https://www.foxsports.com/stories/colleg...-advantage

I think in the Big Ten the East and West divisional advantage has been overrated. I've never felt like it was an "advantage" to being in the West or a "disadvantage" to being in the East. Of course it's because my Illini have sucked so bad that they've never been close to winning the West. But in reality you get to play in the Big Ten Championship Game but if you can't win it does it really matter? Had Wisconsin, Iowa, or Northwestern been able to win once in a while then having a weaker division would matter. But as a Penn State fan, I haven't felt like the Western division teams got an easy road to the championship game since I can't remember the last time one of them won it and I like the fact that we play Michigan and Ohio State every year. At Illinois, I wish we played Michigan and Ohio State (and Penn State) more often. Maybe now it matters more but when we were 3-9, did it really matter whether we lost to the Big Three or lost to Iowa and Nebraska instead? At least we could appear on free TV more often playing the big boys and sell more tickets. You win a few more games and get to go to a bowl game? Oh yeah, really love going to Phoenix in December. If you're not playing the Big Three, you're not really in the Big Ten.

(05-12-2023 07:03 AM)schmolik Wrote:  I think in the Big Ten the East and West divisional advantage has been overrated. I've never felt like it was an "advantage" to being in the West or a "disadvantage" to being in the East. Of course it's because my Illini have sucked so bad that they've never been close to winning the West. But in reality you get to play in the Big Ten Championship Game but if you can't win it does it really matter? Had Wisconsin, Iowa, or Northwestern been able to win once in a while then having a weaker division would matter. But as a Penn State fan, I haven't felt like the Western division teams got an easy road to the championship game since I can't remember the last time one of them won it and I like the fact that we play Michigan and Ohio State every year. At Illinois, I wish we played Michigan and Ohio State (and Penn State) more often. Maybe now it matters more but when we were 3-9, did it really matter whether we lost to the Big Three or lost to Iowa and Nebraska instead? At least we could appear on free TV more often playing the big boys and sell more tickets. You win a few more games and get to go to a bowl game? Oh yeah, really love going to Phoenix in December. If you're not playing the Big Three, you're not really in the Big Ten.

I feel like if anyone has a gripe about the imbalance it's PSU, b/c there's been a number of years where they were clearly the #2 B1G team (especially when UM was down) and got no chance at a rematch w/ OSU (and of course the year they beat OSU and won the B1G title game and OSU still got picked for the playoff over them). Shouldn't matter now though w/ the 12 team CFP format, b/c at least 2 of OSU/UM/PSU should get in so long as they take care of business in a typical year.

(05-12-2023 12:04 PM)gwelymernans Wrote:  I feel like if anyone has a gripe about the imbalance it's PSU, b/c there's been a number of years where they were clearly the #2 B1G team (especially when UM was down) and got no chance at a rematch w/ OSU (and of course the year they beat OSU and won the B1G title game and OSU still got picked for the playoff over them). Shouldn't matter now though w/ the 12 team CFP format, b/c at least 2 of OSU/UM/PSU should get in so long as they take care of business in a typical year.

That's going to be a double edged sword. In many years Penn State could have gotten a chance for a rematch with Ohio State (and on a neutral field). But back in 2016 in the year Penn State beat Ohio State in the regular season guess who we (I'm an alum if you didn't know) would have played in the Big Ten Championship game? We got the Buckeyes in Happy Valley. Now that year Penn State was left out of the Playoff and Ohio State made it even though PSU had the HTH so worse case scenario is OSU wins the rematch and PSU is still in the Rose Bowl and best case scenario is we beat them again and make the Playoff. But I have a feeling that if it comes down to the "Big Three" and two of them make the Big Ten Championship Game, the winner is the one that counts, especially if the format is the winner gets an automatic bye to the QF. Regular season games between PSU, OSU, and UM won't mean much as long as you get to Indy (or wherever the championship game is) although there are only two seats available. We in Penn State are assuming we are at the same level as Michigan and Ohio State level. In our last ten games vs. OSU, we've only beaten them that one time (2016). We've beaten Michigan a few more times recently (2013, 2017, 2019, 2020) although if the 2021/2022 Michigan is the future I don't see us beating them any more often than Ohio State.

None. They all will become bodybag games for their new conferences.