Even easier, if they swapped wisconsin for anyone, it really would be north and south. Right now, all the northern most schools are in one division sans Wisconsin.

Even better, keep them as they are, but simply name them North and South, despite the wisconsin oddity.


funny how the Pac-10 scrapped their old logo with something more sleek and a darker color, while the Big Ten went with with a light color and a bad logo...one that looks more like a logo to a male men's magazine "Big Ten".

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Any name they pick that isn't a direction is going to sound lame. Blue & White? Can't work. American and National? They're both American and National. Can't name them after historical greats from the conference without pissing off five members in each division.

So, I don't have a problem with going with something that sounds stupid and pompous because it's really their only option. But they needed to go with something besides Leaders and Legends. Go with Prestigious Group of Honorable Schools and Honorable Group of Prestigious Schools, or something equally ridiculous and arrogant. But don't go with "leaders" since divisions have to do with standings and leaders describes the standings. Like I said, sounds Abbott and Costello.

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Liberty/Freedom?
Huron/Superior?
Western/Big 9 (former conference names)?
North Coast/Heartland?
Griffith/Wilson (former conference commissioners)?
Iron/Ore (biggest Great Lakes exports)?

They had several options that would have reflected the tradition, prestige, and geography associated with the region of the conference. They opted away from the high road and took seconds and thirds on the "pompous."

...and without Notre Dame, they lack both the "leader" and "legend" connotation when referring to their regional clique.

I know Delaney won't go for geographic names, likely because he's keeping options open for future expansion, but you can make a case for North-South. With the exception of Wiscy, the northernmost schools are all in the current "Legends" division. Granted there are only slight differences in latitude among the I 80 schools, but those are the facts.

Is it too early to add Nebraska's debacle to the list of woeful Big 10 bowl results?

Nope - Big 10 Nebraska would have won

Big 12 is 1-4 so far this year in Bowls. Big 10 has started out 2-0

Ha. Even better, it would have been the Retro Rose Bowl in San Diego instead of the Holiday Bowl as it would be a Pac-10 vs Big Ten school...something many of us miss.

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Well, after today's debacles, I think woeful is still the operative word to describe the Big 10's bowl efforts. The record is 2 - 5 (2- 6 including Nebraska) with only Ohio State left to play, and we all know how they do against the SEC.
It's too bad. After all the positive publicity emanating from the expansion and realignment, this has been a big disappointment.

Props to TCU and Wisconsin both, by the way.

Holy crap!!! The Big Ten embarrasses themselves on the big stage in a big way. The Big Ten represents some of the best universities in the world, and the message they sent today is that they enjoy being the laughingstock of the country and the punching bag of the SEC. I don't know what it's going to take to turn this around, but in the next few years I think the future of the conference is on the line. Public perception is a powerful tool, and if the Big Ten continues down this path it could be a quick slope from mediocrity to obscurity to irrelevancy.

I just graduated this past semester from the University of Michigan, and have observed 5 football seasons as a student there. Today was an absolute embarrassment. It had all the hallmarks of a Michigan game this season: Swiss cheese defense, interceptions, dropped passes, poor special teams (blocked punt), and a missed field goal. Michigan kickers scored a combined 4 field goals all season. FOUR FIELD GOALS!!!! THAT'S IT!!!! Some teams get that many in a game!

In my five seasons as a student, we went 11-2, 9-4, 3-9, 5-7, and 7-6. I was at the Appalachian State loss. Although this loss came under Lloyd Carr, I think that is the direct reason why we picked Rich Rodriguez as our next coach. We got beat by a team with a spread offense and panicked by picking a coach who runs a spread offense. I don't think this was a bad hire at the time, he was a highly sought after coach at the time, but now it is time for him to go. It doesn't matter what our offensive system is, dropped passes are still dropped passes. It doesn't matter what our offensive system is, missed tackles on defense are still missed tackles. Interceptions are still interceptions. Bad special teams are still bad special teams. Four field goals all year still means that our field goal kickers were atrocious. I knew Rich Rod would bring in a new offensive system that would take time to implement, but I didn't know that our team would so badly disrespect the fundamentals of the game of football. Time for Rich Rod to go.

In his place, I hope that Michigan hires Brady Hoke from San Diego State. I know there are rumors of Jim Harbaugh, but I think he is more of an NFL coach. He runs a pro-style offense, his brother coaches in the NFL, and the San Francisco 49ers will have an opening. Hoke, on the other hand, has SDSU pointed in the right direction after 2 seasons there, and previously won a lot of games at Ball State of all places. In his interview at SDSU, Hoke said that he would one day like to coach Michigan. I think he would be a great fit there, and I sure hope it happens; we'll see by the end of next week.


On a different note, since this is a Big Ten thread, I was brainstorming divisional alignments and names for the Big Ten and came up with this (it won't happen but I think it is funny) based on team nicknames:

Animals Division:
Michigan (Wolverines)
Wisconsin (Badgers)
Penn State (Nittany Lions)
Northwestern (Wildcats)
Iowa (Hawkeyes)
Minnesota (Golden Gophers)

People and Nuts Division:
Ohio State (Buckeyes)
Michigan State (Spartans)
Nebraska (Cornhuskers)
Illinois (Fighting Illini)
Purdue (Boilermakers)
Indiana (Hoosiers)

That's awesome. That makes future expansion simple. The Irish to the People are Nuts Division and the Missouri Tigers to the Animal Division then maybe the Scalet Knights and the Terripans. Perfect, I love it.

Critters vs Hominids is rarely a fair fight.

Especially is it's Critters from the movie Critters.

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The Big Ten adds its first non AAU member...NEBRASKA!!!!

http://journalstar.com/news/local/educa ... 3b01e.html

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Article out of Badger country with comments from Big Ten Commish regarding Nebraska AAU situation and other items at http://host.madison.com/wsj/sports/coll ... 03286.html

ESPN article with report that Big Ten issued a statement today indicating that it had no current plans to expand as long as there is no significant shift in the college conference landscape.Link at http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story ... ble-future