What if Missouri had joined the Big Ten in 1996?

by Cairo on Dec 21, 2009 1:51 PM EST

Missouri SB Nation site Rock M Nation has an ongoing series playing the what-if game of Mizzou joining the Big Ten in 1996.

What If...Mizzou had joined the Big Ten? (1996-99)

What If...Mizzou had joined the Big Ten? (2000-02)

A fun exercise, but putting PSU in a division with Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue, and Indiana with a protected annual series against the Spartans would be immense. Rock M's figures PSU would be 7-0 against Missouri, with final results as shown:

1996, PSU goes 11-1, 2nd in the Big Ten South

1997, PSU goes 9-2, 2nd in the Big Ten South

1998, PSU goes 11-0, loses to O$U in the Championship game, beats UCLA in the Rose Bowl

1999, PSU goes 10-2, beats MSU in the Championship game, beats Stanford in the Rose Bowl

2000, PSU goes 6-6, 2nd in the Big Ten South

2001, PSU goes 6-5, 3rd in the Big Ten South, loses to Washington State in Sun Bowl

2002, PSU goes 11-1, 2nd in Big Ten South, loses to USC in the Orange Bowl

Two thoughts: 1) I would figuratively murder for these results to be true, and 2) I have a hard time believing the results when I look at the specifics. Kevin Thompson and Company putting PSU to an 11-0 record in 1998? Only if PSU had the weakest conference schedule in BCS history.

Anyway, it's a good read.

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Comments

I haven't read through it yet

but I don’t see us keeping MSU as our protected game, and see us probably having it against OSU instead (at the sake of the poor Land Grant rivalry…for shame), and so our record would be soured a little bit.

by The JuggerNitt on Dec 21, 2009 2:19 PM EST reply actions

No, it's rarely a close game

And when it is, it has no bearing on the conference title. Most, though not all, of our games against OSU usually decide at least part of the championship. I’d have to agree.

"Every player we have, someone-maybe a parent, a grandparent, someone-poured their soul into that young man. They are handing that young man off to us. They are giving us their treasure, and it's our job to make sure we give them back that young man intact and ready to face the world."

-J.V.Pa.

by psume06 on Dec 21, 2009 3:22 PM EST up reply actions

No way the conference would do that.

As far as the b10 is concerned, our rival is MSU. They would definitely not give us a protected game against aOSU, because it would be like admitting OMFG THE GAME is not as significant.

by PSUinBOSSton on Dec 21, 2009 8:32 PM EST up reply actions

Ummmm

PSU has a protected game against OSU right now.

by Wlvrn99 on Dec 22, 2009 10:27 AM EST up reply actions

Correctamundo...

right now everyone in the league has two “protected” games.

One man doing the work of 100's for the good of 1000's

by rahpsu92 on Dec 22, 2009 12:29 PM EST up reply actions

The only thing worse than a Michigan fan

is a Michigan fan that says logical, coherent and factually correct things that I can’t disagree with, let alone hate.

by jimbo2psu on Dec 22, 2009 3:17 PM EST up reply actions

Hey now

I’m proud of the sparse few wins against UM and OSU between those years. Where would we be w/out Mills’ courageous comeback to seal Joe’s all time wins record against Ohio State? How about 2005’s Ohio State home game which is now the gold standard for home games at Penn State? That game re-branded Penn State football in one night.

"We hugged as grown men do. It was a great moment. Then, it was business as usual." -- LJ Sr.

by millzners on Dec 21, 2009 2:21 PM EST reply actions

Here are the 1998 conference results...projected and real...

Illinois: W, 27-0
Purdue: W, 31-13
Michigan State: W, 51-28
at Northwestern: W, 38-14
Minnesota: 31-14

Projected…
at Indiana: W by 22.2
at Iowa: W by 28.1 (Iowa was wretched that season)
at Mizzou: W by 0.6

So yeah…perfect timing for a perfectly easy schedule. Not saying it would or wouldn’t have happened in real life, but between this and the fact that Purdue’s and Wisconsin’s Rose Bowl runs all fall apart because of harder schedules in my alternate reality, it really is impressive how key (and random) scheduling is…

Rock M Nation
Thrust nunchuk upward!

by Bill C. on Dec 21, 2009 3:53 PM EST reply actions

So no Michigan, Ohio State, or Wisconsin for PSU?

I can hear Mark May whining from an alternate dimension.

by Cairo on Dec 21, 2009 5:45 PM EST up reply actions

i prefer

the alternate dimension where Mark May never got a scholarship at Pitt, got a media studies degree at a community college, and is a manager at a Denny’s in the midwest.

and the awesome thing is, according to the Many Worlds Interpretation, that eventuality exists somewhere…

Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!

by thedrizzle on Dec 21, 2009 8:32 PM EST up reply actions