Big Ten Announces Football Division Alignments And 2011 and 2012 Conference Schedules – Intercollegiate Athletics
The Big Ten Conference will have a pair of six team divisions starting in 2011. The alignments are as follows:

PENN STATE Illinois Indiana Ohio State Purdue Wisconsin

Iowa Michigan Michigan State Minnesota Nebraska Northwestern

No names have been given for the divisions, but I half expect them to be called the Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler divisions.

As for Penn State, I find it agreeable enough. Playing Ohio State and Wisconsin annually is attractive, though I’d happily have traded Indiana, Purdue or Illinois for Northwestern. Why? I’d like going to see the Nittany Lions at Northwestern due to the proximity of Chicago.

The Nebraska game is “protected” so the Cornhuskers will be on the schedule every season. I am thrilled about this because due to past history/antipathy, I think both sides will treat this as the biggest conference rivalry.

Here are the revised schedules for the next two seasons:

2011 Penn State Football Schedule Sept. 3 INDIANA STATE Sept. 10 ALABAMA Sept. 17 at Temple Sept. 24 EASTERN MICHIGAN Oct. 1 at Indiana Oct. 8 IOWA Oct. 15 PURDUE Oct. 22 at Northwestern Oct. 29 ILLINOIS Nov. 12 NEBRASKA Nov. 19 at Ohio State Nov. 26 at Wisconsin

2012 Penn State Football Schedule Sept. 1 OHIO Sept. 8 at Virginia Sept. 15 NAVY Sept. 22 TEMPLE Sept. 29 at Illinois Oct. 6 NORTHWESTERN Oct. 20 at Iowa Oct. 27 OHIO STATE Nov. 3 at Purdue Nov. 10 at Nebraska Nov. 17 INDIANA Nov. 24 WISCONSIN

Wisconsin as the final game of the season? Sounds cold. I’m on board with it though, I’ll be curious to hear what the Badgers I know think about it.

Ohio State gets to host Penn State this year and next. This is probably a “correction” for Penn State hosting Ohio State in 1994 and 1995.

At least initially, the 8-game conference schedule will be the norm, though a 9-game schedule may appear in 2015. Oh and Michigan-Ohio State will still be the last game of the season. All conference games will have a bearing on the standings as well, there was some concern only divisional games would count in the standings.