Big Ten Conference splits teams into two divisions
The Big Ten's athletic directors studied a slew of factors to determine how to split its 12 football teams into divisions.
National championships. League titles. Sagarin ratings. BCS numbers.
Yet when the Big Ten Network unveiled the conference's new alignment Wednesday night, one of the game's most basic factors seemed to reign supreme.
Winning percentage.
Illinois and its divisional compatriots - Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin - won 57.9886 percent of their games from 1993-2009.
Northwestern and its divisional compatriots - Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota and Nebraska - won 57.9855 percent of their games during the 17-season stretch the Big Ten considers as its modern (and divisionally relevant) era.
What, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and his cronies couldn't find time to make things more balanced?
"No. 1 was competitive equality," Delany said of the league's guiding factors. "We wanted each player, each coach, each fan base and the media to look at these divisions and say, 'Hey, they're equal. They're equally tough.' "
Starting next year, when Nebraska joins the Big Ten, each team will play an eight-team league schedule.
They'll face all of their divisional rivals as well as one "protected" out-of-division school every year. The other two opponents will rotate every two years.
The protected rivalries include Michigan-Ohio State, which will continue to play at the end of the regular season, as well as Illinois-Northwestern.
None of the divisional business carries over to men's basketball or any other sport.
"I'm excited that we can maintain our Land of Lincoln Trophy game against the Fighting Illini," said Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. "That's a tradition that I think both schools really look forward to."
Penn State and Nebraska will play a crossover every year, as will Wisconsin/Minnesota, Indiana/Michigan State and Purdue/Iowa.
Delany hopes to have a nine-game conference schedule in place by 2015.
Looking at the shorter term, Delany believes the league will have names for its divisions as well as a new conference logo within 90 days.
When the Big Ten wraps up those loose ends, it will revisit the expansion plans that were put on "pause" after adding Nebraska in June.
"Come December, we'll have a discussion," Delany said. "We'll figure out, 'Is this a pause or is this a period?' "
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