STrib: Big Ten football coaches comment on possible realignment

Donate To GopherHole
BleedGopher

BleedGopher

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
60,716
Reaction score
15,963
Points
113
per Megan:

First, there was Legends and Leaders. Now, there is East and West. Soon, there will be … nothing?

Outgoing Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said as recently as after this past season that maybe the conference will do away with divisions altogether, instead opting to have the two best teams play each other in the championship instead of the winner of each division.

Conference realignment was a hot topic at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago on Thursday, with several coaches weighing in on what that might look like.

The thought is that a no-division system would help future Big Ten teams make the College Football Playoff. That’s because the East has been so dominate, winning all five Big Ten Championships since converting to a geographical alignment in 2014, and playing a lesser-ranked West team in the final game hasn’t helped improve the conference champion’s national ranking. Thus, the Big Ten has missed out on the past two national postseasons and has only three appearances total compared to the SEC with six.

But Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said all this talk of the West as the weak link might not remain true for much longer.

“Everybody’s talking about this conference alignment. And let’s just give it a few years, just let it play out with some of the [coaches] that have just got jobs, and we’ll see how, I think, both sides elevate,” Fleck said. “That’s what everybody wants whether you’re in the West or the East. We all want the Big Ten to succeed. We want the Big Ten represented in the playoffs.”

Fleck added he likes the alignment as it currently stands for the easy travel. It also preserves regional rivalries, though Fleck said teams being in different divisions wouldn’t necessarily bar rivals from still playing each other.

http://www.startribune.com/big-ten-football-coaches-comment-on-possible-realignment/512921862/

Go Gophers!!
 

This will happen as soon as we are a clear favorite to win the West.
 

per Miller:

I am a bit of a realignment nerd…be that conference realignment or reshuffling the Big Ten divisions. I put together a quickly arrived at scenario, but before we hit that, I want to talk about Michigan and Ohio State. The Game. Because that is where all of these discussions must start.

They have been playing The Game since 1897. It’s arguably the greatest rivalry in college football. Your answer to that question will have a lot to do with your geographic upbringing. Folks raised anywhere but the Southeast will say Michigan v Ohio State is the best rivalry in the sport. Folks raised in the Southeast will tout the Iron Bowl and Alabama against Auburn…and they would be wrong.

As for Michigan and Ohio State in the same division, we refer back to 2013 and the comments at that time. The two schools felt they should be in the same division, because they did not want to take away from the importance of The Game. To play The Game on the last weekend of the regular season, then have a rematch the following week in the Big Ten Title game is not something either school wanted…perhaps that has changed, but when you consider what I just wrote, I doubt that will have changed. If they were in the same division, playing two weeks in a row would lessen the importance and significance of The Game. I just don’t see that happening. Which also leads me to believe the Big Ten will not scrap the divisions altogether, because the same exact scenario could play out.

So for my scenario, I have kept the divisions and I have them in the same division.

https://www.hawkeyenation.com/football/reshuffling-b1g-divisions

Go Gophers!!
 

Detroit News: Big Ten division realignment talk picks up steam amid East's dominance

Maybe it’s to better position the conference for the College Football Playoff.

Maybe it’s for competitive balance.

Maybe it’s because the Big Ten just likes to change.

Whatever the reason, it appears that division realignment might be on the horizon once again for the conference that first implemented divisions in 2011 when Nebraska joined to bring the total number of teams to 12. When Maryland and Rutgers came on board in 2014, that created another shuffling of the 14 institutions that were divided into seven-team divisions.

Now, as the East has established itself as the dominant half of the Big Ten, the talk of moving things around has resurfaced.

“Change is inevitable,” Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said. “I don’t think it will stay the same. I think we’ll change it at some point because change is coming somehow, some way.”

The reasoning for a change seems clear. Since the East and West divisions were implemented in 2014, the Big Ten champion has come from the East in all five seasons with Ohio State winning three titles and Michigan State and Penn State capturing one each.

In fact, in 2013 during the final season of the Legends and Leaders divisions, Michigan State won the conference title, meaning a team from what is now the East has won the last six championships. Throw in the fact that 12-0 Ohio State was banned from postseason play in 2012, and the East dominance gains even more traction.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/s...cks-up-steam-amid-easts-dominance/1776640001/

Go Gophers!!
 

It seems clear to me teams have missed out on the CFP because of who they lost to, not who they beat. What am I missing. Is this not obvious? Realignment so the two top teams play in a title game isn’t going to really move the needle in terms of CFP if you lose to a 6-6 team or have multiple losses.
 


The Athletic: Division Revision? Big Ten divisional realignment could happen sooner rather than later

Could the Big Ten be on the verge of realigning yet again?

It’s not only possible, according to Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck, it was discussed this spring during meetings in Arizona.

“Change is inevitable,” Fleck said. “I think we all know that. I think that the East and West have been around for a while. I like it, I like the division of it. But I don’t think it will stay the same. I think we’ll change it at some point because change is coming somehow, some way. And I think people are going to want to move it around, and shake it up a little bit.”

In what way, though? From 2011-2013, the Big Ten’s divisional structure was rooted in competitive balance. In 2014, it shifted to a geographic alignment. This time, it could address the competitive imbalance between the divisions and still preserve rivalries. Or, perhaps, the league could eliminate divisions altogether, protect annual rivalry games and petition for a title game pitting...

https://theathletic.com/1084510/2019/07/19/big-ten-football-division-realignment-east-west/

Go Gophers!!
 

Has anyone ever reported on this issue. Such as asking the question who actually has the power to change the divisions? Can the commissioner do it unilaterally? A vote?
 

This is solely due to the whining of certain programs and one doesn’t have to think very hard on which ones. Doing away with divisions would further cement the conference into first, second, third, and steerage class programs while doing nothing for CFP eligibility particularly with an expansion. Let’s fight this tooth and nail.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
This is solely due to the whining of certain programs and one doesn’t have to think very hard on which ones. Doing away with divisions would further cement the conference into first, second, third, and steerage class programs while doing nothing for CFP eligibility particularly with an expansion. Let’s fight this tooth and nail.
Click to expand...

If it comes down to a school vote it’ll never change.

The only schools that want change are:
Penn state
Indiana
Rutgers
Maryland

Maybe:
Michigan state
 



beavergopher said:
This will happen as soon as we are a clear favorite to win the West.
Click to expand...

Tongue in cheek ... but actually, you hit the nail right on the head.

The ACC pushed hard for this, when they were updating the rules to allow the Big XII to hold a championship game with less than 12 members. The Big Ten, led by Jim Delany, and the SEC, joined together to block them.

Because it's quite obvious what they wanted to do: make it so they could cherry pick the schedule to ensure that their top football programs (Clemson and Florida State) always have the easiest possible path to go undefeated and thus make the CFP.

Simple as that.


The Big Ten now likely wants at least the option to do the exact same, now that it got shut out last season (something that was never supposed to happen).

That's bad for Minnesota. Expect to see a lot more of Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State on our schedules. Which probably excites some people. But it is bad news for Minnesota. We cannot consistently compete with programs like that. They have way more money than we do, and with no "draft" or other system to ensure parity by equally distributing top recruits, it's not going to be a fair playing field.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Tongue in cheek ... but actually, you hit the nail right on the head.

The ACC pushed hard for this, when they were updating the rules to allow the Big XII to hold a championship game with less than 12 members. The Big Ten, led by Jim Delany, and the SEC, joined together to block them.

Because it's quite obvious what they wanted to do: make it so they could cherry pick the schedule to ensure that their top football programs (Clemson and Florida State) always have the easiest possible path to go undefeated and thus make the CFP.

Simple as that.


The Big Ten now likely wants at least the option to do the exact same, now that it got shut out last season (something that was never supposed to happen).

That's bad for Minnesota. Expect to see a lot more of Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State on our schedules. Which probably excites some people. But it is bad news for Minnesota. We cannot consistently compete with programs like that. They have way more money than we do, and with no "draft" or other system to ensure parity by equally distributing top recruits, it's not going to be a fair playing field.
Click to expand...

Hopefully our administration and other administrations see this.

Would love just one reporter explain the process of what it would take to change. If it can be done by commissioner edict, then expect change in the next couple of years. If you need a majority of the schools to be along with it, I don’t think we have to worry. Everyone in the west should know what a great setup it is for them. The entire west is competitive with each other and it is a great setup for their regional rivalries.
 

"But Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said all this talk of the West as the weak link might not remain true for much longer.

“Everybody’s talking about this conference alignment. And let’s just give it a few years, just let it play out with some of the [coaches] that have just got jobs, and we’ll see how, I think, both sides elevate,” Fleck said. “That’s what everybody wants whether you’re in the West or the East. We all want the Big Ten to succeed. We want the Big Ten represented in the playoffs.”


I love that he said this. It shows he has supreme confidence in himself. Well done, P. J. Fleck!

I think we're just now seeing the very beginning of amazing new/updated rivalries for the Gophers; not just with Iowa and Wisconsin, but also with Nebraska, Purdue, and even Northwestern.

I love the East-West divisional format. And I think theOSU and Michigan might both be ripe for (slight) falls.
 

per Shama:

Possible realignment of the Big Ten’s East and West Divisions in football was asked about by media at Big Ten Media Days last week in Chicago. Nothing has been announced by the conference but the East is consistently the stronger division. Moving Michigan to the West would ensure the Golden Gophers and Wolverines played every season for the famous Little Brown Jug.

Not only does realignment seem a possibility but so too does expansion of league members from 14 to 16. That’s another topic Kevin Warren could be dealing with this fall and later. Warren, the Vikings chief operating officer, begins working with outgoing Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany in September and then takes over as commissioner January 1.

Warren is a neighbor of Gophers coach P.J. Fleck in Edina.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!
 



BleedGopher said:
per Shama:

Possible realignment of the Big Ten’s East and West Divisions in football was asked about by media at Big Ten Media Days last week in Chicago. Nothing has been announced by the conference but the East is consistently the stronger division. Moving Michigan to the West would ensure the Golden Gophers and Wolverines played every season for the famous Little Brown Jug.

Not only does realignment seem a possibility but so too does expansion of league members from 14 to 16. That’s another topic Kevin Warren could be dealing with this fall and later. Warren, the Vikings chief operating officer, begins working with outgoing Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany in September and then takes over as commissioner January 1.

Warren is a neighbor of Gophers coach P.J. Fleck in Edina.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

I disagree with just about everything that was said in his second paragraph.

Think how unbalanced the divisions would be if you traded Michigan for Purdue
 

Not sure about the premise for this. The SEC Divisions are arguably as imbalanced as the Big. The year that stands out is 2017 when Bama were chosen over Ohio State and Wisconsin even though they didn't even win their division. Part of reason was that they had scheduled and beaten 3rd ranked Florida State in the season opener; Ohio State had lost to the Sooners and Wisconsin had played no-one of note. Also the two previous Big Ten representatives had been blown out in the Playoff semi-finals including Ohio State the year before when they had been given the benefit of the doubt by the selection committee.

I don't think the Big Ten getting overlooked has anything to do with the make up of the divisions. it is more about being brave enough to take on and beat the other Power 5 conferences in non-conference play and the Big Ten performing better in the Playoffs when they get there.
 
Last edited:

Johnob2 said:
Not sure about the premise for this. The SEC Divisions are arguably as imbalanced as the Big. The year that stands out is 2017 when Bama were chosen over Ohio State and Wisconsin even though they didn't even win their division. Part of reason was that they had scheduled and beaten 3rd ranked Florida State in the season opener; Ohio State had lost to the Sooners and Wisconsin had played no-one of note. Also the two previous Big Ten representatives had been blown out in the Playoff semi-finals including Ohio State the year before when they had been given the benefit of the doubt by the selection committee.

I don't think the Big Ten getting overlooked has anything to do with the make up of the divisions. it is more about being brave enough to take on and beat the other Power 5 conferences in non-conference play and the Big Ten performing better in the Playoffs when they get there.
Click to expand...

I think you nailed it.
 

I just looked, and had there not been divisions, but schedules were the same, here is what would have happened:

2014: #1 tOSU either still plays #5 Wisco or #7 MSU (not sure on tie-breaker as they had the same record and no common opponents). tOSU wins CFP, so no difference, unless MSU wins and gets left out, only possibility is a worse outcome.

2015: MI State still plays Iowa, MI State makes CFP.

2016: #8 Penn State plays #2 tOSU instead of #5 Wisco. tOSU made CFP without being conf. champ, so winner of PSU/tOSU almost certainly makes it, but no improvement and PSU could get left out, so only possibility is a worse outcome.

2017: Wisco and tOSU still play, neither made it, so no difference.

2018: #6 tOSU plays #8 Mich instead of #21 Northwestern. Does a rematch one week later really matter? If tOSU wins again, I don't see it helping, if MI wins no way do they catapult in. Maybe in a weird world two consecutive wins over MI pushes tOSU in???

So out of the five years of CFP, MAYBE one year might have given the B1G a minor boost, but they still probably get left out. WOW. Better scrap the whole system!!!! Not to mention the two years it could have hurt (though unlikely).
 

If you're one of the teams that's in the mix for the playoffs every year, you want your division to be tough. Otherwise, you have to go undefeated to make it in. One loss, you're probably done if your division/schedule isn't very strong.
 

GophersInIowa said:
If you're one of the teams that's in the mix for the playoffs every year, you want your division to be tough. Otherwise, you have to go undefeated to make it in. One loss, you're probably done if your division/schedule isn't very strong.
Click to expand...

This entire conversation is because James Franklin doesn’t think he can consistently beat OSU
 

GophersInIowa said:
If you're one of the teams that's in the mix for the playoffs every year, you want your division to be tough. Otherwise, you have to go undefeated to make it in. One loss, you're probably done if your division/schedule isn't very strong.
Click to expand...

Or on the flip side, hope it's really easy, you go undefeated and win the conference championship. No unbeaten P5 team has been left out of the playoff...
 

Honestly, I think I like the idea of pod/protected games better than divisions (I think Bill Connelly wrote an article about it). You have three other teams you play every year, and then cycle through the rest in the big ten in an even way. Does that help OSU of Mich make the CFP? No, but I think it's a better system than the current one where we go years without playing certain teams....
 

Lakeville Goldy said:
I just looked, and had there not been divisions, but schedules were the same, here is what would have happened:

2014: #1 tOSU either still plays #5 Wisco or #7 MSU (not sure on tie-breaker as they had the same record and no common opponents). tOSU wins CFP, so no difference, unless MSU wins and gets left out, only possibility is a worse outcome.

2015: MI State still plays Iowa, MI State makes CFP.

2016: #8 Penn State plays #2 tOSU instead of #5 Wisco. tOSU made CFP without being conf. champ, so winner of PSU/tOSU almost certainly makes it, but no improvement and PSU could get left out, so only possibility is a worse outcome.

2017: Wisco and tOSU still play, neither made it, so no difference.

2018: #6 tOSU plays #8 Mich instead of #21 Northwestern. Does a rematch one week later really matter? If tOSU wins again, I don't see it helping, if MI wins no way do they catapult in. Maybe in a weird world two consecutive wins over MI pushes tOSU in???

So out of the five years of CFP, MAYBE one year might have given the B1G a minor boost, but they still probably get left out. WOW. Better scrap the whole system!!!! Not to mention the two years it could have hurt (though unlikely).
Click to expand...

Exactly. The argument as presented by agitators makes little to no sense. The divisions are sort of (at times...) a de facto round of a playoff (except when it stupidly isn’t).
 

I don’t get it. The SEC West has won 9 of the last 10 CCGs. Are they talking about realignment too?

For a sport that has done everything in its power to dilute casual fan interest in the regular season, they actually managed to accidentally stumble into something that added fan interest in the midst of a routine money-grab.

The B1G didn’t get shut-out of the CFP because of the quality of its CCG. The B1G got shut-out in year #4 and #5 for failing to show-up after being invited in year #2 and #3.
 

As others have said, it's not an issue with alignment. It's an issue of not having the best team in December / January.
 

GophersInIowa said:
If you're one of the teams that's in the mix for the playoffs every year, you want your division to be tough. Otherwise, you have to go undefeated to make it in. One loss, you're probably done if your division/schedule isn't very strong.
Click to expand...

But that’s exactly what they want. It won’t work perfectly, of course, but statistically they cherry pick the schedule to try to get Ohio State, Penn State, or Michigan undefeated every year. Undefeated Big Ten champ is auto-in, no matter difficulty. That’s less risk than having tough divisions and trying to argue for a 1 or 2 loss champion to get in.
 

Face The Facts said:
As others have said, it's not an issue with alignment. It's an issue of not having the best team in December / January.
Click to expand...

Yep.

TV has their dirty hand up the skirt as well, I’m sure. Ohio State Michigan rematch in the CCG gets way higher viewership and $$$ than Ohio State vs Minnesota or NW.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Tongue in cheek ... but actually, you hit the nail right on the head.

The ACC pushed hard for this, when they were updating the rules to allow the Big XII to hold a championship game with less than 12 members. The Big Ten, led by Jim Delany, and the SEC, joined together to block them.

Because it's quite obvious what they wanted to do: make it so they could cherry pick the schedule to ensure that their top football programs (Clemson and Florida State) always have the easiest possible path to go undefeated and thus make the CFP.

Simple as that.


The Big Ten now likely wants at least the option to do the exact same, now that it got shut out last season (something that was never supposed to happen).

That's bad for Minnesota. Expect to see a lot more of Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State on our schedules. Which probably excites some people. But it is bad news for Minnesota. We cannot consistently compete with programs like that. They have way more money than we do, and with no "draft" or other system to ensure parity by equally distributing top recruits, it's not going to be a fair playing field.
Click to expand...

If there is some conspiracy to pave an easy road for those three teams, the way to avoid playing them would be to play well enough to make sure that we aren't viewed as part of that "easy road." We don't need to match OSU, PSU, or Michigan's level for that to happen, just do better than the likes of Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue, Indiana, Illinois, and Northwestern (the last of whom has done well, but I don't think anyone would argue has some build in institutional advantage we can't possibly compete with).

Also, I don't think there is such a conspiracy.
 

NW has the academic disadvantage on top of everything else.

It’s not a conspiracy. The Big Ten hasn’t exactly been quiet about their disappointment in being shut out of the CFP last season.

An OSU, PSU, Michigan that is undefeated, is an auto-in. No way to deny it. The only risk is a season with 5+ P5 champs and/or Notre Dame that are undefeated. Which is unlikely.
 

Problem is it might not look better after this year.

If Michigan or OSU goes undefeated or a likely 1-loss team. Good chance whoever comes out of the west has 3 losses just because the west looks even through the top 6 teams.

The East-West division would have looked better had it happened when WI was dominant. As the potential west powerhouses, WI and NEB have not delivered on the West side. We need some other team to grab the West and dominate it squelch this proposal.

Nothing would be worse than a 14 team single division in which we were battling for a 2nd place finish just to get an invite, knowing we'll get passed over should we be in a 2nd place tie.
 

2018 Big Ten champ Ohio State had a bad loss to 6-6 Purdue
2017 Big Ten Champ Ohio State blown out by Iowa, lost to OK early in the season. Two losses
2016 Big Ten champ Penn State stupidly passed over in favor of Ohio State because beauty pageant. Ohio State loses in humiliating fashion in CFP 31-zip, showing oh yeah, they aren’t that good.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom