College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

1.) I question if the divisions are truly equal. My gut says no, but I have no evidence to support that conclusion.

2.) Geography increases rivalries, UW isn't in the same division as the THREE schools closest to it.

3.) The protected cross division rivalry is a cop out for not being willing to make the hard choices.

4.) The protected rivalry messes with scheduling you will only play the other teams once at home and once on the road every 5 years. (if the big 10 moves to a 9 game conference schedule in the future, then it would be significantly better)

I get 1 and 2, though I think that the divisions are roughly equal. 3 doesn't matter to me. As I see it, you either play each other every year or you don't, and whether that happens in a division or in a cross-division game isn't an issue. As for 4... we'll see about that. 9 games is sort of a weird number. There's no way to balance home and away games.

[Hammer]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

9 games is sort of a weird number. There's no way to balance home and away games.

Exactly. And there's another issue with the 9 game conference slate. Some schools with big capacities are going to have 5 road games, and thus are only able to schedule 7 at home. Michigan, MSU, OSU, PSU and Wisconsin all have capacities over 75,000 and are reasonably able to fill their stadiums on a regular basis. If you stay with an 8-game Big 10 schedule, you've got 4 road games every year. A smart AD will shoot for 4 non-conference home games more years than not. Michigan and MSU have long standing home-and-home agreements with Notre Dame and aren't able to do so every year, but every other year they are able to have 8 home games total now. Those big stadiums generate a nice boost to the athletic department's checkbook. Follow the money, boys. That's how we got 12-team conferences and conference championship games in the first place.

[Patman]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

if I start to hear whining about 8 home dates I'm going to start advocating the 11 game schedule.

[Hammer]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

if I start to hear whining about 8 home dates I'm going to start advocating the 11 game schedule.

It'll never happen. We'll go to 13 before we'll go back to 11, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if we're not there by the end of the decade if there's not a playoff. Especially when a non-con home game for Wisconsin has to bring in, what, $4 mil+? Follow the money....

EDIT: I've been told that Michigan nets about $4 million per non-con home game, and I can't imagine that OSU or Penn State, with similiar capacities, is much different. Proportionately, that would put Wisconsin at just under $3 million per home game, and MSU at $2.7 mil. I'm sure those numbers are probably low, but that's still a chunk of change that the bigger schools aren't going to turn down when given the opportunity.

[dxmnkd316]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

1.) I question if the divisions are truly equal. My gut says no, but I have no evidence to support that conclusion.

2.) Geography increases rivalries, UW isn't in the same division as the THREE schools closest to it.

3.) The protected cross division rivalry is a cop out for not being willing to make the hard choices.

4.) The protected rivalry messes with scheduling you will only play the other teams once at home and once on the road every 5 years. (if the big 10 moves to a 9 game conference schedule in the future, then it would be significantly better)

1) I disagree. They're fair. But similarly this is a gut feeling for me as well and I have no evidence either. Besides, you still have to go through the top team in the other division to make it to a championship/preferrable at large.

2) I agree, but will defer to badger fans. If they don't care in general, then I don't have a problem with it.

3) What hard decisions? It's not a cop out at all. If an easy decision exists you should probably make it. This was an easy decision. Sure a couple of these cross division rivalries blow but you weren't going to please everyone.

4) True, but I don't see this as a problem.

[Craig P.]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

Big Tenve.

Big Twelven.

Big Twen.

11 Jerks and a Squirt.

The great thing about the "Big Integer" is that it's still correct.

[dxmnkd316]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

Big Tweleveten

[Craig P.]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

Brian Kelly on NT Ian Williams, "He turned 21 last night, so he was feeling a little older today."

[bigmrg74]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

Brian Kelly on NT Ian Williams, "He turned 21 last night, so he was feeling a little older today."

That does sound like BK.

[pirate]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

In retrospect I can see how Weis was so focused on the outside appearance of things and how Kelly is better at building a strong team. Having one QB with a reconstructed knee and the 1000th rated defense returning a lot of players causes concern.

If Crist gets hurt then the season could be a disaster. If he stays healthy and the D can turn the talent into performance I think ND could be a big surprise team this year. That is my hope anyway.

Looking forward to Saturday although a soccer tournament will require DVR and watching late that night. We'll see if I can get through the day without hearing the score.

[JF_Gophers]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

With a name like Crist I don't think ND can lose. Even if he gets injured he will just resurrect himself.

I believe there is a decent game tonight as well. USC @ Hawaii. Would be nice to see Hawaii blow them out by 30.

[WeWantMore]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

With a name like Crist I don't think ND can lose. Even if he gets injured he will just resurrect himself.

I believe there is a decent game tonight as well. USC @ Hawaii. Would be nice to see Hawaii blow them out by 30.

I don't know, with nothing on the line for them this year, I'm going to have a tough time rooting against USC as hard as I usually do.

Pitt-Utah might not be bad tonight.

[LynahFan]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

With a name like Crist I don't think ND can lose. Even if he gets injured he will just resurrect himself.

I believe there is a decent game tonight as well. USC @ Hawaii. Would be nice to see Hawaii blow them out by 30.

Has USC really fallen so far so fast that this is considered a decent game? I mean, I know Kiffen is terrible and all, but this is still USC we're talking about, right?

(see, Bob - even I say something nice about the PAC-10 occasionally...in a backhanded sort of way. )

[JF_Gophers]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

Has USC really fallen so far so fast that this is considered a decent game? I mean, I know Kiffen is terrible and all, but this is still USC we're talking about, right?

(see, Bob - even I say something nice about the PAC-10 occasionally...in a backhanded sort of way. )

Hawaii is always great offensively at home. Lane Kiffin can screw up anything. USC lost a lot of "depth" due to sanctions.

This should certainly be competitive from Hawaii's standpoint.

[Clifton]

Re: College Football 2010: Dude, Where's my Conference?

Exactly. And there's another issue with the 9 game conference slate. Some schools with big capacities are going to have 5 road games, and thus are only able to schedule 7 at home. Michigan, MSU, OSU, PSU and Wisconsin all have capacities over 75,000 and are reasonably able to fill their stadiums on a regular basis. If you stay with an 8-game Big 10 schedule, you've got 4 road games every year. A smart AD will shoot for 4 non-conference home games more years than not. Michigan and MSU have long standing home-and-home agreements with Notre Dame and aren't able to do so every year, but every other year they are able to have 8 home games total now. Those big stadiums generate a nice boost to the athletic department's checkbook. Follow the money, boys. That's how we got 12-team conferences and conference championship games in the first place.

FWIW, the Big Ten has said one of the reasons that a nine game schedule won't occur until 2015 is because they're trying to figure out how to ensure that nobody is "forced" into a six game home schedule in a given year. By way of example, you can guarantee that if Michigan is slotted to play Notre Dame in South Bend in 2016, Michigan will get five conference games at home that season. Same for if Iowa is scheduled to play at Iowa State, etc. Juggling the rivalries and the already-locked-in games for 2013 and 2014 is the reason why it's going to take so long to go to nine games inside the conference.