Here's what I learned at the Big Ten Football Kickoff: I don't know much about the Big Ten.
For starters, I went to Chicago armed with my brilliant plan that Nebraska and Penn State should be placed in the same division and given “rivalry'' status at the Thanksgiving Day table. Put their game next to Ohio State-Michigan, and you have a doubleheader even LeBron James and Jim Gray would watch.
“No, no, no,'' said one veteran Penn State writer. “That's not necessary. Bad idea.''
“Forget it,'' said the longtime Ohio State scribe. “That's not fair to Penn State fans to make them travel that far.''
“Ridiculous,'' said the Chicago Big Ten writer. “This is not that hard. Don't overthink it.''
The people who know the Big Ten best said this: Split the league down the middle. In the West: Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern and Illinois. Your Big Ten East: Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State, Indiana and Purdue.
But, I argued, do you want three heavies in the east? Wouldn't you put two of the brand names in one division and two in the other? What if you end up with Wisconsin in the championship game? Don't you want marquee names to drive Big Ten title game ratings?
That was such a Big 12 thing to say.
“Why?'' asked the Chicago scribe. “With Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin, you have three big names in the west and three in the east. That's balance.''
“The Big Ten doesn't need to prop up the title game,'' said the Ohio guy. “It's going to get ratings. It's the Big Ten.''
First lesson about the Big Ten: It's not about the individual schools. It's about the Big Ten.
The prevailing wisdom in Chicago was that this east-west divisional scheme made the most sense. Another idea split Michigan and Ohio State, but had the two classics still playing annually in their usual spot. Nebraska in the same division as Michigan or Ohio State? Yeah, sure. That would work.
Here's what everyone at the kickoff thought was best for Nebraska: a heavy dose of Iowa.
The thinking is this: Iowa needs a blood rival. Floyd of Rosedale is a cool pig, but the Minnesota-Iowa series doesn't quite raise the blood pressure. As Des Moines Register columnist Sean Keeler points out, Minnesota-Wisconsin is a better season-ending fit while Hawks and Huskers should dance — or whatever — after Thanksgiving every year.
Jon Miller, a sports talk show host for WHO in Des Moines, says Iowa-Nebraska already has spilled out onto his show.
“The anticipation in Des Moines has been really big,'' Miller said. “There are so many Nebraska fans in Des Moines and central Iowa. It's going to be big because we work together, shop together, go to church together and now we're going to play together. I think the acrimony between Iowa and Nebraska is going to exceed that of Iowa and Iowa State around here.''
Of a Husker-Hawks shindig finale, Miller said, “The Iowa fans would absolutely welcome that. Everybody wants that. It would be a great collision in late November, the irresistible force and the immovable object, if you look at what (Kirk) Ferentz has done and what (Bo) Pelini is instilling back in Nebraska.''
When I mentioned that a World-Herald reader had suggested a “Kinnick Trophy,'' in honor of Nile Kinnick, the 1939 Iowa Heisman Trophy winner and an Omaha Benson graduate (there's a Kinnick Stadium in both Iowa City and Omaha), Miller lit up. “Oh, my God, can you imagine that?'' he said. “Playing for a Kinnick Trophy? Let's go. Right now.''
Nebraska. Iowa. Neighbors. Rivals. Like the man said, don't overthink it.
Contact the writer:
444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com
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