B1G New Additions Offseason Thread

[Mdot21]

and some idiot thought they deserved a spot in the B1G

probably had to take them in order to get USC? Idk. USC is a true blue chip brand, and it's worth taking UCLA for just to get them imo. And not every team in the conference can be great. Going to need some punching bags. Plus LA is fertile recruiting grounds. Probably the 2nd or 3rd best in the entire country. If you're a kid from LA and you know you're going to be able to play 2 games every year in front of your family in LA if you go to Michigan or Ohio State- might just make it *a little bit* easier to want to go. And any little edge in recruiting helps, as it's a ruthless cutthroat son of a bitch business.

[FearlessF]

oh, I'm certain it was a package deal with USC

same reason Wash and Ore got invited - travel partners

I just don't think the trojans had ANY real leverage

they weren't going to the SEC, what was their other plan?
try to hold the PAC together and sign a crap TV deal and lose a shit ton of money?

then have even less leverage in a few years?

[medinabuckeye1]

So, what happens with the playoff now slotting SIX conference champions as auto bids?

I've kinda assumed ever since the P12 blew up that the number of auto-bids for League Champions would be reduced but if not here is what I *THINK* the 12-team CFP seeds would have been with 2023 results superimposed over 2024's Conference alignments:

• #1 B1G Champion Michigan
• #2 At-large Washington (assuming they lose the B1GCG to M)
• #3 SEC Champion Texas
• #4 At-large Bama
• #5 ACC Champion Florida State
• #6 At-large Georgia
• #7 At-large Ohio State
• #8 At-large Oregon
• #9 At-large Mizzou
• #14 B12 Champion Arizona (assuming here that Arizona beats OkSU in the B12CG)
• #23 CUSA Champion Liberty Biberty
• #24 AAC Champion Southern Methodist

So I *THINK* the playoff would be:

• SMU at FSU, winner vs Bama
• Liberty Biberty at Georgia, winner vs Texas
• Arizona at Ohio State, winner vs Washington
• Mizzou at Oregon, winner vs Michigan

Then the semi-finals would have been:

• Bama/FSU/SMU vs M/Mizzou/Oregon
• Texas/Georgia/Liberty Biberty vs Washington/tOSU/Zona

[847badgerfan]

and some idiot thought they deserved a spot in the B1G

I don't think USC would have come without them, but then again, why take USC? They also ain't what they once were.

[ELA]

https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1757404759412076969?s=20

[ELA]

I've kinda assumed ever since the P12 blew up that the number of auto-bids for League Champions would be reduced but if not here is what I *THINK* the 12-team CFP seeds would have been with 2023 results superimposed over 2024's Conference alignments:

I hope not.  The idiots chose their wording specifically so they couldn't be accused of favoring the Power 5.  Then their own greed destroyed the Power 5

[medinabuckeye1]

I hope not.  The idiots chose their wording specifically so they couldn't be accused of favoring the Power 5.  Then their own greed destroyed the Power 5

Honestly to me it doesn't make much difference specifically because they went with a 12-team playoff.  

If you look at my guess at the 12 teams based on 2023 with 2024 alignments, the best teams left out are:

• #10, 10-2 Penn State
• #11, 10-2 Ole Miss
• #12, 10-2 Oklahoma
• #13, 9-3 LSU

I generally agree with @OrangeAfroMan that including BOTH Liberty Biberty AND SMU is unnecessary.  However, I recognize that for political and legal (anti-trust) reasons you probably HAVE to reserve one seat for non-P5 (now P4) so I'd rather they drop it to five which would replace SMU with PSU in that example.  

I still wish they'd gone with eight teams with the top-4 league champions hosting and with the new alignments I'd make it:

• The five highest ranked League Champions get auto-bids
• The next three highest ranked teams get in
• The Four highest ranked League Champions host the quarter-finals.  

Under that model the 2023 rankings superimposed on the 2024 alignments would yield something like:

• Liberty Biberty at Michigan
• Georgia at Texas
• Bama at Florida State
• Washington at Arizona

The best teams left out would be:

• #7, 11-1 Ohio State
• #8, 11-2 Oregon
• #9 10-2 Mizzou

IMHO, the 8-team model is a better playoff and, more importantly, it creates a much more compelling regular season because a single loss might exclude you (Ohio State) or it forces you to play a road game in your opener instead of a home game (Georgia/Bama/Washington).  

With the 12-team playoff even if they maintain the six slots for League Champions there is almost no chance of a 1-loss P4 team missing the playoff and 2-loss P4 teams are about 50/50.  

[betarhoalphadelta]

IMHO, the 8-team model is a better playoff and, more importantly, it creates a much more compelling regular season because a single loss might exclude you (Ohio State) or it forces you to play a road game in your opener instead of a home game (Georgia/Bama/Washington). 

I was banging the 5+1+2 or 6+2 model (which would now be 5+3) gong for a long time before they morons decided to go to 12. Seems to solve all problems. Major conference champs get auto-bid, so conference champs matter. G5 gets auto-bid. Still plenty of room for at-large teams that really should be in but didn't win their conferences. It's 8 teams, so no byes. You could pretty easily make that first round the top 4 seeds (or conf. champs) getting a home game.

12 is both unnecessary and worse.

[medinabuckeye1]

I was banging the 5+1+2 or 6+2 model (which would now be 5+3) gong for a long time before they morons decided to go to 12. Seems to solve all problems. Major conference champs get auto-bid, so conference champs matter. G5 gets auto-bid. Still plenty of room for at-large teams that really should be in but didn't win their conferences. It's 8 teams, so no byes. You could pretty easily make that first round the top 4 seeds (or conf. champs) getting a home game.

12 is both unnecessary and worse.

We are preaching to the choir here but I completely agree.  The 12-team playoff completely changes the way I view the game.  

My team has a TON of talent coming back from a team whose only regular season loss was on the road to the eventual NC by one score.  Plus they have upgrades on the coaching staff and a great class of new recruits.  I *SHOULD* be super excited and to be honest, I'm not.  

With the non-divisional CG and the 12-team playoff I'm excited about three games next year:

• At Oregon on 10/12
• At Penn State on 11/2
• Vs TCUN on 11/30.  

All the others more-or-less "feel" like NFL preseason games to me.  They only matter if Ohio State loses at least two (probably three).  Otherwise, the Buckeyes are in the playoff and if tOSU wins the 2024 National Championship I'm really not going to care whether they were 16-0 or 15-1 with a "hangover" loss to Purdue the week after they beat Penn State.  


In any prior season I'd have had that Purdue game circled as a dangerous game.  I guess it still is, but losing used to be potentially fatal, now the penalty for losing to Purdue is likely either minimal or trivial.  

In 2018 a loss to Purdue kept tOSU out of the playoffs even though they won all their other games.  In 2017 a loss to Iowa combined with a loss to a top-4 team kept tOSU out of the playoffs.  In 2024 the Buckeyes could lose to BOTH Purdue and Iowa and still be almost assured of a playoff spot as long as they won their other 10 because they'd still be no worse than 10-2 with wins over Oregon, Penn State, and Michigan.  

[utee94]

oh, I'm certain it was a package deal with USC

same reason Wash and Ore got invited - travel partners

I just don't think the trojans had ANY real leverage

they weren't going to the SEC, what was their other plan?
try to hold the PAC together and sign a crap TV deal and lose a shit ton of money?

then have even less leverage in a few years?

But as it turns out, obviously, they DID have enough leverage to force the B1G's hand.

[ELA]

Honestly to me it doesn't make much difference specifically because they went with a 12-team playoff. 

Then they could have said the 5 conference champs of the ACC, B1G, SEC, XII and Pac 12, and next best champ.  But they chose not it to work it that way purposefully.  So I hope it bites them.

[FearlessF]

But as it turns out, obviously, they DID have enough leverage to force the B1G's hand.

they obviously did with the current Big Ten leadership
doesn't make it true

why couldn't the Big Ten kick the can down the road?
afraid USC would go to the SEC with or without UCLA???
I don't think so

[CatsbyAZ]

Big hire for Coach DeShaun Foster last week - UCLA hires Eric Bieniemy as OC:


https://twitter.com/latbbolch/status/1761548782934835420