CBS Sportswriter suggestions of Football permanent rivals

[dillonpgp]

The suggestion for Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, and Southern Cal.

Big Ten football schedule: Projecting permanent rivals for each team once league adds USC, UCLA in 2024

The Big Ten will look a lot different when the Trojans and Bruins join the fold

www.cbssports.com

 

[jne381]

I would rather see Michigan State swapped for Indiana. That has been a good opponent over the last several years.

 

[cedricmelons]

I'd be perfectly happy with these rivalries. IU is a great place to visit and a program we should beat consistently. NU probably has as large of an LA alumni base as any other current B1G school and as an academic/private USC makes sense. Two great places to visit and one dump in Rantoul that's our traditional in-state rival...

 

[NUCat320]

I would rather see Michigan State swapped for Indiana. That has been a good opponent over the last several years.

Michigan State is the #2 rivalry for all their rivals. True little brother.

 

[Sheffielder]

There so much emphasis on symmetry where it may not be necessary.

These models and the "fantasy booking" by fans and sports writers inevitably lead to one thing: stupid matchups.

Not to mention inequity. Is it fair to Ohio State to play Penn State and Michigan every year? Conversely, is it fair for Purdue to play Ohio State each year?

What I would like to see: Each AD can submit UP TO three protected rivalry requests to the conference office. Any request must be jointly consented to by both programs. No need to submit three if you don't have three.

Once the rivalry request period closes, let the scheduling nerds see if the scheduling matrix works out, or how many adjustments would need to be made to work it out. Then lock down these schedules, protected rivalries, etc. for a period of X years (just like a TV deal) where they would be revisited at the end of that period (or when schools come or go).

For a program like Northwestern, we'd surely agree with Illinois. I bet we might enter into a marriage of convenience with Purdue, and that might be it...I could see us approaching Iowa, but Iowa wanting to spend their nut on Wisco, Minny, and Neb.

It would be interesting to see how the new kids would interact here, and also what programs might get snubbed (i.e. Penn State being asked by Rutgers but declining because they don't feel it would add enough to their SOS).

 

[phatcat]

Need Iowa in there. Good rivalry. But they probably have others that they find more important (MN Neb Wisconsin)

 

[jne381]

Michigan State is the #2 rivalry for all their rivals. True little brother.

I think it has more to do with the fact they joined the Big Ten later than most of the rest.

 

[DarkSide576]

In my humble opinion, if one considers a 3-6-6 format, with three annual rivals, each school should have a 'good, bad, and an ugly rival'. One school should be top team (OSU, USC, U Mich, PSU, Wisconsin(?)). One should be a middle dwelling team (Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, X, Y, Z) and the last team a bottom feeder (NU for the last two years would qualify). You could re-rank the schools every six years (after a home/away for each game) if a school gets hot/cold.
As for USC, I like having one of our games against an LA school. We have a lot of alumni in SoCal. One would think that we could rally 10k fans every other year, for a game in LA.