Big Ten considering a major change to divisions in years to come
In the near future, the NCAA Division I Council is set to pass a resolution saying that college football conferences won't need to have divisions to have a conference championship game.
Now, the Big Ten could be getting out ahead of the process. It's one of the conferences thinking of scrapping divisions soon, something confirmed by Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle.
But in so doing, the Big Ten wants to protect its historic rivalries.
"Whatever we end up doing, I just hope we protect those rivalries, because that's a big part of who we are and what we're about," Coyle said, via ESPN.
Big Ten football has played East and West Divisions since the conference expanded to include Rutgers and Maryland in 2014.
But the league has been unbalanced, to say the least.
East Division teams have won all eight Big Ten football championship games to date. The division features perennial national contenders like Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Penn State.
The Big Ten West has produced some regional powers like Wisconsin and Iowa, but is not producing the kind of teams that contend for the College Football Playoff.
The conference is home to some of the sport's most historic animosities: Ohio State vs. Michigan, Minnesota vs. Wisconsin, Michigan vs. Michigan State, and others.
Going forward, the Big Ten wants to increase parity in the conference, preserve its title game, and keep its rivalries while looking ahead to the future.
What exact form that will take, the conference is yet to finally decide.
(h/t ESPN)