I’m mainly talking football. I think it was a mistake, because now they have no natural rivals. Ohio State-Michigan is a rivalry. Penn State-Michigan is not a rivalry. The Nittany Lions have no real rivals in the Big Ten. All their good ones were erased with the move. Penn State-Pittsburgh was a rivalry. Penn State-West Virginia. was a rivalry. Also, Penn State’s move upset the equilibrium. There are now 11 teams in the Big Ten. However, there is a subliminal 11 hidden in the Big Ten logo. Whoever can find it, good for you. I’m mainly interested in opinions here, but I put in Cafe Society just because it’s about sports.
I’ll agree 100%. I think that by letting Penn State into the Big Ten that Notre Dame would soon follow. That didn’t happen.
Penn State adds nothing. When Jo Pa retires, Penn State will be the Northwestern of the Big Ten.
From my standpoint as a University of Illinois fan, Penn State doesn’t add much to the Big Ten. Here in the Chicago area I work with and meet lots of alumni from every other Big Ten university, but I’ve never known a soul who went to Penn State. They’re not on our radar screen in the Midwest. So, it doesn’t make for much of a conference rivalry.
They have a good football team most of the time, but they haven’t been good enough to break the domination of Michigan and Ohio State. And their men’s basketball team, most years, is godawful. All they do is drag down the RPI of every other Big Ten team that has to play them twice. I don’t know enough to know how they fare in non-revenue sports.
I think they would have found a happier home in the Big East. But college sports is all about TV money, and the Big Ten likes anything that gets it onto more TV screens in more states.
Penn State joining the Big 10 probably wasn’t a good move for Penn State, but it’s increased the level of football played in the conference. Since joining Penn State has won/tied for the Big 10 title twice, and is probably the 4th best team overall since joining behind OSU, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Isn’t Northwestern the Northwestern of the Big Ten?
I think the Big Ten is in the first stages of a long fall in terms of college football. I think that football players generally come from the lower half to two thirds of the economic classes, and where the midwest once had abundant jobs in that category - mining and steel in PA, automotive in Michigan and Ohio, farming everywhere in Big 10 country - those jobs are gone or going away, and the people who held or hope to hold them are going to be gone also.
Detroit was once the fourth largest city in the country, but has been losing population since the 60’s. People are moving south and west, and that trend will continue untill the Midwestern cities diversify their economies, which in time they will.
This is all just a theory, of course.
I still remember the story SI did (at least I think it was SI) about Penn State joining the Big Ten back when…it was accompanied by a cartoon which showed a giant Lion towering over 10 other little mascots…the implication meaning that the great Eastern school would soon dominate the hapless “Little 8” schools as well as Michigan and Ohio State. Naturally that didn’t really happen, though they did win the conference in their 2nd year as official members. And speaking of the “Little 8”…the littlest of the eight won the two years following…Northwestern… 
Looking back into the mists of history, Penn State, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia were all independents through the '80s. The writing was on the wall that the era of independents was ending with Notre Dame sucking all the oxygen out of the room when they signed that huge deal with NBC. They surely had their choice of options…Big Ten, Big East or the ACC. Not many traditional rivals in the Big Ten and ACC but plenty amongst the teams headed to the Big East. So why did the Big Ten win? The Big Ten probably had the sweetest television deal. And in the end, money wins over tradition every time…
I think it has been great. From Penn State’s point of view, they had to go somewhere. I think their size, their tradition, and their facilities made them a much better fit in the Big Ten than in the Big East or Conference USA. Rivalries take a little time to develop, PSU-Michigan is starting to warm up a little bit. The Big Ten tried to start a rivalry between my Michigan State and Penn State, making their annual meeting a guaranteed season-ending game for the honor of claiming the Land Grant Trophy (no, I’m not making this up). Success has been limited in my opinion, sure MSU and PSU do the things like the blood bank challenge for their game but the Penn State game still lags behind Michigan and Ohio State and Notre Dame as the games that MSU fans circle on the calendar.
There is more to the Big Ten than football or indeed more than sports. Having them on the basketball schedule has been great for the better basketball teams in the conference. Nearly every school in the conference has a sport in which they excel and a sport in which they stink, so we all get our comeuppance somewhere along the line.
If we ever add a 12th team, the only ones that make sense are Pittsburgh and Missouri. Notre Dame is not an option, they’d be nuts to give up their TV deal that they keep for themselves.
Finally, you’re all welcome to join me next week in rooting for the Spartans to knock off #1 Ohio State.
Add me to those who think it was a mistake. Penn State is just too far and too difficult to get to from the center of the Big 10 (Chicago). If PSU had joined the fledgling Big East, I’ll wager that it would’ve been strong enough that Boston College and Virginia Tech wouldn’t have fled it to join the ACC.
Pittsburgh is committed to the Big East. I don’t see that changing for several reasons - several money rivalries have developed there, and Pitt is strong in Big East basketball.
While I miss the annual Pitt-Penn State game, I’m satisfied with this arrangement.
Mr. Moto, University of Pittsburgh class of '00.