years, so it is interesting suggestion.

Iowa for example, would have Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin protected and on roster each year. So, Iowa would play Rutgers and Northwestern twice in four years.

He had Northwestern with these three teams protected: Illinois, Michigan State, Purdue.

 

[ChicagoFan29]

So, Scott Dochterman of The Athletic proposes the end of divisions, and a 8 game schedule with a 9th game in a Champions week, as proposed in 2020.

3 protected teams, and the 10 other teams played twice every 4 years, so it is interesting suggestion.

Iowa for example, would have Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin protected and on roster each year. So, Iowa would play Rutgers and Northwestern twice in four years.

He had Northwestern with these three teams protected: Illinois, Michigan State, Purdue.

1) That is less balanced than the current setup. Pity the teams who have to play the Buckeyes every year.

2) What is the point? The current setup protects the rivalries. It also fosters the growth and development of new rivalries within the division.

 

[cidsports]

1) That is less balanced than the current setup. Pity the teams who have to play the Buckeyes every year.

2) What is the point? The current setup protects the rivalries. It also fosters the growth and development of new rivalries within the division.

Ohio State protected games would be Michigan, Penn State, Maryland.

 

[techtim72]

Ohio State protected games would be Michigan, Penn State, Maryland.

Maryland? On what planet is Maryland in the competitive orb of Ohio State - historically or competitively? How about Nebraska? Wouldn't that be a hoot?

 

[ChicagoFan29]

Maryland? On what planet is Maryland in the competitive orb of Ohio State - historically or competitively? How about Nebraska? Wouldn't that be a hoot?

And thats why Docthermans format doesn’t work. It’s unbalanced.

The division structure isn’t perfect, but it’s better than what he proposed. What’s the difference between losing to OSU in the regular season or Championship Game?

 

[ChicagoFan29]

Keep in mind what do you do about tiebreakers if you blow up the divisions?

In 2018 NU, Michigan, and OSU all finished 8-1 in B10 play. NU lost to Michigan, OSU beat Michigan, OSU lost to Purdue, NU beat Purdue.

What happens in that scenario? The divisions are usually more cut and dry as everyone plays one another.

 

[zeek55]

Keep in mind what do you do about tiebreakers if you blow up the divisions?

In 2018 NU, Michigan, and OSU all finished 8-1 in B10 play. NU lost to Michigan, OSU beat Michigan, OSU lost to Purdue, NU beat Purdue.

What happens in that scenario? The divisions are usually more cut and dry as everyone plays one another.

That's exactly the problem.

First tiebreaker would probably be head-to-head, but 2nd would probably be CFP ranking.

OSU/PSU/Michigan will always be ranked above other teams with the same losses. It's just going to be like that given how rankings work.

That's why divisions are much better than these alternatives.

 

[ChicagoFan29]

That's exactly the problem.

First tiebreaker would probably be head-to-head, but 2nd would probably be CFP ranking.

OSU/PSU/Michigan will always be ranked above other teams with the same losses. It's just going to be like that given how rankings work.

That's why divisions are much better than these alternatives.

The idea of Michigan and OSU or Auburn and Alabama playing two weeks in a row is not a good one for anybody.