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Indiana Football: 3 ideas the Big Ten should absolutely consider for realignment of divisions

By Adam Childs

BLOOMINGTON, IN - OCTOBER 12: A football sits on the field before the start of the game between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Memorial Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN - OCTOBER 12: A football sits on the field before the start of the game between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Memorial Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images) /
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Indiana football. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

Indiana Football: 3 realignment ideas for Big Ten

Combine Rivals

Another idea based on rivals would to be put them together. We will use the same rivals as the last idea, but because of needing seven teams in each division, we will split up Rutgers and Maryland since they aren’t really “rivals.” So we came up with this alignment.

One

Michigan
Ohio State
Nebraska
Iowa
Illinois
Northwestern
Rutgers

Two

Penn State
Michigan State
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Purdue
Indiana
Maryland

You could mix and match the rivals, but we would say that Michigan/Ohio State and Michigan State/Penn State would have to be opposite each other. Nebraska/Iowa and Wisconsin/Minnesota would probably need to be opposite and the same with Indiana/Purdue and Illinois/Northwestern. This would keep the competitive balance between divisions.

You could still set up a locked cross-division game for each team, but that could be decided later. But with that split, it definitely balances out the divisions better.

Related Story. Predicting every game for the 2020 IU football season. light

From Indiana’s perspective, they would probably really like being in a division opposite Michigan and Ohio State. While they won’t ever back down from a team they have 24 game losing streaks against both the Buckeyes and Wolverines. Being away from them is not a bad thing.

They would still have to get through Penn State, Michigan State, and Wisconsin but an easier path then again the one they currently have in the Big Ten East.

This would be similar to the previous idea with the rivals split but would keep us away from seeing a second game between rivals which is what some fans of the Big Ten would like.

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