Big Ten Reveals Divisions, Protects Michigan-Ohio State Rivalry

At the beginning of a one-hour football special on the Big Ten Network, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany revealed the two divisions that will begin play when Nebraska joins the conference for the 2011 season.

They are as follows:

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

Now, the obvious reaction to seeing those two divisions is that the conference's biggest and most national rivalry is the Michigan-Ohio State football game. Those two teams will be playing each other every single season in a protected crossover rivalry game. Of course, the real question now is: when will that game be played?

The last game of the season, just as they have since 1935.

"We looked at different places (on the calendar), we never did look at an October date, contrary to a lot of reports," Delany said on the Big Ten Network. "We looked at a mid-November date and we looked at a final season date. And basically we decided to go with a final season date because we felt that, in part, that was a way to maintain the tradition."

John Walters: Big Ten Gets It (Mostly) Right
Basketball Spin: Possible Cakewalk for Michigan State

Delany then mentioned the trophy games in the conference and specifically noted the Indiana-Purdue rivalry (Old Oaken Bucket) game will also be played at the end of the regular season.

When asked about the possibility of teams playing each other on consecutive weekends, then, Delany mentioned the 2006 showdown between Ohio State and Michigan, where the teams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, and he said everyone in the country would have loved to see an immediate rematch.

The rest of the protected cross-divisional "rivalry" games are: Illinois-Northwestern, Indiana-Michigan State, Penn State-Nebraska, Purdue-Iowa and Wisconsin-Minnesota (another game Delany touted as a historic rivalry).

Nebraska's first conference game will come in Camp Randall against the Wisconsin Badgers on Oct. 1, 2011.

The winner of each division will meet in the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game on Dec. 3, 2011 in Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium.

"We focused on competitive equality, traditional rivalries and geography," said commissioner Delany about the entire process. "We considered multiple models and countless permutations in an effort to achieve the most competitively balanced divisions while at the same time respecting our traditions, preserving existing rivalries, and creating opportunities for the establishment and growth of new rivalries. We have listened to the feedback from our institutions, alumni and fans, and while we understand that no final alignments could possibly satisfy all of our constituents, we believe that we have achieved a very exciting result."