Keeler: Grading how each Big Ten team fared in realignment
Register columnist Sean Keeler grades how each team fared:
ILLINOIS (B-minus) — Keeping Wisconsin and the rivalry game with Purdue is a plus, but having to play Ohio State and Penn State every year is a beast.
INDIANA (C) — A yearly diet of Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin? No favors there.
IOWA (A-minus) — Winnable division, short-term and long-term. Playing Nebraska to finish the regular season is a natural, but does it make up for the loss of Wisconsin?
MICHIGAN (C-plus) — Good news: A chance to play the Buckeyes twice. Bad news: A chance to play the Buckeyes twice.
MICHIGAN STATE (B) — Any pain over the loss of the Land Grant Trophy is more than buffered by the addition of Michigan and Nebraska.
MINNESOTA (C) — Brutal draw, but other than Sid Hartman, does anyone in the Twin Cities really give a patootie?
NEBRASKA (C-plus) — The schedule’s a gauntlet right out of the gate. Still, those games with Iowa and Penn State are going to be all kinds of fun.
NORTHWESTERN (B-plus) — The Wildcats have owned Illinois and held their own with Iowa, while losing Ohio State and Penn State was addition by subtraction.
OHIO STATE (B-plus) — Screaming Buckeyes fans got what they wanted — the Michigan game at the end of the season.
PENN STATE (B-plus) — Keeping Purdue and Indiana was a plus, although who knows what this program looks like post-Paterno?
PURDUE (C) — Boiler alum and BCS guru Jerry Palm calls the Hawkeyes-Purdue rivalry the “Tupperware Bowl,” because that’s where the Big Ten stuck the leftovers.
WISCONSIN (C) — Bye-bye, Iowa game? No wonder Barry Alvarez leaked the division alignment news about the Hawkeyes — he was ticked off.
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football
So you think Iowa got the best of any team out of this? And they lost one of their top two rivals?
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Losing Penn State & Wisconsin as a yearly on a yearly basis is an A-?
Purdue as a protected rival?
I’d hate to see what an A+ is.
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A for how this alignment might average out to be a more favorable schedule.
F for losing Wisky and not having PSU on a more regular basis.
PU as a protected rival? The Tupperware Bowl – conference leftovers!
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