Big Ten Divisions

The division of the Big Ten for Football starting in 2011 was announced tonight on the Big Ten Network. However, it was broken first earlier today by ESPN. com's Andy Katz.
Katz reported earlier in the day that the divisions would consist as follows:

Division X: Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern and Minnesota.
Division O: Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana and Illinois.

The division were confirmed later on the Big Ten Network special. The Big Ten plans also included protected rivalries, which will give every school a protected rivalry game (between division X and division O) that will occur every year. Ohio State and Michigan, are one of the protected rivalries, which will allow the many trophy games between Big Ten schools to continue. It is important to remember that the Big Ten divisions apply only to football, and not every sport.

I think the biggest news revealed on the Big Ten Network specials was the fact that Ohio State and Michigan will meet (in their protected crossover), during the final week of the college football season, as they have traditionally met. Many believed that "The Game" would be moved to somewhere in the middle of the season, and were upset about the Big Ten breaking the tradition that Ohio State and Michigan would meet in the last week. The tradition was saved, which means it holds the possibility that Ohio State and Michigan could possibly play two games in a row if they win there individual divisions.

I think the Big Ten did a good job with the divisions. Its important to preserve tradition to a degree and I think through the protected rivalries, the Big Ten will save a majority of the trophies games (Little Brown Jug, Floyd of Rosdayle, etc.). The divisions are very even, in terms of both traditional powers and the up-and-comers in the league. As the Daily Herald's Lindsey Willhite points out the teams in the two divisions have the same combined record since 1993.

Also, I think its important to split the two biggest brands of the conference, Michigan and Ohio State, into separate divisions. Michigan probably will be successful, maybe not for the next few years, but will eventually re-emerge as a conference power. Since Michigan and Ohio State will play every year anyway, does it really matter if they are in different divisions? I could have done without "The Game" on the final weekend, you can't cater to the wishes of every single team, but overall the Big Ten made a clean split in making divisions. Most traditional rivalries were able to be saved. I was worried that the division split would dilute the Big Ten brand and destroy some of the traditions, but they really did a great job. Everything can't be saved, but overall, the brand and tradition of the Big Ten has been preserved.

As a Northwestern fan, I'm excited for Division X or whatever it will be called eventually. I think the division is really competitive and even. You can argue that Illinois, Indiana, and Purdue are among the there worst teams so 2011 and 2012 should set up pretty well for Ohio State. For each team, I think the season will be a little tougher, and it will force the lower teams to step up.

For the record, the divisions are unnamed for now, however, the Big Ten will not change its name despite the increasing number of teams.