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Source: The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IowaJuly 19--The Big Ten probably won't fill Chicago's air with eye-raising sound bytes at its football media days this week.存倉Name a Big Ten coach as likely to stir the pot the way South Carolina's Steve Spurrier did last week at the SEC's football media days when he said football and basketball players should get stipends, and Notre Dame needs to go all-in and join a football conference.And how about Florida Coach Will Muschamp saying this about Ohio State turning the Gators in to the NCAA for an alleged minor recruiting violation:"The University of Florida didn't do anything wrong. And so we appreciated our friends from Ohio making sure we're compliant with NCAA rules."They certainly know a little bit about that subject."I'll predict Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer's response to that is either a grunt, a no-comment, or a grunting no-comment.Nonetheless, the Big Ten has been mega-interesting in the year since its football coaches gathered in Chitown a year ago. Changes were made. Let's grade them.1. Maryland and Rutgers are added to the conference. Grade: CLook, we know why the Big Ten annexed the New York-New Jersey and Maryland-Washington, D.C. markets. OK, "annexed" is overselling it. "Seeped into" is more like it.You have your own TV network, you want it on TV sets. They have lots of those up and down the Eastern Seaboard.But there's no wow factor. You've never made an extra effort to get home in time to watch the Scarlet Knights or Terrapins play football on television. Not that many people in New Jersey or Maryland do.Plus, Rutgers did nothing to cover itself with glory with its men's basketball and athletic director situations over the last few months.2. The league announced it will drop the Legends and Leaders division names after 2013, and go to East and West. Grade: A.Everyone is entitled to make mistakes. No one is entitled to knowingly continue to make a mistake.The Big Ten fixed this error. Good for it.3. The divisions truly will be East and West. Grade: A.The Big Ten should have separated its divisions geographically from the get-go instead of saying the four top-tier programs were Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State and Penn State, and making sure two of the four w自存倉re in each division."Top-tier" changes. The only team in the league not to have a losing season in the last 10 years is Wisconsin.But more importantly, was it sensible for Iowa and Wisconsin, Minnesota and Wisconsin, Illinois and Northwestern, and Michigan and Ohio State to be in opposite divisions? No.The additions of two Eastern schools made the need for an East division greater, of course, but this was still fixing an error.4. The Big Ten changed its bowl affiliations, effective in 2014. Grade: A-minus.The conference has entered new agreements with the Holiday Bowl, Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, Pinstripe Bowl, and Orange Bowl. The latter is for at least three guaranteed appearances over the 12 years after the 2014 season.The other bowls are lesser bowls, but they're in San Diego, San Francisco and New York. As destinations, that beats Jacksonville, Detroit and Tempe. Although, the south Bronx has been known to be a bit chilly in late December.My only qualm is the league casting aside Detroit's Little Caesars Pizza Bowl next year in favor of a new Detroit bowl that will be owned by the Detroit Lions.Tuesday, the Big Ten announced a 6-year bowl partnership with the Lions. Thursday, Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. Coincidence?If the Lions manage a bowl they way they assemble powerhouse football teams, the Big Ten representative will play the fifth-place team from the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.Do we really want to see Purdue play Kalamazoo, even if it rolls off the tongue?5. The Big Ten will play 9-game conference schedules, starting in 2016. Grade: A.No scheduling plan is perfect, and the league will never play a 10-game league schedule. So having five road games and four home games in the league every other year isn't great, but it's what they do in the Big 12 and Pac-12.Better to play nine league games than eight, period. The SEC' will eventually go to nine once the SEC Network is off and running.When you're in the TV business, you quickly realize ratings are more important than having more bowl-eligible teams.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Visit The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) at thegazette.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉新蒲崗