by Kent Sterling
Once the Big Ten expanded beyond 10 teams, the opportunity for a true round robin vanished. Now with 14 teams competing next season, the scheduling gets even murkier.
Every team will play all other team at least once, but the home and homes will be reduced to five in order to hit the total of 18 games.
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The East and West divisions for football do not attach for other sports, so there is no geographical bias in the scheduling.
Indiana will play home & homes against newcomers Maryland and Rutgers, and Michigan State, Ohio State, and Purdue. The Hoosiers will travel to Illinois, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin. Coming to Assembly Hall will be Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Penn State.
Purdue will play home & homes against Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Rutgers. The Boilers will travel to Michigan StateNorthwestern, Penn State, and Wisconsin. Coming to Mackey Arena will be Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, and Nebraska.
It used to be a little bit easier to venture a guess at what the schedule might mean, but as we have seen with all Big Ten teams winning at least five game so far, and losses mounting as well, picking this weekend’s games is impossible, much less next year’s.
The only certainty is that Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, and Northwestern will have a marginally tougher schedule because those five teams will be forced to play Michigan State twice. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine – and probably better.
Purdue got the better of that deal