The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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michigan football Wisconsin made it to Pasadena the past three years. One of the biggest changes for Michigan involves being in the same division as long-standing rival Ohio State, meaning the two old adversaries won't be facing each other in the Big Ten Championship game. But they will continue to play in the last regular-season contest of the year and won't encounter each other in backto-back weeks, like they could in the present league configuration. Michigan State, meanwhile, remains in Michigan's division. While many Spartans fans are not thrilled over the prospect of their team having to face both the Buckeyes and Wolverines on a yearly basis, Michigan head coach Brady Hoke expressed satisfaction with the arrangement. "It was important for us to keep our rivalry games with Michigan State and Ohio," Hoke said. "Another component was keeping our game with Ohio on the last Saturday of November. "You'd prefer not to lose the annual rivalry with Minnesota for the Little Brown Jug, but it looks like by the new schedule beginning in 2016 we will still be able to play that game every two to three years. Those traditions and rivalries are important to us. "But in all, I think the new divisions work well for the conference, schools and, most importantly, the studentathletes." The nine-game Big Ten schedule creates inequities between conference schools, with half playing five home games and half playing four. But there will be schedule equality within the divisions themselves in any given year. East Division squads, like Michigan, will play five home games in the even-numbered years, beginning in 2016. West Division teams will get the five home contests in Big Ten play in odd-numbered years. League representatives noted every Big Ten team will face every other conference foe at least once in every four-year period. "Big Ten directors of athletics concluded four months of study and deliberation with unanimous approval of a future football structure that preserved rivalries and created divisions based on their primary principle of East/West geography," Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany said. "The directors of athletics also relied on the results of a fan survey commissioned by BTN [Big Ten Network] last December to arrive at their recommendation, which is consistent with the public sentiment expressed in the poll. "Big Ten directors of athletics met in person or by conference call six times from December to March to discuss a new Big Ten football model. The level of cooperation and collaboration was reflective of what we've come to expect from this group of administrators who have worked extremely well together on a number of complex matters over the past several years. We are all looking forward to ushering in this new era of Big Ten football." The league will be ushering out the "Legends" and "Leaders" division designations, which met with significant disapproval.