Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Big 10

At the beginning of a one-hour football special on the Big Ten Network, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany revealed the two divisions that will begin play when Nebraska joins the conference for the 2011 season.

They are as follows:

Division O: Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern, Minnesota
Division X: Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Illinois, Indiana

Now, the obvious reaction to seeing those two divisions is that the conference’s biggest and most national rivalry is the Michigan-Ohio State football game. Those two teams will be playing each other every single season in a protected crossover rivalry game. Of course, the real question now is: when will that game be played?

The last game of the season, just as they have since 1935.

“We looked at different places (on the calendar), we never did look at an October date, contrary to a lot of reports,” Delany said on the Big Ten Network. “We looked at a mid-November date and we looked at a final season date. And basically we decided to go with a final season date because we felt that, in part, that was a way to maintain the tradition.”

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