Yesterday, the Big Ten made realignment official, which means millions of fans and league alumni no longer have to consult Google to determine which teams plays in each division. With the new East and West divisions, all one has to do is draw a line just west of Bloomington.
The key points from the league's announcement, which also included a plan for a nine-game conference schedule are as follows:
- When Rutgers and Maryland join the Big Ten for play in the 2014 season, the league will realign in East and West divisions.
- In the East: Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers.
- In the West: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin.
- Each school will play the other six schools in its division plus two teams from the other division in 2014 and 2015.
- 2016 will bring the nine-game conference schedule, meaning each school will play three teams from the other division in addition to the six in its own division.
- Beginning in 2016, East division teams will play five Big Ten home games and four Big Ten road games in even-numbered years, with the West playing five league home games and four league away games in odd-numbered years.
- All teams will play every other Big Ten team at least once every four years.
- Indiana and Purdue is the only protected cross-division matchup that will be played on an annual basis.
Conference commissioner Jim Delany told ESPN that the focus this time around was geography, instead of competitive balance, which led to the disaster that was Legends and Leaders:
We're East and we're West. It's pure geography. Last time, we were a combination of competitive balance and geography being last. Those names weren't available to us last time, so we didn't have much discussion on it. It's just a reflection on each division.
People can have the discussion [on Legends and Leaders] now or in the future, but for us, it was a good-faith effort. If they weren't accepted, and I take it to some extent, they weren't, but among the athletic directors and presidents, it was pretty cut and dried that if you go with geography, geographic names are the right way to go.
Delany also spoke about the improved scheduling the league is pushing schools towards:
Everybody's looking for improved schedules. I think they will be. And the committee we finally establish will have guidelines in that direction. We're not saying everybody has to play the same schedule, but if you're a Top 10-type program, we want you to be scheduling a Top 10-type program. If you're in the middle, we understand that.
For the most part, [the FCS games] were wins, and in a lot of cases, they weren't good matchups. They're good football teams, but it's hard to compete when you're 25 scholarships less.
Key choice of words there, Jim, about FCS games being wins "for the most part."
From a Buckeye perspective, the East is loaded with traditional powers Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State. Penn State is crippled with scholarship reductions, but if Bill O'Brien is in it for the long term, the Nittany Lions will be a team to be reckoned with once they emerge.
Even with the sanctions, the East, with a rising Michigan State program appears to be the tougher of the two divisions on paper. Barry Alvarez wasn't having that, however. When asked if he thought the divisions had competitive balance, he replied, "I do. Don't forget we won the league the last three years in a row."
The shift also means that if Michigan and Ohio State are to play twice in two weeks, it will have to be this season. Some like the idea of playing the Wolverines twice in one season, but those that don't have to be ecstatic at the thought of both heading to the East.
An overlooked aspect of realignment is the access to talent in New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia for Urban Meyer and his staff. With Rutgers and Maryland in the same division, Ohio State will make trips to Piscataway, New Jersey, and College Park, Maryland, every other year.
Finally, the new divisions means Illibuck, the awesome turtle handed out to the winner of the Illinois-Ohio State game, will change hands less frequently. The series was already pretty lopsided with the Buckeyes leading 60-23-2 in trophy games, but it's still the second-oldest trophy in the Big Ten. With the new setup, there's a chance Illibuck may only be played for once every four years.
THE NEXT LEVEL. The 2013 NFL Draft is in the books with three Buckeyes selected during the event's seven rounds. The New York Giants took Johnathan Hankins in the second round, John Simon went to the Ravens in the fourth, and the Cincinnati Bengals selected Reid Fragel in the final round.
The Giants took Hankins to help shore up a defense that allowed 129.1 rushing yards per game and Giants director of college scouting Marc Ross called Hankins "a rarity" and a player that "does the dirty work."
Simon is already drawing comparisons to former Raven Jarret Johnson, considered by many to be an underrated part of Baltimore's stingy defenses of the last few years. Ravens coach John Harbaugh agrees with that comparison. "Yes, toughness and style, work ethic, attention to detail, guys that love ball," Harbaugh said of Simon and Johnson, who now plays for the San Diego Chargers. "He's our kind of guy. Jarret Johnson was a Raven, and he always will be. So it's probably a good comparison."
Seven other Buckeyes quickly signed undrafted free agent deals with teams and will hope to make rosters.
GENE SMITH, CANDID. If you missed it yesterday, take some time to read up on Kyle's sit-down interview with Gene Smith. It's that good.
CLIPPERS, MEET MIKE CONLEY. Buckeye fans have long known about what Mike Conley can do on a basketball court. In his six seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies, Conley has shown to be a solid NBA guard, averaging 12.4 points and 5.5 assists per game, but he's having a coming-out party of sorts in his team's first-round playoff series with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Last week, we showed you the sick crossover he put on Matt Barnes, and yesterday brought a glowing AP article following another stellar Conley game that knotted the series at two.
Conley is having a bit of a coming out party in this first-round series, scoring a postseason-best 28 points in Game 2, a performance he followed by handing out 10 assists with three steals and no turnovers, which hadn't been done in the NBA playoffs since John Stockton in 2001.
He topped that in Game 4, setting a Grizzlies' postseason record Saturday with 13 assists, 15 points and two turnovers.
With his play the past two games, Conley became just the eighth player since the 1992 postseason to hand out at least 23 assists with no more than two turnovers over a two-game span in the same playoffs.
Chris Paul is a believer. "I try to contain him as much as possible," he said. "But Mike is one of those guys year in and year out just keeps getting better, and he's a handful."
AARON CRAFT IS ON TWITTER. KIND OF. Aaron Craft may not be on Twitter, but his roommates are and they're committed to bringing you into the world of Ohio State's most popular basketball player.
Follow along to see Craft practicing a speech, enjoying Taco Tuesday, or just, you know, vacuuming:
He passes, he shoots, he steals...he vacuums #domesticated twitter.com/CRAFTroomies/s…
— Craft's Roomies (@CRAFTroomies) April 24, 2013
MISC. Regret: The top 10 undrafted underclassmen... Auburn AD Jay Jacobs has "had enough" of the attacks on his school... Ohio Stadium in Minecraft... Highlights from Georgia Tech's clinic for international students... Jon Bon Jovi's son to walk-on at Notre Dame... Remember when we laughed at Rutgers joining the Big Ten... Urban Meyer's offense was supposed to be the thing doing this... 124 days.
