Legends and Leaders?

[RazorHawk]

They were talking about this on the radio this morning. They wanted callers to call in with ideas of how public outcry generated enough heat for them to actually change things. Ernie Harwell being brought back after he was fired was a good one that they brought up, and they also said that the new basketballs the NBA decided to use frustrated the players enough to change it mid-season. Hopefully this will be similar

I have heard literally zero people who like this idea. None. At the most, people are just indifferent toward it, but nobody likes it. It makes the Big 10 into a laughingstock.

Actually, OSU and any SEC team does that*.

But seriously, Leaders and Legends is a crazy way to name the divisions. But how would I have named the divisions, short of using the terms: North, South, East, or West? I dunno.




*For the record, I think OSU has a great chance to beat Arkansas.

I would say Ohio State has a better than 50% chance of winning and so do the Vegas Oddsmakers, as Ohio State is a 3 1/2 point favorite.

I would have preferred Schembechler and Hayes divisions, but this would have been a real slap at all the other schools that have had great coaches in the past also. They really screwed the pooch when they did not divide the divisions geographically. People seem to say that it was Ohio St and Michigan not wanting to be in the same division that created the division. Spence, personally did not want this, but I have seen a couple of of places saying this. Delaney and Big 10 I think say that it was strictly an attempt to balance the divisions.

[donovan]

I think there is a 50/50 chance Ohio State will win. They either will or won't.

[RazorHawk]

I think there is a 50/50 chance Ohio State will win. They either will or won't.

Without the point spread the odds would probably be 60/40.

I believe the money line on Ohio State, you must risk $160 to win $100. Arkansas wager of $100 gets you $140. If I were to wager, I would probably bet the Hogs on the money line.

[GoBoilers]

Pretty BAD! Betcha the BT paid $100,000+ for someones brain dead ideas. My Purdue Boilermakers have hired more VP's (20 total I know understand plus their entourage) to push paper around. Anyway, one was put in charge of creating a new "tag line" or slogan. Instead of "Boilermakes" we are now "Makers all". LMAO. I am sure these people take their jobs seriosly. Too seriosly! The enw campaign cost $250,000 not to mention if fully implemented will costs hundreds more as they change letterheads, business card etc. The older I get the sicker I get about Universities and what they are about.

[billybud]

Heck...we here in the south have been fighting over the SEC divisions for years...the Gumbo division and the Bar-B-Q division.

[Spence]

Heck...we here in the south have been fighting over the SEC divisions for years...the Gumbo division and the Bar-B-Q division.

I'll have a little of both. It beats old and stuffy all to pieces.

[GoBoilers]

Heck...we here in the south have been fighting over the SEC divisions for years...the Gumbo division and the Bar-B-Q division.

Good line! How about lakes and plains division names.

[RazorHawk]

Heck...we here in the south have been fighting over the SEC divisions for years...the Gumbo division and the Bar-B-Q division.

Good line! How about lakes and plains division names.

I wouldn't mind those as they have been suggested before really would not describe the makeup of the two divisions.

Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan St, Minnesota, Northwestern

Ohio St, Penn St, Wisconsin, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois.

Iowa and Nebraska would obviously be in the PLAINS division, however Northwestern is situated about 10 miles from one of the Great Lakes. Michigan, Michigan St, and Minnesota are also not too far from a Great Lake.

Columbus, Penn St, Wisconsin and Indiana are some distant from any of the Great Lakes, while Purdue would be the closest to a Great Lake.

To use those labels, the Lakes division should probably be Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan St and Illinois. (Not very competitive)

The Plains division would probably be Iowa, Nebraska and maybe Indiana.

And no, I have not been drinking.

[GoBoilers]

Heck...we here in the south have been fighting over the SEC divisions for years...the Gumbo division and the Bar-B-Q division.

Good line! How about lakes and plains division names.

I wouldn't mind those as they have been suggested before really would not describe the makeup of the two divisions.

Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan St, Minnesota, Northwestern

Ohio St, Penn St, Wisconsin, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois.

Iowa and Nebraska would obviously be in the PLAINS division, however Northwestern is situated about 10 miles from one of the Great Lakes. Michigan, Michigan St, and Minnesota are also not too far from a Great Lake.

Columbus, Penn St, Wisconsin and Indiana are some distant from any of the Great Lakes, while Purdue would be the closest to a Great Lake.
I realize they aren't descriptive to the teams but, the BT is lakes and plains other tahn the "mountains" near Penn St. I just don't like the current names. Hope the creator got their money because that may be the last paycheck!
To use those labels, the Lakes division should probably be Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan St and Illinois. (Not very competitive)

The Plains division would probably be Iowa, Nebraska and maybe Indiana.

And no, I have not been drinking.

[Spence]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5930029&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

[donovan]

Any conference that makes a conscience decision to tell the world, we do not know how to count, can well not be surprised on other appellations they choose. But..to his credit....Delaney said he would reconsider. So...start the submissions. I like Upper Five and Lower Five......that makes ten which is of course not the number at all.

[BYUfan1]

Huh? The new names for the Big 10 divisions are the Legends and Leaders divisions. Hmmm. Sounds a little presumptuous to me

Obviously what I would have done is just geographically separated the teams into East and West. Each division would get three powerhouse programs (East: Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan / West: Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska). The East division would have Purdue, Indiana, and Michigan State with the West getting Minnesota, Northwestern, and Illinois. Seems pretty balanced to me. Not to mention separating Ohio State and Michigan is just nuts. That's like putting Alabama and Auburn in separate divisions or Oklahoma and Texas in separate divisions.

Wisconsin-a powerhouse program-I don't think so. The team is successful now but what about in the 70's or 80's. You have to have Michigan and Ohio State on opposite sides so, in theory, you would have, historically speaking, the two best football teams in the Big 10 playing each other for the championship every year. Obviously, there is an issue of those teams meeting at the end of the Big 10 schedule, but I'm guessing that will change right after the first time the Big 10 Championship game is Ohio State vs. Michigan.

Now that I think about it, I wouldn't call Iowa a powerhouse program either.

[BYUfan1]

I guess I can appreciate the "new think" in the Big Ten naming/logo.

It could be fun if other conferences followed suit.


The WAC..."Who Needs the stress of a Championship race?"

The Predator Division (one team) and the Prey Division

Who would be the predator-Louisiana Tech? The new WAC doesn't look very good, but it has the possiblity of being the most balanced conference once Hawai'i, Nevada, and Fresno State are gone, since none of the teams left have had great success in football recently.

[BYUfan1]

*For the record, I think OSU has a great chance to beat Arkansas.

For the record, Ohio State has little chance of beating Arkansas. I would have taken Arkansas with a confidence of 35 if I din't actually like Ohio State's football program more than the one at Arkansas.

Who knows about the layoff effect, but I think Arkansas is the best team in the SEC right now. Too bad it took them so long to find a running game.

That leads me to my next comment. Is it mandated that there are two divisions when you have a conference championship game? Why not put everyone in one division, have certain matchups that happen every year, rotate the others, and then the top two teams play for the championship. Then, you wouldn't have had the SEC fiasco this year of the best team in the SEC playing the sixth best for the championship. Auburn should have played Arkansas for the SEC Championship, and I believe Arkansas would have won that game.

I still believe that you have to kick Arkansas out of the SEC if you are going to kick Vanderbilt because the Commodores don't win SEC titles since Arkansas doesn't have any in football either, but I think that will all change next year. I have to remember to sign up to vote on the poll next year so I can cast my vote as Arkansas being my preseason #1 team in the country.

[Spence]

You can't really have a championship without divisions unless you have a conference tournament at the end of the season.

I don't think Ohio State can beat Arkansas either. Ohio State has trouble defending a "pro set" offense. Arkansas will use their RB up the gut to establish a running game and use play action to destroy the cover two. Arkansas has better over all skill players than Wisconsin, but the offenses are similar. Arkansas has more ability to stretch the field because Mallet is a better arm than Tolzien, but Tolzien has a better ability to read the options quickly. Either way, Ohio State has a soft belly and Arkansas will attack it. Ohio State's defenses is very small. We have a 230 pound DE. A couple 219 pound linebackers. Ohio State's defense is good against teams like Oregon who spend as much time going trying to get to the edge as they do going north and south, but Arkansas runs a pro offense. They will attack up the middle and then when the DB's tighten up, they will attack the Buckeye defense vertically. I'm not sure how Ohio State's offense will do, but they won't lose the game, it will be the Buckeye defense that ends up being the dog in this game.