Charter & Expansion

[Nokomis]

I just thought of sweet divisional alignment and names. The six remaining original conference members would be in the Charter division, and the six Expansion teams would would be in the other:

Charter
Illinois
Michigan
Minnesota
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin

Expansion
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan St.
Nebraska
Ohio St.
Penn St.

The Expansion division is more top heavy, but so what. Cross-over rivalries would have to be worked out, but with a nine game schedule, that shouldn't be too hard.

I know I'm a Johnny-come-lately with this post, and someone probably already thought of it. But I woke up this morning, and it seemed too perfect not to post.

Two weeks!

 

[6 Nov 1999]

I just thought of sweet divisional alignment and names. The six remaining original conference members would be in the Charter division, and the six Expansion teams would would be in the other:

Charter
Illinois
Michigan
Minnesota
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin

Expansion
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan St.
Nebraska
Ohio St.
Penn St.

The Expansion division is more top heavy, but so what. Cross-over rivalries would have to be worked out, but with a nine game schedule, that shouldn't be too hard.

I know I'm a Johnny-come-lately with this post, and someone probably already thought of it. But I woke up this morning, and it seemed too perfect not to post.

Two weeks!

Nokomis,

It has been a long time since I researched this, but I do remember that both Northwestern and Michigan have broken service. Northwestern defected for about a year and Michigan defected for several years before rejoining the Western Conference. Therefore we might want to do this by seniority and longevity. In this case, I think Indiana or Iowa would edge out Michigan. I think IU and the Hawkeyes joined the conference in 1899. There are only 4 charter members with unbroken service. I remember researching this because I was lobbying on GopherHole about where flags of our compatriot teams should be in the new TCF Bank Stadium. I think I wanted Wisconsin to be directly across from us on the 50 yard line, since they are our longest continuous rivalry (save but the game Teddy Roosevelt halted). I think I wanted Purdue on our right in honor of their taking the lead in formation of the conference. I think I wanted Illinois flag to be directly to our left. Penn State and Nebraska would be damn near in the end zones. I also felt we should still fly the flag of the Chicago Maroons. Flags (pennants) are important to Navy veterans. We obsess about them. Speaking of flags / pennants, traveling to Beaver Stadium, you would never know that PSU is in the Big Ten Conference if you are looking for flags / pennants. They simply did not fly any last time I was there. I know it was about 4 years ago, but still, disappointing. Why did they join?

 

[highwayman]

Sorry, no better than Legends and Leaders. Maybe worse. Might as well go with "Old" and "New".

The best alignment and names is still straight East and West, no doubt. In this day and age, which we are in, Neb/Wisc/Iow is the equivilent of OSU/Mch/PSU. Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern round out the West. Protected games for Minnesota are Michigan and MSU.