The Big Ten will move to a Big Ten-only conference schedule this fall. Here are 5 things to know.
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Big Ten to go with a conference-only schedule. 5 Things To Know.
The Big Ten will move to a conference-only schedule if it decides it’s able to get a college football season going.
This will go for all fall sports, but mostly it’s all about the football season in what would be a fascinating run of – likely – ten games for the season.
What are the five big things that matter, schedule-wise?
2020 Big Ten Team Previews, 5 Things To Know
East Indiana | Maryland | Michigan
Michigan State | Ohio State | Penn State | Rutgers
West Illinois | Iowa | Minnesota
Nebraska | Northwestern | Purdue | Wisconsin
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5. It’s going to be a ten game season
This is where the fights are going to begin.
Assuming this all happens like it’s being reported, instead of being a normal 12-game regular season with a Big Ten Championship, the non-conference games will go away and the league will likely play just a ten-game season.
But here’s the problem – that means each team misses three other Big Ten teams, and the disparity is about to be a really big deal.
As it stands right now, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin miss Ohio State, In a ten-game schedule, which one has to deal with the Buckeyes?
Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern and Wisconsin were supposed to miss Rutgers. Which one gets dealt the relative free space card?
This also opens up another key part of this – the timing.
Wisconsin and Indiana are supposed to start the season on September 4th. Purdue and Nebraska, and Northwestern and Michigan State are supposed to play on September 5th. Does knocking off two extra games mean these are all moved to later, so the Big Ten can start things off in late September?
Doing the schedule this way might buy the conference a few more weeks to get going.
4. The big loser? The Pac-12
The Pac-12 was just about to get the big boys in their houses, and now that’s gone – at least for this year.
Michigan was going to go to Seattle to deal with Washington as it begins the Jimmy Lake era, and in one of the biggest games of the season, Ohio State was scheduled to play at Oregon on September 12th.
The ACC also loses big, too, with the Penn State game at Virginia Tech now off, and with the Syracuse-Rutgers game on September 12th done.
BYU will now have to scramble, too, with no September 26th game against Minnesota, and with no trip to Michigan State on September 12th.
But what really stinks is …
3. No Lambeau Field vs. Notre Dame
Wisconsin already lost its date with Northwestern at Wrigley Field – actually, the game is still on, but it’s instead being played in Ryan Field, Northwestern’s home stadium.
Now the Badgers don’t get to play Notre Dame in Green Bay on October 3rd.
For a Wisconsin team that was supposed to go to Michigan a week earlier and face Minnesota right after, not playing a really, really good Fighting Irish team in a game like that is a plus.
The Badgers also get to sidestep the potential landmine of Appalachian State – that as supposed to be played on September 19th.
2. Now, the College Football Playoff committee will have to go to work
With no non-conference games to work off of – considering all the high-profile games were going to shape the national perspective of the league – it’s going to be all about just how good the Big Ten teams look playing each other.
Ohio State is still the odds-on favorite to win this thing, but it has to go to Penn State and Michigan State. At the moment, it’s supposed to miss Wisconsin and Minnesota, but one of them might be on the table.
Penn State gets Ohio State at home, and it missed Wisconsin and Minnesota – for now. The one road date of note is at Michigan, but overall, the schedule looks nice.
Wisconsin has to go to Michigan, but no Notre Dame means the overall schedule makes the West there for the taking again. It will have to get by the regular season finale at Iowa.
So for the College Football Playoff world, the model probably still holds. Win the conference, do it by going unbeaten or with one loss, and you’re in the tournament.
1. And now the dominos are about to fall
Get ready for the ACC and Pac-12 to be next with a conference-only slate.
The Big 12 is set up for this – every team plays everyone else, anyway – and the SEC has been dreaming of this shot to go all SEC all the time and cut out the rest of the world.
Remember, this is just for 2020 – if we get a football season.
It’s not for forever, and things will go back to normal – if possible – for next year. But this allows the Big Ten, and the rest of the conferences, to go by their own sets of rules, protocols, and guidelines.
So for one year, if this can be done safely … LET’S GO.
It’s going to be a blast.
2020 Big Ten Team Previews, 5 Things To Know
East Indiana | Maryland | Michigan
Michigan State | Ohio State | Penn State | Rutgers
West Illinois | Iowa | Minnesota
Nebraska | Northwestern | Purdue | Wisconsin
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