Gah treis does not like.
I can live with it as an MSU fan.
Same division as Michigan- yay!
Opposite from Nebraska, OSU, and PSU- yay!
Trade rivalry game with Penn State for Indiana- yay!
Maybe I should look into a timeshare in Pasadena.
And who outside the states of Nebraska and Pennsylvania cares about NU/PSU game.
And FTR, how many rivalries can you name that has as many National championships as Florida State/Florida in the last 20 years?
Oklahoma-Texas?
You might want to look again. MSU and Nebraska are in the same division. Maybe you could get a timeshare in Lincoln?
ou - 1 - 2000
ut - 1 - 2005
fsu - 2 1993, 1999
uf - 3 1996, 2006, 2008,
doh! Oh well, I still like our chances.
FSU has been borderline irrelevant for the last 10 years (6 years if you want to be charitable), and have approached Notre Dame levels of overhype and excess attention. Florida is an elite program, no question.
And if Nebraska wins the Big 12 this year, I think you’ll see a LOT of interest in a Nebraska/PSU game.
I’m assuming that in addition to 5 divisional games and 1 rivalry game, each team will have two rotating cross-division games. So it’s hard to predict based on just alignment. There’s a big difference between playing OSU and Penn State versus Indiana and Pudue (to use NW’s schedule as an example).
Let’s hope these divisions have no relevance in basketball, where five of the top six teams are all in the same division. Sheesh.
Sometimes I forget that the 80s aren’t 20 years ago any more.
Do you want to talk irrelevant? How about Michigan? 8-16, the last two years.
Nebraska is not the team that they were in the 90’s. The only reason why their record is a good as it is the last few years is because the Big XII north is really really bad.
Penn State went 7-16 in two straight seasons a couple years back.
My point? nearly every team goes through a bad time. the OSU/Mich game is no more relevant across the country than the FSU/UF game. I live out of the Big 12 region, but still in the Midwest and I can guarantee you that I know no one that plans their Saturday around the OSU/Mich game. The game on the big tv at the local saloon will be the SEC game of the week.
to think OSU/Mich is THE game of the year in college football is presumptuous. It may be the game around the Great Lakes region, but beyond that, it is just another game. It certainly has no special interest in SEC territory, or Big XII territory. (I live or have lived in both).
And we speak for everyone, no question.
Frankly, when I lived in Big Ten country (10 years ago), the SEC wasn’t even on my radar. Big Ten, Pac-10, Big 12, and Notre Dame. If you weren’t one of those, no one cared. It’s completely regional.
I find it hard to believe, with Barry Alvarez being so involved in this process, that Wisconsin is the team that got absolutely hosed in this realignment. You can multiply that statement by a factor of ten if the divisions apply to basketball as well. Wisconsin, Michigan State, OSU, Purdue and Illinois all in the same division? Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska in the other? What a bunch of crap.
I agree that those big rivalry games don’t mean squat outside of the regions. They haven’t since the advent of ESPN and the other networks. Back in the 70’s when you got to see one game on a Saturday then Texas/Oklahoma and Michigan/OSU meant something. Nowadays nobody really cares. I was in Alabama once on the week of the Auburn/Alabama game and it was crazy. It was treated as the most important event in all the world by the residents. I held my tongue out of politeness, but in my mind I was saying “don’t you know that nobody gives a shit about this game?”
On the other hand, guaranteeing annual games against OSU and PSU has to be good for their national television exposure.
I don’t understand the “Wisconsin is hosed” sentiment. To me it looks like the divisions show remarkable parity (if you assume Michigan’s last few season are an aberration). After all they get to play Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota every year.
Well, I’d reiterate what I said in my second paragraph. Who outside of the midwest gives a crap about either of those matchups? When Georgia plays Florida or UCLA plays USC, I’m either watching the Badgers on The Big Ten Network or a local game here in Colorado.
I don’t think national TV coverage means anything anymore. Hell, even BYU thinks it can go it alone and show it’s home games on the ever-popular BYU channel.
Wisconsin has two big rivals–both are in the other division.
Wisconsin was publicly lobbying hard for a rivalry game with Nebraska. Nebraska is in the other division.
Unless Michigan bounces back, the OSU-PSU-Wisc division is much, much tougher than the Iowa-Neb-Mich division.
Okay, I was looking at strength of schedule and not rivalries. I’m also assuming that Michigan will bounce back within a couple of years. I also think Northwestern-MSU-Minnesota is a tougher row to hoe than Purdue-Illinois-Indiana.