http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/reco...by=Win+Pct
When Jim Delany is asked about the power of the East division compared to the West he often brings up how the SEC East was once dominant then things turned to the West. While that is indisputable I don't think that comparison is Apples to Apples. What do I mean... Looking at traditional powers (winning record since 1945 aka the common era link above) shows why that logic is a little bit of a stretch IMO. To elaborate further lets pull out the win% rankings for the SEC and B1G since 1945.
B1G
#3 Ohio State
#4 Penn State
#6 Michigan
#9 Nebraska
#27 Sparty
#37 Wisconsin
#55 Iowa
#56 Maryland
#59 Rutgers
#72 Purdue
#79 Minnesota
#89 Illinois
#102 Northwestern
#104 Indiana
SEC
#5 Alabama
#12 Georgia
#13 Tennessee
#14 LSU
#15 Florida
#17 Auburn
#21 Arkansas
#29 Ole Miss
#39 Texas A&M
#49 Mizzou
#61 South Carolina
#86 Mississippi State
#87 Kentucky
#109 Vanderbilt
Now you may or may not agree with me but I think win % is the common era is a good proxy for prestige of the program. Top 20 means you have a solid program and probably a National title in the common era. Notice apart from The SEC having a much higher average the balance of teams from the East and the West that fill the top 20. I would argue that the SEC West by virtue of a much higher average has more tradition than the SEC East. Also notice that apart from Nebraska, Wisconsin is the only other team that cracked the top 50 in the B1G West. There is a long and enduring dominance Eastward in the B1G. Most of the population, talent, tradition, and Administrative support resides in the East. And has for a long time.
What I propose as new Divisional Alignment would not erase this tilt but slightly reduce it. B1G East...........B1G West
-----------------------------------
Rutgers.............Sparty
Maryland...........Purdue
Penn State.........Northwestern
Ohio State..........Wisconsin
Michigan............Minnesota
Indiana...............Iowa
Illinois.................Nebraska
Logic behind this shift. There are 4 obvious East and 4 obvious West teams leaving us with the 3 states that have 2 schools per state (obviously they would be locked annual games)
Northwestern goes West because the Western Division needs to recruit the hell out of Chicago and Northwestern is recently though not historically a better program.
Purdue goes West because they are Historically a better program.
Sparty Goes West because they are a team that has made the B1G CCG and consistently had success against all opponents in the Conference. SPARTY COULD BECOME A MONSTER OF A PROGRAMS WITH THIS ALIGNMENT.
Illinois and Indiana goes East as programs with potential that could legitimately contend for 3rd or 4th place in the division along with Maryland and Rutgers.
Michigan goes East because there are big TV dollars playing PSU and OSU annually for division supremacy along with massive alumni in the NYC to DC that would probably want them to continue coming to College Park and Piscataway.