http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-footbl/sp...13aad.html

The Big Ten released the 2018 and 2019 schedules. The conference has always released future schedules a lot earlier than most and given that they want to start scheduling some conference games earlier season, they are trying to get further ahead so non-conference games can be properly planned around with plenty of notice.

For 2018/2019, these are the highlights I've taken away.

1. We can see a lot more of the effects of "dynamic" scheduling they have been talking about with the 9 game conference schedule. For the first 4 years of the set-up (2016-2019), every team has one team in the other division they play all 4 years. They are Ohio State/Nebraska, Michigan/Wisconsin, Penn State/Iowa, Maryland/Minnesota, Michigan State/Northwestern, Illinois/Rutgers, Purdue/Indiana (locked crossover).

2. There was talk about how the season ending games would go in both the east and the west. In the west, they decided to keep Nebraska/Iowa and Wisconsin/Minnesota.

3. In the east, it's looking like a full rotation is going to occur between Michigan State, Penn State, Maryland, and Rutgers. We already knew in 2017 that Penn State was playing Maryland instead of Michigan State. Now we know in 2018, Penn State finishes again with Maryland and then in 2019 finishes with Rutgers. That means we'll probably see Penn State travel to Rutgers to end the season in 2020 and then start back with Michigan State in 2021.

4. More early season games, but not big ones. In the first 3 weeks of the season (where we would normally have non-conference play with a 9 game schedule), we have a few conference games. In 2018, we have Rutgers playing at Ohio State in week 2. In 2019, we have Rutgers play at Iowa week 2 and Ohio State play at Indiana week 3. I suspect we'll see a lot more of this in future years.

My opinions:

I'm fine with the season enders. I kind of liked the idea of Nebraska/Wisconsin, but Wisconsin/Minnesota's season ending history is a lot longer than Iowa/Minnesota's was so it's probably still the best move. In the east, a full rotation seems fair. If one of the match-ups turns into a big rivalry feel then you can eventually turn it into the season ender every year.

I don't like the dynamic scheduling at all. The idea is to match top teams against each other more for TV purposes (in particular Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State vs. Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Iowa). I'd prefer fully rotating through the other division (outside of playing Indiana/Purdue slightly less since they need that game locked). If we are going to with this approach though, then I'd have preferred only 2 years on with a team. Rather than 4 straight years, why not just 2 with one of the opponents and then switch them up.

I'm not a fan of early season conference games, but I understand the desire for TV. With that in mind, these two years aren't bad. I'm hoping the Big Ten follows these guidelines with early season conference games.

1. Only 1 in first four weeks. That means teams can complete non-conference play if desired before their 2nd Big Ten game.
2. No conference games week 1. Let the teams get one game in to warm-up before conference competition starts. (Ohio State is playing Indiana week 1 in 2017 unfortunately so this probably won't go into effect).
3. No games you expect to be really big in September. It sucks when the top teams have already played early in the year and there is less to build up for.

Agreed on really all of what you're saying. Its interesting Rutgers will only see Northwestern once in the first 6 years in the conference while we'll play Illinois 4 years straight in 2016 - 2019.