RE: Possible COVID-19 Big Ten Conference Only Schedule
I'm more concerned with moving to 10 conference games and who that additional opponent will be. The cross-divisional opponents I would do is this:
Ohio State - Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Purdue
Penn State - Northwestern, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota
Michigan - Wisconsin, Minnesota, Purdue, Northwestern
Indiana - Wisconsin, Illinois, Purdue, Nebraska
Michigan State - Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Maryland - Minnesota, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Illinois
Rutgers - Illinois, Purdue, Nebraska, Iowa
Wisconsin - Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, Michigan State
Minnesota - Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State
Iowa - Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers
Purdue - Rutgers, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio State
Nebraska - Rutgers, Ohio State, Penn State, Indiana
Illinois - Rutgers, Indiana, Ohio State, Maryland
Northwestern - Michigan State, Penn State, Maryland, Michigan
I tried to place each school in the general spot I expect them to finish (OSU, PSU, etc.) so you'll know how I view each when I reference needed a higher/lower end opponent. I should note that I pretty much view everyone after Minnesota and above Northwestern as pretty interchangeable.
Ohio State - Purdue was more about Purdue needing a better opponent to bring up their quality of non-divisional games. They may not have had the weakest slate but other schools were already playing Ohio State. If OSU wasn't already playing Illinois, I would have paired them together as that is a pretty important game to both from my understanding.
Adding Penn State - Minnesota adds a good game for television with contenders for each division and two probable top 25 teams. It makes for a great follow up to last year's classic (classic is relative as it doesn't feel classic to PSU fans). It also makes for a good balance to the schedule as both Penn State and Minnesota have weaker non-division schedules. Minnesota was Penn State's first opponent their first season in the Big Ten (even have a "rivalry" name: Governor's Bell or something stupid that is never emphasized or developed by the conference) but have played them less often historically than any other Big Ten school.
Michigan - Northwestern is another case of trying to boost Northwestern's schedule and relieving Michigan's. Michigan is already playing Minnesota which is a rivalry (from what little I understand about each school's rivals).
Indiana - Nebraska provides some balance to each's non-divisional schedule. I don't really see anyone that either should be playing but weren't already scheduled.
Michigan State - Wisconsin was the hardest pair to make. This "feels" like a mini-rivalry but I don't know how the schools view themselves. Michigan State feels like a big loser here as they already play two of my top three in the west. MSU has been trending downwards the last couple of years and will be having a new (and questionable) coaching staff so I feel like they will be fighting to stay out of the basement this year. On the other end of the spectrum, Wisconsin feels like a huge winner as Michigan is their only top non-divisional opponent. Indiana looks like a bowl team, but Maryland looks bad again. Adding MSU gives them a huge leg up on Minnesota adding Penn State.
Maryland - Illinois gives both a similar caliber opponent. Maryland now gets the top two and bottom two in the west, which is nice symmetry. Illinois was a bowl team last year, and beating Maryland here would go a long ways to continue their rebuilding efforts and keep momentum going. Quite frankly, I don't think anyone will care if Illinois doesn't have a harder schedule.
Lastly, Rutgers - Iowa is the last pair. Iowa fills in the last of the four interchangeable middle teams for Rutgers, avoiding the top two teams and the bottom school out west. Iowa already plays the top two eastern teams and could use some relief.
Overall, I don't see a whole lot of rivalries that could be added. I didn't really care about home field advantage or any sort of home/away consideration since there likely won't be any significant amount of fans to provide all that much help anyways (if any fans at all). Fox/ABC may have some input as to match ups but I don't see a whole lot that could be added that would improve the strength. If they had the input, I expect it to be something like this:
Ohio State - Wisconsin
Penn State - Minnesota
Michigan - Nebraska
Michigan State - Illinois
Indiana - Iowa
Maryland - Purdue
Rutgers - Northwestern
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