ADVERTISEMENT

10 years, $95 Million for Mel Tucker. Contract FULLY GUARANTEED

There have been numerous posts about how bad the B10 West is this year. Surprisingly, two of toughest games OSU has played in the B10 this year have been at Minnesota and at Nebraska.
I think the relative difference between the two divisions is overstated once you set OSU aside. They have been the clear class of the East for years now. This year, Michigan is probably the clear #2, with there not really being a ton of difference between Wisconsin, Michigan State, Iowa, Purdue, Minnesota and PSU. Nebraska has shown they can play with anyone and Illinois is better than the bottom of the East and Northwestern is better than Rutgers and Indiana. If I was going to rank them top to bottom:

OSU
<insert maybe a mile>
Michigan
<insert maybe a half mile>
Wisconsin
Michigan State
Iowa
Purdue
Minnesota
Penn St.
Illinois
Nebraska
Maryland
Northwestern
Rutgers
Indiana

That would make the East top-heavy with 3 of the top 4, but the West has 4 of the top 7.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kceasthawk
I think the relative difference between the two divisions is overstated once you set OSU aside. They have been the clear class of the East for years now. This year, Michigan is probably the clear #2, with there not really being a ton of difference between Wisconsin, Michigan State, Iowa, Purdue, Minnesota and PSU. Nebraska has shown they can play with anyone and Illinois is better than the bottom of the East and Northwestern is better than Rutgers and Indiana. If I was going to rank them top to bottom:

OSU
<insert maybe a mile>
Michigan
<insert maybe a half mile>
Wisconsin
Michigan State
Iowa
Purdue
Minnesota
Penn St.
Illinois
Nebraska
Maryland
Northwestern
Rutgers
Indiana

That would make the East top-heavy with 3 of the top 4, but the West has 4 of the top 7.

historically, the West has done well vs the East.

I am sure somewhere there is the all time record.
 
historically, the West has done well vs the East.

I am sure somewhere there is the all time record.
I found an article with records through the 2017 season and manually compiled the rest by hand. The total number of games is all over the place due to 2020 unbalanced schedules, plus the outstanding IU-Purdue game this weekend (regular season games only):

East 79-67, West 68-78

Michigan and OSU have been the best two (Iowa 3rd) since the divisions were created, though tOSU is a whopping 18-2 (only losses were blowouts to Iowa and Purdue). Here are the records going back to 2014:

Ohio St. 18-2
Michigan 16-5
Iowa 14-7
Penn St. 14-8
Wisconsin 12-9
Michigan St. 11-10
Northwestern 10-11
Nebraska 10-12
Minnesota 9-12
Indiana 8-11
Illinois 8-13
Maryland 8-13
Purdue 5-14
Rutgers 4-18

If Ohio St. came out, the East would be 61-65 and the West would be 66-60. Outside of OSU dominating, it’s all pretty close.
 
I found an article with records through the 2017 season and manually compiled the rest by hand. The total number of games is all over the place due to 2020 unbalanced schedules, plus the outstanding IU-Purdue game this weekend (regular season games only):

East 79-67, West 68-78

Michigan and OSU have been the best two (Iowa 3rd) since the divisions were created, though tOSU is a whopping 18-2 (only losses were blowouts to Iowa and Purdue). Here are the records going back to 2014:

Ohio St. 18-2
Michigan 16-5
Iowa 14-7
Penn St. 14-8
Wisconsin 12-9
Michigan St. 11-10
Northwestern 10-11
Nebraska 10-12
Minnesota 9-12
Indiana 8-11
Illinois 8-13
Maryland 8-13
Purdue 5-14
Rutgers 4-18

If Ohio St. came out, the East would be 61-65 and the West would be 66-60. Outside of OSU dominating, it’s all pretty close.

this might be something worth keeping updated

thanks for the research
 
  • Like
Reactions: hawkifann
I found an article with records through the 2017 season and manually compiled the rest by hand. The total number of games is all over the place due to 2020 unbalanced schedules, plus the outstanding IU-Purdue game this weekend (regular season games only):

East 79-67, West 68-78

Michigan and OSU have been the best two (Iowa 3rd) since the divisions were created, though tOSU is a whopping 18-2 (only losses were blowouts to Iowa and Purdue). Here are the records going back to 2014:

Ohio St. 18-2
Michigan 16-5
Iowa 14-7
Penn St. 14-8
Wisconsin 12-9
Michigan St. 11-10
Northwestern 10-11
Nebraska 10-12
Minnesota 9-12
Indiana 8-11
Illinois 8-13
Maryland 8-13
Purdue 5-14
Rutgers 4-18

If Ohio St. came out, the East would be 61-65 and the West would be 66-60. Outside of OSU dominating, it’s all pretty close.

This data is great. Kind of a waste to only be posted on page 4 of a thread about MSU. Maybe you should start a new thread with it.
 
This data is great. Kind of a waste to only be posted on page 4 of a thread about MSU. Maybe you should start a new thread with it.
Good call. I’ll go back at it later today and get it right. As pointed out, the East can’t have won a different number than the West has lost. Once it’s right, I’ll post it as a new thread for discussion. If someone beats me to it, awesome.
 
Good call. I’ll go back at it later today and get it right. As pointed out, the East can’t have won a different number than the West has lost. Once it’s right, I’ll post it as a new thread for discussion. If someone beats me to it, awesome.

its definitely interesting because James Franklin has been bitching about being in the East and about the East being so much tougher, etc, etc.

but as you point out, when you take out tOSU, things are pretty even

one gripe that I do understand: we have not played tOSU since 2017 where the other 6 East teams have essentially an annual guaranteed loss since they play tOSU annually
 
its definitely interesting because James Franklin has been bitching about being in the East and about the East being so much tougher, etc, etc.

but as you point out, when you take out tOSU, things are pretty even

one gripe that I do understand: we have not played tOSU since 2017 where the other 6 East teams have essentially an annual guaranteed loss since they play tOSU annually
That’s definitely wonky and I hope they address it. Iowa has been pretty locked in with PSU, but more variety would be good.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Franisdaman
That’s a good question. I did the research by hand from 2018-2021 and clearly made a mistake somewhere.
Haha, I didn’t actually make a mistake, but Tom Dienhart did. I found a story he wrote that I used for the pre-2018 numbers and his don’t add up. Since 2018, the West is 36-40 and the East is 40-36, and that’s with OSU going 9-1 in that time. Dienhart’s numbers come out to 33-37 for the West and 39-31 for the East, which doesn’t work. Tonight I’ll go back and dig those up myself and start a new thread.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ichawk24
Didn't read the contract line by line. But...if it's truly fully guaranteed we've just found a worse negoiator than Gary Barta. Yeah, I know there are boo$ter$ funding this...but still. That's some shitty business practice.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LaQuintaHawkeye
Hard to say, but I'll say this. People who still think he's overpaid, given todays market, need to reassess their position.

Haven’t heard those types of comments for at least a few years.

I bet Kirk gets a 4-yr, $20M extension in January.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT