Following Wednesday’s announcement, the Pac-12 issued a statement saying that the league has abolished the division format from the upcoming season. How soon will other conferences follow?
WEST LAFAYETTE – The NCAA approved two major changes on Wednesday, including removing divisional requirements for conferences to decide who competes in championship games.
The Division I council also voted to eliminate the number of players a football program can enroll in a new recruiting class over the next two academic years.
The Big Ten will likely eliminate divisions at some point, but not for the foreseeable future.
Following Wednesday’s announcement, the Pac-12 issued a statement saying that the league has abolished the division format from the upcoming season. The top two teams compete for the Pac-12 title based on conference records.
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The Big Ten is not ready to go that fast. Look forward to the conference to maintain the East-West division format in the near term and is expected to await structure for the College Football Playoff, which will remain with four teams until after the 2025 season.
Eliminating divisions is an annual discussion among Big Ten athletic directors, but the topic wasn’t part of the agenda at recent conferences last weekend in Chicago, Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski said earlier this week.
“There are many different models that you should consider and evaluate, as you may want to plan for the future – how many opponents do you protect each year? What is the rotation by the rest of the teams?” Bobinski said during an interview in February.
The Atlantic Coast Conference aims to eliminate divisions and adopt a 3-5-5 scheduling format — three permanent games and five schools rotating every two years. Dumping divisions would allow for home-and-home matchups with every conference opponent in a four-year cycle.
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Can the Big Ten achieve that kind of balance in a 14-team league playing nine league games and how many rivalries need to be protected if divisions are eliminated? The Purdue-Indiana game is not going away, similar to the state of Michigan and Ohio. Other trophy games would remain, but some would not be played every season.
It’s no secret that the Big Ten East is the powerhouse of the two divisions and the top two teams usually come from that side of the conference.
If the league were to abolish the divisions, it’s not impossible to envision a scenario where Ohio State and Michigan could play in consecutive weeks. The teams currently compete against each other on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the Big Ten Championship game is the following weekend.
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Would a rematch in another week be good for the league and television? And what if it happens several years in a row?
From Purdue’s point of view, the elimination of divisions would make it more difficult to reach the championship game. By playing in the west, the Boilermakers know the six opponents they will face each season, along with the year-end game against Indiana.
After five seasons under Jeff Brohm, the program is in a better position to compete for the West title, but there is still plenty of work to do to reach the No. 1 position, as evidenced by the combined 1-8 record against Wisconsin and Minnesota. However, Brohm is 4-1 against Iowa and 13-7 against unnamed Western teams Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Without divisions, how the schedule unfolds — aside from the protective rivalry — would play a factor as Purdue moves to the top of the leaderboard. In the end, the Big Ten usually decides what’s best for the league and not for individual schools.
The NCAA Division I Council also approved a measure that removed the limit on signing no more than 25 players in a recruiting class. The number was increased to 32 in October to resolve transfer portal issues, but now a program can attract as many players as it wants in a single class, but no more than 85 grants in total on the list.
Mike Carmin covers Purdue sports for the Journal & Courier. Email mcarmin@gannett.com and follow on Twitter and Instagram @carmin_jc
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