Breaking down POD Concept for Realignment

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Pods would probably be good for Gopher rivalries and bad for Gophers winning the Big Ten unless the balance of power can be shifted. We would likely end up with wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska which would be a harder than average draw.

The fact that Gopher rivalries are with the hardest teams in the conference ex-OSU means most realignment will protect a hard path scheduling wise. We want status quo.
 


Goldmember said:
Maybe someone can explain how doing 4x4 instead of 2x8 allows for more opportunity to monetize.
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If conference semi-finals become a thing, and that's worth an additional boost of $$$ to their TV partner(s), then it would make sense.

Otherwise, I'm even coming around to why have divisions anymore. Why not just pick the best two teams for the CCG, and have a regular rotating conference schedule amongst all 14/16 teams as a single "division"?

Taking into account, of course, rivalries. Perhaps up to three locked in games per year, and five rotating.
 

MplsGopher said:
If conference semi-finals become a thing, and that's worth an additional boost of $$$ to their TV partner(s), then it would make sense.

Otherwise, I'm even coming around to why have divisions anymore. Why not just pick the best two teams for the CCG, and have a regular rotating conference schedule amongst all 14/16 teams as a single "division"?

Taking into account, of course, rivalries. Perhaps up to three locked in games per year, and five rotating.
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If you are going with the semi finals, just go with one dvisions and mix up schedules pretty well so their good mix between teams and advance the top 4.
 



bizzle22 said:
The more I hear about conference realignment the more I think the B1G is better off staying as is
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That might be what the big ten thinks too. Hence “the alliance”


I think end game is an 8-12 team playoff with top 5-6 conference champs and objective criteria for at large bids. With bid max’s per conference.

10 conferences.
6 auto bids for conference champs. Max of two teams per conference in the 8 team playoff who says no?

max of three per conference in a 12 team playoff, who says no?

The only league that votes no to either one of those situations is the SEC, because it undermines what they want…a 12 team playoff with 5-6 SEC teams.
 







nitramnaed said:
They are an AAU school though.
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Not simply that, they're one of the top medical research universities in the country. Also have strong collaborations with (literally) next door Carnegie Mellon, which is a big center for machine learning and robotics.

Pittsburgh obviously is covered by Penn St and Ohio St, to degrees, but they do have a strong sense of regionality and support for their own teams.
 

nitramnaed said:
Kansas football is the problem.
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Even if KU and ISU were both ranked in the top 15 for a couple years, they just don't have the fanbases and support anywhere near Texas and OU have. That's the real thing.

The only teams that the Big Ten "could" add that would realistically match that, would be Notre Dame and USC. But that ain't happening.
 

PhiloVance said:
Graduate of North Dakota State?
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No, I'm just mentioning facts here. Okla State is not on the table for the Big Ten. SEC is their only realistic chance at a P conf outside the Big XII.
 



fmlizard said:
Someone has to lose games. Not sure why everyone wants to load up on national powers.

Let's get Glass Joe in here. A nice western team with the KC media market to bring with. Maybe pair them with Boston College in the East. Mo money, mo wins.
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Yup.

A blue blood super conference ... one of those teams is going to lose a lot more... not sure everyone's brand survives that ...
 

fmlizard said:
Someone has to lose games. Not sure why everyone wants to load up on national powers.

Let's get Glass Joe in here. A nice western team with the KC media market to bring with. Maybe pair them with Boston College in the East. Mo money, mo wins.
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I don't see need for expansion with the alliance in place. No way B1G tries to poach a team from another alliance conference with this in place. Alliance actually gives these conferences a lot of flexibility to get creative with cross conference match ups and scheduling, which will lead to more revenue.
 

PMWinSTP said:
I don't see need for expansion with the alliance in place. No way B1G tries to poach a team from another alliance conference with this in place. Alliance actually gives these conferences a lot of flexibility to get creative with cross conference match ups and scheduling, which will lead to more revenue.
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Bolded: well, that is the question, on if and how that will work. You'd like that to be the case.
 

MplsGopher said:
Pittsburgh obviously is covered by Penn St and Ohio St, to degrees, but they do have a strong sense of regionality and support for their own teams.
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I'm unwilling to consider Pitt until they get their own on campus stadium.

Playing in an NFL stadium is a buttstain
 

Well, that's not going to happen any time soon. They had their own stadium, and tore it down to build an on-campus arena. They don't have the room or the money, and certainly not the desire, to build an OCS.

Even their training facility, they share with the Steelers, and is not on-campus.
 

Everyone retooling everything every couple of years is the new college football tradition.
 

Maybe B1G can poach BYU and Cincinnati.
 

allthgoodnamesrgone said:
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to buy me some B1G Northwest POD gear!
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What would be the worst pod in a Big Ten pod?
NW, Illinois, Purdue, and Indiana?

Mich, PSU, OSU, and WI should all go in one.

MN, IA, Neb, and Colorado works for me.

Mich St, MD, Rutgers, and West Virginia would be a nice one.
 

If ACC GOR is as binding as some say they aren't realistic options, it seems to me that the only real possibilities that make sense are the following (in no particular order): UConn, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Iowa State, Kansas.

Of those, I like Kansas the best: basketball blueblood, KC market. May not move the needle in terms of football, but I think the value payday in all of this is the 2 additional semifinal games; KU is just there to allow for the football pod to happen.

As for a 16th team, I think you can make lots of different arguments. Depends what the priority is: academics, overall athletics, market, value, etc...

As for how you break down the pods, something may have to give. OSU & MI are going to want to be associated, MSU will want to be with MI, IU & Purdue will want to be together, but you just can't have a pod of IU/Purdue/Ill/NW, unless one of them cranks things up consistently in a big way.
 

Face The Facts said:
What would be the worst pod in a Big Ten pod?
NW, Illinois, Purdue, and Indiana?

Mich, PSU, OSU, and WI should all go in one.

MN, IA, Neb, and Colorado works for me.

Mich St, MD, Rutgers, and West Virginia would be a nice one.
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I highly doubt MN, IA, and WI end up in a different pod. Most pod scenarios you only play the teams in your pod for sure every year, and I doubt MN, IA, or WI would give up playing for the Axe and Floyd every year. I mean, the big ten literally changed the playoff week last year in order to keep the Axe streak going.

Honestly, you either put one of the Illinois schools with us or you stick Nebraska with us.

Pods would probably turn out like

PSU, MD, Rutgers, *Some east coast expansion team*
OSU, Mich, Mich St, *Some Midwest expansion team*
MN, WI, IA, NEB
NW, Purdue, Illinois, Indiana

Unfortunately you have 2 pods that have a school with 2 traditional rivalries that they likely don't want to give up playing yearly, so you have to work around that. This also keeps the Illinois and indiana in state rivalries intact.
Another idea that gives you a little more flexibility is having 3 protected games instead of pods. In the case of MN/IA/WI it might end up the same way, but you could have longer chains of rivalries
 

Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota
Wisconsin, Northwestern, Michigan, Illinois
Ohio State, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan St.
Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland, West Virginia

Warren quoted as saying basketball has to be part of the realignment discussion. If they go with an ACC team, look for Boston College.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota
Wisconsin, Northwestern, Michigan, Illinois
Ohio State, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan St.
Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland, West Virginia

Warren quoted as saying basketball has to be part of the realignment discussion. If they go with an ACC team, look for Boston College.
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FireDaveLee said:
If ACC GOR is as binding as some say they aren't realistic options, it seems to me that the only real possibilities that make sense are the following (in no particular order): UConn, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Iowa State, Kansas.

Of those, I like Kansas the best: basketball blueblood, KC market. May not move the needle in terms of football, but I think the value payday in all of this is the 2 additional semifinal games; KU is just there to allow for the football pod to happen.
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And then WV and probably UConn are out once you consider research requirements. If the AAU is as strict as it has been (Nebraska no longer is, would be the only factor there), that also takes out Cinci ... although they actually have good research numbers.

If you cared only about markets, then adding UConn would be like adding Rutgers. Nebraska probably already covers KC well.


The only slam dunk is Notre Dame, and that will not happen.
 


upnorthkid said:
Or, and don’t get me wrong, we could just go with the pod idea is stupid and scrap it
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Yea, that's where I'm at based on what I've seen so far. I don't see why the B1G has to add two schools to have conference semifinals. Just scrap the divisions and take the top 4 teams out of the 14 we have. Or, if they are dead set on keeping divisions then just take the top 2 in each division as they are currently set up. Get the added revenue of the conference semifinal games without adding more mouths to feed. Win-win.

And I realize they need to add as many games as they can to maximize revenue, but at some point the season starts to become too long. With an expanded playoff plus conference semifinals/championship they would likely have to push the CFP championship a couple weeks later than it is now. That puts them in direct competition with the NFL playoffs which I'm not sure is a route they want to go.
 


MaxyJR1 said:
Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota
Wisconsin, Northwestern, Michigan, Illinois
Ohio State, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan St.
Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland, West Virginia

Warren quoted as saying basketball has to be part of the realignment discussion. If they go with an ACC team, look for Boston College.
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Would this include a protected rivalry game for MN/WI, I doubt either team would accept a scenario where they don't play every year...I feel like the same would apply for OSU/Mich and maybe Mich/Mich st.
 

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