End the 9 game conference schedule

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Initially I liked it because it was a chance to see more conference opponents. Now it is just the chance to see Maryland every year.
Assuming everyone replace it with a home cupcake and the home cupcake replaced one of the two games that knock them to an imbalance Home/Road.

If we ended the 9 game conference schedule:
Ohio State would’ve played a cupcake instead of either Nebraska or Iowa. 50% chance at 11-2. 50% chance at 12-1. Would have the advantage of a better SOS.

Penn State would’ve had the same record 10-2

Michigan State would’ve lost Minnesota or Northwestern. 50% 9-3 or 50% 10-2 which would’ve helped Ohio State.

Michigan would’ve lost either Wisconsin or Purdue. 50% chance at 9-3 or 50% chance at 8-4. Would only help Ohio states SOS not Wisconsin’s because if they had one one more game it meant they didn’t play @Wisconsin

Rutgers would lose @Nebraska loss or @Illinois win Might stay at 4-8 or might jump to 5-7. 50/50.

Indiana same boat as Rutgers. Likely would still get locked Urdu’s game and have no change in record losing a big ten win @illinois and replacing it with a non-conference win.

Maryland would’ve either lost minnesota win and replaced it with a non conference win to stay at 4-8 or lost Wisconsin loss and replaced it with non conference win to improve to 5-7

Wisconsin - no change in record. Possibly a decrease in SOS by possibly having Michigan fall off the schedule. But many of the opponents records would be better by a game and if they replaced Maryland with a non conference cupcake SOS doesn’t take that big of a hit.

Northwestern Split their two home crossovers against Penn State and Michigan State. 50/50 shot to be a 10 win team rather than a 9 win team. If they’re a 10 win team it likely gives Wisconsin a top 15 win

Iowa either loses their Ohio State win or their Penn State loss. Iowa probably doesn’t want to lose either of those games due to the upset of Ohio State and the quality of Penn State. But if they lost Penn State and kept the Ohio State win, they’d likely be 8-4 and a fringe top 25 team. Iowa fans are the only ones who likely much prefer 9 game schedule this year in terms of its impact on results. If they lose the Ohio State win and go 7-5 that’s a pretty mediocre season compared to their actual 7-5. But that’s only a 50% chance of occurring

Purdue likely loses their Michigan loss because Indiana is a locked game. They go 7-5 instead of 6-6.

Nebraska either loses Ohio State loss or Rutgers win. If they lose Ohio State loss and replace it with non conference win does 4-4 conference season save the coaches job. Nebraska fans might like the 9 game schedule this year because it may have contributed to their new coach.

Minnesota loses one of two and likely picks up a non conference win to be 6-6 and bowling.

Illinois likely loses one of two losses and picks up maybe a win. Though I’m not sure they could beat every cupcake.


Overall big ten record likely goes from 96-74 to 102-68
 

Some guy said:
Initially I liked it because it was a chance to see more conference opponents. Now it is just the chance to see Maryland every year.
Assuming everyone replace it with a home cupcake and the home cupcake replaced one of the two games that knock them to an imbalance Home/Road.

If we ended the 9 game conference schedule:
Ohio State would’ve played a cupcake instead of either Nebraska or Iowa. 50% chance at 11-2. 50% chance at 12-1. Would have the advantage of a better SOS.

Penn State would’ve had the same record 10-2

Michigan State would’ve lost Minnesota or Northwestern. 50% 9-3 or 50% 10-2 which would’ve helped Ohio State.

Michigan would’ve lost either Wisconsin or Purdue. 50% chance at 9-3 or 50% chance at 8-4. Would only help Ohio states SOS not Wisconsin’s because if they had one one more game it meant they didn’t play @Wisconsin

Rutgers would lose @Nebraska loss or @Illinois win Might stay at 4-8 or might jump to 5-7. 50/50.

Indiana same boat as Rutgers. Likely would still get locked Urdu’s game and have no change in record losing a big ten win @illinois and replacing it with a non-conference win.

Maryland would’ve either lost minnesota win and replaced it with a non conference win to stay at 4-8 or lost Wisconsin loss and replaced it with non conference win to improve to 5-7

Wisconsin - no change in record. Possibly a decrease in SOS by possibly having Michigan fall off the schedule. But many of the opponents records would be better by a game and if they replaced Maryland with a non conference cupcake SOS doesn’t take that big of a hit.

Northwestern Split their two home crossovers against Penn State and Michigan State. 50/50 shot to be a 10 win team rather than a 9 win team. If they’re a 10 win team it likely gives Wisconsin a top 15 win

Iowa either loses their Ohio State win or their Penn State loss. Iowa probably doesn’t want to lose either of those games due to the upset of Ohio State and the quality of Penn State. But if they lost Penn State and kept the Ohio State win, they’d likely be 8-4 and a fringe top 25 team. Iowa fans are the only ones who likely much prefer 9 game schedule this year in terms of its impact on results. If they lose the Ohio State win and go 7-5 that’s a pretty mediocre season compared to their actual 7-5. But that’s only a 50% chance of occurring

Purdue likely loses their Michigan loss because Indiana is a locked game. They go 7-5 instead of 6-6.

Nebraska either loses Ohio State loss or Rutgers win. If they lose Ohio State loss and replace it with non conference win does 4-4 conference season save the coaches job. Nebraska fans might like the 9 game schedule this year because it may have contributed to their new coach.

Minnesota loses one of two and likely picks up a non conference win to be 6-6 and bowling.

Illinois likely loses one of two losses and picks up maybe a win. Though I’m not sure they could beat every cupcake.


Overall big ten record likely goes from 96-74 to 102-68
Click to expand...

Never cared for conference game expansion. When they tried it in the 70s it was murderous. Cal Stoll had to play Ohio State as his opening game twice and as his second game twice. Thanks for the what-might-have-been rundown - interesting.
 

I've brought this up dozens of times, but if someone in your conference goes 10 seasons between playing games at MN, something is very wrong.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
I've brought this up dozens of times, but if someone in your conference goes 10 seasons between playing games at MN, something is very wrong.
Click to expand...

My father, an Indiana alum, and I have been trying to go to a game forever. Otherwise I would have forgotten they were in the conference.
 

Also, I would prefer they end the 14 team conference instead.
 


Some guy said:
Initially I liked it because it was a chance to see more conference opponents. Now it is just the chance to see Maryland every year.
Assuming everyone replace it with a home cupcake and the home cupcake replaced one of the two games that knock them to an imbalance Home/Road.

If we ended the 9 game conference schedule:
Ohio State would’ve played a cupcake instead of either Nebraska or Iowa. 50% chance at 11-2. 50% chance at 12-1. Would have the advantage of a better SOS.

Penn State would’ve had the same record 10-2

Michigan State would’ve lost Minnesota or Northwestern. 50% 9-3 or 50% 10-2 which would’ve helped Ohio State.

Michigan would’ve lost either Wisconsin or Purdue. 50% chance at 9-3 or 50% chance at 8-4. Would only help Ohio states SOS not Wisconsin’s because if they had one one more game it meant they didn’t play @Wisconsin

Rutgers would lose @Nebraska loss or @Illinois win Might stay at 4-8 or might jump to 5-7. 50/50.

Indiana same boat as Rutgers. Likely would still get locked Urdu’s game and have no change in record losing a big ten win @illinois and replacing it with a non-conference win.

Maryland would’ve either lost minnesota win and replaced it with a non conference win to stay at 4-8 or lost Wisconsin loss and replaced it with non conference win to improve to 5-7

Wisconsin - no change in record. Possibly a decrease in SOS by possibly having Michigan fall off the schedule. But many of the opponents records would be better by a game and if they replaced Maryland with a non conference cupcake SOS doesn’t take that big of a hit.

Northwestern Split their two home crossovers against Penn State and Michigan State. 50/50 shot to be a 10 win team rather than a 9 win team. If they’re a 10 win team it likely gives Wisconsin a top 15 win

Iowa either loses their Ohio State win or their Penn State loss. Iowa probably doesn’t want to lose either of those games due to the upset of Ohio State and the quality of Penn State. But if they lost Penn State and kept the Ohio State win, they’d likely be 8-4 and a fringe top 25 team. Iowa fans are the only ones who likely much prefer 9 game schedule this year in terms of its impact on results. If they lose the Ohio State win and go 7-5 that’s a pretty mediocre season compared to their actual 7-5. But that’s only a 50% chance of occurring

Purdue likely loses their Michigan loss because Indiana is a locked game. They go 7-5 instead of 6-6.

Nebraska either loses Ohio State loss or Rutgers win. If they lose Ohio State loss and replace it with non conference win does 4-4 conference season save the coaches job. Nebraska fans might like the 9 game schedule this year because it may have contributed to their new coach.

Minnesota loses one of two and likely picks up a non conference win to be 6-6 and bowling.

Illinois likely loses one of two losses and picks up maybe a win. Though I’m not sure they could beat every cupcake.


Overall big ten record likely goes from 96-74 to 102-68
Click to expand...

I agree. I never liked the decision to go to 9 games. I like the nonconf games.

Also you didn’t mention the most outrageous point of all, which is that the Conf that still only plays 8 Conf games got 2 teams in the playoff, at the expense of the B1G and Pac12 who play 9.
 

I don't mind the expansion. The problem lies is that not all the P5 Conferences (Looking at you, SEC & ACC) have gone to it. That is why you see teams like Alabama playing Mercer and Clemson playing the Citadel and the like in the middle of November, which is a complete joke.
 

Not only the 8 game schedule, but I believe that Alabama & Tennessee are a protected crossover. With 6 games against the west & Tennessee, that's not a lot of times for SEC East teams to be playing a conference mate.

Not only has Minnesota never played Indiana at TCF Bank, but I'm pretty sure they've only played Indiana 1 time (2013) since TCF Bank Stadium even opened......
 

I hated the Rutgers and Maryland add, but liked the move to the 9 game conference schedule. Thought it was a chance to see some of the East Division teams more often, would eliminate a cupcake game from the schedule, etc.

But I really hate that the league as adopted this weirdo crossover plan that means we're stuck playing Maryland every year. Why can't they just rotate the 3 inter-division games evenly??
 



10

Some guy said:
Initially I liked it because it was a chance to see more conference opponents. Now it is just the chance to see Maryland every year.
Assuming everyone replace it with a home cupcake and the home cupcake replaced one of the two games that knock them to an imbalance Home/Road.

If we ended the 9 game conference schedule:
Ohio State would’ve played a cupcake instead of either Nebraska or Iowa. 50% chance at 11-2. 50% chance at 12-1. Would have the advantage of a better SOS.

Penn State would’ve had the same record 10-2

Michigan State would’ve lost Minnesota or Northwestern. 50% 9-3 or 50% 10-2 which would’ve helped Ohio State.

Michigan would’ve lost either Wisconsin or Purdue. 50% chance at 9-3 or 50% chance at 8-4. Would only help Ohio states SOS not Wisconsin’s because if they had one one more game it meant they didn’t play @Wisconsin

Rutgers would lose @Nebraska loss or @Illinois win Might stay at 4-8 or might jump to 5-7. 50/50.

Indiana same boat as Rutgers. Likely would still get locked Urdu’s game and have no change in record losing a big ten win @illinois and replacing it with a non-conference win.

Maryland would’ve either lost minnesota win and replaced it with a non conference win to stay at 4-8 or lost Wisconsin loss and replaced it with non conference win to improve to 5-7

Wisconsin - no change in record. Possibly a decrease in SOS by possibly having Michigan fall off the schedule. But many of the opponents records would be better by a game and if they replaced Maryland with a non conference cupcake SOS doesn’t take that big of a hit.

Northwestern Split their two home crossovers against Penn State and Michigan State. 50/50 shot to be a 10 win team rather than a 9 win team. If they’re a 10 win team it likely gives Wisconsin a top 15 win

Iowa either loses their Ohio State win or their Penn State loss. Iowa probably doesn’t want to lose either of those games due to the upset of Ohio State and the quality of Penn State. But if they lost Penn State and kept the Ohio State win, they’d likely be 8-4 and a fringe top 25 team. Iowa fans are the only ones who likely much prefer 9 game schedule this year in terms of its impact on results. If they lose the Ohio State win and go 7-5 that’s a pretty mediocre season compared to their actual 7-5. But that’s only a 50% chance of occurring

Purdue likely loses their Michigan loss because Indiana is a locked game. They go 7-5 instead of 6-6.

Nebraska either loses Ohio State loss or Rutgers win. If they lose Ohio State loss and replace it with non conference win does 4-4 conference season save the coaches job. Nebraska fans might like the 9 game schedule this year because it may have contributed to their new coach.

Minnesota loses one of two and likely picks up a non conference win to be 6-6 and bowling.

Illinois likely loses one of two losses and picks up maybe a win. Though I’m not sure they could beat every cupcake.


Overall big ten record likely goes from 96-74 to 102-68
Click to expand...

I hope they go to a 10 game Conf schedule.
 

I think this is where we're supposed to say the Maryland cross-over game will assist us with recruiting from the Baltimore / DC area.
 

I would rather see the P5 agree to only play one non P5 team each year. If you want to play 9-10 conference games each year, that is great, but you only get one non P5 team.
 

fmlizard said:
Also, I would prefer they end the 14 team conference instead.
Click to expand...

I don't; as long as we keep going through "rebuilding" while cycling through new coaches every 5 years it gives the U a chance to pull in bowl $$$$ per the conference sharing.
 



FireDaveLee said:
Not only the 8 game schedule, but I believe that Alabama & Tennessee are a protected crossover. With 6 games against the west & Tennessee, that's not a lot of times for SEC East teams to be playing a conference mate.

Not only has Minnesota never played Indiana at TCF Bank, but I'm pretty sure they've only played Indiana 1 time (2013) since TCF Bank Stadium even opened......
Click to expand...

You can't make this up. Since 1990 when the SEC became two divisions Alabama has only played at Georgia in 1990, 1995, 2003, and 2008. and only 8 times in the past 27 football seasons. Pretty easy to have your top teams go undefeated or minimal losses when they don't match the perennial top teams against each other.
 

The solution is actually to go to 10 conference games. That evens it up at 5 away, 5 home.

You can argue for 8 until the cows come home ... it will never happen. That chicken has flown the coop and been run over by the semi-truck called "TV money". More conference games in the season means more games that can be shown on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, FOX, FS1, BTN.


The Big Ten could be a leader by going to 10 first. There are too many problems with 9, and I suspect we'll get to the point eventually where all power conferences are requiring their teams to at least schedule 10 games against P teams. The difficulty here is two fold: i) Notre Dame and its quasi ACC schedule, and ii) the unavoidable politics of the locked in rivalry games in Iowa, Kentucky, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, that span two separate P confs.
 

16-18-20

fmlizard said:
Also, I would prefer they end the 14 team conference instead.
Click to expand...

This will be ended in due time by going to either 16, 18 or 20 teams.
 

Ope3 said:
This will be ended in due time by going to either 16, 18 or 20 teams.
Click to expand...

Some people hypothesize that the current 64 P5 teams (12, 10, 14, 14, 14) + Notre Dame will convert from five power conferences into four power conferences of 16 teams each + Notre Dame still on the side.

Would certainly make things neater, with the playoff. But I guess we'll see. Just don't think Texas fits well into any of the other confs, and that's truly the linchpin to the whole idea.
 

MnplsGopher said:
Some people hypothesize that the current 64 P5 teams (12, 10, 14, 14, 14) + Notre Dame will convert from five power conferences into four power conferences of 16 teams each + Notre Dame still on the side.

Would certainly make things neater, with the playoff. But I guess we'll see. Just don't think Texas fits well into any of the other confs, and that's truly the linchpin to the whole idea.
Click to expand...

It is pretty much a given that the Big XII is going to break-up when their ESPN/ABC deal ends in 2024-2025. That is also around the same time the 4 team BCS Playoff contract concludes.
 

Ope3 said:
It is pretty much a given that the Big XII is going to break-up when their ESPN/ABC deal ends in 2024-2025. That is also around the same time the 4 team BCS Playoff contract concludes.
Click to expand...

Where do you best see Texas? I think they best fit in with the PAC, actually. But there are arguments for every which way you can dream of.

Also some notion that Baylor would not be included, due to the scandal. Also possible a school like Iowa St or Kansas St could be on the outside looking in. But then there's also state politics. Etc Etc Etc


Fun topic to discuss ... for the fun of it. Not exactly relevant to Minnesota though.
 

The problem isn't four of the five Power 5 conferences playing too many conference games, it's just on the SEC for playing 8. Hell, I'm just waiting for the day for the Big Ten to go to 10-game. Most of our non-conference games are just barely more interesting than pre-season NFL football to me (and I consider college football to be much better than the NFL). Would much rather play another game against a cross-division rival that we'd otherwise only see once every ~4 years.
 

MnplsGopher said:
Where do you best see Texas? I think they best fit in with the PAC, actually. But there are arguments for every which way you can dream of.

Also some notion that Baylor would not be included, due to the scandal. Also possible a school like Iowa St or Kansas St could be on the outside looking in. But then there's also state politics. Etc Etc Etc


Fun topic to discuss ... for the fun of it. Not exactly relevant to Minnesota though.
Click to expand...

I absolutely think it's relevant to Minnesota (at least at the moment), because there has been a consistent string of rumors over the past few years that Oklahoma is going to end up in the Big Ten West in 2023. If that happens, Texas could very easily end up following them since OU is their biggest remaining in-conference rival.
 

OU is even worse than Nebraska, in terms of academics. The Big Ten would essentially be admitting that they're abandoning the high-research public university model in favor of football success. Not sure presidents will go along with that. But maybe.

Not sure if Texas would follow OU to the Big Ten. That would be a fun argument.
 

MnplsGopher said:
OU is even worse than Nebraska, in terms of academics. The Big Ten would essentially be admitting that they're abandoning the high-research public university model in favor of football success. Not sure presidents will go along with that. But maybe.

Not sure if Texas would follow OU to the Big Ten. That would be a fun argument.
Click to expand...

I agree on the academics, but I just think that college football is getting to the point where money talks, and the potential TV/online streaming deals that could be agreed to with Oklahoma and potentially Texas in the Big Ten West would be outrageous. I also think that since Nebraska was accepted already, the academics requirement probably isn't as big of a factor anymore. Once you've let one non-AAU member in, it's easier to accept a second one.
 

You are correct on all counts.

But the counter examples are then Maryland and Rutgers, which are both huge in research and not so huge in football, but big on potential TV viewers. A very similar school to that situation (though not as big on research) is UConn.


Other things to consider: OU and Texas both have multi-million dollar deals with TV networks for some of their home games (so called "third tier rights"). That is the last huge benefit left to being in the Big 12 for those two. IF they came to the Big Ten, they would be forced to submit to BTN. Could they swallow that?
 

Okie said:
I agree on the academics, but I just think that college football is getting to the point where money talks, and the potential TV/online streaming deals that could be agreed to with Oklahoma and potentially Texas in the Big Ten West would be outrageous. I also think that since Nebraska was accepted already, the academics requirement probably isn't as big of a factor anymore. Once you've let one non-AAU member in, it's easier to accept a second one.
Click to expand...

To be fair, Nebraska was an AAU member when the B1G admitted them. They have since lost their membership and I don't know if they are actively pursuing readmittance. I would hope the Big Ten is pushing them to do so.
 

From what I heard, Nebraska's president pissed off too many people within AAU and there is no chance they'll revisit Lincoln's membership any time soon. They also need to fold in the medical research campus in Omaha (which is NOT the same thing as UN-Omaha) under the Lincoln campus, to boost research numbers.

Indiana did the same thing a couple years ago, with its medical research campus in Indy being folded under the Bloomington Campus.
 

For Fox sake please no more teams, certainly not Oklahoma and Texas. Why not add everyone and rename the Big Ten to NCAA2?
 

Ope3 said:
It is pretty much a given that the Big XII is going to break-up when their ESPN/ABC deal ends in 2024-2025. That is also around the same time the 4 team BCS Playoff contract concludes.
Click to expand...

Saying anything 8 years from now is a given is bold.
 

MnplsGopher said:
From what I heard, Nebraska's president pissed off too many people within AAU and there is no chance they'll revisit Lincoln's membership any time soon.
Click to expand...

I hadn't heard that. Thank you for the info.
 

MnplsGopher said:
More conference games in the season means more games that can be shown on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, FOX, FS1, BTN.
Click to expand...

Assuming that every school attempts to stick with the 7 home - 5 away model, it doesn't make a difference. Non-conference Big Ten games are shown on those networks all the time - the only thing that's needed is that the Big Ten team is at home.
 

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