Tag: Big Ten Schedule

There are already complications with the new-look Big Ten and travel

There are already complications with the new-look Big Ten and travel

What was the immediate question everybody asked when news of UCLA and USC joining the Big Ten broke?

How on earth is this travel going to work. For football, sure it isn’t too hard. You’re talking about one game a week where you can plan ahead and not have too many destinations on the calendar.

For other sports, however, it is going to be a complicated balancing act. The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach recently looked at the logistical challenges facing all of the sports, not just football, with Big Ten expansion looming.

The plan involves pairing teams to charter to destinations, obviously stacking UCLA and USC as opponents for Midwest schools, and flying commercial in many instances.

The top 10 games on the 2024 Big Ten football schedule

Obviously, #Michigan – #OhioState is a top #B1G game. #USC – #Michigan makes the cut. So many great matchups await:

There are so many notes and details to keep track of in the new 2024 Big Ten football schedule.

Iowa has three regular annual opponents: Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.

Penn State, on the other hand, has zero protected games. USC’s only regular annual game in the Big Ten will be against UCLA.

The Big Ten Conference wants its schools to play the 15 other Big Ten schools at least once every two years, but without having too much long-distance travel. Teams in the Midwest are not going to fly to Los Angeles any more frequently than necessary.

Three Big Ten schools will be common opponents for both 2024 and 2025, but in 2026 and 2027, the common opponents will rotate instead of remaining in place from the 2024-2025 two-year plan. There’s a lot to keep track of.

Let’s take a break from deep schedule analysis and turn to something fun and enjoyable: exploring the 10 best matchups on the 2024 Big Ten schedule.

USC figures prominently in this discussion. See where Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin fit into the picture.

Here is the entire Big Ten schedule for 2024. Let us examine the top 10 games for this slate below:

Big Ten football schedule: every team’s common opponents in 2024, 2025

Every #B1G team, including #USC, has 3 conference opponents it will play in both 2024 and 2025. We have that information here:

When the 2024 and 2025 Big Ten football schedule format was announced on Thursday, people around the conference responded positively.

The format is called “flex protect plus,” referring to the reality that some teams will have more protected games than others. It’s not an equal number of protected games for each Big Ten school. That number is flexible for the 16 member schools, USC and UCLA included.

Iowa, for instance, has three protected (annual) opponents: Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.

Penn State, on the other hand, has zero protected games. USC and UCLA have one protected game when they play each other.

One reason for protecting some games but not others is that some schools (Iowa) wanted more protected games, while other schools (Maryland, Rutgers, Penn State) don’t have natural rivals and therefore don’t need to have annual opponents.

The other big reason for this format is that it enables Big Ten schools to play the 15 other Big Ten schools at least once every two years, but without locking in long-distance travel commitments. That’s something the Big Ten had to think about with USC and UCLA in the fold.

One product of this “flex protect plus” schedule for 2024 and 2025 is that six opponents will rotate between 2024 and 2025. Six in one year, six others in the next. That represents 12 of the 15 schools each school will play in a two-year span.

Three other Big Ten opponents will be common opponents for both 2024 and 2025. That gets us to 15 opponents in two years.

We have collected the so-called “two-play opponents” for each Big Ten program. “Two-play opponents” is just a fancy name for those three common opponents Big Ten football schools will play in both 2024 and 2025.

Here they are:

Winners and losers of Big Ten football schedule decisions

The #B1G will not have divisions in 2024 when #USC and #UCLA are members. Who wins as a result of the new schedule layout?

You might have noticed that the Big Ten has released its football schedule for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, offering a framework and the list of opponents. The times and dates aren’t known, and that revelation won’t occur until at least December if not January or later. However, every Big Ten team knows which opponents it will play, and it knows which games will be home and away.

The Big Ten is also doing away with divisions, something the Pac-12 and ACC have recently done. The top two teams in the conference standings are the two teams which will play in the 2024 Big Ten Championship Game in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The Big Ten has used a scheduling format called “flex protect plus,” in which not every team gets the same number of fixed annual opponents. Iowa has three fixed opponents — Nebraska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin — while USC has only one fixed opponent, the UCLA Bruins.

You can look at USC’s schedule and evaluate it for yourself, but meanwhile, let’s look at the whole Big Ten and see if a few teams gained or lost something in the process of all these changes:

Every Big Ten football school’s key schedule details

#USC learned its scheduling structure and opponents for a new era of #B1G football. What about every other #B1G school?

USC and the rest of the Big Ten now have their football scheduling roadmap for 2024 and 2025. The revelation of the new scheduling model — accommodating the 16-team Big Ten which will be born next year — occurred Thursday afternoon. It’s a plan called “flex protect plus,” which we will explain below.

USC fans are certainly going to start by studying their own schedule, but when they’re done with that, they’ll look at the other 15 teams in the expanded conference and compare schedules across the board.

We will provide analysis of these schedules in the coming days, but for now, we will simply lay out the various scheduling roadmaps for the 15 non-USC Big Ten schools. It’s a lot to take in.

Here you go:

Nebraska AD Trev Alberts wanted a protected rivalry game with Wisconsin

The Cornhuskers have not beaten the Badgers since the 2012 regular season, and have not once won the famous Freedom Trophy.

The new Big Ten schedule is out and Wisconsin faces a tougher path to the Big Ten Championship than ever.

Despite my consistent messaging that the new schedule would make success tougher, the changes add premier games to the schedule and will make the season more entertaining to watch. There is one other positive from the schedule release I haven’t yet commented on: Wisconsin will only have protected rivalry games against Minnesota and Iowa.

There have been guesses over the past year as to what schedule the Big Ten will choose. One of those guesses was the 3-6-6 model with three protected games for each team. If that had come to fruition, Wisconsin would’ve had to  pretend yet again that Nebraska was a true rival.

The Cornhuskers have not beaten the Badgers since 2012 and have never won the Freedom Trophy.

I share former Wisconsin linebacker Zack Baun’s thoughts on the matter:

Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts went on his weekly show Thursday night as the schedule was being released, and said he actually tried to get Wisconsin as one of Nebraska’s protected games.

Instead, Nebraska has one protected rivalry game: Iowa.

As Baun said above, it is not a true rivalry unless the other team actually wins sometimes. The Big Ten did well not protecting the Wisconsin-Nebraska game.

What you need to know about USC Big Ten football schedules in 2024 and 2025

#USC is preparing for the 2023 #Pac12 season, but it will soon move to the #B1G. There are lots of details to sort through here.

June is unofficially Big Ten month at Trojans Wire. We decided to do this because the late spring and early summer provide the best time to learn about the Big Ten before we get into full football coverage mode in August. When USC’s season gets going, our attention will focus primarily on the Pac-12 season. There will be Big Ten updates and check-ins, to be sure, but June and July give us a chance to provide you, the reader, a more expansive look at the schools and football programs USC will soon join in the Big Ten.

We did a podcast with Cornhuskers Wire.

We are looking at the Nebraska program.

We talked to Hawkeyes Wire about the Iowa program and Big Ten matters. A series of podcasts with Hawkeyes Wire will be released later this month.

We will make sure you get to learn and discover more about the Big Ten schools USC will join next year. That’s why June is Big Ten month.

We decided on that course weeks ago when we planned our summer content menu.

We did not know that the Big Ten football schedule model would be unveiled in June, specifically on Thursday, June 8. What a fortuitous coincidence that our Big Ten month flows right into a football schedule release, USC’s first football schedule reveal of its new Big Ten era.

There’s a lot to share with you on USC’s Big Ten football schedules for 2024 and 2025, including but not limited to the Trojans’ opponents.

One big note: The Big Ten scheduling structure means USC will play every Big Ten school at least once in a two-year span.

Here are the details below:

2024 USC football schedule — all 12 opponents are set

Dates and times aren’t available for most 2024 #USC football games, but the 12 opponents are now official. #B1G news!

Our friends at Badgers Wire, and all our fellow College Wire sites in the Big Ten, have a lot to talk about. The Big Ten released its 2024 football schedule and the football scheduling system it will use. That’s going to fill these upcoming weeks in June and July with a lot of discussion, analysis, and — perhaps — some travel planning for various fan bases.

Ben Kenney of Badgers Wire noted the Big Ten schedule release by picking up on some leaked details before the official announcement:

“The changes will begin in 2024, lining up with the additions of USC and UCLA to the conference and the expansion of the College Football Playoff. More specifics will be released as the week continues, but it’s safe to say Wisconsin’s path to the Big Ten Championship game is about to get much tougher,” Kenney wrote.

He continued:

“USC is on the rise under Lincoln Riley, coming close to a Playoff appearance in his first season at the helm. Heisman quarterback Caleb Williams will likely be in the NFL when 2024 rolls around, but the trip out to USC projects to be as tough as any other road trip in the conference.”

Let’s look at all 12 USC football opponents in 2024. We don’t know when each of the 12 games will be played, but we now know all 12 opponents.

Here they are, as first reported by Nicole Auerbach and Scott Dochterman of The Athletic:

2024 USC Big Ten football opponents leaked hours before official reveal

Before the planned #B1G football schedule reveal, some select opponents have been leaked. @TheBadgersWire has more details.

The Big Ten football schedule reveal, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, has been preceded by some schedule leaks. These are not official announcements, but these sorts of leaks usually point to the actual schedule. They generally represent what will be accurate information.

Courtesy of our friends at Badgers Wire, four USC opponents have been leaked in advance of the official Big Ten football schedule release.

USC’s move to the Big Ten has created a lot of speculation about its future opponents, and more specifically, about the schedule rotation and structure in which the Trojans will operate. After Brett McMurphy of Action Network reported these leaked schedule details, the speculation will intensify … and the excitement will build.

Below are the four leaked opponents plus a few other schedule leaks:

Report: Wisconsin will visit a Big Ten newcomer in 2024

Wisconsin’s road to the Big Ten Championship is about to get tougher.

The Big Ten will release its future scheduling model later today, reportedly going away from the East-West division model and into a flex model with protected rivalries.

The changes will begin in 2024, lining up with the additions of USC and UCLA to the conference and the expansion of the College Football Playoff. More specifics will be released as the week continues, but it’s safe to say Wisconsin’s path to the Big Ten Championship game is about to get much tougher.

The first leak is out from Action Network’s Brett McMurphy, who reported the Badgers will not only visit Michigan in 2024, but also USC.

USC is on the rise under Lincoln Riley, coming close to a Playoff appearance in his first season at the helm. Heisman quarterback Caleb Williams will likely be in the NFL when 2024 rolls around, but the trip out to USC projects to be as tough as any other road trip in the conference.

Stay tuned throughout the rest of the day as we learn more about what Wisconsin will face in the coming years.