The World-Herald's Dirk Chatelain breaks down the conference divide and how it works out for Nebraska and Iowa, as well as some pros and cons of the Big Ten divisions.
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• Updated: Big Ten football schedules
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GOOD NEWS FOR NEBRASKA
The Huskers couldn't have asked for much more. An annual showdown with neighbor Iowa on the season's last Saturday. Yearly matchups with Michigan and Penn State, two teams NU has bickered with over national titles. Even the pretenders provide pizazz. Going to Northwestern means vacationing in Chicago. Playing at Minnesota means visiting the Twin Cities. Those places are fertile recruiting ground. One more perk: Nebraska avoids yearly battles with the league's pre-eminent program, Ohio State.
BAD NEWS FOR NEBRASKA
No complaints on divisional alignment. The 2011-12 schedules, on the other hand, border on cruel and unusual punishment. Nebraska could've drawn any of 10 different combinations for interdivisional games. It got the toughest: Ohio State and Wisconsin. So in order to navigate the league undefeated, Nebraska must beat Iowa, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, Wisconsin — and win the Big Ten title game. So much for welcoming the Big Ten newcomer.
GOOD NEWS FOR IOWA
From a competitive standpoint, Iowa gets an advantage against its division peers. Why? Each Big Ten team receives an annual diet of five divisional foes and one crossover rival from the other division. Michigan's crossover rival is Ohio State. Nebraska's crossover rival is Penn State. But Iowa gets Purdue, an inferior program. That should be an edge against the Huskers and Wolverines in the race for a division crown.
BAD NEWS FOR IOWA
The Big Ten did a respectable job of preserving its best rivalries, but Iowa has a legitimate gripe. The Hawkeyes drop their annual clash with Wisconsin — the two have met 71 of the past 73 years. Iowa also loses Penn State, with whom the Hawkeyes have had some memorable tussles. Iowa did hold on to its annual rivalry with Minnesota — and it should gain another with Nebraska.
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Big Ten divisions: 3 compliments, 3 complaints
THREE COMPLIMENTS
• Competitive Balance: Commissioner Jim Delany nailed his top priority. Nebraska and Ohio State boast the best traditional records of any Big Ten programs. They deserve to be separated. Michigan and Penn State reside on the next tier. Then Iowa and Wisconsin. Then Michigan State and Purdue. Each division has one team from each tier. Bravo.
• Rivalry Preservation: No conference appreciates tradition like the Big Ten. And the league didn't mess with its best annual duels and trophy games. Even rivalries that don't mean squat on the national landscape (Illinois-Northwestern, Purdue-Indiana, Wisconsin-Minnesota) were protected. The biggest rivalry to bite the dust was Iowa-Wisconsin.
• Ohio State-Michigan: The good news is they haven't left their annual time slot. The bad news is they might be adding another time slot — the following week in the Big Ten title game. That's potentially unfair to the regular-season winner. At least the league prioritized its most important tradition: Ohio State-Michigan on the final Saturday of the season.
THREE COMPLAINTS
• Unequal Crossover Rivals: The Big Ten put a lot of stock in equal divisions. But the crossovers are far from equal. Look at Nebraska and Iowa, for example. The Huskers face Penn State every year. Iowa gets Purdue. Same for the other division. Ohio State tangles with Michigan every year. Wisconsin sees Minnesota. Those differences could decide a division crown.
• A Geographic Mess: By September 2011, Big Ten fans will know the divisions by heart. But what if you're not a Midwesterner? What if you don't religiously follow the league? The Big Ten loses cache when casual fans have to consult the Internet every time they want to know the divisions. A simple east-west split would've been much easier to remember.
• Wisconsin: Ouch! The Badgers clearly suffered the most from change. They don't get the rivalry with Nebraska they wanted. They lose rival Iowa from the annual slate. And Northwestern, just 144 miles from Madison, is also gone from the schedule. The final blow is getting assigned to Ohio State's division. Wisconsin has dropped three straight to the Buckeyes.
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• Live Chat: The World-Herald's Dirk Chatelain logs on at 10 a.m. Thursday to answer questions about the Big Ten divisions, conference schedules and more. Also, join the discussion on the Big Red Today forums.
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• Video: Watch this week's Big Red Today show for the latest Husker news:
• Video: Big Ten to create two six-team divisions:
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