Divisions Almost Done?

Tiger Woods and his now ex-wife Elin are not the only major couple in sports that could be splitting up. Some of the Big Ten's greatest rivalries could be part ways as well.

After Nebraska's decision to enter the Big Ten after this season, the conference started looking at possible ways to create a divisional setup for football. In earlier articles we reported two possible ways that these divisions could go, and the North/South appears to be the way things look right now.

The conference has not released an official divisional allignment for the conference yet, and don't expect one until mid-September, but it looks like some of the conferences best rivalries could be out the door. In a statement to the Wisconsin State Journal, Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez confirmed reports that the Iowa-Wisconsin rivalry may be in jeopardy of falling apart.

As a result of a split in divisions Wisconsin and Iowa would not be able to continue to play every season, but that split might not be the most shocking. Remember, when we broke up the conference we here at Boynton's Badgers said that Ohio State and Michigan could be on opposite sides of the conference if a North/South divisional setup was agreed on.

Earlier this week Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon said that seperating Michigan and Ohio State could create a better rivalry. The divisional setup that would keep Michigan and Ohio State apart would be the only possible way that the two schools could ever play in the Big Ten Championship Game.

On the other hand that would mean that there would be no garuntee that the Buckeyes and Wolverines would meet in a season. Not a beloved decision by and stretch of the imagination. There has already been a facebook group started push the Big Ten away from splitting up Michigan and Ohio State.

The overall problem that the Big Ten faces with the East/West divisions is that competitive balance would be lost. In the East the Big Ten would feature teams like Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, and Purdue. That would take the major names and slam them into one division. Thus creating a less competitive Western division with Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.

While it would keep rivalries in place, the East/West would hamper the conferences ability to package a championship game for television appeal. Whether or not that is the motivating factor for the Big Ten remains to be seen, but if there is any intelligent guess it is money all the way.

The one thing that everybody needs to keep in mind right now is this one fact. The re-alignment isn't finished quite yet. The Big Ten has announced that it is only 80% finished at this point, and one could guess that Michigan and Ohio State make up the rest of the twenty. But as of now it looks like the Buckeyes and Wolverines, as well as Badgers and Hawkeyes are on opposite sides of the coin.