Sources of ESPN say these are the Big ten Divisions

I don't think the division is balanced at all but thats just me. Having Illinois and Indiana with Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Penn State is laughable.

 
I like it. I'm guessing PSU will be our cross-over rival. I hope our last regular season game will be either Iowa or Michigan.

 
Manhattan said:
:facepalm:

They say The Game will still be at the end of the season, which is a good compromise, but I cannot fathom the possibility of playing M*ch*gan twice a year. It is like the one thing that Ohio State and M*ch*gan fans wanted. Don't mess with the best rivalry in college sports. Keep it on the third Saturday of November and make sure it is once a year. That is what makes it so special. It's like a religious event in the region.

The divisions are good competitively, but the split is really bad.
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Don't worry, Manhattan. Bo Pelini will make sure Michigan and Ohio State only happens once a year. ;)

 
Multiple sources told ESPN.com that the two divisions in the Big Ten will look like:
• Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern and Minnesota.

• And Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana and Illinois.
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If this comes to fruition, I gotta say I'm impressed with the balance of these divisions. I think we're gonna have fantastic rivalries with both Iowa and Michigan. MSU is one of those teams you just never know how they're gonna play (great one week and terrible the next). NW and MN are gonna be the weaker teams IMO, but then again they've proven to be pretty pesky in recent years. Overall, I like it...a lot.

Compare our could-be division to the Big 12 North, and I think it's clear we're moving into a stronger, more consistent league. Here's how I'd compare the teams at this point:

Iowa > any other Big 12 north team, excluding NU of course

Michigan = Mizzou and > than other north teams

MSU < Mizzou, = KSU, > than the rest

NWU < Mizzou and KSU, > than the rest

MINN < Mizzou, KSU, = CU and KU, > ISU

 
I think the split is fine. Geography is a little weird, but that'll work. The problem with striking balance is that who knows what this league will look like in twenty years. You do the best you can with what's in front of you, but nobody knows what's going to happen in the distant future.

 
We'll get to play two of the top schools in the History of College Football and in the Big 10 every other 2 years in Ohio State and Michigan every year since they're in our division. I'm ok with this but I hope that we play one at home and the other on the road which I'm sure thats the case.

 
Husker_x said:
I think the split is fine. Geography is a little weird, but that'll work. The problem with striking balance is that who knows what this league will look like in twenty years. You do the best you can with what's in front of you, but nobody knows what's going to happen in the distant future.
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Which is why it should have been done geographically.

 
typ3kal said:
I am glad we got lopped with Iowa over Wisconsin..

I know a lot of Hawkeye fans don't want to hear it, but I think Wisconsin would have been a tougher opponent year in and year out.

I see Iowa being competitive for years to come, but there will be a draining of the swamp so to speak in the next decade with their program.. I see a lot of would be Iowa and Minnesota recruits going to Nebraska.
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I would have liked to see Wisconsin in our division, but getting to play Iowa every year will be awesome.

I guess there goes Alvarez's idea of a Nebraska-Wisconsin Thanksgiving weekend game...

 
Rittenberg Post

Apparently, protected crossovers include Michigan-Ohio State, Wisconsin-Minnesota, and Illinois-Northwestern.

This leads me to believe our crossover will be Penn State.

 
I think factoring in recent competitiveness is shortsighted.

Keep it geographical; it will sort itself out.

 
I like it. And on the cross-over games, I think there will ultimately be two (when we go to a 9 game conference schedule in 2015 but they could potentially start next year). My guess is our cross-over games will end up being PSU and WI. Looking at the rankings (AP) this year, we would definitely play #9 IA, #12 WI, #19 PSU, and then potentially #2 OSU in the conference championship. MUCH TOUGHER than, #5 TX, twice or them and #7 OU if we go to the CCG. If only one cross-over, I'm expecting WI, with PSU's cross-over being MSU (a somewhat manufactured rivalry) due partially to geography and partially because if I was a WI fan, I'd much rather play NE than either IA or MN.

 
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