How the BIG 10 can become a relevant conference

The Big 10 is a conference loaded with college football tradition. Teams like Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State garner images of past greatness.

But recently, the conference has become the whipping boy of the power conferences known as the Big 12 and SEC. Now, computers and people have realized that maybe the BIG 10 can't hang with these guys.

Well, there is a way for the Big 10 (11) to remain relevant, competitive, and be considered for a National Title berth every season. They have to add a 12th team and instill a conference title game.
There are a few teams that the Big 10 could recruit; Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Connecticut, almost any team from the Mid-American Conference (MAC), Navy, Army, or Notre Dame.

All the teams mentioned are geographically relevant, and teams like Navy and Army bring tradition, and Notre Dame brings its Big 10 rivalries. Pitt reminds me of a Big 10 team, heavy on the run, hold the pass, while a team like Syracuse, UConn, and the MAC teams bring the new wave offense, the spread.

Let's just say for the sake of argument that the Big 1o raids the Big East of Pitt and makes the Big 10 a 12 team conference. How would they split the divisions?

The best way is to do it geographically--Big 12 implores a 'north vs south' model, and the SEC uses a 'east vs west.'

Here is one idea:
East
Indiana
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Pitt.

West
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin


If you want, replace Pitt with Notre Dame, Army, Navy.

For the title game, I'd choose a central location in the area, probably Indianapolis.

The Big 10 needs to do something, or else it will continue to be the team that gets beat in the National Title game by the faster teams from the SEC, and we can assume the Big 12 would do the same.