Up in the air and pondering a dynamic, successful Big Ten Conference

by Graham Filler on Jan 7, 2010 4:28 PM CST in All

Drifting lazily over the Midwest on United Flight 611 from DC to Chicago, I glance down to see, rows of flat fields. Of course.

These fields are inevitable. The Big Ten's surprising 4-3 record...was not.

Celebratory editorials have been flung up on this site with reckless abandon since the Iowa Hawkeyes overran a faster, more athletic Yellowjacket team. And rightfully so. YOU the reader, you the TRE writer/commenter...you knew the Big Ten was improved this year. YOU watched enough noon games to see cohesive passing offenses and three of the hardest hitting defensive units ever to grace Big Ten playing fields. Victories weren't just to be celebrated for these schools who triumphed in bowls; they were for all of YOU who had confidence in Midwest football.

The Big 11 is flying high, thanks to some decisions and strategy gambits far more surprising and intriguing than these bland plains I move over.

Madison residents and Badger fans found themselves on shaky ground during Spring/Summer, sure of an uninspiring Phillips/Sherer combo at signalcaller. Word filtered in from B5Q and elsewhere - a career backup was game ready and Bielema was going to start ‘im.

Stuck in a mid-season offensive funk amidst turnovers and unrest, a staunchly unchanging coach listened to his many unsolicited advisors and tweaked the O. While it's too early to say "transformation," Jimmy T finally moved TP into a comfort zone by pushing zone-read runs and finding throws the occasionally limp-armed QB could make.

It's fun to be on top, looking over the wreckage of bowl season, fresh from a solid conference wide showing. The Big Ten isn't slow and backwards - we adapt, we change, we evolve. And that will make for a hopeful and exciting 2010 offseason.

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Comments

2010 Big Televen season is going to be great.

I’m already pumped for it.

Brunettes not fighter jets

by rockyh on Jan 7, 2010 5:15 PM CST reply actions

I can't wait for the 2010 season

and how the college football landscape will change when we expand, hopefully to 14 teams.

"We're used to Favre-a-palooza now. We're engulfed in Favre-a-palooza. It's not even Favre-a-palooza anymore. He's family now."

--Vikings TE Visanthe Shiancoe, on Brett Favre

by Ted Glover on Jan 7, 2010 7:33 PM CST reply actions

I don't understand the obsession with a 14 team conference.

The whole point of this is the get a conference playoff game. In this regard, 14 is greater than 12 in number only. The only reason I can think of that people are obsessed with a 14 team conference is the typical American “more is better because it’s more” mantra. If 14 is better than 12 then why not 16? Why not 20? Why not every in division 1 football? THAT WOULD BE THE BEST EVAR

As Brian from mgoblog put it:

About 14. The thing about 14 teams is at that point it’s hardly a conference, it’s two conferences with a scheduling agreement and a weird playoff at the end. Two divisions of seven have you face everyone in your division and then just two teams from the other division. We’d go from playing Penn State and everyone else in the other division 75% of the time (there are eight teams in the league that aren’t protected rivals and we miss two of them every year) to playing them 29% of the time, and there’s no way you can protect a rivalry game in the opposite division without making the situation even worse.

Unless you go to nine or even ten games there’s just no way that makes any sense. So then you’re trying to coordinate three new schools and take away at least one precious nonconference cupcake and argue which team goes in which division and trying to get eight of eleven votes to approve all this.

There is zero percent chance of this happening.

I don’t think anyone wants a conference where we either lose most of the rivalries that make this conference great or we play some teams once every 4 years. At that point, why not just split the two divisions into two seperate conferences?

12 teams and no more please. And on a seperate note, I would really like Missouri to be that team.

by jeepnut on Jan 8, 2010 12:54 PM CST up reply actions

Why 14-16 could be great...

Innovation. Our conference could be the first conference to have its own playoff. With a 16-team four division conference, there could be a conference semi-final game as well as a championship game. This would bring a lot of attention to the conference, which is exactly what Delaney seems to want. I’m not sure how the economics would work out, but if it is a profitable venture, why not?

Oh yeah, and Texas should be the conference’s #1 target. But if they decline, Missouri and Syracuse will be the next tier.

by rencito on Jan 8, 2010 1:00 PM CST up reply actions

What does that accomplish?

I haven’t been a college football fan for a long time, but I can’t remember ever hearing about a conference where there wasn’t a clear #1 and #2 by the end of the season.

That extra game would be better served by introducing a postseason playoff to college football instead of using it to play another in-conference game.

If you need a 4 team playoff to determine your conference’s champion, then your conference is too damn big anyway. I’d be willing to bet Delaney would never do this.

And yes, Texas would be cool, but they’re not a realistic option. They are nowhere near our geographic footprint and their situation in the Big 12 is too good for them to ever consider leaving. Of the consensus likely options, Missouri is my favorite.

by jeepnut on Jan 8, 2010 1:42 PM CST up reply actions