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Time for realignment? James Franklin weighs in on B1G division setup
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A little history lesson.
Up until 1990, the B1G conference consisted of 10 teams, hence the name.
That’s the year Penn State joined the conference. The conference remained at 11 teams up until 2011 when Nebraska joined. Three years later Maryland and Rutgers came aboard, and the current list of 14 teams have remained the same.
In April of 2013, it was made official that the league would be divided into the current two divisions, East and West.
Lately, there has been plenty of news about conferences re-aligning, and teams making moves from one conference to another. And the B1G has been in on the talk. The B1G football divisions were initially set up based on time zones, but the dominance of the East over the years has created more of a buzz about realigning the divisions and creating a more balanced league.
In his recent press conference, Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin gave his thoughts on the idea.
#PSU coach James Franklin, asked by @Ben_Jones88 about B1G division alignment, says it should be an annual discussion between coaches, administrators. "That's a healthy thing to do, to get as many perspectives on this as possible." Says every conference should do this.
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) October 5, 2021
Franklin on Big Ten East vs. West issues: "You'd like to split it up as evenly as you can… If you're trying to get as many teams in the Playoff as possible, that should be in the conference's interest a well."
— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) October 5, 2021
Currently, three teams in the B1G East are undefeated — Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State — and Ohio State and Maryland are each 4-1. Iowa is the only undefeated team in the West while everyone else in the division has at least two losses.
Whether this is all talk — plenty of articles discuss the idea dating back several years — remains to be seen.
Scott Schultz covers Michigan State Football, along with Breaking News for B1G Football & Basketball for Saturday Tradition. He also serves as an Automotive News Editor & Writer, and Softball Writer elsewhere on the web. Follow him on Twitter @SRSchultz.