Tag: sports

Big Ten Division Names

Comments

The newly expanded Big Ten Conference recently had a major flub by calling the names of the new football divisions the “Leaders” and “Legends” division. Commisioner Jim Delaney announced after a few days that they would reconsider because of absolutely terrible approval ratings from fans (under 10%).

Well, I have the perfect name for the divisions. There is no arguing about this, I have the answer that no one can possibly be opposed to, no one will think is lame, and will give us a catharsis.

Patrick DivisionNorris Division
IllinoisIowa
IndianaMichigan
Ohio StateMichigan State
Penn StateMinnesota
PurdueNebraska
WisconsinNorthwestern

Who can possibly say no to that. Everyone rued the day when NHL Commissioner Gary Bettape decided to get rid of the old hockey division names in favor of bland geographical name, but now the Big Ten can carry on the legacy.

It also covers the most likely geographic areas for future expansion (New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and, alas, Missouri).

Main disadvantage is some teams (Illinois most probably) might be upset about no being in the Patrick division. But tough, Northwestern’s closer to Chicago. Minnesota and Michigan are both in the Norris. Penn State is in the Patrick. Other states didn’t have a hockey teams so it doesn’t matter as much which division they’re in.

There’s the minor issue that Big Ten doesn’t sponsor hockey (yet), but the division names are really a cultural thing.

So there you have it. I dare anyone to argue that this isn’t the best division names possible. Go ahead.

Update: With the addition of Maryland and Rutgers, Illinois can move over to the Norris Division, while Maryland and Rutgers can join the Patrick division.

Medium risk fourth down play

Comments

One of the things about football that I always thought could be improved upon was the limited options for fourth down.

If it’s fourth down, and you are too far away to kick a field goal, there are only two options:

  1. Low risk: punt
  2. High risk: attempt to convert

Problem is, there’s a big gap between the options. Roughly speaking, a punt will give your opponent the ball around 40 yards downfield but you give up the possibility of a conversion (not counting turnovers). Going for it on (say) a 4th and 3 is going to be converted about 50% of the time, but if you fail to convert the opponent gets the ball right there.

Right now, head coaches go for the low-risk option (punt) probably 95% of the time on fourth down. That’s pretty boring. Having a medium-risk option might encourage coaches to take more risks on fourth down, leading to much more excitement. For instance, say it’s 4th and 5 on the 50. Most coaches will punt in this situation. But what if there was an medium risk option? You have a 25% chance of converting, but if you don’t the opponent gets the ball maybe 20 yards downfield, on their 30. I think some coaches might try that in that situation.

But what would such a medium-risk play look like?

When I asked this question in rec.sport.football.college, I got an interesting suggestion in this thread: the person who receives the snap could roll out and bat the ball downfield with something like a volleyball serve, and it would be played more or a less like a fumble. I think there would have to be some limits on when a team could recover a batted ball (the ball should not peak higher than ten feet above the field, and would it have to hit the ground first).

The following table summarizes the risk tradeoff for these three options.

OptionRisk LevelTypical Conversion RateWhere opponent gets the ball if conversion fails
PuntLow0%40 yards downfield
Go for itHigh50%Right there
BatMedium25%20 yards downfield

Anyway, I’m not sure there wouldn’t be drawbacks to this sort of volleyball bat play (like maybe too much risk of opponent returning the bat, or too much injury risk), but a play that could add a medium-risk option to fourth down I think would really add to the excitement of the game.

Frontier Theme