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Hold onto your hats, folks, but the Big Ten might be shaking things up.
The conference moved to a nine-game conference schedule for football in 2017, with the idea that its member institutions would have a tougher go of things, adding to their resume when it came to the College Football Playoff and strength of schedule. However, with impending scheduled games as part of the ‘The Alliance’ — an informal coalition between the Big Ten, the ACC, and the Pac-12 — the conference is not only potentially scaling things back, it might be doing away with the East and West divisions entirely.
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From Scott Dochterman of The Athletic: ($)
The future College Football Playoff format could have a major impact on whether the Big Ten eliminates divisions or changes the number of its annual conference games, Iowa athletics director Gary Barta told The Athletic.
The Big Ten currently has East and West divisions and plays a nine-game conference schedule that includes three cross-divisional games. Big Ten administrators have discussed dropping to eight games beginning in 2023 so it can create matchups with teams from the Pac-12 and ACC conferences, with which the trio has a working arrangement called The Alliance.
There also are serious discussions about the Big Ten ending divisional play with schools playing three opponents annually and cycling through the other 10 teams either every other year or two years on, two years off.
“We’ve had several conversations,” Barta said. “One of the things that we’re watching is whether it’s related to The Alliance, which we’re talking through and/or, what gives us the best opportunity to have the most success in the College Football Playoff format?
“We’re wondering if we’re going to know what the format is before we have to make that decision. So, we’re kind of waiting to see where that lands. But we have had active conversations about the schedule beyond 2022.”
At the moment, should the Big Ten make a change, it’s unclear how finalists would be selected for the annual championship game, though the chance of the two teams with the best records could face off on a neutral site.
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