ESPN has reported that the Big Ten Conference has unveiled its new football divisions. Starting with the 2014 season, the year Maryland and Rutgers will join the conference, the Big Ten will realign into two 7-team divisions that will be based on geography. The new divisions will be named "East" and "West" and they will be aligned as follows:
EAST: Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, and Rutgers.
WEST: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, and Wisconsin.
Unlike the Big Ten's current divisions, known as Legends and Leaders, the new East-West arrangement will not feature protected crossover rivalries. The only exception to this rule will be for Indiana and Purdue, whose rivalry, known as the Old Oaken Bucket Game, will be protected as an annual interdivisional contest. More information can be found at ESPN's website:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9191768/big-ten-conference-realign-teams-replace-division-names-east-west-sources-say
Update: Last Sunday the Big Ten Conference formally announced the new East-West divisions. In addition, the conference will adopt a nine-game league schedule starting in the 2016 season. Each team in the new scheduling format will play every school in its division along with three teams from the other division.
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