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Jul 23, 2023

Rules changing as Nebraska braces for divisionless Big Ten

The big-picture goals of Big Ten teams are about to look much different. A straw poll of league coaches in late July revealed that even those most committed to game-by-game clichés eventually succumb

The big-picture goals of Big Ten teams are about to look much different.

A straw poll of league coaches in late July revealed that even those most committed to game-by-game clichés eventually succumb to the ever-evolving topic of conference realignment.

“Take tradition, take boundaries, geography, take all those things and throw them out,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “That’s how college football is changing right now.”

Said Indiana’s Tom Allen: “Everybody’s schedule is going to be tough.”

And Illinois’ Bret Bielema: “The competition is going to jump in the Big Ten in a quick hurry, that’s for sure.”

All gave their thoughts before the Big Ten welcomed Pac-12 defectors Washington and Oregon on Aug. 4. The new format in 2024 was already going to be different as the league expanded to 16 teams, adding USC and UCLA. With the Los Angeles schools would come the removal of divisions as part of the jockeying to have the best and most teams in position to qualify for the new 12-team College Football Playoff.

For Nebraska, it means new rules as coach Matt Rhule settles into his new neighborhood.

“My job is to make sure that the University of Nebraska is relevant nationally,” Rhule said Aug. 5, a day after his new conference bumped its membership to 18. “I just have a lot of trust in the Big Ten and the leadership. I think it’s the dominant conference in college football and we’ll play wherever they tell us to play.”

First comes one more season of the established setup. Two seven-team divisions — the East has beaten the West in all nine Big Ten title games — with two squads usually in the mix for CFP consideration. League champion Michigan and Ohio State were among the four qualifiers last year.

The Big Ten in June announced its 16-team scheduling format and opponents for 2024 and 2025. All if it now must be reworked, if not reimagined. That includes a flex protect plus model which included nine league games, sheltered some rivalries — for Nebraska, it was Iowa — and ousted divisions as television partners sought to diversity their “inventory” with a wider range of matchups.

A touted feature had been each team playing every other Big Ten school at least twice — once at home and once away — in a four-year period. No longer. How teams navigate logistics, determine tiebreakers and potentially explore regional pods remains unclear.

Whatever it looks like will begin playing out on football fields in 12 months.

Nebraska, Rhule said, could be in position to benefit from its central location in a coast-to-coast conference. Lots of 2½-hour flights but no 6-hour ones. If it takes an athlete roughly a day per time zone to adjust, that’s an advantage for the Huskers.

A tougher challenge will be competing for a Big Ten championship.

Gone will be the chance to win the West and have a 60-minute crack at Ohio State or Michigan for a title. No divisions means keeping up with the annual CFP contenders over a full season, not just Iowa and Wisconsin. The Badgers fired coach Paul Chryst, who was 67-26 as head man in Madison, seemingly with an eye on keeping their ceiling on pace with a rising standard.

“The one thing I do know: Unless you play a round robin, someone is going to complain about the schedule,” Ferentz said.

Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck — who has led the Gophers to nine-plus wins in three straight full seasons but has yet to win the West — said the new broadened format will be even more fun for fans.

“When you start going 1 through 16 it’s a random draw who you’re going to get and that’s exciting,” Fleck said. “It’s like a roulette ball — where it lands, you don’t know. It’s going to be one of those numbers. It’s going to be one of those 15 teams you’re going to play. I’m just glad they protected the rivalries the best they possibly could.”

Bielema cited the “uncharted waters” for Illinois, which was set to see Ohio State, USC and Michigan in 2024. Allen deadpanned that Indiana last played the Trojans when O.J. Simpson was tailback.

Former East teams will get occasional reprieves from the likes of Ohio State and Michigan, too, with a perennial Top 25 school like Penn State perhaps the biggest beneficiary. Even Nebraska — though adding West Coast powers to its slate — had seen the Buckeyes in six of the past seven seasons, losing each time.

“Bottom line is new opportunities, great time to be in this conference,” Allen said. “You’re going to see equitable schedules where teams are going to be playing teams more equally across the conference, which I think is a great thing, that excites me as well, and playing some different teams on a more consistent basis.”

The Huskers had been set to miss Michigan, Ohio State and USC in 2024 before drawing all three in 2025. How their future slate looks now remains to be seen. Just how long the Big Ten stays at 18 teams — while seemingly on its way to an even more super-sized league along with the SEC — makes whatever format comes almost certainly temporary.

But first, one more year of familiar.

Rhule said he’s in his “own little bubble” worrying about the Huskers. Ferentz quipped that he didn’t even know the order of the schedule looming in front of him.

Stay focused on the controllable. It certainly doesn’t include conference realignment.

“I’m concerned about the ’23 season — that’s what we’re looking at, right?” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. “Now, down the road I’m sure it will change a little bit. But I’m not worried about that.”

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