Big 10 Announces Divisional Alignment

The Big 10 (which will have 12 teams starting in 2011-12) announced its divisional system for football. According to the official statement, "Each school will play the other five schools within its division and will also face three teams from the other division, including one cross-division matchup guaranteed on an annual basis. The guaranteed cross-division matchups are Illinois-Northwestern, Indiana-Michigan State, Ohio State-Michigan, Penn State-Nebraska, Purdue-Iowa and Wisconsin-Minnesota. Names for each Big Ten football division will be announced at a later date." I made the following graphic to illustrate the divisional memberships and permanent cross-divisional rivalries.

One potential drawback to the plan, in my view, is that traditional rivals Michigan and Ohio State could end up playing two games in a row some years, the regular-season finale and the conference championship game. Theoretically, Michigan and OSU could each clinch a spot in the championship game before their regular-season meeting, thus leading to the perception -- if not the reality -- that the teams would hold something back in the first match-up, to maximize their chances in the second game.