Could Big Ten Eliminate Divisions in 2024?
The Big Ten and its athletics directors held their annual winter meeting Tuesday, and the "general consensus" is that the East and West divisions will be done away with in 2024, according to first reports by The Athletic.
Nothing has been finalized yet, but the move would come in the same season that the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans are set to join the Big Ten if it is passed.
Ohio State Buckeyes athletics director Gene Smith said in August 2022 that the Big Ten had been in talks about doing away with divisions at that point.
The current breakdown for football is Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Indiana in the East Division, while Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue, Iowa, Northwestern and Illinois make up the West.
In all nine Big Ten Championship games that have featured the East vs. West format, the East has prevailed in each one. Ohio State has claimed five, Michigan while Michigan has won the last two, and Michigan State and Penn State sitting with one apiece.
By eliminating divisions, the conference would send the top-two seeds to play in the Big Ten Championship. In each of the last two seasons, the Buckeyes and Wolverines would have rematched against each other in Indianapolis the week after "The Game."
Other Power Five conferences that currently don't use divisions for their respective championship games are the Big 12 and Pac-12.
The Big Ten will have to make this decision moving forward under a new commissioner, as Kevin Warren was named the president and CEO of the Chicago Bears on Jan. 12.
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