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Big Ten going to East-West alignment for divisions

PARK RIDGE, Ill. (AP) -- No more ''Legends.'' And no more ''Leaders.''
The Big Ten is giving them the boot and following a more conventional route for its division names.

The conference is going with ''East'' and ''West'' instead and switching to a nine-game scheduling format after presidents and chancellors approved the moves on Sunday.
The new division alignments will begin in 2014 when Rutgers and Maryland join the conference, meaning ''Legends'' and ''Leaders'' will be a thing of the past. That will probably come as good news for fans who have criticized those names ever since the league unveiled them in 2010. To many, they were confusing and didn't help identify where teams play, but that won't be an issue any more.
Besides the new division alignment, teams will go from playing eight conference games to nine in 2016. ''Big Ten directors of athletics concluded four months of study and deliberation with unanimous approval of a future football structure that preserved rivalries and created divisions based on their primary principle of East/West geography,'' commissioner Jim Delany said in a statement. ''The directors of athletics also relied on the results of a fan survey commissioned by BTN last December to arrive at their recommendation, which is consistent with the public sentiment expressed in the poll.''

Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers will be in the East division.

The West will consist of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin.

Schools will play six division games plus two against teams from the other division in 2014 and 2015. In 2016, they'll play three cross-division games. Indiana and Purdue will meet on an annual basis. But Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon said each school had to make compromises. ''Fourteen athletic directors came to the table with different objectives and our goal was to compromise to the point that we could move together with one plan,'' he said. ''Each of us had things that were extremely important and things on our wish list. I wanted us to play Michigan State and Ohio State every year and for the Michigan-Ohio State game to be the last one ever year. I'm pleased we're going to be able to do those three things.''But it's not a perfect setup because no school got everything they wanted.''

East division teams will host five conference games during even-numbered years starting in 2016, with West teams hosting five in odd-numbered seasons. Under that format, teams will be guaranteed to play each other at least once every four years, and in a statement, Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman called that ''an important feature.''
He also praised the changes, saying they are ''the best option'' and ''will serve us well.''
Brandon said a 10-game format was ''carefully considered to even out the home-and-away problem,'' but that would have hindered nonconference scheduling.''If you take away another nonconference game, it would have a detrimental impact financially for everybody in the conference, and we would've taken the biggest hit because we have the largest stadium,'' he said.

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini praised the division alignment and the nine-game format.
''Geography seems to be a logical way to determine the divisions, and it should allow for easier travel for our fans,'' he said in a statement. ''The nine-game conference schedule will help improve the strength of schedules across the board in the Big Ten, and I think everyone anticipates strength of schedule being a key component for choosing teams to participate in the new playoff system.''

Delany said athletic directors met in person or talked on conference calls six times from December to March to discuss the changes. ''The level of cooperation and collaboration was reflective of what we've come to expect from this group of administrators who have worked extremely well together on a number of complex matters over the past several years,'' he said. ''We are all looking forward to ushering in this new era of Big Ten football.'

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The East looks traditionaly stronger IMO, but I am happy that tOSU and Mich are in the same division. Stupid to have them play the final game of the year and then possibly have them play the next week in the Title game. Either way it would only hurt the team that won both games with a drop in ranking of the loser. But then again with College Football going to a playoff system that might not matter. Love that the Legends and Leaders name is going away. It was a stupid idea whoever came up with it.

Welcome to the Big10, Maryland and Rutgers. Here are 4 of our best historical teams to go against each year. But, you also get Indiana!

Wow, that western side is awful. It's not even that good on the basketball side either.

which 2 teams do you think?

is the ACC really solidified? if so, then the UNC/Virginia hopes would be gone. the BigXII doesn't have any obvious teams (especially in that Texas and Oklahoma have shown they prefer the Pac# to the Big10).

I agree on Mizzou. They were the perfect add. 2 decent markets (KC & StL), good academics, local rivalry (Illini), and a Southern step (a small one but still).

I think either the BigXII or the ACC survives (but likely not both). I go back and forth on who it will be though (right now, it seems like the ACC is more stable). I hope it's the BigXII (both because I live in Texas and because it would benefit the Big10 more to have the ACC teams as free agents).

The ACC is in the process (or maybe they already did) of adopting one of those clauses in the contracts of the teams that says they forfeit all revenue if they leave for many years. I don't know the stats but heard it on the radio the other day.

At least that got this part of the name right. Now if they could only contact the mathematics departments and have someone count how many teams they actually have. Rename the conference already (without some number in its name.)

Glad to know OSU and Michigan are back in the same division. It would have been stupid for them to keep the alignment for them to play two games in a row if/when the conference title ever came to a head due to their annual end-of-regular season matchup.

Being a UC alum, but growing up a huge Buckeyes' fan, I think this conference alignment looks great. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers gives the conference the D.C. and New York markets. It looks like they won't be able to get the Atlanta market now that the ACC made their pact, but still a predominantly midwest market grabbing those additional schools is a win. Now for the conference's sake, pray those two programs can improve on their recruiting because of the move. Their programs have been on the downswing recently.

It makes me wonder what the Big 23 is doing?


Grab as many teams as they can in the hope a couple of them might be good?

Come on man, I am just joking around.


I like OSU, but I don't need to defend the SEC.

I'd be in favor of switching michigan state and Illinois, for balance purposes