[Husker] B1G Football Divisions

[Mike Nolan]

> I suspect that Nebraska will only face Indiana and Maryland=
> once every 4 years, and I fully expect to see either Michigan or Ohio State
> on Nebraska's schedule almost every year once the 9 game conference schedule
> is implemented.

I haven't tried to do the math on this, but I wonder how much of
this 'top-heavy' scheduling with [Wisconsin/Nebraska/Iowa] more
likely to play [Ohio State/Michigan/Penn State] was a goal and how much 
of it was as a result of the decision to protect the Bucket game by
having Indiana play Purdue every season.  

It does mean that Indiana and Purdue are likely to have minutely easier
schedules than the other non-top-3 teams and all 8 of the non-top-3
schools are going to have slightly easier schedules than the top-3
schools do.  

That could occasionally mean the difference between a 5-7 season and a 
6-6 season (and a bowl game) for some of those 8 schools.  

It's also a pretty big vote of confidence by the Big Ten that Penn State 
will not be crippled over the long term by their current sanctions.  
--
Mike Nolan