I recently polled several readers regarding the upcoming Big Ten football season. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed in the turnout. I had to ‘twist a lot of arms’ and stroke a few egos for people to offer their opinion on things. So please..I would love your feedback on the survey itself and I would love to have some good old college football debate. I will show you the questions…give the results and share some of the best responses….
Question #1: Did you like the first year of the divisional setup?…
70% of the people polled liked the new format..
A few folks don’t like title games and feel that each team should play all the teams in the conference to produce a TRUE champion…
Question #2: Do you like the addition of Nebraska?…
This was the only unanimous response…everyone loves the Corn being added.
Question #3: If you could add any other two teams to the Big Ten, who would they be?
Most people (80%) said Notre Dame
The 2nd place team would be Pittsburgh
3rd would be a tie with Missouri, Virginia and Maryland
Others mentioned were Cincinnati, West Virginia, Rutgers and Texas.
Question #4: Do you like the division names of the Big Ten?…what would you change them to and would you change the alignment?
About half the people like the current names…
Most people who don’t like them suggested that directional names would be better…
Other names that were suggested were Dogs & Cats, Apples and Oranges or Cryps & Bloods
Question #5: looking at the schedules, what three games are you most looking forward to?
The three games that most people are anticipating are Michigan vs Alabama, Michigan vs East Lansing, and Michigan vs Ohio State…
Almost twice as many people are fired up to see Boise vs ELU than Michigan vs Notre Dame…
Less than 10% of those polled mentioned Michigan at Notre Dame…
Question #6: Who will win the Leaders Division?
70% said Wisconsin will win the leaders…
The others said OSU…you could really tell this survey was taken 5 months before the season..
Question #7: Who will win the Legends Division?
70% say Michigan will win the Legends
20% say ELU will win the Legends
10% say Nebraska will win the Legends
Question #8: Who will win the Big Ten title game in 2012?
Just over half the people selected Michigan to win the Big Ten in 2012
Just over 20% of those polled picked ELU to win the Big Ten
Wisconsin and Nebraska were also selected…
Question #9: Who are the top 5 players in the Big Ten?
In order of number of votes collected….
1.Denard Robinson
2. Montee Ball
3. William Gholston
4. Taylor Lewan
5. Braxton Miller
Robinson won by a single vote…
Question #10: who is the MVP of the Big Ten?
Just over half those polled said Denard Robinson is the MVP…
Montee Ball was second with 34%
Braxton Miller also received votes..
Question #11: Who is the best coach in the Big Ten?
Brady Hoke tied with Urban Meyer for the best coach…
Mark Dantonio was 3rd
Bret Bielema and Greg Mattison also received votes…
Question #12: who has the toughest schedule in the Big Ten….easiest?
The overwhelming toughest schedule belongs to Michigan…
The Easiest belongs to two traditional soft schedulers…Wisconsin and Iowa
The Badgers doubled the number of votes Iowa had..
Question #13: Who are some darkhorses and pretenders in each divison…
Legends Divison Darkhorse is Northwestern…very easy early schedule
Legends Divison Pretender is Nebraska…another 9 win season & beating no one significant
Leaders Division Darkhorse is a tie between Purdue and Indiana…
Leaders Division Pretender is Purdue…
Question #14: Are you in favor of the proposed 4 team playoff that will begin in 2014?
Most people like a playoff, but over half of those polled said it should be more than 4 teams…
About 30% of those polled said playoff or not, the regular season needs to remain relevant…
Question #15: Should a non-conference winner be allowed to play for the NCAA title?
Almost everyone polled said no…last year was the exception.
So there it is….Next month starts the Big Ten Preview…it will be broken down into two segments….the July segment and the August segment…clever huh?
About Chad Godfrey
I’ve seen the van. It’s pretty nice, but it could use a paint job.