An Even Bigger Big Ten

The Big Ten wants to go to 9 or perhaps even 10 conference games and have announced that the conference is going to refrain from scheduling FCS opponents.  I seriously think that the Big Ten may be gearing up for a dramatic expansion.  I think the wheels are already starting to turn and we are going to get a 16 member conference and perhaps as many as 20 members.

As I stated in my last blog article, if the SEC chose to, they could make a huge power play and lock down the entire Southeastern United States.  The Big Ten needs to be prepared to preempt or at least give a strong rebuttal if they do so.  The Big Ten needs to go for the ACC's jugular.  Maryland is already in, so I think the next natural progression is to go after UNC and UVA.  They are excellent academic schools in states that are growing rapidly.  

The ultimate goal of hitting the ACC hard is to drive Notre Dame away from them and force them to finally accept Big Ten membership.  the loss of UNC and UVA would certainly spark a mass exodus from the ACC to the SEC or Big 12.  In order to accommodate the addition of Notre Dame (or perhaps ensure that the UVA/UNC grab can be facilitated) that Duke University is the logical choice.  

With the addition of these 4 schools the Big Ten would be a 18 member league.  I think the best set up for them to consider is a zipper model where each member would have 2 crossover rivals from the opposite division.  For example--Nebraska and Minnesota would both have Iowa and Wisconsin as crossover rivals.  Much like they did with Nebraska's addition, the goal would be to create competitively balanced divisions that could be tweaked down the road to A) adjust for competitive balance and B) allow schools who never get to play each other due to the league's enormous size  an opportunity to face each other.  I would say that every 4 years would be a good interval for which to mix things up.  I think the zipper model also accomplishes something else important--it ensures that games between members on opposite ends of the conference footprint occur.  Iowa-Nebraska is a great game but its appeal is somewhat regional.  Now Nebraska-Penn St is of interest to fanbases in multiple regions.  This also boosts the appeal and value of the Big Ten Network.

My 20 Member Model
If the 18-member zipper model is to complex and contains too many working parts I think the Big Ten could easily go to 20 members and simultaneously create a more harmonious pod set up and lock down the Northeastern US television markets.  This would be by adding Boston College and Syracuse in addition to Notre Dame, UNC, Duke, and UVA.  The result would be 5 pods of 4--

Pod 1--Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa
Pod 2--Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern
Pod 3--Notre Dame, Ohio St, Michigan, Michigan St
Pod 4--Penn St, Syracuse, Rutgers, Boston College
Pod 5--Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Duke

Each school would always play their pod mates (3 games), one member from 3 of the other 4 pods (3 games), and all 4 more members of the 5th pod (4 games) for a 10 game conference schedule.  The 2 teams that go to Indianapolis would be the 2 teams with the highest ranking.