Division 1: Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa, Northwestern and Minnesota

Division 2: Ohio State, Penn State, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Purdue.

Teams will play eight conference games, with games against all five other teams in their division, one protected cross-division rivalry (Ohio State for U-M, obviously), and two rotating cross-division games. Please note that these divisions only apply to football, and not to other sports. Michigan will play Ohio State at the end of the season.

The rest of the cross-divisional games are: Minnesota-Wisconsin, Penn State-Nebraska, Iowa-Purdue, Northwestern-Illinois, Michigan State-Indiana

Michigan’s 2011 and 2012 in-conference schedules were also released, and are as follows [you can find a pdf of the entire Big Ten schedule here]:

2011 (starting 10/1): Minnesota, at Northwestern, at Michigan State, bye, Purdue, at Iowa, at Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio State

2012 (starting 9/29): bye, at Purdue, Illinois, Michigan State, at Nebraska, at Minnesota, Northwestern, Iowa, at Ohio State

The official statement from the Big Ten:

The winner of each Big Ten division will meet in the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game, to be played December 3, 2011, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The championship game will determine the Big Ten Champion and the conference’s participant in the Rose Bowl Game or Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game.

The Big Ten football division alignments will include a division featuring Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin, and a division featuring Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern. Each school will play the other five schools within its division and will also face three teams from the other division, including one cross-division matchup guaranteed on an annual basis. The guaranteed cross-division matchups are Illinois-Northwestern, Indiana-Michigan State, Ohio State-Michigan, Penn State-Nebraska, Purdue-Iowa and Wisconsin-Minnesota. Names for each Big Ten football division will be announced at a later date.

“Over the past several months, Big Ten staff and directors of athletics have met on several occasions to discuss and finalize division alignments,” said Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany. “We focused on competitive equality, traditional rivalries and geography. We considered multiple models and countless permutations in an effort to achieve the most competitively balanced divisions while at the same time respecting our traditions, preserving existing rivalries, and creating opportunities for the establishment and growth of new rivalries. We have listened to the feedback from our institutions, alumni and fans, and while we understand that no final alignments could possibly satisfy all of our constituents, we believe that we have achieved a very exciting result.”

I will refer you to what I wrote earlier, since I am in the middle of an ill-timed fantasy football draft:

You know what? I’ll take it. I know there’s a lot of consternation out there about competitive balance and how this affects The Game (the possibility that the Michigan-Ohio State game in the regular season could be somewhat meaningless, especially if only intra-divisional games count in the Big Ten Standings). I think when it comes down to it, however, The Game will still be The Game, and with how up-and-down college football is from year-to-year, let alone how much things can change in the span of a mere decade, there will always be some imbalance in the divisions one way or the other. Does everyone really expect Northwestern to buck 130 years of tradition and become a perennially decent team, especially if a big-name school tries to lure Pat Fitzgerald away?

I’m just saying, take a step back and look big picture here. We have what should be a tremendous rivalry between two tradition-rich schools with great fanbases in Michigan-Nebraska. The Little Brown Jug will be played for each and every season, like it should be. The already-bitter rivalry with Michigan State should only intensify. The Wolverines will get to duck Penn State and Wisconsin every once in a while, which should ease some of the team’s schedule difficulty. There will be a Big Ten Championship Game at the end of the season, like there should be — who doesn’t love big-time conference title games? Most importantly, The Game is in its rightful place, at the end of the regular season. And finally, unless every other writer claiming to have the inside scoop is astoundingly incorrect, Dennis Dodd is wrong, which makes this all feel very, very right.

On Saturday, the Big House will be full again, and we’ll all be enjoying (and stressing about, of course) the thing we should all be focusing on anyway: The Team, The Team, The Team.

We’ll see if that’s really how it plays out tonight, but it sounds like the rumors are true. You know what? I’ll take it. I know there’s a lot of consternation out there about competitive balance and how this affects The Game (the possibility that the Michigan-Ohio State game in the regular season could be somewhat meaningless, especially if only intra-divisional games count in the Big Ten Standings). I think when it comes down to it, however, The Game will still be The Game, and with how up-and-down college football is from year-to-year, let alone how much things can change in the span of a mere decade, there will always be some imbalance in the divisions one way or the other. Does everyone really expect Northwestern to buck 130 years of tradition and become a perennially decent team, especially if a big-name school tries to lure Pat Fitzgerald away?

I’m just saying, take a step back and look big picture here. We have what should be a tremendous rivalry between two tradition-rich schools with great fanbases in Michigan-Nebraska. The Little Brown Jug will be played for each and every season, like it should be. The already-bitter rivalry with Michigan State should only intensify. The Wolverines will get to duck Penn State and Wisconsin every once in a while, which should ease some of the team’s schedule difficulty. There will be a Big Ten Championship Game at the end of the season, like there should be — who doesn’t love big-time conference title games? Most importantly, The Game is in its rightful place, at the end of the regular season. And finally, unless every other writer claiming to have the inside scoop is astoundingly incorrect, Dennis Dodd is wrong, which makes this all feel very, very right.

On Saturday, the Big House will be full again, and we’ll all be enjoying (and stressing about, of course) the thing we should all be focusing on anyway: The Team, The Team, The Team.

Division 1: Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa, Northwestern and Minnesota

Division 2: Ohio State, Penn State, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Purdue.

As you can see, Michigan and Ohio State will be in opposite divisions, as expected, but there are conflicting rumors as to whether The Game will take place in its traditional place at the end of the schedule or earlier in the season. Franky, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Big Ten to put Michigan and OSU in opposite divisions and keep The Game where it is, as that really opens up the possibility of having a meaningless regular-season matchup before the conference title game, but we’ll have to wait and see. I’ll have much more on this when the official word comes down tonight.

Michigan AD Dave Brandon made an appearance on Sam Webb’s WTKA radio show this morning, and he had some very interesting (and to traditionalists, very disappointing) things to say about conference realignment, and specifically the potential ramifications for “The Game” [link is to MVictors, which also has the audio and more quotes if you want more from Brandon]:

When asked if he were making the decision, would he put Michigan and Ohio State in the same conference division?  Brandon paused then answered. “No.”

Sam asked, “Why?”  Brandon:  “Because we’re in a situation where one of the best things that could happen, in my opinion in a given season, would be the opportunity to play Ohio State twice.  Once in the regular season and once for the championship of the Big Ten.

What does this mean? It certainly sounds like Michigan and Ohio State will end up in separate divisions, which means the teams likely could not meet in the final week of the regular season, as that would open up the possibility of a Big Ten championship game rematch within a week of the team’s playing each other for the first time. Since the Michigan-OSU rivalry would have to be played every season, this means the Buckeyes are locked in as one of Michigan’s cross-divisional games every season. This isn’t a good thing for the Wolverines’ schedule, as Brian Cook points out [from earlier this week, before Brandon's comments]:

There’s a rumor out there that Michigan and Ohio State will be split into separate divisions, which I find abhorrent because it necessitates protected cross-division games, which are dumb, and guarantees that Michigan will be elaborately screwed by that cross-division game being Ohio State, guaranteeing them a brutal schedule year-in, year-out as Ohio State and Penn State go play with Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern, and Illinois.

Brian’s reaction to today’s news, obviously, is not a positive one. I agree with him — playing in the last week of the season is one of the best parts about The Game, and seeing Michigan line up against Michigan State or some other Big Ten opponent in late November would just feel… wrong. Also, pegging Michigan and Ohio State with likely the toughest schedules in the conference doesn’t make much sense — you’d think the Big Ten would want its flagship programs to have, if anything, a competitive advantage in chasing BCS titles, instead of having the odds stacked against them.

I’ve been strongly in support of practically everything Dave Brandon has done as athletic director since taking over for Bill Martin, but I can’t even find one reason to be excited about this possibility. It sounds like this is close to an inevitability, however, which just gives us one more thing to be pissed off/depressed about in what has become a complete circus of an offseason.

Posada has earned a three-star rating from Scout and ESPN, but has yet to receive a rating from Rivals. He does have an solid list of offers, however, earning one from Tennessee, Duke, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Missouri, USF, and Texas Tech, among others, and both Florida and Florida State showed interest but had not yet extended a scholarship offer.

Posada certainly boasts the size to be a good offensive tackle, although it seems unlikely that the 320-or-so pounds he will enter Michigan carrying is all good weight — like most linemen, expect a redshirt year with a heavy dose of Mike Barwis conditioning before he sniffs the depth chart. Scouting reports say Posada moves well for a player his size, but like most high school linemen who are much larger than almost everyone they face, he’ll need to work on technique to be effective at the collegiate level.

This is another solid pickup for Rich Rodriguez, who is quietly putting together a very good recruiting class that has already filled several positional needs. Michigan has done well in addressing needs at offensive line, cornerback, defensive end, and linebacker, and the staff should now be able to turn much of their focus to adding some blue-chip prospects to round out the class.

Michigan Renews Partnership with M Den as Official Merchandiser

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Michigan Athletic Department announced a multi-year agreement with M Den, Inc. as its official retail partner beginning July 1, 2010. The university and M Den renewed a relationship to operate as the official team store of U-M Athletics. M Den will provide game-day retail services and manage the online sales of official team wear through MDen.com and MGoBlue.com.

“The M Den has shown incredible loyalty to the Michigan fan base and local community with incomparable customer service, and with the variety and quality of their products,” said U-M athletic director Dave Brandon. “I am confident our fans will continue to show that same loyalty to our new official retail partner.”

“We are proud to have been able to serve the university family throughout our history and we are so pleased and excited to be named the official merchandise retailer so that we can continue to expand upon that history,” said M Den owner Dave Hirth.

“The cornerstone of our business is offering the finest customer service possible to every University of Michigan fan,” Hirth continued. “We have always worked very hard to bring Michigan fans the widest selection and the best quality products available. Now we can do that in more ways than ever given our new partnership with the athletic department, and this is just the beginning.”

In addition to five physical M Den stores in the Ann Arbor area and southeast Michigan, there will be retail locations in and around Michigan Stadium on home game days. Fans can also shop at the online store via MGoBlue.com or by going directly to MDen.com. New products are also promoted on the M Den Twitter and Facebook pages.

Dave Hirth and Doug Horning have partnered in business since 1976, and opened the first M-Den store in Briarwood Mall in 1982. With the addition of the newest M Den location in March 2009, a 12,000-square foot flagship store on central campus, M Den has five physical stores southeast Michigan with three in Ann Arbor, one in 12 Oaks Mall in Novi, and another in Laurel Park Mall in Livonia.

Home run, Dave Brandon. This is great news for the athletic department, the M Den, and the fans. Go forth and support.

For the video-game heads out there, the NCAA Football ’11 demo dropped yesterday for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3, and although Michigan is not in the eight-team demo, EA Sports did release a trailer that includes footage of Michigan, and Sean Yuille of SB Nation Detroit (formerly of Michigan Sports Center) captured this great picture of Michigan playing Michigan State in the newly-renovated Big House:

Why yes, that is Martavious Odoms torching the entirety of the Michigan State defense. Let’s hope that reality will match virtual reality in this case (although snow in an early October game would be a bit alarming). Like last year, I’ll have all the team and player ratings for Michigan and the Big Ten broken down when that information is released — here’s hoping the game itself will be a little better this time around (and I’ll say that certainly looks to be the case after playing a few games of the demo).

MGoBlog breaks down possible divisional alignments, in light of this quote from Jim Delany on how the Big Ten will go about forming divisions:

“First priority’s competitive fairness to me,” Delany said last week. “Second priority is maintenance of rivalries, some of them are very important. They’re part of who we are and they’re not treated lightly. And then I think the third is what factor, if any, does geography play?”

Clearly, Delany took one look at the geographic divisions (with Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State all falling in the East) and decided that wasn’t the way to go, at least when it comes to football. Moving Penn State into a division with Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin makes the most sense, and maintains the most rivalries — what happens to the rest of the teams, frankly, I really don’t care about, as long as Michigan plays Ohio State and Michigan State every year. While it might rub some fans the wrong way if Michigan can’t play Penn State or traditional rival Minnesota every season, I think we can do without those games being on the slate every year if it means moving forward as a conference (and we weren’t playing Penn State yearly anyway, as they are slated to rotate off our schedule next season).

For more divisional alignment talk, Sean Yuille has a lengthy discussion over at SB Nation Detroit.

Finally, WolverineHistorian drops off a two-part YouTube highlight package from Michigan’s 27-23 victory over Nebraska in the 1986 Fiesta Bowl. Is there a tape that man doesn’t own?

University of Nebraska Approved to Join Big Ten Conference by Council of Presidents/Chancellors

Nebraska to begin Big Ten conference competition with 2011-12 academic year

June 11, 2010

Park Ridge, Ill.– The Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors (COP/C) announced unanimous approval today for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) to join the Big Ten Conference effective July 1, 2011, with competition to begin in all sports for the 2011-12 academic year. UNL will also seek admission into the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), which can occur on or before July 1, 2011.

The addition of the University of Nebraska marks the Big Ten’s first expansion since Penn State University joined the conference in June of 1990 and will increase Big Ten membership to 12 institutions for the first time in conference annals. Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany will join University of Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman and Director of Athletics Tom Osborne on campus in Lincoln, Neb., for press conference at 5 p.m. CT on Friday, June 11.

“By unanimous vote, the Big Ten Presidents and Chancellors are pleased to welcome the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to the Big Ten Conference,” said COP/C Chair and Michigan State President Lou Anna K. Simon. “We believe Nebraska is an extraordinary fit, reflecting the criteria we established at the beginning of the process – high academic quality, competitiveness, cultural compatibility and fiscal responsibility. The extensive and in-depth discussions my colleagues and I have had about Big Ten expansion permitted us to act expeditiously and prudently on the application submitted by Nebraska. We look forward to working with our colleagues at UNL in the years ahead.”

“We are pleased that the Presidents/Chancellors of the Big Ten universities agree that the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is a proper partner from both an academics standpoint and athletics perspective,” Perlman said. “This makes sense for the future of our University. We are honored to be included in the Big Ten.”

“The Big Ten Conference has much to offer,” Osborne said. “This is a tribute to our athletic program, our academic programs and our fans. This is the right move at the right time. This is a rare opportunity that may not have been an option for us in the future.”

In order for an institution to be admitted to the Big Ten Conference, it must submit a written application, which must then be approved by at least 70 percent of the Big Ten COP/C. The University of Nebraska Board of Regents formally submitted an application to join the Big Ten Conference Friday afternoon. The Big Ten COP/C then met via conference call and approved Nebraska’s application.

“While Big Ten expansion is exciting and important both academically and athletically, what we are really excited about is building solid, long-lasting relationships with the University, its administrators and staff, its fans and the people of Nebraska,” Delany said. “We look forward to reaching out to these groups in the months and years ahead.”

The University of Nebraska football program is about to enter a new era following a vote by the NU Board of Regents Friday afternoon to align with the prestigious Big Ten Conference. Athletic competition is expected to begin in 2011.

Acting on the advice of coaching legend and current NU Athletic Director Tom Osborne and Chancellor Harvey Perlman, the regents voted 8-0 to apply for membership in the Big Ten.

It appears to be a formality that the Big Ten will accept Nebraska’s membership quickly, leaving only one more Big 12 season.

Welcome to the Big Ten, Nebraska. I’m looking forward to seeing how this whole expansion plays out, but even if the Big Ten stop at 12 teams, I’m very pleased that they have added a prestigious program to the fold.

UPDATE: Wow, that didn’t take long at all. The Big Ten has unanimously approved admitting Nebraska, according to ESPN:

Nebraska made it official Friday and applied for membership in the Big Ten Conference, a potentially crippling blow to the Big 12 and the biggest move yet in an offseason overhaul that will leave college sports looking much different by this time next year.

Hours later, the Big Ten Council of presidents and chancellors unanimously approved Nebraska’s application.

Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNBigTen) has added some details on his Twitter feed:

Football: Obviously, Nebraska’s biggest draw as a new member of the Big Ten is their football team, which is one of the most storied programs in college football and has a recent history of fielding strong teams.

Nebraska lays claim to 46 conference titles and five national championships (one of which Michigan fans are intimately familiar with — the split national title in 1997), and their back-to-back national titles in 1994-95 still remain the only consecutive consensus national titles since Oklahoma in 1956-57. Three Cornhuskers — Johnny Rogers, Mike Rozier, and Eric Crouch — have won the Heisman Trophy, and 52 consensus All-Americans have suited up for the Big Red. Their current AD and former coach, Tom Osborne, never won less than nine games during his 25 years at the helm, compiling a record of 255-49-3 from 1983-1997 in what was certainly the golden age of Nebraska football.

While the last decade-plus hasn’t been as kind to the Cornhuskers (especially the Bill Callahan era, from 2004-2007, in which they went 27-22 while changing from their signature option attack to a pro-style offense), they are still a very solid program, finishing 10-4 last season and earning the #14 ranking in the final AP poll in Bo Pelini’s second season as head coach.

As for facilities, Nebraska plays their home games in Memorial Stadium (known as the “Sea of Red” on game days), which has stood since 1923 and holds a capacity of 81,067. Although the stadium itself is old, Nebraska has renovated Memorial Stadium several times since it was first built, with the most recent renovation coming in 2006, when over 7,000 seats, new sky boxes, new video boards, and a new training facility (named after Osborne and his wife, Nancy) were installed.

Basketball: I’ll put it this way: Nebraska is definitely a football school. As you can see by the lack of any sort of worthwhile information on the Nebraska men’s basketball Wikipedia page, there aren’t a lot of noteworthy accomplishments to speak of when it comes to the program.

The Cornhuskers have made six NCAA tournament appearances in their history, with four of those coming in consecutive years, from 1991-1994, when they were led by noted gunner (and career NBA backup) Eric Piatkowski, and they last made the Big Dance in 1998. The hold the dubious distinction of being one of just three BCS schools to have never won a game in the NCAA tournament, along with Northwestern and South Florida. They have, however, become a staple of the NIT, making that tournament 16 times, including four times in the last seven seasons, and winning the NIT title in 1996. NU hasn’t won a regular-season conference title since sharing the Big Eight crown with Kansas and Kansas State in 1950, and haven’t won an outright conference title since 1916.

The Huskers hired UTEP coach Doc Sadler before the 2006-07 season, and managed to break .500 in his first three seasons — which included two NIT appearances — before finishing at the bottom of the Big 12 last season with a 2-14 conference record (15-18 overall). So yeah, don’t expect this team to be much more than cannon-fodder for a strong Big Ten basketball conference.

The women’s basketball team, despite not becoming a varsity sport until 1975 (the men’s program has been around since 1896), has achieved far greater success than their male counterparts. Cue Wikipedia:

Women’s basketball started as a club sport in 1970 and five years later it became a varsity sport when scholarships were offered. George Nicodemus was the first head coach and had a 22-9 record in his first season, taking the Huskers to the AIAW where they lost in the second round of the tournament. Five different head coaches would be hired after Nicodemus left the program in 1971 until 1986 when Angela Beck took a stable head coach position. Beck led the Huskers to their first NCAA bid after winning the Big 8 championship in 1988. She led the Huskers back to the NCAA in 93 and 96. She left the program in 1996 to pursue other opportunities and was replaced by Paul Sanderford. Sanderford led the Huskers to a NCAA sub-regional in 1998 and 1999 and received a third consecutive NCAA bid in 2000. Connie Yori became the head coach in 2002 and has led the Huskers to WNIT in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009 and NCAA in 2007, 2008, and 2010.

Hooray for having at least one viable basketball program, I guess.

Nebraska plays their home games in the Bob Devaney Sports Center, which holds a capacity of 13,595 and also contains their swimming and diving, indoor track, and gymnastics facilities. Last year, the men’s basketball team finished 45th in the NCAA with an average attendance of 9,964. Again, this is a football school.

Olympic/Other Sports: Nebraska does have a strong overall athletic department. Last year they finished 31st in the Director’s Cup standings, which would have been good for seventh in the Big Ten. They boast a couple very strong programs in their women’s volleyball team, which has won three national titles (most recent: 2006) and made the NCAA final four 11 times, and their men’s gymnastics team, which has captured eight national team titles and 41 NCAA event titles. Nebraska’s baseball team has also been strong in the last decade, as they have made three College World Series appearances and reached the NCAA Tournament nine times in the last eleven seasons. They also have a very strong women’s bowling team, which shocked me because I didn’t know bowling was an official varsity sport — the Huskers took home the NCAA crown in three of the first six NCAA bowling tournaments (starting in 2003) and they have never been ranked lower than 17th in the country.

Academics: The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (the full name for the school, although it is often abbreviated as simply “NU”) fits every requirement the Big Ten reportedly had for admission to the conference — they’re a public research institution and a member of the AAU. They are a first-tier institution according to the U.S. News & World Report, which has them ranked as the 96th-best school in the country. Although this puts them last among Big Ten schools, this is certainly not the equivalent of taking on a Texas Tech or another school outside the first tier.

Alignment: Map me, Google (I had some difficulty embedding from Google maps, so the image below can’t be modified, but the link below it will take you to the full map):

View Big Ten + Nebraska in a larger map

Adding Nebraska alone as the 12th Big Ten team created some issues when it comes to alignment. The addition of the Huskers means it makes the most geographic sense to divide the conference into East and West, but the result, when done purely on a geographic basis, isn’t as balanced as one would hope:

That leaves three of the conference’s most prestigious football schools (as well as Michigan State and Purdue, which while being thoroughly mediocre programs still manage to be half-decent most of the time) battling it out in the East, while Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin get a far easier path to the Big Ten Championship Game (boy, is that fun to type). This alignment does, however, maintain many of the Big Ten’s traditional rivalries, so I’m not sure if there’s a better suggestion out there. I’m certainly all ears, though, and this entire discussion could become moot if the conference expands to 14 or 16 teams.

My Take: Although Nebraska doesn’t add a lot to the Big Ten Network footprint, and their basketball program isn’t up to par with the rest of the conference (save Northwestern, I guess), I still really like this addition. Lost in the discussion of mega-conferences and television revenue is the entire point of the Big Ten expanding in the first place: now we have 12 teams, giving the Big Ten that coveted conference title game in football, which will add revenue and bring more attention to the conference after the regular season is over. Bringing in a football program as prestigious as Nebraska’s is a great move for the conference, and I’m excited to see what new rivalries form with their addition. We’ll have to wait and see if Jim Delaney has any more moves up his sleeve, or if the Big Ten is happy to stand pat at 12 teams, but right now I’m just excited for the prospect of a football title game and a new, good program on the football schedule.