I was able to fit the entire Big Ten conference schedule in a nine week span. My plan is to schedule all of the divisional games over the first seven weeks with the last two all cross divisional games. The first week will have all of the rivalry games taking a pessimistic approach so that the biggest games get played. Seven crossovers will get played during the division games portion of the schedule.

* Crossover

To make it easier, FOX and ABC alternated 1st pick each week and got one game each week. It is possible either network could have taken more than one B1G game in a given week.

Week 1 (Sept. 12)
Michigan at Ohio State (FOX)
Michigan State at Penn State (ABC)
Minnesota at Wisconsin
Nebraska at Iowa
Purdue at Indiana*
Illinois at Northwestern
Rutgers at Maryland

Week 2 (Sept. 19)
Ohio State at Michigan State (ABC)
Indiana at Michigan (FOX)
Penn State at Rutgers
Iowa at Minnesota
Wisconsin at Purdue
Illinois at Nebraska
Maryland at Northwestern *

Week 3 (Sept. 26)
Penn State at Michigan (FOX)
Nebraska at Wisconsin (ABC)
Ohio State at Illinois *
Northwestern at Iowa
Michigan State at Maryland
Indiana at Rutgers
Purdue at Minnesota

Week 4 (Oct. 3)
Michigan at Michigan State (ABC)
Iowa at Penn State (FOX) *
Illinois at Wisconsin
Minnesota at Nebraska
Rutgers at Ohio State
Maryland at Indiana
Northwestern at Purdue

Week 5 (Oct. 10)
Michigan at Wisconsin (FOX) *
Ohio State at Maryland (ABC, could see PSU-Ind replacing it)
Penn State at Indiana
Iowa at Purdue
Northwestern at Nebraska
Minnesota at Illinois
Rutgers at Michigan State

Week 6 (Oct. 17)
Ohio State at Penn State (ABC)
Wisconsin at Iowa (FOX)
Maryland at Michigan
Northwestern at Minnesota
Nebraska at Rutgers *
Michigan State at Indiana
Purdue at Illinois

Week 7 (Oct. 24)
Indiana at Ohio State (FOX)
Maryland at Penn State (ABC) - Not many good choices here
Michigan at Rutgers
Minnesota at Michigan State *
Wisconsin at Northwestern
Purdue at Nebraska
Iowa at Illinois

Week 8 (Oct. 31) - All crossovers
Iowa at Ohio State (ABC)
Penn State at Nebraska (FOX)
Purdue at Michigan
Indiana at Wisconsin
Minnesota at Maryland
Northwestern at Michigan State
Illinois at Rutgers

Week 9 (Nov. 7) - All crossovers
Nebraska at Ohio State (FOX)
Michigan at Minnesota (ABC)
Wisconsin at Maryland
Northwestern at Penn State
Illinois at Indiana
Michigan State at Iowa
Rutgers at Purdue

The Big 3 schedules:

Ohio State

Sept. 12: Michigan (FOX)
Sept. 19: at Michigan State (ABC)
Sept. 26: at Illinois
Oct. 3: Rutgers
Oct. 10: at Maryland
Oct. 17: at Penn State (ABC)
Oct. 24: Indiana (FOX)
Oct. 31: Iowa (ABC)
Nov. 7: Nebraska (FOX)

Michigan:

Sept. 12: at Ohio State (FOX)
Sept. 19: Indiana (FOX)
Sept. 26: Penn State (FOX)
Oct. 3: at Michigan State (ABC)
Oct. 10: Wisconsin (FOX)
Oct. 17: Maryland
Oct. 24: at Rutgers
Oct. 31: Purdue
Nov. 7: at Minnesota (ABC)

Penn State:

Sept. 12: Michigan State
Sept. 19: at Rutgers
Sept. 26: at Michigan (FOX)
Oct. 3: Iowa (FOX)
Oct. 10: at Indiana
Oct. 17: Ohio State (ABC)
Oct. 24: Maryland (ABC)
Oct. 31: at Nebraska (FOX)
Nov. 7: Northwestern

The weeks could certainly be juggled if you didn't want Michigan/Ohio State first but if you made it last it risks getting canceled. I was debating where to put OSU/PSU. I wanted it on an "even" week to make sure ABC got it but I wanted to separate the big games. Putting it "late" does mean it risks getting canceled though. I couldn't put it 2nd and putting it 4th would mean PSU/Mich would have to be 7th.

If a 10th Big Ten game is desired, they would play Nov. 14 and each Eastern division team would travel to a Western division team. Ohio State at Wisconsin would be the obvious first game chosen and that game would be on ABC.

Never thought of moving rivalry games up to protect them. Would be interesting seeing some of those games earlier in the year.

Ya, earlier divisional and rivalry games makes sense. Someone posted elsewhere that a single division with a 4-team tournament might be the most competitively and TV-friendly way to crown a champion. Though I understand that ANY post-season may be difficult to justify.

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

GE and MTS,
Well thought out post. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.