FOXSports.com/Sporting News columnist Trey Luerssen blasted the Big Ten’s 11 team structure in a scathing piece yesterday.
It [October 18] was supposed to be a day the Big Ten race became a little clearer. Instead, the only thing clear was that the Big Ten is a mess. Once again, the dinosaur of the BCS could make it through the season with co-champions that never play each other.
We’ve seen this before from the league that can’t count, the conference with 11 teams that says it has 10. Last season, Iowa and Ohio State made it through their respective conference schedules unscathed. Did the two teams play each other? No…
Big Ten teams can’t play all of the other conference teams each year. There are too many. Yet, there are not enough. The league could solve its problems by adding a 12th team, allowing the Big Ten to play a conference championship game. That hasn’t happened. Whether the conference is holding out hope that Notre Dame joins, or it is just clueless, it does a disservice to the schools, fans and most important the players and coaches who aren’t allowed to settle matters on the field.
The Big 12 and SEC have championship games. It works so well that the ACC wanted a championship game so much, it opened itself up to the scorn of the entire Northeast and the court system…
After Saturday’s action, two Big Ten teams remain unbeaten in conference play. Purdue, which defeated Wisconsin, and Michigan State, which beat Minnesota, sit atop the conference standings without a loss. Here’s a shock: The Spartans and the Boilermakers don’t play each other this year.
Right behind Purdue and Michigan State sit Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio State. All have one loss. The Buckeyes already lost to Wisconsin, and of course they play rival Michigan. But guess what? That’s right, Wisconsin and Michigan don’t play…
This is what we know: Until these leagues [Big Ten and PAC-10] are brought into the 21st century, the Big 12, SEC and ACC will be stronger, more exciting leagues to watch and play in. That’s right, most recruits have no desire to go schools where you have to kiss your sister. (brackets and emphasis mine)
Me? I love Big Ten football. It is the oldest, most tradition-laden conference in America. It has more attendance per game and sells more merchandise than any other conference. Three of the four on-campus 100,000-plus seat stadiums in the country are in the Big Ten. Nowhere are rivalries more heated. Remember, SEC fans, that ESPN ranked Ohio State-Michigan as the top sports rivalry of the 20th Century, edging out even Yankees-Red Sox.
All that being said, I can’t find a single thing in Luerssen’s diatribe that I disagree with.
It is time for the Big Ten to expand. And don’t even give me that crap about a conference championship game being a competitive disadvantage to getting a Big Ten team to the national championship game unscathed. Every other major conference except for the left coast PAC-10 already has that disadvantage. The important thing is that the Big Ten is in danger of becoming a tie-laden dinosaur that slowly fades into irrelevance due to it’s inability to crown a true conference champion.
And nobody has been victimized by Big Ten Conference Championship ties over the past decade than Ohio State. Ties cost us (I’m a Pitt and OSU grad) two trips to the Rose Bowl since 1995.
OK, now that we’ve established that the Big Ten should expand to twelve teams, we can get to what I really find interesting about Luerssen’s piece.
Are the Big Ten and PAC-10 guilty of being snobs? Is Pittsburgh somehow below the schools in the Big Ten? Are Utah and BYU somehow not good enough for the PAC-10? (emphasis mine)
I absolutely love it when any nationally syndicated columnist just assumes that Pitt is the best choice to become the Big Ten’s 12th team. Those of you who have been reading PSB for awhile (as if anybody reads us at all) remember that I’ve often worried that the Big Ten might pick Syracuse over Pitt for geographical reasons (the Big Ten already has a presence in the Pittsburgh marketplace [via Penn State], but not in New York State) — despite the fact that Pitt is academically, athleticly, and research-capacity-wise a far better fit for the Big Ten.
And incidentally, Pittsburgh is hardly beneath the Big Ten athleticly (wanna play hoops?), academically (wanna compare freshmen SAT scores?), or research-capacity-wise (wanna compare medical/psychiatric hospitals/schools?). Really, only our law school is a joke…
So, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney, learn a lesson from Major League Baseball and increase competition before you, too, slowly fade into irrelevance. Expand to 12 teams and establish your conference championship game now. And when it comes to picking your 12th member, grab the one that brings the most to the table. After Notre Dame turns you down again (speaking of dinosaurs slowly fading into irrelevance), Trey Luerssen and I think your choice will be clear.
And maybe you’ll even get to create some stupid trophy for the Pitt-Penn State game (The Halushki Bowl?).
Hail to the Big Ten, and Hail to the Big Ten Doing What’s In Its Best Interest
