Cincy should've joined the B1G. Think it's absolute horseshit that Ohio State can have Ohio all to itself in the B1G- meanwhile Michigan has to share the state of Michigan with Sparty- a state that has 2 million less people than Ohio and probably not even half of the P5 high school football talent.
Michigan would be a hell of a lot better if Sparty wasn't around. They are sharing a state that has little to no real football talent with another major program. I say make it tougher on Ohio State and get Cincy in the B1G and let them be a pain in Ohio State's ass like Sparty is a pain in Michigan's.
I would never advocate kicking out schools that ARE in the B1G but, in retrospect, it was a mistake to add MSU in the first place. The B1G would be better off today if we had only one school each in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois and used the extra slots thus created to add one school each in three new states.
Michigan State was added in 1949 and their first year of BigTen Football was the 1953 season (they won the league and the RoseBowl that season).
In the 1950 census Michigan's population was 6.4 million where today it is up to 10.1 million but the more relevant issue is population relative to the country as a whole.
In 1950 Michigan's population of 6.4 M was #7 in the nation behind:
- NY 14.8 M
- CA 10.6 M
- PA 10.5 M
- IL 8.7 M
- OH 7.9 M
- TX 7.7 M
They were still ahead of FL (#20 with 2.8 M), GA (#13 with 3.4 M), and NC (#10 with 4.1 M).
In 2020 Michigan's population of 10.1 M was #10 in the nation behind
- CA 39.5 M
- TX 29.1 M
- FL 21.5 M
- NY 20.2 M
- PA 13.0 M
- IL 12.8 M
- OH 11.8 M
- GA 10.7 M
- NC 10.4 M
Looked at another way:
- 4.23%: In 1950 Michigan's population of about 6.4 M was about 4.23% of the US population of 151.3 M
- 3.27%: In 2020 Michigan's population of about 10.1 M was about 3.27% of the US population of 308.7 M
I do NOT think that the solution to this conundrum is to kick out MSU, IU, and one of the IL schools but I also do NOT think the solution is to make the same stupid mistake AGAIN by adding Cincy, ISU, Pitt, or any other school in an existing B1G state.