[NU Sports] Big Ten Divisions appear to be firming up

[Mike Nolan]

> I like playing Wisconsin every year.
> As rivalry games go this scenario damages Paul Bunyan's axe.
> My personal ranking of rivalry games goes -- UofM-tOSU, Floyd, Axe, Bucket, UofM-MSU, and Sweet Sioux.  The encompasses each of the the original 10 teams with Minnesota and Michigan repeated.
> I want to be in the other division as tOSU.  We still have not overcome the tOSU hump and I expect that to continue.  For the foreseeable future they will have nfl talent and a good coach.  That is almost impossible to overcome given our academics.  We need our most talented opponents to have coaches that make mistakes and tressel does not make mistakes.

I think the scheduling scheme they're planning will allow for a fair 
number of protected rivalry games each year, such as OSU-Michigan.  

Both Penn State and Wisconsin have stated that they wouldn't mind a 
season-ending rivalry game against Nebraska, but if OSU-Michigan needs 
to be several weeks before the end of the season to avoid a repeat in 
the conference championship game, surely that'd be true for 
Penn State-Nebraska as well.  

A protected rivalry game is something that is in the current  11 team 
schedule as well.

Now, what numbskull decided that Northwestern's protected rivalry game
should be Purdue??
--
Mike Nolan