[Ed. With word out per Alvarez that Iowa and Wisconsin will be split, a revision]:
Assuming they add that special rule that requires Michigan and Ohio, (and now, Iowa and Wisconsin?) this also protects 9 of the 13 traditionally recognized rivalry games with a trophy (including The Game). If Iowa and Wisconsin are split, seems to follow that Iowa would hang in the division with Nebraska so they can have their annual corn war.
* Indiana-Purdue (Old Oaken Bucket)
* Indiana-Michigan State (Old Brass Spittoon)
* Iowa-Wisconsin (Heartland Trophy via special rule)
* Michigan-Michigan State (Paul Bunyan Trophy)
* Iowa-Minnesota (Floyd of Rosedale)
* Michigan-Ohio State ("The Pride of Rose Bowl" via special rule)
* Michigan State-Penn State (Land Grant Trophy)
* Illinois-Ohio State (Illibuck)
* Illinois-Northwestern (Sweet Sioux Tomahawk/Land of Lincoln Trophy)
Left out, unless they work in some deal like Ohio State and Michigan for the first two, are:
* Minnesota-Penn State (Governor’s Victory Bell)
* Michigan-Minnesota (Little Brown Jug <shakes fist>)
* Illinois-Purdue (Purdue Cannon)
* Minnesota-Wisconsin (Slab of Bacon/Paul Bunyan’s Axe)
If you really want to optimize the rivalries, take the structure above and swap Minnesota and IU, and protect the Indiana-Purdue cross division game. This will hold 10 of the 13 rivalries each season not to mention Michigan-Penn State and Iowa-Nebraska:
* Indiana-Purdue (Old Oaken Bucket – via special rule)
* Iowa-Wisconsin (Heartland Trophy via special rule)
* Michigan-Michigan State (Paul Bunyan Trophy)
* Minnesota-Penn State (Governor’s Victory Bell)
* Michigan-Minnesota (Little Brown Jug <shakes fist in celebration>)
* Michigan-Ohio State ("The Pride of Rose Bowl" via special rule)
* Michigan State-Penn State (Land Grant Trophy)
* Illinois-Ohio State (Illibuck)
* Illinois-Northwestern (Sweet Sioux Tomahawk/Land of Lincoln Trophy)
* Minnesota-Wisconsin (Slab of Bacon/Paul Bunyan’s Axe)
Left out, unless they work in some deal like Ohio State and Michigan for the first two, are:
* Illinois-Purdue (Purdue Cannon)
* Iowa-Minnesota (Floyd of Rosedale)
* Indiana-Michigan State (Old Brass Spittoon)
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[Original post:]
Brandon went before the Detroit Economic Club today and didn’t do much to squash the talk of moving the Ohio State game or keeping Michigan and the Buckeyes in different divisions. With all the talk from DB, Delany, Alvarez…don’t you think this is this pretty much it?
Assuming they add that special rule that requires Michigan and Ohio play to play every season of course, this protects 9 of the 13 traditionally recognized rivalry games with a trophy (including The Game):
* Illinois-Purdue (Purdue Cannon)
* Indiana-Purdue (Old Oaken Bucket)
* Indiana-Michigan State (Old Brass Spittoon)
* Iowa-Wisconsin (Heartland Trophy)
* Michigan-Michigan State (Paul Bunyan Trophy)
* Iowa-Minnesota (Floyd of Rosedale)
* Michigan-Ohio State ("The Pride of Rose Bowl")
* Michigan State-Penn State (Land Grant Trophy)
* Minnesota-Wisconsin (Slab of Bacon/Paul Bunyan’s Axe)
Left out, unless they work in some deal like Ohio State and Michigan for the first two, are:
* Illinois-Northwestern (Sweet Sioux Tomahawk/Land of Lincoln Trophy)
* Minnesota-Penn State (Governor’s Victory Bell)
* Illinois-Ohio State (Illibuck)
* Michigan-Minnesota (Little Brown Jug <shakes fist>)
That’s 69% of the rivalry games protected without any further tinkering each season. If you consider Ohio State-Penn State and/or something like a Iowa-Nebraska rivalry, that obviously adjusts the figure. Did I miss anybody?
Not sure how you ever get to preserving 85-90% that Delany mentioned but season-to-season, factoring for non-divisional games, you’ll get close to that. The big losers, to me, are The Little Brown Jug and the Illibuck games.
This slotting also keeps in place 6 of the current 11 pairings of opponents that are currently locked in on the conference schedule (i.e., Michigan with Ohio State, MSU).
‘The Game’ penalty
I saw friend-of-blog Craig Ross today. He seemed less concerned with moving "The Game" and more concerned about sorting out how to fairly determine division champion. If Ohio State-Michigan meet every year, naturally over time that means these teams will face a tougher path. I guess that’s the case today anyway, but we’re all fighting for one spot at the top. If division champion is determined by overall conference record, then there’s an a bit of an extra hill to climb for these teams vis a’ vis the rest of their division. Ross is still tinkering with it, but suggests weighting the division games higher (maybe ’2′) versus the non-division conference games (maybe ’1′).
[ed. Shortly after posting, Ross explained further in the comments:]
Here’s what bothers me. Take two teams in one division.
Team A goes 5-0 in division and plays the best three teams in the other division, winning 1. That team is 6-2.
Team B goes 4-1 in division and plays the bottom three teams in the other division, going 3-0. That team is 7-1.
Team A has crushed Team B. Call it 48-7.
Team B "wins" the division, or so I assume.
Here’s a potential solution. Each in-division win counts 2. Out of division wins count one. Now the above teams each have 11 points. Team A has beaten Team B. They win the division on the ordinary tiebreak. Justice prevails. All is good with the world.
Is there a problem? Well, it seems like there must be.
-CR
I admit I haven’t thought it through so Brian Cook will call me “Tony Saragusa.”
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