Expanding the Big Ten Conference: Alignment, Scheduling, and Opportunities for Innovation

How to Divide 12 teams into a one Big Ten Champion As the Big Ten gets bigger, fans wonder what will happen with conference scheduling. As the Cornhuskers of

How to Divide 12 teams into a one Big Ten Champion

As the Big Ten gets bigger, fans wonder what will happen with conference scheduling. As the Cornhuskers of Nebraska are set to become the conference’s 12th team in 2011, administrators must solve a quickly approaching dilemma. While what happens beyond 2011 isn’t yet clear, Spartan Nation believes the Big Ten will ultimately end up with 16 teams, as soon as the 2011-2012 academic year.

Assuming 2011 will be a “transitional” year in the Big Ten, many wonder if the schools will split into divisions so soon. Would the teams be split into the North-South, East-West, or by some other unique design. Deciding just how the 12 team competitions should be managed will not be an easy task. Splitting into divisions for 2011, however, might not be the best idea.

Why split the Big Ten into two 6-team divisions for a year or so when you know the landscape will be quite different only a year later? The old “Bowl Coalition” founders even think that’s a questionable idea. It probably makes more sense to delay splitting the conference into divisions until expansion is complete. All dividing the conference for 2011 would produce is one of those “years with an asterisk” that no one really likes. And it could take a little more purity out of what many consider is the purest conference in all of American sport. I’m not sure the Big Ten wants to do that at a time when so many are still so touchy about expanding past the original “Ten.”

The first teams in the Big Ten Championship game should simply be the two with the best conference records in 2011. Should there be a tie, you could start the tie breaker with the head-to-head matchups. If that didn’t break the tie, since each team won’t play each other during the season, you could then look at the records versus common Big Ten opponents. It’s extremely unlikely, if not mathematically impossible, that ties within the top two would continue past that point. Yet, if they did, I’m sure the league administrators could figure something out beyond that which would be fair and agreeable, but hopefully not based on popular polls. Fundamentally, the idea that you can’t identify the teams to play in the Championship game without splitting the 12 teams into two divisions does not appear completely true and accurate. There should be no rush to divide the Big Ten with only 12 teams.

In the interests of the Big Ten as a whole, and as a brand, the Big Ten Championship Game’s location should rotate around the conference. There are plenty of great football venues to host such a celebration, including the centrally located Indianapolis, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, and other points in between. To think that the title game would be affixed to one venue on a regular basis would seem against the interests of the Big Ten. The Big Ten is still the premier football conference in terms of TV ratings and attendance. For all the SEC and other conference hype the four-letter network tries to spew, the numbers are the numbers. The Big Ten should have the very best Conference championship experience for all its fans and competitors.

Divide to Conquer

Dividing the Big Ten into divisions up is bound to cause epic debate. It’s something that will be discussed and debated from the time it is announced until the Big Ten ceases to exist. While many think that geography is a logical guide, conference leaders have talked about the importance of protecting classic rivalries. Does that mean that Michigan and Ohio St. will be bound in the same division, or that Minnesota and Wisconsin must be tied together hand in hand? It could very well mean that Michigan St. could end up in a division with Michigan, Ohio St., and Penn St. But would that be all bad?

What about breaking up the geographical Big Ten map into four quadrants, and putting one of the presumed 16 teams from each separate quadrant into each of the expected four divisions. Such a model would strengthen ties across the conference rather than to segment it off. Sure, an argument could be made that it could increase the travel costs, and put rivalries into jeopardy. But there’s always a cost-benefit analysis to innovation that the best ideas always pass. Trust that the best rivalries will always be protected, and the overall strength and connectivity of the conference would increase substantially.

As the alignment process heats up, expect to hear a lot of comments in the press. Don’t expect all of them to be honest and accurate, but understand that there will be an intense amount of politicking, both through the media and behind the public eye. Hopefully the decision of placing the Big Ten schools into divisions will be made with the best interests of the conference first, not with the interests of the most traditionally successful or popular schools. It’s not 1975 anymore. This ain’t Keith Jackson’s old Big Ten.

2012 & Beyond

Spartan Nation doesn’t know who will be the next four schools to join the Big Ten, but expects they’ll begin play as soon as the 2012 academic year. Assuming the Big Ten is the first 16 team “Super Conference,” the league will have various options to divide itself up. There could logically be two 8-team divisions, or maybe better yet, four-4 team divisions.

With four divisions, the Big Ten football schedule would fall into place rather nicely. Each team could play the other three in schools their division, and two from each of the other three divisions. In that scenario, no Big Ten team should go more than two years without playing each other, and no team more than four years without hosting each of their Big Ten opponents.

Now we’re getting somewhere. Now we’re talking about a schedule that’s a little more even, a little more fair, and a lot more exciting. From a recruiting perspective, each of the four new schools would add a nicely balanced schedule to their list of impressive features and benefits to sell to potential recruits. From a fan’s perspective, I’m not sure there’s much more one could realistically hope for.

Such a schedule would leave Big Ten schools playing nine conference games, matching the current amount, and present a relatively equitable system to decide who plays for the Big Ten title. With four divisions, the Big Ten would again have the possibly to bring about a major innovation to college football, a “Semi-Final Saturday.” Imagine a Saturday in which the winners of the four divisions would face off for a chance to play in the Big Ten title game. Besides the conference wide financial boost of playing two more Big Ten games, the conference’s four best teams would play at least 13 games during the season, and not be as prone to the dreaded “Big Ten lay off” that’s caused some embarrassment in past Bowl seasons.

Outside of the Rose Bowl and BCS, typical Bowl Games might not even be the 3rd biggest game on the schedule for many Big Ten teams. Many conference and traditional non-conference rivalries mean a lot more to Big Ten programs. Thus, it would be great to see the conference place an emphasis on its own by featuring the best Championship scenario in the country. Playing a four team Championship playoff would only elevate the strength and stature of the Big Ten.

The Big Ten under Jim Delaney has been among the most innovative league in college athletics. Just look at implementing replay first, and firing up a little dream project called the Big Ten Network. Such a massive Championship shift could inspire a global change in college football, and ultimately a change in determining the game’s National Champion.

The Roundball Scheduling Redo

As the Big Ten expands, the basketball schedule will have to adjust as well. No longer will there be any realistic opportunity to play a true conference “Round Robin.”  The schedule is bound to be somewhat unbalanced, but it could be managed successfully with some common sense. In a league with 16 teams, the conference should be sure that each team plays each other at least every other year, and visits each other school at least every four years. Again, when considering the fans, conference wide recruiting, and equity of competition, that scheduling model appears to make the most sense.

For the 12 team year, there again appears no reason to rush to divide the Big Ten into divisions. If schools played a “home and home” with seven teams, that would leave four other Big Ten games to play. At the same time, there would be four other Big Ten teams not yet on the schedule. Even I can figure it out from that point. Each team could then be scheduled to play two games at home and two on the road to face each team in the regular season. Like David Letterman always says folks, there is no “off” button on the genius switch.

With 16 teams split into four divisions, schools could play each of the other three teams in their division in a “home and home,” and also one of the conference’s other divisions in the same “home and home” format. That other “home and home” division would logically rotate each year. So in at least one out of every three years, each Big Ten team would play a home and home with each other school.

In such a scenario, the “home and homes” would fill up 14 conference games. Ideally, the Big Ten would start its season during the first semester, and still play 18 conference games. Assuming an 18 game Big Ten slate, each school could play, the by now familiar sounding two home and two road games against four different teams in the remaining two divisions.

Big Ten basketball is quite strong these days, so the focus of the Big Ten should be on making the regular season schedule as exciting and fair as possible. Remember, that tournament at the end of the season is still largely an exhibition. Big Ten titles are fought over and won during the hard winter months. So if an amateur like me can figure out a pretty simple and logical scheduling scenario, here’s hoping the powers that be in this conference can put together something to make Big Ten fans proud, optimistic, and anxious for the conference season’s opening tip.

But What if the Unexpected?

Now, if the Big Ten ends up expanding to only 14 teams, or splitting 16 teams into two divisions of eight, I’ll probably be left eating many of the words above, and working on yet another new article.

Interact with Jonathan on Twitter @JPSpartan or inside the Phalanx Forum @SpartanBlood