Barry Alvarez, Dr. Tom Osborne, and Joe Pa, we're begging you, don't be foolish. Get out your Rand-McNally Atlas and go with it!
The Big Ten Conference is about to convene to discuss how to align its 12 members in two football divisions, then consider realignment for the other 20+ sports. Every official quoted so far has talked about a variety of criteria, with "geography" and "competitive balance" being the most prominent suggestions.
In the name of normalcy, please go with geographic sensibility.
With the addition of Nebraska at the western edge of what now are nine contiguous states of the Big Ten, the league has a natural six-pack each of western and eastern teams. The west group should include neighbors Nebraska and Iowa joining the two most northwestern schools—Wisconsin and Minnesota—and the pair of Illinois-based schools—Northwestern and Illinois. The east should be made up of eastern-edge Penn State, Ohio State, the two Michigan schools—Michigan and Michigan State—and the two Indiana schools—Purdue and Indiana. It's a perfect fit with big-city Chicago serving as a kind of border axis.
Consider the politically-correct disaster that is the Atlantic Coast Conference, the most recent league to split into divisions to create a football championship game. The ACC acquiesced to relatively new members Miami and Florida State, thinking those two great programs of the 1980s and '90s would continue on into ACC competition. Conference fathers allowed Miami and Florida State to play their annual match early in the season, so as to have less influence on the loser's year-end national rank, and placed the two in opposite divisions with the expectation the Hurricanes and Seminoles would meet often in the ACC title game. It hasn't happened yet in five years.
Follow the other lack of logic: The ACC chose to divide its four members that reside in the state of North Carolina. Duke and North Carolina stayed together to maintain their rivalry but don't always reserve the season's last week for the game. But, Wake Forest and North Carolina State are separated from their in-state rivals, the Blue Devils and Tar Heels. Also, Georgia Tech and Clemson, relative neighbors, are separated. At least, the two northern members—Maryland and Boston College—play in the same division, and the two Virginia schools—Virginia and Virginia Tech—are grouped together.
Maybe this ACC confusion means very little. But after a 1-9 record in BCS Bowls this past decade, the ACC struggles to find a solid national reputation. In no way does it help the league's image around the country to have a slim number of fans know what ACC teams play in what divisions.
Big Ten, please don't follow the ACC's lead by splitting Purdue and Indiana or attaching Penn State to Wisconsin or Northwestern. Do Michigan's two straight bad seasons and six straight losses to bitter enemy Ohio State mean the Wolverines should be sheltered from the 2009 Big Ten champion Buckeyes? It could, if "competitive balance" rules the day.
Big Ten, get out your atlas and do the smart thing.
--Bob Boyles
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