Big Ten seeking clarity on playoff expansion before addressing its nonconference scheduling policy
CHICAGO (AP) — The Big Ten appears to be in no hurry to change its status as the only major conference that doesn’t require its schools to schedule at least one nonconference game against another Power Four member each year.
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said this week at the Big Ten media days event that any proposed scheduling decisions would have to wait until a final decision comes on playoff expansion. The Big Ten is pushing for a 24-team approach to replace the current 12-team format.
That’s fine with many of the conference’s coaches and athletic directors.
“We’ve talked a lot about scheduling in our AD room and with our coaches about what’s coming next and what’s the right way to do things,” Petitti said. “I will tell you that our focus now is seeing clarity around the playoff and access and how that’s going to work before we make the next decision.”
Scheduling moves by other conferences have left the Big Ten as the lone holdout in this regard. The Big Ten has won the last three national championships, and none of those teams — Michigan in 2023, Ohio State in 2024 and Indiana last year — played a nonconference regular-season game against a Power Four program.
In the past, the Big Ten could point to its nine-game conference schedule as a reason it didn't need to force tougher standards in nonconference scheduling since some other Power Four leagues were only playing eight conference games.
That's no longer the case.
The Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference are adopting nine-game league schedules this year, and the Big 12 already was doing so. Those leagues make their teams have at least one nonconference game against a Power Four team or Notre Dame, though some Big 12 teams are using matchups with Washington State or Oregon State to fill the requirement because those games were scheduled before the previous version of the Pac-12 imploded.
Northwestern’s David Braun and Nebraska’s Matt Rhule said they would welcome a similar requirement, as long as the Big Ten gets its wish regarding postseason expansion.
“If we go into a 24-team playoff, it makes total sense,” Rhule said.
While most Big Ten teams regularly schedule at least one nonleague game against a major conference team, there are exceptions.
For example, this is the third straight season Indiana hasn’t played a nonconference regular-season game against a Power Four team. The Hoosiers host North Texas, Howard and Western Kentucky before opening their Big Ten schedule.
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said he could foresee college football eventually making changes that allow for a more uniform scheduling strategy among the leagues.
“We play who’s on the schedule,” Cignetti said. “I suspect down the road something will happen with scheduling, sort of standardizing scheduling. You’ve got two conferences (the Big Ten and SEC) that are head-and-shoulders sort of above the rest right now. I think there will be some standardization."
He said it wouldn't surprise him to see it in two or three years.
Other Big Ten teams not playing nonconference games against Power Four members or Notre Dame this season include Nebraska, Penn State, Southern California and Washington. This season is just the second time since World War II that USC hasn’t faced Notre Dame.
Maryland, Northwestern, Penn State, Rutgers and Washington joined Indiana in not scheduling non-Power Four teams last year. New Penn State coach Matt Campbell was asked this week what he’d think about the Big Ten requiring teams to do so.
“There’s been so much going on in our own world that I don’t even know if I can give you an educated answer to that from my standpoint of it … I still think this landscape is constantly shifting around us,” Campbell said. “I think as we settle in, maybe I’ll have a better answer for that when I know what our landscape is.”
That reflects the general lack of consensus among Big Ten coaches regarding whether teams should be required to include a Power Four program in their nonconference schedules.
“Everybody’s going to look at it differently,” said Minnesota's P.J. Fleck, whose team hosts the SEC's Mississippi State on Sept. 12. “I like it because I think playing a team like that prepares you for Big Ten play way earlier.”
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