Big Ten expansion explored
Grumpy Old Man
My addiction to college football began when my dad bought me my first subscription to “Sports Illustrated” when I was a seventh-grader in 1959. That was just before University of Minnesota Coach Murray Warmath took the Gophers to back-to-back Rose Bowl games in 1961 (lost to Washington 17-7) and 1962 (beat UCLA 21-3).
Those were the days when the Big Ten Conference was regarded as college football’s best conference. That stature, which took hold in the early 1900s, continued through the 1960s and 1970s before other conferences began to overshadow the Big Ten in the 1980s.
The Big Ten’s prestige in football has dipped to a point that this year it was deemed by experts to be perhaps just the fifth or sixth best conference in overall strength.
To inject some spark into its image the Big Ten announced this week that it’s considering adding a 12th member. That would allow it to divide into two six-team divisions and add a playoff championship game between the division winners in December, something the other major conference have been doing for several years. That would keep the Big Ten in the spotlight during what is now a lull between the end of its regular season and the bowl season.
It would be a good, and overdue, step.
So, who would the 12th school be?
The first, and most glamorous choice, would, of course, be the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
Let’s now assign the 12 teams a division. And, instead of naming the division something blah like East and West, let’s give them historical, tradition rich names like the Paterno (as in Joe) and Bierman (as in Bernie) divisions.
The Paterno Division could include Penn State, Ohio State, Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue and Indiana. The Bierman Division could include Notre Dame, Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
However, Notre Dame, with its notoriety as an independent and lucrative television contract, isn’t likely to jump into the Big Ten.
My personal choice would be Nebraska. The Cornhuskers would replace previously-mentioned Notre Dame in the Bierman Division.
According to the experts, however, the schools most likely to be interested in joining the Big Ten are Rutgers, Syracuse and Pittsburgh, which would be my preference. An eastern school could hop into the Paterno Division, with Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue or Indiana moving into the Bierman Division.
This week’s football winners and losers
(Last week’s record was a lackluster record of 9-7 on NFL games.)
Pros
New Orleans 24, Dallas 20
Arizona 27, Detroit 17
Tennessee 20, Miami 16
Pittsburgh 24, Green Bay 17
New England 17, Buffalo 13
Kansas City 24, Cleveland 13
Philadelphia 31, San Francisco 17
Denver 24, Oakland 16
New York Jets 23, Atlanta 22
San Diego 34, Cincinnati 24
Baltimore 20, Chicago 13
Houston 24, St. Louis 20
Seattle 30. Tampa Bay 20
New York Giants 27, Washington 17
Vikings 27, Carolina 17
College Bowl Games
New Mexico Bowl – Fresno State 34, Wyoming 27
St. Petersburg Bowl – Rutgers 30, Central Florida 20
New Orleans Bowl – Southern Mississippi 31, Middle Tenn. 20
Poinsettia Bowl – California 31, Utah 20
Las Vegas Bowl – Oregon State 34, Brigham Young 27Big
