Big Ten Division Announcements Tonight
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany is announcing the Big Ten Division alignment tonight on the Big Ten Network. There have been various reports of how the divisions will line up, but ESPN has laid it out like this:
- Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern and Minnesota
- Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana and Illinois
Tom Osborne is slated to appear on the Big Ten Network as well. The Division special runs at 7 Eastern/6 Central and streamed live on BigTenNetwork.com.
Springfield, MO
9/1/2010
I like the leauges set up but I’m still not sure how the crossover games would work. How would Nebraska’s crossover game be PSU?
If so then I love it.
GBR
9/1/2010
Why would NU automatically get PSU as it’s permanent cross-division game?
Why would weaker teams get an extra weak team on their schedule?
Ohio State will apparently get a weak team, why shouldn’t NU?
9/1/2010
You know that Ohio State and Michigan have to be matched up in a crossover game. You’d expect Illinois and Northwestern to be as well. The ESPN story mentions Wisconsin to keep its game with Minnesota. That leaves Nebraska, Iowa, and Michigan State to match up with Purdue, Indiana, and Penn State.
Nebraska matching with Penn State seems the most logical based on the “competitive balance” argument. But it should be noted, that Michigan State has been Penn State’s “designated rival” up to now for purposes of scheduling. That is the two schools have played each other every year as the last game of the season. Penn St. holds a 12-4 advantage against the Spartans in Big Ten play, and has usually won easily. So you could see the game being retained, but I doubt either school would cry if they didn’t.
There’s virtually nothing linking Nebraska to Purdue or Indiana, so it’s hard to see Nebraska matching up with them unless Nebraska was simply the last to pick. Iowa would get a cushy pick with either Purdue or Indiana then, as would Michigan State. Michigan State and Indiana would make good basketball rivals, but you don’t expect the crossover rule to necessarily apply to basketball.
That would mean every year Nebraska would play Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State, Northwestern, and Minnesota. And three of the five that remain (Ohio State, Wisconsin, Indiana, Purdue, and Illinois). It’s fair to call that tougher than the typical Big 12 schedule the Huskers faced.
Kansas City, MO
9/1/2010
I guess one important thing to note is that the schedules will probably not be announced tonight. But if there is a “designated rival” indicated too, we’ll know six of eight schools on the schedule for the next few years. It can only be assumed the others will be rotated in some kind of yearly basis. For now, the talk all points to eight games in 2011 through around 2015. It’s all going to be re-evaluated in a few years anyway. Oh, did anyone else hit the BTN link and try to assign significance to the order of football helmets sitting on the table?
9/1/2010
Yes, Tom. I also found the helmet arrangement in that picture very…curious. The way those are set up had a certain amount of competitive balance, don’t ya think?
KC, MO
9/1/2010
I just don’t understand why they can’t go with the geographical alignment. Then you really don’t need a crossover game because you have mich/osu, mich/msu, ind/pur, neb/iowa, iowa/minn, wisc/minn, ill/nw all together. Sure there are a few that will be broken up, but some are going to no matter what. And you can’t just count on the current “good” teams always being the good teams. Some years it will be unbalanced, so just do something that makes sense still when you look back on it in 15 years.
Or maybe the Big 10 can just re-align divisions every 5 years.
9/1/2010
I noticed that thing with the helmets too. I think I would like the divisions lined up like that.. we get Iowa and Ohio State. I’m not good with the whole ‘rivals’ thing. I wouldn’t know if any of the rivalries would be kept or broken up.
9/1/2010
Season Finale vs. Iowa.
With no ill will towards Big XII, 2011 can’t get here soon enough.
GBR!
Bob
9/1/2010
Welcome to the Big 10. Nebraska gets the top half of the conference on their schedule in 2011.
This ain’t the Big 12 North.
9/1/2010
Baptism by fire, i guess.
I notice that nobody else has to play ALL of the top teams in one year except NU. Time to strap on the big one, fellas.
Can’t wait to go to games at the Big House and The Horseshoe with my in-laws now. Should be fun.
9/1/2010
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE move the Iowa games to the Fridays after Thanksgiving!!!
omaha
9/6/2010
It seems there already is a strong rivalry between the Nebraska fans and Iowa fans, especially here in Omaha. I think there will be some great games between the two. They both have great programs (current and historically) let’s just keep it classy. It’s gonna be great football!