Keeler: Hawkeyes fared well in realignment

In hindsight, it could’ve been worse. Wisconsin’s stuck on an island. Minnesota’s getting tossed straight into the wood chipper. Although …

Purdue? Really?

“It’s sort of like building a bracket in the NCAA Tournament,” Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said Wednesday night after his new-look football alignment — two divisions, composed of six schools apiece — was unveiled to the world. “We did as good as we could, as well as we could, (considering how) it was based.”

At first blush, if you’re an Iowa fan, there’s really not much to grouse about, big-picture. The Gophers are still there, every year, as they should be. Nebraska is the new regular-season finale, and that’s perfect.

Although, it has to be said, the flip side’s a bit of a doozy. Wisconsin, one of Iowa’s three trophy opponents, is not only in the other division — the Badgers are off the schedule completely in 2011 and 2012. And when the time came to pick a “protected,” annual, inter-division opponent, the Hawkeyes were paired with, um, the Boilermakers.

“You know, I would tell you this — Wisconsin really is far more geographically stretched, probably, than Iowa is,” Delany explained. Sort of.

Still, give the commish and the athletic directors credit for this much: Competitively, at least, the 12-team Big Ten is right in line, as promised. Intrepid reader Nathan Brixius, a software engineer at Microsoft and an Iowa grad, calculated Wednesday that the average Sagarin rating of the teams in the Hawkeyes’ division sits at 77.25; the average rating of the other division is 77.27. The schools in Iowa’s division have 427 conference wins since 1993; the other division has 412.

Not perfect, but pretty close. Close enough, anyway.

And when you can’t have Michigan NOT playing Ohio State and Northwestern NOT playing Illinois and Wisconsin NOT playing Minnesota, the wiggle room starts to disappear. Iowa and Purdue were basically the last two awkward kids left standing at a junior-high dance, paired together more out of convenience than any historical, geographic or traditional considerations.

For you history buffs, in the modern era, the Hawkeyes and Boilers have been involved in a series of streaks — Purdue won 20 in a row between 1961-80, a sorry run that epitomized the Hawkeyes’ post-Evashevski Dark Ages. Iowa then took nine in a row from 1983-91.

Since 1993, the Hawkeyes have won seven, lost four and tied once. What the rivalry lacks in gravitas, it more than makes up for in — well, we’ll have to get back with you on that one. In the meantime, let’s all light a candle for Bucky Badger.

“I think the majority of ex-Hawkeyes or current Hawkeyes respect, over the last 20 years, the Iowa-Wisconsin rivalry much more than the Iowa-Minnesota rivalry or than the Iowa-Illinois rivalry,” former Hawkeye quarterback Chuck Hartlieb opined before the divisions were announced. “Outside of our two or three big games, the rivalry that we respected more than anything was Iowa-Wisconsin. Primarily, just because it was always a better game.”

Sadly, it’s ancient history now, lost to the brave new frontier of conference title games and made-for-TV matchups. In hindsight, the Hawkeyes-Badgers series was a victim of both programs’ respective successes over the last 20 years. Wisconsin and Iowa were deemed the cream of the “second-tier” programs after Ohio State, Nebraska, Michigan and Penn State, too good to remain together. More’s the pity.

“I am disappointed,” sighed Frank Strub, the ex-Hawkeye player and Windsor Heights resident who sculpted and created the Heartland Trophy, the prize awarded to the winner of the Iowa-Wisconsin game since 2004. “But not surprised.”

Strub, like a lot of traditionalists, prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. The truth, as it turns out, landed somewhere in the middle. Compromise is rarely painless, but as the old tune goes, two out of three ain’t bad.

How the Hawkeyes are affected

BEST NEWS: Annual game with natural rival Nebraska — as well as Michigan (which wasn’t guaranteed before).

LESS-GOOD NEWS: No locked-in, annual games with marquee names Ohio State and Penn State — though it wasn’t a certainty in the past, either.

HEAD-SCRATCHER: Purdue was tabbed the Hawkeyes’ “protected rivalry” game, meaning they will play each season. This was the least-storied, buzz-worthy choice in the conference.

WHAT’S LOST: Iowa’s annual game with Wisconsin, which had been played 71 of the last 73 years. Then again, the Heartland Trophy only dates to 2004.

HAWKEYE HEADLINE: Iowa found out it closes the regular season Nov. 26, 2011 against Nebraska — in Lincoln.

—  Compiled by the Register’s Bryce Miller

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Tags: Big Ten alignment, football

Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football