Even though I personally hate the idea of a 16 team B1G, if Emperor Delaney has decided it has to happen, Quad divisons could keep us from basically becoming two conferences where you play one team from the other side occasionally (like, every 8 years kind of ocasionally).
With the addition of, say, UNC and Duke it could look like:
(West) (North)
Nebraska Michigan
Purdue Minnesota
Iowa Illinois
Wisconsin Michigan State
(Central) (East)
Indiana Maryland
Northwestern Rutgers
Ohio State UNC
Penn State Duke
With a Nine game conference schedule meted out as such:
3: Teams from your division
4: Teams from rotating other division
1: Protected rivalry
1: If not in B1G contention, games chosen from teams also not in contention (Basically, an extra wildcard game to give teams on the edge a shot at bowl eligibility)
With a groundbreak "B1G Championship Series"
West v. North Semifinal (Hosted by school with better record)
Central v. East Semifinal (Hosted by school with better record)
Winner v. Winner Championship Game (In Chicago for Rose Bowl Bid/Playoff Spot/E.T.C)
Heres how it could play out, in a hypothetical 2014 season:
OHIO STATE (Central) Maryland (East)
OOC OOC
OOC OOC
OOC OOC
Indiana Rutgers
Northwestern UNC
Penn State Duke
Nebraska Michigan
Iowa Minnesota
Wisconsin Illinois
Purdue Michigan State
Michigan (The Game) Penn State (Maryland needs a rivalry)
B1G Championship Semi (Duke) Iowa (Out of B1G Contention)
B1G Championship (Wisconsin)
Michigan (North) Wisconsin (West)
OOC OOC
OOC OOC
OOC OOC
Minnesota Nebraska
Illinois Purdue
Michigan State Iowa
Maryland Indiana
Rutgers Northwestern
UNC Ohio State
Duke Penn State
Ohio State (The game) Minnesota (Battle for the Ax)
BIG Semi (Loss to Wisconsin) B1G Semi (Michigan)
B1G Championship (Ohio State)
This format limits travel to somewhat reasonable levels, allows all schools to see the others at least every couple of years, protects a relatively good number of the rivalries that make the Big Ten so great, and actually could make a little bit of naming sense. Which of course means we'll end up with three unbalanced divisions called Legends, Leaders, and Champions, but I digress. It's obviously not perfect by any means, and that wildcard game needs some work to hash out, but as a first stab at it, it could work.
