Grand Island Independent: Big Ten needs Huskers to win the West Division

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per the Grand Island Independent:

P.J. Fleck could put a sunny spin on Chernobyl, so the Minnesota coach is the right guy to stump for the Big Ten’s current alignment of East and West divisions.

“The West is getting a lot better,” Fleck said. “All due respect with that comment. I think the coaches in the West are dynamic coaches, and you can see it in games that are considered ‘upsets.’ I don’t think those are going to be ‘upsets’ in the next few years. I like the way the conference is aligned.”

You’d think East coaches would like a divisional setup that has resulted in that division winning every league title since the two divisions came into existence.

But they don’t because the divisional imbalance may have hurt the Big Ten’s chances in making the last two College Football Playoff.

“When you’re left out of the playoffs for two years in a row, I think there needs to be discussions,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. Franklin doesn’t always have a filter, but he’s a thinker, and honest.

The Big Ten East is strong, much like the SEC West, Franklin said.

“So I think we’ve got to at least have a discussion,” Franklin said of realigning divisions. “Not necessarily saying we need to make any changes, but we need to have a discussion.”

https://www.theindependent.com/spor...cle_df311476-af38-11e9-9c1d-5bc5d4625f79.html

Go Gophers!!
 

Grand Island Independent is a known hive of scum and villainy.
 

I didn’t know Pittsburgh was part of the Big Ten East. That’s why you didn’t go to the the CFP. How about defeating Pitt before crying about changing divisions up every 5 years.

PSU can be competitive with Michigan and a Meyer-less OSU. Let’s see what happens the next 2-3 years in the east then have a discussion.
 

Alabama consistently has to play several top 25 teams in its division, while the SEC East has been as weak as the Big Ten West. They’ve been just fine.

So frankly, it’s on OSU, PSU, and Michigan for not getting it done. Bottom line. No one to blame but themselves.
 

Here's where I pitch the 8 team playoff again. Champions of each of the 5 Power conferences plus top FCS plus 2 wildcards. There, problem solved.
 


TNGophfan said:
Here's where I pitch the 8 team playoff again. Champions of each of the 5 Power conferences plus top FCS plus 2 wildcards. There, problem solved.
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Agree 100%. And the top 4 seeds (which would be wildly debated and disagreed with I'm sure) would or should have home field for 1st game sometime in early December, allowing the losers of those games to participate in a traditional bowl.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 

In essence, what the article is saying is that, for the good of the B1G, a team from the West needs to become strong enough to be able to win conference titles and make the CFP playoffs. In short, to restore balance to the conference.

Fine. that is a legitimate point. But, that same outcome is achieved if any B1G West team reaches that status. It doesn't "have" to be Nebraska. The writer just wants it to be Nebraska. And then comes up with some "reasons" why it's less likely for any other teams in the West to reach that status.

And a couple of the quotes from Frost are pretty out-there. Like it's Nebraska's birthright to be the best team in the division.

“If I’m being honest, the West hasn’t been as good as it should be because Nebraska hasn’t been as good as it should be,” he said. “We can do a lot through the work we’re doing to try and get the program where it belongs to help the West be competitive and just as dominant as every other league in the country.”
 

short ornery norwegian said:
In essence, what the article is saying is that, for the good of the B1G, a team from the West needs to become strong enough to be able to win conference titles and make the CFP playoffs. In short, to restore balance to the conference.

Fine. that is a legitimate point. But, that same outcome is achieved if any B1G West team reaches that status. It doesn't "have" to be Nebraska. The writer just wants it to be Nebraska. And then comes up with some "reasons" why it's less likely for any other teams in the West to reach that status.

And a couple of the quotes from Frost are pretty out-there. Like it's Nebraska's birthright to be the best team in the division.

“If I’m being honest, the West hasn’t been as good as it should be because Nebraska hasn’t been as good as it should be,” he said. “We can do a lot through the work we’re doing to try and get the program where it belongs to help the West be competitive and just as dominant as every other league in the country.”
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Yup - the media bias in favor of NE. Why not a Rodney Dangerfield team like MN? All I can say is this will be an interesting 2019 season in the B1G West.
 

Nebraska fans think the whole country follows and cares what happens to their sports teams.
 



beavergopher said:
Nebraska fans think the whole country follows and cares what happens to their sports teams.
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They (the country) probably would ... if Nebraska won like Alabama has the past several years.

That was Jim Delany's big bet. Convincing the school presidents to look the other way on Nebraska's lack of academic/research qualifications to join the conference.

So far, it hasn't paid out. We will see if Frost can make a step change difference.
 

It does raise the interesting question of whether a CFP committee (keep in mind the CFP is composed of administrators and some token former coaches, none of which likely watch all the games) would tap an undefeated Big Ten champ Minnesota, Purdue, Maryland over a one or two loss SEC team...or Big Ten team for that matter. An undefeated Nebraska is probably in. Wisconsin...probably. Iowa, same. What about programs that have been been born under a bad sign, if it wasn’t for bad luck would have no luck at all type programs?

Same goes for WA state, Texas Tech or multitudes of over “average” programs. I think the Ohio State ober Penn State fiasco a few years back proved they are willing to ignore on field results.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
It does raise the interesting question of whether a CFP committee (keep in mind the CFP is composed of administrators and some token former coaches, none of which likely watch all the games) would tap an undefeated Big Ten champ Minnesota, Purdue, Maryland over a one or two loss SEC team...or Big Ten team for that matter. An undefeated Nebraska is probably in. Wisconsin...probably. Iowa, same. What about programs that have been been born under a bad sign, if it wasn’t for bad luck would have no luck at all type programs?

Same goes for WA state, Texas Tech or multitudes of over “average” programs. I think the Ohio State ober Penn State fiasco a few years back proved they are willing to ignore on field results.
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It's difficult for me to see them denying any undefeated P5 conf champ, no matter how small the alumni/fan base is. Northwestern, Wake Forest, etc. The only way would be if there are more than four undefeated P5 champs and/or Notre Dame.
 







I have no idea of nor do I care what the academic rank of Nebraska or any of the other schools is amongst Big Ten institutions. Am I alone? A degree these days is more a entry level “I’m not a complete social or academic failure” than a mark of greatness. It opens doors for that first job.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
I have no idea of nor do I care what the academic rank of Nebraska or any of the other schools is amongst Big Ten institutions. Am I alone? A degree these days is more a entry level “I’m not a complete social or academic failure” than a mark of greatness. It opens doors for that first job.
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Yes.
 

Fair enough. Can you rank each student body for me so I can assign intrinsic value without personally evaluating each student for their academic and interpersonal worthiness?
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Fair enough. Can you rank each student body for me so I can assign intrinsic value without personally evaluating each student for their academic and interpersonal worthiness?
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You know, for a pompous elitist, your stance on the matter is not very pompous or elitist.
 

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