Where Do We Draw The Line? The Big Ten Floats New Division Ideas

Twitter blew up for a while today following the emergence of this tweet:

What do you find when you click on the link? Three divisional choices. They are: "Existing+1", "East-West", and "Inner-Outer". Or as most folks are calling them, Legends+1/Leaders+1, East/West, and Innie/Outie.

Before I show pictures and ramble on about the travel nonsense that would befall us with Inner-Outer, let me issue a plea for you to vote. All you have to do is go here. Sure, your vote probably won't matter. But not voting definitely means you've had no impact. Ok, back to the ramble.

So, what do these ideas actually look like?

Now, other sites might break this down from a "what's best for everyone" perspective. Screw those people. I only care about Minnesota and our rivalries being protected. And that's the approach I'm going to take to analyzing the choices.

Option 1 - Legends + Guidos or Turtles

Pro:

- We're familiar with it already

- If the +1 is Maryland then CRABCAKES. Now, I don't care for crabcakes but I know lots of other people do. I'll also add "EASY EXCUSE TO SEE MY FRIENDS IN DC AND MY FAMILY IN MARYLAND." What? That's not something that is a pro for everyone? Well, screw you guys too. It's my blog post and I'll ramble on if I want to.

Con:

- We still get screwed on strength of schedule with Wisconsin as our cross-over.

- Speaking of which, do we know for sure that Wisconsin is still a protected crossover? I mean, you'd assume so but assuming anything with the B1G is a bad idea (remember, Legends & Leaders). I'm not in favor of any alignment that has Wisconsin in the other division.

- The +1 could be Rutgers. Who the heck wants to travel to Rutgers?

- This option makes it much easier for the B1G to justify keeping the Legends and Leaders names. I don't care that they say "Names TBD"...I don't buy that.

- I have a gut feeling that the Legends will remain the stronger of the two divisions which isn't good for us as a rebuilding program.

Thoughts:

I don't like this idea at all. I'm not ambivalent, I straight up don't want this option.

Option 2 - East/West

Pro:

- IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE. THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS FROM THE BEGINNING. WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE? THERE IS NO NEED TO LIST OTHER REASONS.

(I may not need to list other reasons, but I'm going to)

- Wisconsin is in our division.

- Iowa and Nebraska also remain in our division. That means we can start up a Parallelogram of HATE with them and Wisconsin (h/t to MGoBrian for that one). And before you point it out, I know it's not an actual parallelogram, but that sounds cooler than SUPER BIG TRIANGLE-ISH SHAPE OF HATE.

- All of the division cities are a driveable roadtrip. Sure, Illinois and Purdue will suck a little (well, not for me since I live in Madison) but Maryland and Rutgers are automatic plan flights.

- EVERYONE WILL EASILY KNOW WHAT SCHOOLS ARE IN WHAT DIVISIONS. I mean, some folks who aren't good with geography and are too dumb to use a map might flip flop Purdue and Indiana. But Purdue doesn't exist and Indiana students pretend that Indiana football doesn't exist. So screw those guys.

- All the schools are in the same time zone. Except for Purdue which, who cares because BLACK HOLE. Actually, I'm sure the B1G could find a way to use this to screw us into 11am kicks but for now I'm leaving it as a pro.

- Strength of schedule is a little better for us as a rebuilding program.

- The names for the divisions write themselves.

- THIS MAKES TOO MUCH F*@%ING SENSE TO PICK ANYTHING ELSE.

Con:

- Michigan isn't in our division. This means if they aren't a protected crossover we have some serious gaps in between Jug games.

- We got Purdue instead of Indiana. I'm cool pretending Bloomington is west of West Lafayette if you are.

Thoughts:

This is the choice. Yes, the potential loss of Michigan sucks. But Wisconsin and Iowa are fully protected and those are the two rivalries that matter the most. Plus, with the splitting up of Indiana and Purdue you can basically be assured that there will be protected crossovers and ours would almost certainly be Michigan. Also, to go more macro for a moment, this is a division split that doesn't hurt anyone else either (so long as there are protected crossovers). It's so obvious a choice that only a fool would try to brainstorm something else. I mean, doing that is almost sure to create something too dumb for words. Oh wait...

Option 3 - Innie/Outie

Pro:

- The Parallelogram of HATE is preserved.

Con:

- IT MAKES NO F*@%ING SENSE! Seriously guys, DA FUCK? (Yep, it's so stupid that I had to stop self censoring.)

- If there are no protected crossovers then we lose the Jug as an every year deal.

- Half of our divisional opponents are HALFWAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY. Totally screws with road trips.

- Will screw attendance up for home games. No one in MN cares about PSU, much less Rutgers or Maryland. Will get even worse turnouts than we do now for nobody teams (assuming that is possible).

- Makes the Governor's Victory Bell and annual thing. Seriously, I don't care about that trophy. It can go away.

- Overall, I'd argue that the SoS in this division would be a wash compared to option #2 at first, but harder over the long term. Plus, while the Innie teams get easy intradivision travel we'd be doing all the long hauls.

- Is so nonsensical that it's prompting comparisons to things like the Eye of Sauron.

via mgoblog.com

Thoughts:

Look, I could live with this one. Any option that puts Wisconsin in our division will automatically win some extra points from me. In an odd way I like it better than Option 1 despite it being sheer lunacy, though I think that is mostly due to the fact that I've grown to loath Legends and Leaders. But it's a stupid idea. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID.

Made Up Option Floated By Internet Genius @Bry_Mac Found On The Twitters

I give you, the Dino Divisions! (UPDATE 12/14 11am: The Dino divisions are getting a lot of attention elsewhere on the interwebs so the headline and Pro section have been updated to be more clear on who created them. I wanted to be sure I didn't get credit for @Bry_Mac's fine work).

via i48.tinypic.com

Pro:

- DINOSAURS!

- @Bry_Mac created some excellent division names

Con:

- Shut up and go away.

Thoughts:

- Love that we are in the RAWR division.

So what do YOU think?

While I'm guessing most of you will choose East/West, I'm also sure it won't be unanimous. So share which one you like best and don't be afraid to suggest tweaks below. Lets duke it out in the comments and pretend that Delaney and Co. actually give two sh*ts what we think.