Big Ten states Wisconsin at least co-champion of West

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Pompous Elitist

Pompous Elitist

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Click the link at the bottom. Let us establish that marketing is important in college football and the Big Ten is concerned with public perception and wants OSU to have best possible beauty pageant for the playoff.

That said, it is my understanding that if MN wins next week we will be West champ due to tiebreakers. Not "co-champions".

Maybe I'm getting my panties in a bunch over nothing but this type of press release reeks of favoritism. It just rankles my hide. I for one will not consider the Badgers co-champs if we defeat them. Where am I wrong? Semantics?


http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/112214aac.html
 

It's completely accurate. Nothing wrong with the release. Both the Gophers and MSU can earn a share of a division title, the difference is the Gophers would win the head to head tiebreaker vs. Bucky while Sparty can't win it with OSU.
 

I understand technically the teams would be "tied" numerically but I simply don't agree with the semantics of it, and I don't like to top billing for Wisc on the press release. I will also state we are west champs without qualifying it.

In honor of the CFP and the BIG TEN I will change my avatar to represent my thoughts on the CFP.
 

I'm fine with it. In some years, we will be in a first-place tie and want to claim a divisional title. There's no way to have that and to deny Wisconsin a share of the title. Besides, it's tradition, the Big Ten had co-champions from the beginning.
 



I'm trying to understand the conventional wisdom here, or the logic of it.

If we go to the BIG TEN championship game and beat OSU, a team that holds a better overall and conference record and a win against us, will we be co-champions of the BIG TEN? Help me understand the logic being used. I realize I'm being obtuse...but it really doesn't make a lot of sense.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
I'm trying to understand the conventional wisdom here, or the logic of it.

If we go to the BIG TEN championship game and beat OSU, a team that holds a better overall and conference record and a win against us, will we be co-champions of the BIG TEN? Help me understand the logic being used. I realize I'm being obtuse...but it really doesn't make a lot of sense.
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Sorry, I didn't read the article. But the headline says co-champs of the B1G West, not co-champs of the B1G. Did the article state that if we beat tOSU in conference championship game that we're still only co-champs of the B1G?
 

No ties. If we beat wisky on saturday, wisky can be a wild card team. Tie breakers are to BREAK THE TIE.
 

Nah...No matter the outcome of the next game, the red weasels are guaranteed to finish no worse than tied for the best record in the west. We MUST win to tie they record wise, but will be rewarded by winning the head to head, and thus earning the trip to Indy.
 



normally I'd say 'deal with it'... but you're hatred is gladly accepted.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
I'm trying to understand the conventional wisdom here, or the logic of it.

If we go to the BIG TEN championship game and beat OSU, a team that holds a better overall and conference record and a win against us, will we be co-champions of the BIG TEN? Help me understand the logic being used. I realize I'm being obtuse...but it really doesn't make a lot of sense.
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its not hard... gophers beat badgers they "win the west' (however when u look back 20 years from now it wil say wisconsin tie) then they get to play in the title game and once they win that they are big ten champs
 

I still don't really understand. So Wisconsin is west co-champ if we have a tied record and beat them straight up, but this logic doesn't apply to the championship game?
 

DoubleAlum said:
Sorry, I didn't read the article. But the headline says co-champs of the B1G West, not co-champs of the B1G. Did the article state that if we beat tOSU in conference championship game that we're still only co-champs of the B1G?
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No, but I am challenging the conventional wisdom of "co-champions" as applied in this scenario. I don't agree with it as we play them head to head.
 



i agree the wisdom is ridiculous when you consider that everyone in the diviision plays eachother so there will always be a head to head tiebreaker and no need for co champions
 

schlegs said:
i agree the wisdom is ridiculous when you consider that everyone in the diviision plays eachother so there will always be a head to head tiebreaker and no need for co champions
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Exactly. If we beat wisky, give the badgers a participation ribbon and tell them to like it.:cheer:
 

Nobody will care about this after kickoff in Indianapolis. Why even discuss it?
 

Did you have a problem with co-champions before the Big Ten went to divisions?
 

RodentRampage said:
Did you have a problem with co-champions before the Big Ten went to divisions?
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+1

I don't understand why anyone would have an issue with this. It is not like the concept of co-champions or co-division champions is a new thing. The story clearly states that if we win we go to Indy and the main headline is about OSU. Prior to the conference champion game coming into play we had co-champs of the Big Ten numerous times and then the tie breakers were used to determine who got to play in the Rose Bowl as the Big Ten representative.

Like it or not the Badgers are at worst co-champions of the West based on their entire Big Ten record not just what they do head to head against us. The important part is that if we win then we are the co-division champ that gets to move on to the title game to get a shot at the actual conference title. In the end no one is really going to care that much who the division winners were, the Big Ten Champion is all anyone really cares about in the grand scheme of things.
 

RodentRampage said:
Did you have a problem with co-champions before the Big Ten went to divisions?
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Yes. I get co-champs if it's a 3 way tie or if the 2 tied teams didn't play in the old system, but a 2 way tie with a head to head tiebreaker seems lame.
 

FreakyDeke said:
Yes. I get co-champs if it's a 3 way tie or if the 2 tied teams didn't play in the old system, but a 2 way tie with a head to head tiebreaker seems lame.
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Who cares if they are called co-champs. It will be the Gophers playing for the Big Ten championship. That's all that matters. It's like being the regular season champ in a low-major basketball conference. It doesn't matter unless you win the conference tourney. For all intents and purposes this weekends game is the tourney.
 


I don't think you can have co champions of a division. They don't do that in any other league. I call BS. Whoever advances is the sole champion. In a sport where seasons are 8 games long, it's stupid to have co champions in a 7 team division.
 

afurry91 said:
I don't think you can have co champions of a division. They don't do that in any other league. I call BS. Whoever advances is the sole champion. In a sport where seasons are 8 games long, it's stupid to have co champions in a 7 team division.
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Is 8 teams enough? In 1910, there were 8 teams in the conference, and the Gophers were co-champions with Illinois. Is there really all that much difference between 7 and 8 teams?
 

RodentRampage said:
Is 8 teams enough? In 1910, there were 8 teams in the conference, and the Gophers were co-champions with Illinois. Is there really all that much difference between 7 and 8 teams?
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Depends on if there was a tiebreaker format put into place to determine who advances, or if that was the final game with no tiebreak procedure. I wouldn't want the Gophers to claim a co-championship if they didn't advance to the big ten championship. Just my opinion.

I felt the same way when Tubby tied for 6th in his last year but got the 9 seed in the big ten tournament.
 

afurry91 said:
Depends on if there was a tiebreaker format put into place to determine who advances, or if that was the final game with no tiebreak procedure. I wouldn't want the Gophers to claim a co-championship if they didn't advance to the big ten championship. Just my opinion.

I felt the same way when Tubby tied for 6th in his last year but got the 9 seed in the big ten tournament.
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So 11 of our 18 Big Ten championships were co-championships.....should we not claim those then?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_football
 

There should be no co-champion if there is a head to head result.
 

MNVCGUY said:
So 11 of our 18 Big Ten championships were co-championships.....should we not claim those then?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_football
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First, how many of those co-championships would we have won outright with a proper tie breaking procedure? I don't know, i'd have to go back and look at head to heads during the season to see. And I'm not willing to do that.

Second, in my opinion, it depends on a couple things:

1. Did the season simply end after the last big ten game? If so, and there was no tie breaking procedure, I would claim it. If there was a tie breaking procedure in place and we lost then we shouldn't be recognized as co champion. What's the point of a tiebreaker if you still have co champions?

2. Who advanced to the rose bowl? They're the champion. The team who didn't is not a champion. They're 2nd place. Can the Vikings claim a co division title if they don't go to the playoffs? Absolutely not.

Obviously, if they allow you to claim it as a championship you should. I'm not placing blame on the University. It's the Big Ten's fault. Frankly, I don't really care in the grand scheme of things. It just doesn't make sense to me, but that's fine. The NCAA likes their co-champions for some reason.
 

Can we really find something else more important to argue about. Who gives a rat's behind what Wisconsin claims. There is one Big Ten Champ per year now, and that is whoever wins the Big Ten Championship game. Only that team puts up a banner. I sure hope we don't start putting up Western Division Banners, like they mean something. Anyone know, does Sconnie have Leaders Division Champion banners?
 

Champions are made on the field through the outcome of regular season games for division champions and post season games for conference champions. They are not made through the application of tie-breaking rules to determine which team moves on to the post season Big 10 Championship game. If Minnesota beats Wisconsin both teams finish the regular season with the same record in division games and they are declared the co-champions of the Western Division. However, because of the tie-breaker rules, the Gophers also win the right to play in the Big 10 Championship game against Ohio State.
 

If we win next week, Wisconsin can call themselves whatever they want while our boys are packing for Indy.
 

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