It's confirmed

There would be no better rivalry week then an undefeated Iowa playing an undefeated Neb for the right to play an undefeated OSU or an undefeated Mich.

Divisions will split rivals and PSU and Neb.

Iowa, psu, mich, ind, nw, minn

osu, neb, Wisc, msu, purdue, Ill

with a 5-2-2 schedule, teams keep 2 rivals.

I wonder if Minnesota could end up as Nebraska's 2nd rival in this. Could see it being Iowa, but would expect they would have Wisconsin and Illinois protected.

I'm guessing "may" is MSU?

Iowas 2 rivals are Minnesota and Wisconsin. With Minnesota in division that leaves Wisconsin and Nebraska.
Nebraska really wants a rivalry with Iowa, which makes sense. And I think Iowa would love a rivalry with Nebraska.

May should be MSU

Just odd to see Michigan's two biggest rivals in the other division.

Rumor has it that BYU will announce tonight they are going independent and WCC for all other sports...

Issue a release tonight...Press Conference tomorrow.

WCC, and not WAC? Wow.

Yeah the loss of UNR and Fresno made the WAC not appealing anymore...I think the WAC tried their hardest for it...

I think it's a crap move by BYU...hopefully USU gets the invite to the MWC to replace BYU.

Hmm, I would have thought the WAC would still be more appealing even with those two schools leaving. I don't know a thing about the WCC though.

The WCC is known for basketball (Gonzaga, St. Mary's, Santa Clara) and soccer.

The WAC's schools are all private schools with religious affiliations. And they're an up-and-coming basketball conference.

Once you take away football and basketball as considerations, having a lot in common culturally with fellow conference-members seems to make a lot of sense.

BYU can still have football deals with WAC members. There's really no reason to associate with them beyond that.

The WCC is a decent league and with Gonzaga in that league, it gives their basketball a quality place to land. I think the calculus I read earlier about the financial reasons for them to do it, make the move make sense in the short term because they'll get more money in their current status by being an independent than they'd get from a (constantly enlarging, it seems) Mountain West. And like molson said, the WCC is a league of private religious-affiliated schools. I wonder if the WCC will (re)add Seattle U. finally to keep an even number.

I don't think it's a good move long-term, but I suspect this is borne out of controlling their own destiny rather than being gamesmanshipped into being stuck with the MWC.

Still, sucks for the MWC. I always thought they should've wooed Gonzaga ages ago. While the move wouldn't have made competitive sense (why leave a 1 or 2-bid league you dominate for one that's bigger?) it could've made sense if they'd pitched it right. Seems that now, Gonzaga won't have to go anywhere.

If I were the WAC I'll tell them to screw off with trying to "maintain" a schedule with our football teams. If you don't want to be a semi-full member in other sports then we don't want you for football either.

Alright...

It's been leaked..

Sources: BYU to leave Mountain West Conference, join West Coast Conference in all sports except football - ESPN

But it's a done deal basically...

You should know better... :D

Well that sucks for the MWC. :( It's also going to suck losing the Mountain West bond I was feeling with the BYU fans on board.

And just like that, BTN has canceled the live TV special.

Apparently Columbus Radio was reporting the backlash about moving UM/OSU was so strong they are going to look into the divisions some more.

That stinks.

Well, the MWC did the one thing it shouldn't have over the past few years...Spit in the face of the two universities that were it's flagship...BYU and Utah, and regardless of what anyone thought, the big dogs were getting screwed financially with the cheap ass tv contract that was agreed upon...

Btw, that happened in the change of presidency and AD for the school, so Holmoe and Samuelson came in just as the rest of the presidents / AD's voted for it...BYU's vote wouldn't have mattered at all anyway so it's a moot point.

Then they ran out and grabbed UNR and Fresno to stick it to BYU and the WAC...well, they only ended up screwing the WAC and the rest of the schools in the MWC, you are now sharing the pie with 2 new schools and if USU is brought on thats a third...so now the annual tv revenue you get goes from 1.5 million down to around 800K...

BYU will survive, they have ESPN helping with their games now and whether or not MWC or WAC teams want to play us...there are many other schools out there that are willing to be on ESPN and get the money for coming to Provo..

To me, USU ends up getting screwed for staying true to their word and so do the remaining sports BYU has besides basketball.

Well, it's going to be SUPER NASTY at all of our away games this season...

The WCC is a solid basketball conference now. They could regularly field 3 teams every year.

So much for the MWC working their way towards an BCS automatic qualifier berth...

The WAC needs the BYU a hell of a lot more than BYU needs the WAC.

When you're hoping you can maybe convince Wyoming and Sacramento St to fill out your ranks, you don't have a whole lot of leverage.

Though, I don't believe for a second any of this is a "done deal", and I'd still guess that BYU will be staying put in exchange for some kind of concession so everyone can save face.

Unless CBS / Comcast are willing to give up the BYU home games and rebroadcast rights, it's not going to happen...

MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson has been standing pat on his no concessions stance he made with the UNR / Fresno press conference.

BYU will be issuing a release tonight and having a press conference tomorrow..

Right now, the rumor circle is going rampant on who we will play next year and some of the names that are being tossed out there has made me drool, but I will wait and see on that front.

Yeah. I'd bet that the BCS is whispering sweet nothings into BYU's ear, letting them know that they'll be considered if they turn indy. That way, they don't have to guarantee another conference a full payout and can bet/hope that BYU doesn't become BCS eligible often enough, if at all, to offset the difference.

With the rumored schedule for next season being leaked right now...it could be a great year just to watch BYU football...

I think that's what motivated all of this, in the end. The money land grab coupled with the BCS desire to keep their cartel the same size. It's what kept the Big 12 together in it's slightly diminished form and has BYU hurling itself forward and schools lining up to play them.

Hadn't really considered that angle though.

Now it's time to fire up BBCF & FBCB and create these conference scenarios and see how things play out in the new weird world of college sports.

Right now rumors for next year schedule...

Clemson, Texas Tech, Notre Dame...

We already have USU, Oregon State and Texas...

I figure you couple in the 3 academies, Utah and another 2 teams probably from the WAC and I am drooling....

And BYU's official press release..

http://www.byucougars.com/Filing.jsp?ID=14298

In contrast to the mtn that I could only get in Wyoming on the extended cable package, but not in Denver (I never tried in Ft. Collins), I'm visiting my parents on the east coast this week and I just typed in 374 and DirectTV and there was BYU-TV right on the basic tier. Now I realize that's not cable, but the fact that I can get BYU-TV on basic DirectTV and not the Mtn. already shows how bad their MWC tv deal was. I thought it was a boneheaded move when they started that network in the first place and now it's cost them a likely BCS bid.

Bingo...and the one thing BYU has said..this is all about Exposure for them..so you get ESPN and BYU-TV showing their games.

I think this will be great for BYU interim of Football exposure, but I feel bad for the Basketball program, they definitely took a step down.

The one big plus I see is this helps keep things even with Utah in recruiting. Utah is in the PAC 12, but we can play Notre Dame, Texas, Clemson, etc. I know a lot of people say it wouldn't have mattered with the type of kids that BYU recruits, but I think we may see those 4 and 5 star LDS recruits that would go to USC and other BCS programs now give the Y a closer look. Plus you have to think you get some more non-mormon kids in the fold now.

If these were actually the divisions they were going with, then thank God they are re-visiting because these make no sense whatsoever. What were they going to have a "blue" division and a "red" division like C-USA used to have?

Just yuck.

Would it be so hard to go with a North and South:

Mich., MSU, Minn., Wisc., Iowa, and NW
OSU, Neb., Purdue, IU, Penn St., Illinois

Keeps some of the traditional rivalries going, and creates some new ones. And actually makes geographical sense.

Y'know, I really don't see it as much of a loss for the men's b'ball.

Looking at RealTimeRPI.com (hey, I need somewhere to go for these, it's handy)

09-10 conference power ratings
MWC
w/ BYU they're #6 among conferences, avg index 48.17
w/out BYU their avg index goes to 45.60
w/ all pending in/out their avg index goes to 45.78

WCC
w/out BYU they're #12 among conferences, avg index 44.00
w/BYU their avg index goes to 46.14

I'm just not seeing any big difference for BYU in men's basketball here either honestly.

Gonzaga does help there a lot I suppose, it will just take time to get used to, plus I don't see a strong rivalry tie in for them. I am sure they will still keep Utah and Utah St on the hoops schedule every year though.

The Rivalry in Basketball with Utah has died down since the Majerus era because both Cleveland and Majerus fed into it...Boylen and Rose have not...

USU is the main rivalry in basketball I would love to see compete.

Looking at Basketball, I like this fit more...although I think the Marriott Center is the largest Arena in the WCC now.

The press conference will be on BYU TV today and I will be glued to it..

An MSU beat writer is reporting that the following will make up the Big Ten divisions:

MSU
U of M
NU
UNL
Iowa
Minnesota

OSU
Wisconsin
Illinois
PSU
Indiana
Purdue

Also it is reported OSU/UM will remain the last game of the season.

Shit, I don't want OSU to be on the same side as Wisconsin.

Here is the Buckeyes uniform for the Michigan game this year and any other game they may want to use them in.

After looking at every proposed scenario in this thread and hating them, I've realized I just don't want divisions -- I want to see Michigan play every team in the Big Ten pretty much equally, not stick to half of it and only play the other half every couple years. Especially considering that I live in Chicago, there's a good chance they won't come out this way as often.

Well I believe they will come to Northwestern every other year but yeah, they will play Illinois every 3-4 years I suppose.

I'm seeing the same rumor as detox is. I don't like this at all. Not sure why, but it just doesn't look good.

Announcement tonight or tomorrow.

If it's a 5-2-2 setup, I could see the Illini being one of the 2 that are every-year games (OSU and either Illinois or Wisconsin), so Michigan would go there every year also. Well, either Champaign or Madison, which are both good I guess (although it's easier to get tickets in Champaign). But that's really just part of it -- I just don't like the idea of us being in a division, when it comes down to it. It looks too much like our own smaller league.

Without knowing much about their traditional rivalries, I think Wisconsin sticks out like a sore thumb here. Not in the same division w/ the Michigan schools, Minnesota, or Northwestern (looks to be their closest geographic "rival") seems like a miss.

Iowa and wisc are rivals. They and um/osu were split. Looks like the only 2

I believe the annual cross overs will be:

UM - OSU
Neb - PSU
NU - ILL
MSU - IU
MIN - PUR
Iowa - WISC

I am only confident on the first two though. I know MSU/IU play for a trophy so I expect they are stuck together. Minny and Purdue I don't know what they do with.

Minnesota is definitely their biggest rival, though.

EDIT: Is it only one "annual cross over"? I thought it was 5 in your division, 2 from the other division every year, then 2 every other year.

I think it's just one cross over. Alvarez was saying everyone would protect one rivalry for the cross over since you'll play everyone in your own division as it is.