Big Ten Releases New Football Scheduling Format: No More Divisions, Protected Match-Ups, & More

Eliminating Divisions and Discussing Protected Match-Ups big news in the Big Ten the schedules are here changes coming to Big Ten football what will happen with divisions how did the Big Ten title game differ which rivalries will be played every year and who will be heading out west to face the new La schools that very first year all the information you want plus interviews with the commissioner and other decision makers now [Music] hi there from Chicago Mike Hall here alongside Howard Griffith for the next hour we've got plenty of information for you about the future of Big Ten football schedules this is a special show all about the upcoming 2024 and 2025 Seasons let me just give the basic headlines we're going to talk about every school we're going to talk to the commissioner as well as some other key decision makers in a bit the big headlines today is the Big Ten is going to stay at nine conference games going forward there will no longer be divisions East and West will only exist this coming fall then they will be gone that means the top two teams will be meeting up in the Big Ten championship game and these will be on a two-year rotation what it means is every team in the Big Ten will play every other team in the Big Ten at least once every two years which includes 11 protected rivalries which we'll get into that will be playing every single year what your biggest takeaways from all this info well I think first of all that's exciting for the student athletes that are having opportunity to play in each one of these venues because that's important because these are some really nice venues to play in particularly when you talk about being being an away team going into some hostile environments there's some great places to play that's going to be important I think you look at the fact that we've gone away from the divisions and you're going to play the the top two teams will be in the Big Ten championship game I think that's significant as well because that gives you more of an opportunity when you start talking about who are the best teams in the Big Ten Years Ago Jim Delaney said you join a conference to play each other yes not to not play each other and the Big Ten is standing by that again every other year at least you will play every single team but there are that will be protected and will be played every single year continuing on in 2024 including some rivalries like Indiana Purdue Northwestern Illinois going on and on more than 100 years Iowa you notice has three rivalries that they will be continuing on Michigan has two their in-state rivalry with the Spartans and the game against Ohio State and of course you notice the longest running rivalry around a major college football Minnesota Wisconsin the LA schools will be meeting up against one another this is I mean these are what make college football special these rivalries that go back 130 plus years sometimes and none of them are forced I think that's the best part of it when you look at Penn State not having that natural rivalry I think that's important you look at Iowa you mentioned them they have some significant ones there trophy games that are important those get the chance to stay in place and that's going to be great for the fans I agree these are rivalries that you wanted to maintain listen the SEC has caught a lot of flack because they're only playing a game and that means rivalries like this are drifting away that's not happening in the Big Ten you will be getting a chance to play each other again those 11 teams we'll show that throughout the show again to give you an idea of who will be playing every single year going forward but the reason there's all this change happening is because the Los Angeles schools are joining the Big Ten USC and USC & UCLA's 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents UCLA let's show you their schedules now we start off with USC in 2024. these are the teams that they will be playing and the home games on the left mean Illinois Iowa Michigan and Wisconsin will be heading to LA for those matchups now the following year it will look like this and again if you've noticed this means every single team in the Big Ten will be playing against USC either in 2024 or in 2025. thing goes for the Bruins of UCLA they are starting off and they will have 5 reference home games their first year Minnesota Nebraska Northwestern Ohio State and USC with four games there on the road the following year for them they will play everybody else that they didn't have a chance to play with and also you have noticed by the way some on the bottom line some games they are non-conference UCLA will have Georgia in 2025 on their schedule as well that will be daunting for sure in general for everyone 10 playing these schools in LA but isn't even bigger change for those two La schools what's your first thought when you see who they'll be playing their first time one of the things you start thinking about venues right and you start to think about some of the teams you look at UCLA Michigan that's going to be an exciting matchup when you talk about UCLA there are opportunities to go on the road to come to the Midwest they normally come every other year and play Notre Dame but now they're going to be playing Big Ten teams in a big team Arena and that's going to be exciting and the great thing too if you haven't been paying much attention to those La schools recently I mean both programs well one program's here right USC already winning 11 games last year with Lincoln Riley as a head coach but Chip Kelly has won eight games and nine games in back to back years for UCLA so these are going to be nationally relevant games especially as you said when they play teams in the Big Ten that have National fan bases like the reigning Big Ten Champions the Michigan Wolverines in 2024 here's what they have Michigan's 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents that home they will have Maryland MSU Minnesota UCLA and Wisconsin on the road they will have these four teams he noticed a non-conference they also have Texas in the non-conference Slate their following year it will look like this the Wildcats Buckeyes Nittany Lions and Boilermakers will be coming in while they will be on the road for those five teams as well as taking Oklahoma on the road again this is a Michigan team under Jim Harbaugh that's now won the Big Ten in back to back years what do you see in those schedules for now you know I love it I mean you talk about the competition you talk about the non-conference schedule and always that Ohio State team is always going to be looming there for a big game for them to have an opportunity to play but this just gives them another opportunity to continue to cement their place as a National Power because I absolutely believe they've gotten back to that point but when you look at the schedule non-conference you adding the West Coast teams this now becomes a team that is going to be on the national map for a long time and I think what Michigan fans will notice right away is the big change for them is Penn State is not a lock they will not be playing Penn State every single year it'll be every other year at least but they will still have Ohio State and they Ohio State's 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents will still have Michigan State and that matters an awful lot as for the Buckeyes here's what their 2024 conference slate looks like how about the road schedule here for them at MSU at the Gophers at Penn State and at UCLA as for 2025 Ohio state will be hosting Indiana Maryland Nebraska and USC at home and then they've got a Texas team as well in a non-conference slate Ohio State under Ryan Day a playoff team last year continues to recruit as good as just about anybody in the country look what do you see there I think as you look at the same thing you see talk about being able to be challenged in a non-conference schedule that's going to be there now you add UCLA who's still going to have a lot of interest and this to me might one of the things that stands out when you start to look at this is the for the fan base and I think I go back to that there's going to be a lot of fans traveling wanting to get out to the West Coast they're going to be a lot of West Coast Fans with those two teams wanting to come to the Midwest and out east to come to some of these uh historic venues and I know something Folks at home are thinking they're going wait a minute if there's no divisions and it's just the two backs teams and you showed us Michigan Ohio State there's a chance those two teams could meet up in their classic regular game and then the next week meet up again in the Big Ten championship game we're going to talk to the Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith about that coming up in just a little bit is one of the key decision makers in the conference we'll get his insight as to what he thought about all these changes we'll also break down every single Big Ten schedule we'll talk about the rivalries like Wisconsin and Minnesota that are continuing on as well as some of the rivalries that will no longer be guaranteed every single year but will be every other year like Penn State taking on Michigan State a lot still to come here on the Big Ten Network all right [Music] let's look at some more schedules now here's the Badgers Big Ten Conference slate in 2024 and what an interesting Wisconsin's 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents time for this program right Luke comes in now high profile head coach taking over the program and you'll notice they keep Iowa as a rivalry every year they keep Minnesota as a rivalry every year then they're adding USC these first two years as a program that they will play first on the road and then at home so Wisconsin is a program that can really bring in a big audience they've got great atmosphere there these are going to be some excellent games yeah I love the home schedule yeah both 24 and 25 you think about what they're able to do the home field advantage that they have uh is outstanding and if this program gets right back on the right track where they need to be from a team standpoint they're going to have some great matchups at home well PJ Fleck has got the program on the right track in Minnesota and you saw that they are going to continue to play the Badgers here's what the Gophers have going for Minnesota's 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents them in 2024 Iowa Northwestern Ohio State and Rutgers will be their home games that year that's a loaded Road schedule huh Indiana Michigan Nebraska UCLA and Wisconsin in general what's your Takeaway on Minnesota they're quietly really good every year yeah they're really PJ Flack has done an unbelievable job but you look at that schedule for 24 and it's going to be daunting you talk about the home schedule and also the road schedule but this is a program that that's really decided that this is where they're going to be we're going to compete at a national level and they've done an outstanding job of doing that and they don't keep Nebraska on a schedule every single year but in this beginning two-year iteration they do have the Huskers in 2024 and once again here in 2025 and interestingly enough you also see in their non-conference game they got a Pac-12 team California on the road [Music] well let's get more on all these scheduling decisions now as we bring in Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti Discusses New Football Scheduling Format the commissioner of the Big Ten Tony petiti and Tony I mean heck this is something you used to do on the other side back in your ABC they're literally scheduling college football games for television um what would you say in your role now as a commissioner and what the crew had done before you got there were the main goals in these decisions unveiled today Mike great to be with you and thank you uh yeah a lot of familiarity with football scheduling and uh obviously I came in this process where a lot of it had been worked out and done and I will say that I think the the team at the conference office and Carrie Kenny athletic directors and all the feedback from staff was just really really well done I think the first thing is just you know preserving some of the match-ups that are important to Big Ten fans and to the member institutions making sure those those matchups continue understanding that goes beyond just one or two schools I think the second really important thing is you especially with the integration of USC and UCLA and bringing them in the conference just being able to see more opponents more frequently is really important when you think about the integration and bringing everybody together just having that rotation I think it really connects everybody when you're going to get and rotate through opponents very quickly so I think the plan they had is makes a lot of sense the nine games makes a lot of sense to me so I'm really really happy and pleased with where it ended up and you know I think this is a really important day and sort of sets the tone for you know what what's the comment you look at the quality of matchups I think it's just remarkable what you're going to see on you know Big Ten Saturdays going forward you touched on this but I want you to elaborate uh basically a way you can look at it is every Big Ten team is guaranteed to play every other Big Ten team at least once every two years how how important was that to you I think it's one of the most primary things that that was accomplished with this format right when you move away from divisions you make that decision that you want to have more competitive balance right so there's really two ways to think about it you want competitive balance you want to respect history and tradition in the conference even as you're expanding right yeah and you also want to connect fans like so I think all those things were were done with this format and so I I think we're just going down the absolute right direction I think our media partners are happy with it it's just it's just the right thing to do and I think our fans are going to really come to to like and understand like how powerful this format is divisions officially eliminated what were the main reasons for that I think it gets back to what you were you were asking before which is just the you know the ability to see more opponents you can start thinking about competitive balance inside the conference and how to manage that I think this format you know eliminates some of those concerns uh and and takes that off off the off the table really so I think that's a big part of it this is for two years is the idea for that that in two years you can adjust based on either competitive balance shifting if say a program like Nebraska becomes a National Power again the way it was for decades or even if a school like Penn State says hey we actually miss playing uh Rutgers every year we'd like to go back in is the idea that this allows flexibility down the line I think look I think it does to some extent I think schedules are living things right in some ways right and if you think about what they accomplish I think there's always going to be feedback and understanding of where things are headed but I think everybody's pretty confident this is a format that's really going to endure I think it's built that way to sort of have you know go beyond these two years so I feel really good about that but look I don't think we'd be doing our jobs if we don't sort of understand take stock there's something that you know I learned a lot through really in the media days about you know you you want to you want to you want to build tradition you want to build repetition but you also want to think you know in new ways as often as you can to see that you're not missing anything and there are other things that become more important over time but I think this this process you know is is leading to a system that's going to endure but uh you know again of course you wouldn't be doing your job if you weren't just taking stock every so often I mentioned that Penn State has no protected rivalries whereas a school like Iowa has three I'm curious how you balanced the input that you were getting from schools versus what you and everyone at the conference just thinks was best for everyone else yeah I think you know again having not been in those rooms like sort of getting to the point where it was at the end of the process but I think yeah obviously there's a a line that you have to you know get to when you consider those things and the good thing about a conference like the Big Ten obviously the history is so deep and long that it makes it easier to to weigh those factors right there's this great familiarity what's important to member institutions and what's important to fans so that's a huge Head Start when you try to make the evaluations that you're talking about right it's not like they're doing in a vacuum it's just years and years of experience and understanding and it may not be the same for all institutions some institutions over time have played you know games that matter across rivalries that develop across you know one two three schools as you're pointing out so I think it's just you know you understand the history you salute it you acknowledge what's made it important and then and then go from there but I think it's just there's such a great long body of work here that it makes that process a little bit easier I would think not not that doesn't mean there aren't tough choices of course there are but I think in here they've done a really good job of understanding you know the DNA of the conference what about non-conference scheduling today was all about Big Ten against Big Ten what do you believe the philosophy should be going forward in the remaining games for a football team I mean I think each of those institutions will will make those decisions one thing you can see with non-conference schedules they're done you know pretty far out in terms of how opponents are selected I think uh you know we're playing a really competitive you know nine-game conference schedule I think institutions will make decisions about you know the right balance of opponents given the year there's some rivalries that go across some traditions of maybe playing some other schools you know playing regionally things like that so I think all those factors get in I think those are decisions that are made I think we in the conference office you want to make sure uh that we're doing things as you know strength of schedule and how it impacts the cfp all of that will will be taken into account as we learn with the new cfp is like and uh you know how decisions are made there in terms of you know qualifying as many teams as possible but overall that's all like you know it all comes together strength of schedule how non-conference is played affects everybody so I think that's just ways that we want to address that as a collective commissioner I I know you got a busy docket basically every day these days so we appreciate you giving us some of your time thank you very much thank you good to be with you Penn State's 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents and the commissioner talking about how there are still some some big matchups well here's Penn State's 2024 schedule look at their home slate [Music] Western Ohio State and USC throw in Wisconsin as a road game and there are high profile games left and right when it comes to the Nittany Lions and in 2025 you got UCLA at home Michigan MSU USC Iowa on the road Penn State stands out Howard because as we said there are zero full-time protected rivalries that they have and yet that also allows them the flexibility to have all these fascinating matchups a great matchup what game what week would be the white out you have no idea you've got a lot of options there but it's going to be exciting to continue to watch this program grow because they've you look at that schedule it's outstanding and that's a great point about the white out I mean you could argue it feels like ah it's maybe two or three teams they pick from every year not so much anymore it's going to be wide open with that flexible schedule that they have going forward they will be playing for the land grant Michigan State's 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents trophy at least in these two years it will continue to play with Penn State as you look at the Michigan State 2024 schedule you got Penn State Nebraska Michigan and Maryland as their Road games as for 2025 tuck coming to a pretty good schedule there as well Michigan Northwestern Penn State and the Bruins will all be in East glancing That season what's your takeaway from msu's upcoming future well you look at it they've got some tough road games that they're going to have to prepare for and and this is all predicated on how these teams continue to grow next year right Mike I know we're looking two years down the line but it's about this Michigan State team getting back to where they were two years ago and if they can do that you talk about a schedule that's setting up for them to really have a chance to shoot for a Big Ten title and Mel Tuckers wanted that program to be in that National conversation they will have opportunities if they're good for many of those games to be National Spotlight games for sure all right a lot more to come we mentioned we had Penn State with with nobody in terms of a full-time rival the exact opposite is Iowa we'll talk about them all three options for protected Rivals are there as well as Nebraska and we'll go to the Land of Lincoln Illinois and Northwestern what do their Futures look like in conference play Iowa's 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents good look at the Iowa Big Ten slate of games in 2024 they're all home games with Maryland Nebraska UCLA coming to town and the Wisconsin Badgers for 2025 they will have pretty impressive home slate there again Michigan MSU Minnesota Northwestern and Penn State member they're still keeping their non-conference rivalry with Iowa State and Iowa is the one that sticks out the most because with this Flex protect plus model it allows them to keep those three big rivalry games that they wanted to keep every single year and that's huge for Iowa you think about that and also the rivalries that are in in place because it also shows the flexibility of the conference the athletic directors to all to allow this to happen because things that may be important to them like Iowa those three protected games they're able to happen and going with this model allows that to happen and allows the flexibility throughout the scheduling Minnesota and Wisconsin great history for them as Rivals with Iowa and then Nebraska a team that just joined the conference not that long ago but has already made a big Nebraska's 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents impact on that rivalry especially now they've often been playing it on the Friday of Thanksgiving you look at the Corn Huskers 2024 conference Slade their four home games will be Indiana MSU Minnesota and Wisconsin in that year and it's a it's a new tenure this upcoming year for Matt rule as a head coach what do you see when you look at the Nebraska state well I think we're going to find out a lot about this team this year really so that'll really give us some insight to how this team is ultimately going to be able to compete I think this is a talented team they've done a lot of things as far as the transfer portal is concerned so they have an opportunity now with the new coaching staff in place to be able to take advantage of some of those opportunities but its schedule looks great when you took it 24 and 25 and they're a team that only has Iowa as a protected rival so this upcoming 2024 and 2025 season you will see a UCLA happening on their schedule both in 2024 as well as in 2025. now one of the more influential voices Ohio State AD Gene Smith Discusses the New Scheduling Format in Big Ten Athletics is joining us now the 80 at Ohio State Gene Smith Gene uh when it comes to this scheduling how important to you was the Big Ten championship game being one versus two in the conference as opposed to the winners of two divisions it was important and uh you know those two teams uh demonstrated through their body of work that they've earned that opportunity to compete in the championship game and so when you run the gauntlet of the regular conference season uh and you end up being number one and number two in the standings uh you've earned that right so I'm excited about having no divisions I think divisions served us well uh in our history in our transition to this space but now uh this opportunity to play a kind of semi-round Robin is actually a lot better when when those of the LA schools joining the Big Ten the first thing everyone thought of was travel it seems clear that you'll be limiting West Coast trips one per School basically every season how important was that yeah it was important you know we wanted to make sure that we didn't put too much of a burden on individual institutions and so it's basically spread out among all of the schools uh once we go to 16 where you will have that opportunity to go to the West Coast and obviously the west coast to come east so it's uh I think the balance worked out well uh but it was it was important to make sure that it was spread out so no individual team or teams uh had to deal with the because consistent and constant travel I want to ask you about some specific things for Ohio State ever since divisions happened Ohio state was playing uh Penn State every year and oftentimes these were top 10 games and oftentimes these were very close games you'll still be playing them at least every other year but it will not be every single year anymore going forward how do you feel about that I'm okay with it you know Penn State had developed into a competitive rivalry for us unlike uh the other 11 protected games in this model where you have some history and tradition around those competitions you look at the the three that Iowa protected or the Illinois protector in fact that we protected Michigan now those are historical rivalries or deep rooted rivalries and uh but the Penn State rivalry for us was a competitive rivalry and so in order to meet the balance of trying to make sure that every team every school had an opportunity Over a four-year period to play at every place at least twice you had to sacrifice some things and uh sort of flex protect model allows us to meet that criteria but at the same time we needed to make sure that we provided flexibility to meet that criteria final 30 seconds for you here this does mean the potential exists I believe unless I'm missing something for Michigan Ohio State to play back to back weeks correct yeah that's an old conversation Mike as you well know uh goes back to what is it Legends and leaders that conversation existed so that's that is a possibility um and so we we talked about that in uh Ward and I uh talked about that the athletic director of Michigan and and we agreed to that for the betterment of the whole the betterment of the league uh relative to our overall scheduling format um in our in our television Partners at the end of the day we we needed to accept it that as a possibility Gene Smith A.D at Ohio State always great Insight from you wish we had more time but thank you for all your answers appreciate it well thank you Mike take care and go Bucks Illinois' 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents let's make an illabus transition here from Gene Smith and Ohio State to the fighting Illini you look at their upcoming 2024 conference slate they will have Ohio State on the road that's not a protected rival Illinois protected rivalries will be Northwestern and Purdue but in this particular two-year cycle they do have Ohio State not only in 2024 but then again at home back in 2025 and we all know that the momentum is there in Champaign with breath fielma and it went team last year these could be some really exciting games and champions really exciting games in Champaign and then you think about going on a road where you go out to California Illinois has a huge contingency out there about alumni so that can be huge for them too as far as opening up that market and I think that's one of the other things that is going to be a byproduct of bringing in the west coast teams as teams are going to start to go out there and understand they've got a chance to play in front of some of the their fans out there and also be able to recruit that area and the cool thing with adding these La schools is you'll get Rose Bowl memories when UCLA plays in Illinois you're starting to think back to what Tony Eason days I think back in the early 80s when they were meeting up now another really interesting team in this whole Shuffle is Northwestern here's what their Northwestern's 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents schedule looks like in 2024 the Wildcats only have Illinois as a team that was protected although they do also have Ohio State as a team in this particular two-year span that they will be playing back-to-back years they will be in Columbus in 2024 and they will have the Buckeyes at home in 2025 along with Maryland Purdue Rutgers and Wisconsin but the reason I think Northwestern is so interesting Howard is because this is a big ship Northwestern won the division and played in the Big Ten championship game twice in the last five years this is a very different scenario for them as a whole it really is but they have an opportunity when you look at some of the home games that they have some things could really line up well well for them they just have to get back on track as far as playing the game on the field getting those things straightened out and I think Fitzgerald to be able to do it but there are some great matchups there the fans are going to love I mentioned Northwestern will continue to have that Illinois game every single year that one goes back a long ways so does the old oak and bucket came between Purdue and Indiana and yes that is protected we're gonna give Howard's thoughts on the Boilermakers and the Hoosiers schedule as well as the most recent new teams to join the Big Ten what does Howard think of Maryland and Rutgers in this divisionless big ten that's coming up in just a bit all right head out east now check in on the Maryland Terrapins upcoming conference opponents in 2024 remember this is a Maryland's 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents Turf Squad won their bowl game won eight wins overall look at that home slate MSU Purdue Rutgers USC and Wisconsin in 2024 the following year they got Indiana Michigan Nebraska and Penn State at home and on the road they got Minnesota Ohio State UCLA and of course they continue their matchup with Rutgers every single year is a Maryland team that in a way gets a sigh of relief I mean this is still a tough schedule but it's not locked in that they'll have Michigan State Michigan Penn State every single season and that's significant right we talked about going away from divisions there's going to be some teams that have the opportunity to benefit Maryland is one of those teams and you look at that road schedule in 24 it's manageable right you look at 25 it's manageable so they're in a much better position than they have been in previous years and the same thing goes for their fellow institution Rutgers' 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents that joined them at the same time the Rutgers Scarlet Knights this will be not as daunting in theory because they're no longer in that big ten East hey look at their 2024 schedule Illinois Iowa Michigan Penn State and the Bruins will be heading to Piscataway in 2024 and a similar thing for Greg giano right it's it's a tough uphill climb for him but if the schedule eases at least a little bit that gives them an opening in the door they will you look at the 24 schedule I really like that you look at 21 five having to go out to UCLA Penn State's always a tough one Nebraska is going to be there as well so there are some things that they're going to have to deal with but to me a lot of it's just internal they have to continue to build as a program and with Coach Yano at the helm I think they'll be able to do it now you mentioned the 25 schedule for the Scarlet Knights here's what that looks like and yeah those Road games are indeed tough and listen even though they don't have as daunting as it was it's still in the Big Ten it's going to be an awful lot of challenging games whether you're at home or whether you're on the road [Music] well let's stay on the East Coast now and bring on our next guest the newly named Co of the Big Ten Carrie Kenny Big Ten COO Kerry Kenny Discusses New Football Scheduling Format first off congrats on that Carrie but let's get right into this this has been something you I know specifically have been working on for a long time what was the most challenging part of all of this well it's great to be with you today Mike and thanks for the the note of congratulations it's an exciting time for the Big Ten and certainly today's announcement uh goes along with that uh first time we've been able to really recognize this as a 16 team conference in terms of how we're going to piece this all together from a football scheduling perspective and I think that's one of the elements that was tough about this it's been a process that's been over a year in the making and part way through that year we added two new schools to historically great programs um and so as many times as we thought we were looking at a pathway where we we found some ground to cover on this scheduling process external factors would pop up and we'd have to reevaluate and maybe make some different decisions than we had originally thought but I think all along our athletic directors or coaches our conference staff and everybody that really played a part in this everybody was committed to making sure that we did what was in the best interest of the Big Ten hopefully best interest of college football at large in this new era of college football expansion and just balancing a lot of tradition in the Big Ten with trying to be a little bit Innovative and figure out how in a no divisional format do you still acknowledge a lot of the rivalries that are fans and our student athletes and our TV partners and everybody involved in the Big Ten that they love to see played but also figure out a way to create some new and exciting matchups especially with our two newest members and so trying to to figure out a lot of competing factors and and make it you know thread the needle in a way that that we announced and landed on today I think we're all very confident and committed to to seeing this and really pulling it off in a way that is going to be exciting for Big Ten fans starting in Fall of 2024. I want to ask you about divisions and I'm going to do a journalism No-No here which you're used to with me but I'm going to ask you a long question there's a reason for it the argument for no divisions is obviously geography won't have any implication on who wins and it's going to be the best versus second best team in the conference playing for the Big Ten title game the flip side argument would be if you have divisions there are more teams that are playing quote unquote meaningful games in November for example this past year week 12 five Big Ten West teams were still alive to win the conference because they were still alive to win their division with only two games left to go that now goes away how much of a concern was that in getting rid of divisions it was absolutely a part of the conversation Mike and our athletic directors and coaches raised that um you know at the end of the day what prevailed was the fact that by moving to a no division format you get to create a more fluid rotation of opponents you know how many times you play everybody else in the conference divisions have been great for the Big Ten in terms of competitiveness in the regular season we know the championship game is leaned towards the east but if you look at divisions the benefit there is that to your point you get more interesting games in November but by going to a no division format now everybody gets to play every other team in the Big Ten twice in a four-year period at least and so if you are a football student athlete coming to one of our institutions and you stay for four years you're going to play in every other Big Ten stadium and that that's a really meaningful experience and a lot of our athletic directors who are former Big Ten student athletes or football student athletes really advocated for that the other piece is in an expanded cfp landscape we had to look around the Horizon a little bit meaningful games in November is going to have a much different context starting in 2024 where a game that may not have had an impact on the conference title race in previous years even with a division construct you're now going to be potentially playing for one of those at large bids in the cfp and that's going to create some really meaningful uh interesting games in those late stretches of the Season not just in the Big Ten but across the country and we're really confident that with our nine game model and and this model that we've debuted today Flex protect plus that's only going to really drive that that much more home with the committee and with our fans and Media Partners in a meaningful way that's a great point about the playoff you could have four or five or six teams fighting for that in theory by mid to late November any given year you brought up a couple times the new La schools I'm curious your thoughts on them what were conversations with them like when it came to this what were the priorities that they had yeah we we obviously wanted to acknowledge and learn about their history and their preferences um obviously walking into the Big Ten and competing against our our current 14 members um is an exciting opportunity um every time one of our teams goes out to play in in the historic Rose Bowl in the iconic LA Coliseum it's going to feel like a special big event uh that first time and hopefully every other time after that you know La is our largest alumni Base outside of our Big Ten footprint of our current member institutions and so there's just a lot of potential and opportunity out there in the LA market for these games to be important but obviously we wanted to talk to them a lot about travel and you know timing of the Year obviously weather is a little bit different out there earlier in the season than it is late in the season and so understanding you know just the Ebbs and flows of of their ticket packages and just how things have gone for them in their current situation in the Pac-12 with building schedules and and how they travel and other things like that and so what we really tried to do was balance geography in two ways obviously for our current 14 institutions wanted to have everybody play in the LA Market either at USC or UCLA as quickly as possible and do that in a way that we were able to get their fan bases used to going out there and playing those games on the reverse side of things we wanted to make sure that we balance to the extent that we could the travel to the Eastern Time Zone in the central time zone for USC and UCLA where all five of their opponents in a given year on the road weren't going to be their five longest trips of that season or potentially any season so balancing how many times they played Eastern and Central and then obviously they play one another back and forth through this process those were a lot of the conversations that went into it but we couldn't be more excited to welcome both of those programs into the fold with with this 2024 season Carrie the work you've done the last few months is literally stuff that had never been done before so congrats on getting it all done thanks for giving us some of your Insight man appreciate it Mike all right back to the schools now we check in on Indiana and yeah here's what Indiana's 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents they got at home in 2024 Maryland Minnesota Penn State Purdue and CLA tough road schedule too Michigan State Nebraska in there you look at the 2025 season another I mean these games are tough on the road man Illinois Maryland OSU Purdue and USC Tom Allen has his work cut out in Bloomington if you look at that schedule you see a whole bunch of match-ups that they'll have an opportunity to Make Some Noise if they can play well enough yeah if they can play well enough it's about getting back to and capturing some of the magic that they had a couple of years ago when they went on that run but it's about them going out and playing better football on the field and that's what they have to really focus on the schedule is what it is but they've got to play better so they can take advantage of it they will still have that great rivalry game with the old Oaken Bucket with Purdue it will continue to be at the end of the season and you look at the Boilermakers upcoming schedule they will have Indiana in 2024 they'll end their season in Bloomington on the road that's a Year by the way that's top they got Notre Dame and Oregon State on the road that year Purdue's 2024 Big Ten Football Opponents for the boiler Acres as for 2025 here's your home slate Illinois Indiana Iowa Minnesota Ohio State just a classic traditional Purdue home schedule there in 2025 with Rutgers and UCLA kind of a newer uh wing of the Big Ten if you will for some road games you know this Purdue has done an outstanding job as far as home field has been concerned over the last couple of years they've been selling out the place the energy in that stadium has been outstanding now you have an opportunity in a couple of years to bring a USC into town they got an opportunity to continue to to build the momentum that they have in West Lafayette that's a great Point pointing out we've seen how exciting that program can be with Jeff Braum now it's Ryan Walters who's in charge of it if he can get it back to that level there will be some games that live up to the hype and show what Ross said can really be like when they got a full house and they are rocking so we're not quite done with all of this we're gonna check in with Nicole Auerbach it's a national perspective on how this news today makes the Big Ten look nationally as a whole foreign so again what they're calling this plan is flex protect plus as a schedule model Nicole Auerbach on the Flex Protect Plus Schedule Model I always the only school that has three protective matchups every single year Penn State the only school that doesn't have any protected matchups Michigan will still play Ohio State and will still play the Spartans and as for the new La schools they have each other as the protective matchup and that is it let's get some more perspective on this now glad to bring in Big Ten Network's own Nicole our back Nicole what were your initial thoughts when you heard all this information I love it I think that this was the model I liked the most from the start I think the idea of having a different amount of protected games for each School depending on how many games are that important to them that they wanted to protect and play on an annual basis is a smart reason to make this choice I also think this was the model that gave you the most flexibility with the LA schools by only having them be each other's rival that is going to help massively down the road as they need to schedule and sequence all of the games for everybody else to make those West Coast trips how does this play nationally when you consider the SEC just said they're going to stay at eight games which means some teams won't play against each other for a long time and now you've got the Big Ten saying even as we expand to 16 every other year you're going to play every school in the conference this is what all of these leagues need to be doing and especially the SEC going to 16 teams should be playing a nine game schedule you should be setting up your schools so that they play everybody else that's the whole point of having a conference and being associated with these other schools is to actually get to see them and to have athletes who come to your school play there for four years get an opportunity to play everybody in the conference and get to all of these different amazing venues in your league I think that's what you really need to be prioritizing and I just think it makes the most sense you're going to be setting up your teams for success by playing them in much more competitive and balanced schedules and putting your two best teams in the conference Championship Game this is what we have an opportunity right now to do is to reset schedules think about these things as we move towards new conferences with 16 members a 12 team college football playoff and I think that the model that the Big 10 selected really prioritizes all of those things including the app great experience but also positioning yourself for that CFT birth yeah it does see if you're a high school senior come into the Big Ten in 2024 you're going to be at and have home every single Big Ten team if you stay four years uh final 30 seconds here does anyone stand out to you as you know what they're kind of a really big winner in all of this I think the winners that stand out to me are Iowa because they get to keep all three of the rivalries that they felt were important this was really one of the few ways where they were going to be able to do that in a world where not everybody had free Rivals and you needed to worry about that West Coast travel also Big Winners Rutgers and Maryland that has just been a brutal life living in the East Division and now they're going to be entering a world where all of the schedules are much more balanced for everyone Nicole Auerbach always great to talk with you on this thanks so much for your perspective we are not quite done with our show we got some thoughts from Nicole we're gonna get some final thoughts coming up from Howard Griffith on this big and busy day in the world of Big Ten football [Music] Final 2024& 2025 Schedule Notes and Thoughts so again the big big notes from today the 2024 2025 conference schedule is out for Big Ten it will still be nine games there will no longer be divisions each team will play the same three opponents each of these two years some of them fall under the protected Rivals that will continue every single year currently teams in the Big Ten East along with UCLA will play five home games in 2024 that will flip to be five home games for the other teams in 2025. my Colin Howard Griffith back here with you and there's a lot to to digest over all of this but I think one of the interesting things is that the Big Ten championship game will no longer be the winner of two divisions it'll be the best and second best team now you might be thinking well what about tie Breakers right let's say hypothetically Ohio state was undefeated Michigan and Penn State have one loss both their losses to Ohio State we don't know all that not yet we're going to find that out later on they will unveil what the tie-breaking procedure is but but you think this is a big step forward for the league having the two best teams meeting up I do I think it's an opportunity for them to have as you mentioned the two best teams playing in the Big Ten championship game we start to look toward the playoffs and how many teams that the Big Ten can get into a playoffs in that scenario because now this Big Ten Conference is is obviously loaded and the SEC is as well but I think the Big Ten Now is really positioned well to really make a big push into the playoffs this coming year and if things that model changes right they have a significant opportunity to get some other teams in and I did bring up earlier the idea of Michigan and Ohio State meeting up in back to back games but as you and I talked about in one of the commercial breaks like that was a possibility in leaders and legends yeah it's always been there right it's always been there and they were able to figure it out and work it out and I think that you know the athletic directors and and the Big Ten figured it it's going to be okay and it's just one of those things that's very important to both of those institutions and it's big for College athletics as well what do you make of the protected rivalries there are 11 match-ups that have big ten history or geographical history oftentimes both that are going to stay as a matchup you can guarantee will happen every single year yeah I think that's really about those institutions right we've talked a lot about Iowa having three of those if they really have some some deep ties into those three rivalries in them we also talked about on the other Edge on the other end is Penn State who really doesn't have those natural rivalries and they didn't force them to have rivalries so I think it really works out for everyone that the way things are set up now I think that's an interesting point you brought up there's no forcing of anything if you had divisions you would be forcing USC and UCLA to to make Minnesota a rival or Nebraska or whomever and and now whatever those rivalries will become with these new La schools they'll happen on their own because you'll be playing at least every other year against everyone and they become competitive right it doesn't necessarily have to be so deep rooted in what those institutions mean look at Minnesota you look at Wisconsin uh those those are deep ties so now they don't have to deal with that so again all this information is what's happening in 2024 and in 2025 2023 my 2023 I'm glad you brought it up we are 84 days away away from Big Ten football on Thursday August 31st Nebraska will be in Minneapolis to take on the Gophers and that will kick off the Big Ten football season for Howard Griffith I'm Mike Hall we'll see you next time