I have been a huge Michigan Wolverine fan since the age of 9 (1992) and will forever root for the Maize and Blue, and have been naturally biased towards the Big 10 ever since. But with their miserable 2-5 bowl showing and the destruction of their two most proud traditions, changes need to be made in the way the Big 10 Schools and Conference in general schedules each season. Terrible Conference Scheduling
Here's where everything starts and where I have lost the most respect for the Big 10. When looking at Purdue this year I had a hard time figuring out how they concluded the Big 10 season with a record of 8-4, they never looked good, they got destroyed by ND, then I took a gander at their schedule, I knew they had not played Michigan, but no matchup against the Buckeyes either, how could this be? SO I just took this as an anomoly, a one time thing where the Boilermakers lucked out incredibly.
Than this morning listening to Cowherd, he stated that the Hawkeyes in fact do not play the Wolverines or Buckeyes next season either, not an anomoly than, so I decided to check up on the Hawkeyes schedule to see if he is in fact true. Oh it's true and it gets worse. The Hawkeyes schedules of both 07 and 08 do not include either the Buckeyes or the Wolverines.Oh maybe that second schedule's a typo, I mean it's got to be right? That makes no sense. Than I decided to take a gander at Purdue's 2007 schedule to see if they yet again avoided the Wolverines and Buckeyes, nope they're on the schedule. Hmm, how about 2005, there it is the Boilermakers went 5-6 last season and didn't play either the Wolverines or the Buckeyes. What a joke.
Not only does the Big 10 not have the additional challenge of a conference championship, nor the play everyone in the conference formats of the Pac 10 and Big East, but you can in fact go two years without facing either of the conferences perennially powerhouses, now that's a quality conference. The Big 10 hands down has the worst in conference scheduling of any of the BCS conferences.
In addition the Big 10's insistance on finishing out the season the 3rd weekend of November gives the conference less overal exposure and more rust heading into the bowl games.
MAC Games
I know everyone loves Purdue Bowling Green or Directional Michigan vs. Michigan, but can you please limit this to one per year. This season the Wolverines prepped for their big rivalry by throwing in a November matchup versus Ball St., the team played flat, no one cared about the game and it was completely useless. Stop scheduling so many pointless games. Plus, they're always at home.
2006 Ohio St.
This was never brought up, for the most part due to their dominant play all season, but the Buckeyes played a 3 Pony schedule. Sure they had the tough Michigan rivalry matchup, the trip to Austin (Against an untested freshman QB), and I'll even give them Penn St. But did you know the Buckeyes were able to avoid the 3rd and 4th place finishers in their own conference simply because of initial conference scheduling? Pretty stupid if you ask me.
Notre Dame
Notre Dame already plays a Big 10 football schedule, the best possible thing that could happen for the Big 10 is to add Notre Dame and expand to a 12 team conference with a championship game. It would give the Big 10 another big time traditional program would allow to expand the season. Too bad it won't happen until all of the elderly Notre Dame fans die, and they no longer are profitable for NBC's football contract.Solutions / Improvements
Biggest Problem with the Big 10 is 11 teams, with that you can't have a conference championship game, and you can't play a 9 game conference schedule because that leaves one team out of the loop. Without Notre Dame I implore you to find a team in the Midwest worth adding that would have motivation to leave their current conference? No team is leaving the Big 12, and personally I don't see schools leaving the Big East either. So do you snatch up a weak MAC school just to increase to 12 teams, doubtful. Do you settle for a Conference USA school like MArshall? Tough call. Without a 12th team here are a few definitive improvements.
1. No Team Should Avoid Facing Michigan and Ohio St. in the Same Season
2. No Team Should go Two Consecutive Seasons Without Playing and/or No Team in the Top 6 should avoid playing eachother in the following season.
3. Schedule Some Decent Out of Conference Games not 3 versus MAC schools and one versus Buffalo, do not be afraid to schedule road games against good schools.
Quick Rant: 2-5
That's the Big 10's record in bowl games this season, the worst of any of the BCS conferences, sure they did knock off two SEC teams in their wins but lets quickly look at those victories. Arkansas has no quarterback, this has been firmly established and wasn't fully exploited until the LSU game. Penn St. defeated Tennessee but needed an 80+ yard fumble return to the house to gain victory. The 'Superpowers' Michigan and Ohio St. got pounded in their bowl games, and all of the mid to low Big 10 teams (Minny, Purdue, Iowa) all lost as well. All in all, the Big 10 sucked this season.
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