******** if it is not, the moment that UN left the big 12, they were never going to be given an easy schedule in the Big 10. Look at their schedules the first 4 years, lots of OSU, Mich, Penn. St and MSU, and few games against the weaker teams in the conference.
The Big 10 would look weak if a new team came in and won the title, and they were going to make sure that it did not.
They play in the Big 10 West, they HAVE an easy schedule.
NU was most successful right after the move, reaching the title game in Year 2. It’s been nearly nearly a decade since they left, this has nothing to do with being the new team. Wisconsin plays Michigan, and next OSU, as cross-division rivals. Is the conference trying to keep them from the title game?
If NU was as well positioned in the Big 12 as you say, they would not have left. They left because they needed to. They aren’t a OU, UT, OSU, Michigan, so a conference affiliation that better subsidizes their decaying brand was important. You don’t see true big dogs moving, you see programs that aren’t content with their place moving. Hoping a bigger payday will change things, while leeching off others in the conference.
Further, one reason the Big 10 was generally more stable, and able to create wealth from a conference network, was because the caste system is much less in that conference.
