Drawing The Lines: 2011 Big Ten Divisions

With rumors swirling and a decision looming closer from the Big Ten offices, it’s time to take a look at how the new 12 team league will be divided once the expansion dust settles.


Until recently, I thought there was absolutely no chance that Michigan and Ohio State would be placed in separate divisions.  However, after hearing both Dave Brandon and Jim Tressel recently say they would be okay with playing earlier in the season in a cross-over game, I’m beginning to think that the tide has shifted towards the two teams being placed in separate divisions.  Placing the two teams in separate divisions all but guarantees that the rivalry will move away from the last weekend of the season so as to avoid any potential back-to-back rematch possibilities.  Personally, I think playing “The Game” any weekend but the last weekend of the season is an absolute outrage.  Brandon is a guy that played in this game for four years under Bo, so I have to think he would not be supporting this setup unless a decision has already been made.  Some of the best moments and biggest games in college football history have come on those dreary gray November afternoons.  From the ten year war between Bo and Woody to the Woodson/Howard punt returns for touchdowns, both sides have seen their share of highs and lows over the course of the rivalry. 

Unfortunately, my opinion means nothing to the Big Ten conference so lets take a look at what I think they are going to actually try and do to divide the league into two 6-team divisions.

For starters, I am going to base my divisional setup on one overarching factor: competitive balance.  Doing anything based on straight geography would lead to an utter disaster (see the Big 12 South vs. North of the past decade).  The way I envision the 2011 Big Ten, there will be four traditional college football superpowers that are part of the conference:

Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska, and Penn State.

I assume that the Big Ten will do whatever they can to put two of these teams as the headliners in each division in order to maximize the chances of pitting some combination of these programs against each other in the Big Ten Title game.  The cash windfall from such a conference title game is the primary reason that the league even made the move to twelve teams to begin with.  The next two teams that have proven that they are legitimate threats and capable of winning the conference are Wisconsin and Iowa.  Thus, Wisconsin and Iowa will need to be split into separate divisions.  Following Wisconsin and Iowa I see four teams that have an outside shot at fielding a contending team once every four years or so: Michigan State, Purdue, Northwestern, and Minnesota.  Last, and most certainly least, we have the two teams that are going to be terrible no matter what they do going forward: Illinois and Indiana.

I think that with the new-found success of the Ohio State/Penn State “rivalry” that we've seen the last few seasons, the Big Ten will make those two teams the headliners atop one of the divisions.  This will leave Michigan and Nebraska, which will quickly become one of the top new rivalries in the Big 10, to lead the other division.

In my opinion, Wisconsin will join the Michigan and Nebraska division to please Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez with his wish for a rivalry game with the Cornhuskers.  Accordingly, Iowa will be placed in the same division as Penn State and Ohio State.

To preserve certain rivalries and try to maintain competitive balance, you will see Michigan State and Minnesota placed in the Michigan/Nebraska division and Northwestern and Purdue being placed in the Ohio State/Penn State division. 

This leaves Illinois and Indiana as the last teams in the corner waiting to get picked. Personally, I really don’t think it matters where either team ends up since they are virtual locks not to impact the standings.  Can we please just replace them with Notre Dame and Mizzou?? Of course we can't for now so lets throw Indiana in the Michigan/Nebraska division and Illinois in the Ohio State/Penn State division so they can keep their Purdue rivalry in tact.

We end up with:

Division 1:  Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Minnesota, Indiana

Division 2: Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois

The balance between these two divisions would be very good most seasons and it would potentially leave the Big Ten with a marquee title game each December.  The new Big Ten will create plenty of match-ups that fans will be eager to see each and every fall. 

If this is ultimately how it shakes out, I don't know that this is at all a good thing for Michigan.  I hate this setup because with one of Michigan’s cross-over games guaranteed to always be Ohio State, Michigan is also guaranteed to have one of the toughest schedules in the conference every season. Unfortunately for Michigan, this move happened when they have the smallest amount of clout than at any point in the last four decades.