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Legends and Leaders were terrible, but Big Ten needs to fix football divisions again
by Dougl Lesmerises, Cleveland Plain Dealer
COLUMBUS, OH - The Big Ten is off-kilter, and it's not going to balance out on its own, unless the Statue of Liberty moves to Nebraska and the Washington Monument ends up in Minnesota.
West is least, East is best and demographics, money, recruiting and maybe even solid coaching hires are just going to make it worse.
That's why the Big Ten must realign at some point, and get Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State out of the same division. That is, unless creating one powerful football division, and one collection of lesser lights, is the growing trend in the game and the smartest thing a conference can do.
First, a reminder that the East is Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Indiana, Rutgers and Maryland. The West is Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern, Illinois, and Purdue.
Second, proof of the unbalance .
DRAFT PICKS
* There were 47 Big Ten players picked up in the 2016 NFL Draft. That breakdown? East 32, West 15. And in the first three rounds, it was East 20, West 3.
* In 2015, it was closer as 35 Big Ten players were drafted. That was East 20, West 15.
* According to research started by NFL.com, here are the Big Ten draft picks of the 2000s, over the last 17 years: East 346, West 309. Honestly, that's not a huge gap, basically two picks a year. But it's trending East.
MONEY
* The Big Ten shares its TV money equally, which means the 11 members receiving full payouts got $32.4 million from their Big Ten revenue checks in the last fiscal year, according to USA Today. But beyond that conference money, school athletic budgets can vary.
Overall, according to the last numbers compiled by USA Today for the latest fiscal year, the seven East schools led the seven West schools in total revenue $805 million to $675 million. Nebraska in the West and Maryland and Rutgers in the East aren't getting full shares of revenue checks yet, bu texpect those new East schools to grow their money-in and money-out as they get their Big Ten footing. Again, it's only going to trend East.
GENERAL TALENT
* In rankings of the top 100 players in college football entering the season, NFL.com gave the East an 11 to 5 edge over the West. An SI.com top 100 list used some different players but arrived at the same 11 to 5 lead. Our Cleveland.com list of the top 25 players in the Big Ten went 16 East, 9 West.
First-team All-Big Ten players, between the coaches and media, last season? East 21, West 5. In 2014 it was East 15, West 11.
RECRUITING
* In the 2016 composite rankings from 247Sports.com, which take all the different rankings into account, the East bested the West 4 to 1 in teams ranked among the top 25 recruiting classes. East members Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State were the top four Big Ten recruiting classes.
In the current rankings for the 2017 class, among the top seven Big Ten classes, six are from the East. Here's the full breakdown of where Big Ten classes rank nationally right now:
1. Ohio State
10. Michigan
19. Maryland
21. Penn State
22. Iowa
26. Rutgers
27. Michigan State
30. Northwestern
31. Nebraska
44. Wisconsin
54. Indiana
56. Illinois
62. Purdue
70. Minnesota
ON-FIELD MATCHUPS
This is where the West has kept up. In both 2014 and 2015, the divisions were tied, 7-7 against each other each year.
So what's the point then? The on-field records are equal, and the Big Ten Championship last season was decided when No. 5 Michigan State (East) scored with 27 seconds left against No. 4 Iowa (West) to win 16-13.
Trends.
The Big Ten moved east to capture population centers and recruiting markets, then plopped the two schools in that prime territory into the same division as what are currently the three best football programs in the league -- Ohio State, Michigan State and Michigan.
Rutgers (Chris Ash) and Maryland (D.J. Durkin) just hired two enthusiastic young coaches who are already making recruiting inroads entering their inaugural seasons. And what are they staring at in the future? Potentially battling each other for fifth in the East.
Meanwhile, Illinois hired veteran NFL coach Lovie Smith to clean up the Illini, and Smith can honestly look around and believe his team could contend for a division title in two to three years if things go right. And that isn't going to change.
For every reason that the Big Ten moved east, the East is looking up. The West is looking stagnant.
Any division that Ohio State is in would have some automatic talent edge as the Buckeyes continue to lead the way in recruiting. But the only team that has challenged the Buckeyes on the field, Michigan State, resides in the East, as does the team most likely to mount a challenge in the coming years, Michigan.
The Big Ten is off-balance and the thumb on the East's scale is getting bigger. With expansion never truly dead, an easy solution would be inviting Texas and Oklahoma to the Big Ten party and throwing them in the West while sliding Purdue to the East.
That could happen in the next five or 10 years, or could happen next week, if Jim Delany has been skulking around and no one knows it.
Short of that, realignment needs a discussion.
The first Big Ten alignment failed mostly because of two things: the mockable Leaders and Legends division names, and the fact that Michigan and Ohio State were on opposite sides, thereby threatening their regular season finale or risking a title game rematch. But the league made those divisions based on historical records, with competitive balance a priority.
It will be a long-term mistake to abandon the focus on competitive balance, as is the case with the current league makeup. So the suggestion here would be an Ohio State and Michigan vs. Everybody Else Who's Good plan.
Division A: Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana, Purdue, Rutgers, Maryland, Illinois
Division B: Michigan State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State
It's merely a swap of Purdue and Illinois in the West for Michigan State and Penn State in the East. Obviously, other things are in play, like the idea that Penn State wants those East rivalries with Maryland and Rutgers and wouldn't be happy living in the Minnesota-Iowa-Wisconsin world all the time.
So maybe it's not easy. But it should be worth talking about.
The East should be a beast. And the West doesn't seem like it will ever be the best.
Legends and Leaders were terrible, but Big Ten needs to fix football divisions again
by Dougl Lesmerises, Cleveland Plain Dealer
COLUMBUS, OH - The Big Ten is off-kilter, and it's not going to balance out on its own, unless the Statue of Liberty moves to Nebraska and the Washington Monument ends up in Minnesota.
West is least, East is best and demographics, money, recruiting and maybe even solid coaching hires are just going to make it worse.
That's why the Big Ten must realign at some point, and get Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State out of the same division. That is, unless creating one powerful football division, and one collection of lesser lights, is the growing trend in the game and the smartest thing a conference can do.
First, a reminder that the East is Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Indiana, Rutgers and Maryland. The West is Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern, Illinois, and Purdue.
Second, proof of the unbalance .
DRAFT PICKS
* There were 47 Big Ten players picked up in the 2016 NFL Draft. That breakdown? East 32, West 15. And in the first three rounds, it was East 20, West 3.
* In 2015, it was closer as 35 Big Ten players were drafted. That was East 20, West 15.
* According to research started by NFL.com, here are the Big Ten draft picks of the 2000s, over the last 17 years: East 346, West 309. Honestly, that's not a huge gap, basically two picks a year. But it's trending East.
MONEY
* The Big Ten shares its TV money equally, which means the 11 members receiving full payouts got $32.4 million from their Big Ten revenue checks in the last fiscal year, according to USA Today. But beyond that conference money, school athletic budgets can vary.
Overall, according to the last numbers compiled by USA Today for the latest fiscal year, the seven East schools led the seven West schools in total revenue $805 million to $675 million. Nebraska in the West and Maryland and Rutgers in the East aren't getting full shares of revenue checks yet, bu texpect those new East schools to grow their money-in and money-out as they get their Big Ten footing. Again, it's only going to trend East.
GENERAL TALENT
* In rankings of the top 100 players in college football entering the season, NFL.com gave the East an 11 to 5 edge over the West. An SI.com top 100 list used some different players but arrived at the same 11 to 5 lead. Our Cleveland.com list of the top 25 players in the Big Ten went 16 East, 9 West.
First-team All-Big Ten players, between the coaches and media, last season? East 21, West 5. In 2014 it was East 15, West 11.
RECRUITING
* In the 2016 composite rankings from 247Sports.com, which take all the different rankings into account, the East bested the West 4 to 1 in teams ranked among the top 25 recruiting classes. East members Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State were the top four Big Ten recruiting classes.
In the current rankings for the 2017 class, among the top seven Big Ten classes, six are from the East. Here's the full breakdown of where Big Ten classes rank nationally right now:
1. Ohio State
10. Michigan
19. Maryland
21. Penn State
22. Iowa
26. Rutgers
27. Michigan State
30. Northwestern
31. Nebraska
44. Wisconsin
54. Indiana
56. Illinois
62. Purdue
70. Minnesota
ON-FIELD MATCHUPS
This is where the West has kept up. In both 2014 and 2015, the divisions were tied, 7-7 against each other each year.
So what's the point then? The on-field records are equal, and the Big Ten Championship last season was decided when No. 5 Michigan State (East) scored with 27 seconds left against No. 4 Iowa (West) to win 16-13.
Trends.
The Big Ten moved east to capture population centers and recruiting markets, then plopped the two schools in that prime territory into the same division as what are currently the three best football programs in the league -- Ohio State, Michigan State and Michigan.
Rutgers (Chris Ash) and Maryland (D.J. Durkin) just hired two enthusiastic young coaches who are already making recruiting inroads entering their inaugural seasons. And what are they staring at in the future? Potentially battling each other for fifth in the East.
Meanwhile, Illinois hired veteran NFL coach Lovie Smith to clean up the Illini, and Smith can honestly look around and believe his team could contend for a division title in two to three years if things go right. And that isn't going to change.
For every reason that the Big Ten moved east, the East is looking up. The West is looking stagnant.
Any division that Ohio State is in would have some automatic talent edge as the Buckeyes continue to lead the way in recruiting. But the only team that has challenged the Buckeyes on the field, Michigan State, resides in the East, as does the team most likely to mount a challenge in the coming years, Michigan.
The Big Ten is off-balance and the thumb on the East's scale is getting bigger. With expansion never truly dead, an easy solution would be inviting Texas and Oklahoma to the Big Ten party and throwing them in the West while sliding Purdue to the East.
That could happen in the next five or 10 years, or could happen next week, if Jim Delany has been skulking around and no one knows it.
Short of that, realignment needs a discussion.
The first Big Ten alignment failed mostly because of two things: the mockable Leaders and Legends division names, and the fact that Michigan and Ohio State were on opposite sides, thereby threatening their regular season finale or risking a title game rematch. But the league made those divisions based on historical records, with competitive balance a priority.
It will be a long-term mistake to abandon the focus on competitive balance, as is the case with the current league makeup. So the suggestion here would be an Ohio State and Michigan vs. Everybody Else Who's Good plan.
Division A: Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana, Purdue, Rutgers, Maryland, Illinois
Division B: Michigan State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State
It's merely a swap of Purdue and Illinois in the West for Michigan State and Penn State in the East. Obviously, other things are in play, like the idea that Penn State wants those East rivalries with Maryland and Rutgers and wouldn't be happy living in the Minnesota-Iowa-Wisconsin world all the time.
So maybe it's not easy. But it should be worth talking about.
The East should be a beast. And the West doesn't seem like it will ever be the best.
