fans at Wisc, Iowa, and Neb, are upset that they will see the marquee teams in the east, MSU, OSU, Mich, PSU, much less often.
Iowa and Wisc, like the other legacy schools, played most of the rest of the conference almost yearly for decade after decade.
as for Neb fans, the lure of the B10 for them was playing the other B10 marquee schools, not Minn, PU, Ill, NW, yet they are now stuck in the west, so they feel like they got bait and switched by the Delany..
OSU and other east school's fans are upset that they don't play Iowa, Wisc, and other west schools regularly anymore.
1st off, with 14 or more schools, and only 8 or 9 conference games, you're never going to have an even playing field for all schools.
that said, the real culprit to this and both similar and different issues at other conferences, is the NCAA rule defining eligibility for a conference to play a Conf Champ Game. (CCG).
said rule dictates that for a conf to be eligible for a CCG, that said conf must have at least 12 schools, be divided into 2 divisions, and play a round robin sched within each division.
to say said rule is both beyond outdated and universally harmful to every school in every conference, would be an understatement.
said rule dates back to pre invention of television iirc.
the ACC doesn't like it because post expansion for them, long time rivals divided by new divisions no longer can play each other, (as with the B10 and SEC), other than occasionally.
the B12, with only 10 schools now, is no longer eligible to play a CCG.
up until the addition of Neb to the B10, the B10 was not eligible to play a CCG for decade after decade.
so being that said rule pre dates tv, which makes it totally out dated, and being that said rule severely limits scheduling options for literally every school in every major conference, and being that said rule's language accomplishes absolutely nothing positive that couldn't be accomplished absent the restrictive language, one might ask, WTF is going on that said rule wasn't amended decades ago, to allow any size major conference to play a CCG, and to let each conf set their own parameters for how they determine which 2 schools earn CCG berths?
GOOD QUESTION!!!
the fact that this rule has stayed as written for decade after decade, despite the invention of tv and the financial implications of said invention, despite the competitive, recruiting, and PR advantages it gives one conference over another, despite the scheduling limitations it imposes on all schools affected by it, despite the complete arbitrariness of the 12 school, 2 divisions, round robin, mandates, is exemplary of nothing other than unbelievably poor leadership.
want to remedy the chronic "divisions" inequities, and open up conference scheduling between all conference schools?
no problem, and it's not exactly rocket science.
just amend that harmful to all prehistoric rule to eliminate the 12 school, 2 divisions, round robin, mandates, as qualifiers for a CCG, that serve no positive function for anyone in any conference, while screwing things up for everyone.
aside from the question of why wasn't this rule amended 50 plus years ago, we can only ask, why won't it be amended tomorrow?
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