The Traditionalist Solution to Big Ten Expansion

How many games must the Big Ten add to its schedule in order to stage a championship game?

Five. (Six, if you count the championship game itself).

Looking at this coming 2010 season, here are the games that need to be added:

Iowa @ Illinois

Penn State @ Wisconsin

Minnesota @ Indiana

Ohio State @ Notre Dame

Notre Dame @ Northwestern

Yes. In case you missed it, that is Notre Dame appearing in those games.

The minimum number of games played within a conference in order for a team to be considered a part of the conference (and thus count toward reaching the desired 12 team Conference-Championship-Game minimum) is five.

Notre Dame already conducts annual series with Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue. Cycling through the other eight Big Ten teams, two at a time, would be the most minimal change needed for the Big Ten to stage a championship game.

If you have been following along in your ledger, the above setup also institutes a ninth conference game for current Big Ten members. Five teams will play Notre Dame while the other six will play each other.

The Basic Outline

The Big Ten’s draws for Notre Dame are a chance to stay relevant (competitively speaking), money, and high academics (instead of middling in the Big East).

The drawbacks of full-time Big Ten membership are the systemized schedule, the loss of independent iconography, and the unknown nature of “change.”

Playing five Big Ten teams, Notre Dame could have a minor share of the Big Ten Network revenue while still allowing NBC to broadcast the games of USC, Oklahoma, Navy, Miami, etc…until that contract expires.

Additionally, this unique stature within the Big Ten would preserve an amount of independence, or what Notre Dame “haters” would call “an air of pomposity.” 

The Big Ten would gain its conference championship game, an amount of national appeal by associating with the Notre Dame brand, and closure on its two-decade long quest for expansion.

The Schedule

No conference games will need to be removed from the schedule; none. Most Big Ten teams (the eight without an annual series with Notre Dame) will add one conference game and increase their number of annual rivals from two to five. 

These additional rivals will proceed from the merging of teams into two divisions.

Teams must be slotted into one of two divisions in order for the conference to conduct a championship game. With Notre Dame playing only five conference games, not all teams will play a full division slate.

Division A

Ohio State

Indiana

Minnesota

Wisconsin

*Michigan

*Michigan State

Division B

Penn State

Northwestern

Illinois

Iowa

*Notre Dame

*Purdue

Notre Dame will play three of their five division rivals (Purdue and two others) and will play two teams (Michigan and Michigan State) from the other division.

Purdue, Michigan, and Michigan State will keep their current annual rivalries and will add only their running series with Notre Dame as the ninth conference game.

All other teams will play a full division slate in addition to four or five teams (including annual rivals) from the other division.

Every two years, after Notre Dame plays a full home-and-home against two Big Ten teams in their division, the teams listed above with *asterisks* will switch divisions. This allows Notre Dame to play a full cycle against all Big Ten teams.

Quelling Scheduling Concerns

1) Michigan and Ohio State will still play their end-of-the-year rivalry against each other, even during the two years they are in different divisions.

2) The teams are placed in divisions by the author’s perceived sense of balance. If you would like to adjust it: two of Ohio State, Penn State, Northwestern, and Indiana must be in each division because of current rivalries with UM, MSU, and Purdue, respectively. Also, the cycling *starred* teams must maintain their pairings (ie. Notre Dame with Purdue, Michigan with MSU).

3) Notre Dame can compete for the division crown based on conference winning percentage. Percentages that are next to equitable (ex. Notre Dame 4-1, Penn State 7-2) are considered tied and proceed to the tiebreakers of head-to-head, common opponents, and national ranking.

4) No conference games are destroyed or reapportioned, an aspect unfound in any other Big Ten expansion article, especially those considering more than 12 teams.

5) Only three “guaranteed” losses are added to the current Big Ten standing. This contrasts to the five “guaranteed” losses suffered by the smaller Pac-10 when it expanded its schedule to a full round robin.

A Conclusion

Sailing toward the unknown of a 16-team super-conference is a frightening endeavor. Many fans are giddy with such a prospect. But, with all that money to lose, the Big Ten conference is trying to take the most conservative approach possible.

And the most conservative approach would be to add a single team, a team with broad appeal across the academic, athletic, and news media spheres.

Some have said that Notre Dame is the “obvious” choice. But baby steps are preferable to both giant leaps and stagnation.

Inviting Notre Dame to the Big Ten and allowing them 7 out-of-conference games is a supreme compromise. In ten years, the Irish may switch two games in conference. In ten more years, perhaps the Irish will play a full football schedule.

But even if those events do not happen, both Notre Dame and the Big Ten must think long-term before adding a middle-of-nowhere team or a team located under the shadow of professional sports. Even with baby steps, Notre Dame is a solid choice.