Iowa is not playing in a bowl, so I have some time on my hands. Specifically, from now until next fall. To avoid actually talking about the Hawks, the question I kept asking was why would the B1G pick Rutgers and Maryland? No one is sure Rutgers delivers that many t.v. sets or cable companies. And Maryland? Was Emperor Delany afraid the B1G was landlocked, and needed an outlet to the sea? Rutgers and Maryland did not make sense to me. But I have absolute confidence in Emperor Delany. So I got to thinking. . . maybe Delany finally did it. Maybe he convinced Notre Dame to join the B1G late this fall.

Here is how I imagine the whole thing went down--

First, Delany told ND they risk being on the outside looking in if there are four playoff spots for four super-conferences.

Second, Delany told ND he could fix it so ALL of ND's historic rivalries remain intact. Imagine ND's nonconference schedule looks like this: Navy, Stanford, and USC. Next, imagine the B1G, now sixteen teams, is divided into four team "pods," an idea I've seen kicked all over the internet. Here is where it gets fun. The pods look like this:

• Leprechauns: Notre Dame, Pitt, Purdue, Indiana
• Leaders: Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland
• Legends: Michigan, Michigan State, jNorthwestern, Illinois
• Lutefisk-Lefse: Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota

The protected rivalries look like this (open to suggestion):

• Ohio State/Michigan=protected.
• Maryland/Pitt=protected
• Notre Dame/Michigan State=protected.
• Rutgers/Indiana=protected
• Nebraska/Penn State=protected
• jNorthwestern/Minnesota=protected
• Iowa/Illinois=protected
• Wisconsin/Purdue=protected

What works really slick for scheduling a 16 team conference with protected rivalries is to look at the B1G schedule in four blocks making up 12 games:

1. Non-Con (4 games)
2. B16 At Large (4 games, round robin)
3. Intra-Division/Pod (3 games)
4. Protected Rivalry (1 game)

I actually went through and set up the rough schedules using a proprietary formula consisting of a downloaded scheduling program and a lot of duct tape.* The four At Large games come from a straight round robin schedule that I ran for 3 years (3 yrs x 4 games = 12 total weeks x 16 teams = 96 total games). Each year you just go to the list and plug in the games. When they play again, reverse home and away. Do not lose the list.

The At Large scheduling is crude, but effective. There are some duct tape fixes to remove Intra-Division and Protected Rivalry games from the round robin schedule. I made biased changes to the list, but I showed my work.** It was not hard.

I know these pods and protected rivalries are not perfect, but they preserve a whole lot of existing B1G rivalries and trophy games. Sorry little brown jug and land grant, you are not every year events. These pods pass the eye test for historic competitiveness and geography. Not every team plays every year, but the B1G doesn't accomplish that now.

I put the protected rivalries at the end of the year each year for each team. Michigan and Ohio State should like that. I think it would be a lot of fun if rivals are the final test for teams looking to get into the B16 Championship game.

To get back to the point about ND, their base schedule can look something like this in most years: Navy, Stanford, USC, Pitt, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan State and Michigan some years. Plus, ND has history with Northwestern, Iowa and Nebraska. And they still have a non-conference game to rotate around to Georgia Tech, Air Force, Army, or Miami. All rivalries protected.

Third, Delany told ND bring along whoever you want, and ND picked Pitt. ND and Pitt have played almost every year since 1909. Also, Pitt is AAU. Even if Penn State hates them, they fit in the B1G Ten pretty nicely geographically and academically. Most importantly, ND picked them, and they are no worse than Rutgers or Maryland. No offense new guys.

Fourth, So, why Maryland? Delany told ND that by adding Maryland he could get ND out of its prior ACC deal. Maryland is a natural because it is a nice AAU State school that connects the geographical dots.

Fifth, Delany told ND that by adding Rutgers, the B1G possibly picks up the NY cable market. Rutgers alone may not bring the NYC market, but a network carrying ND, Ohio State, Michigan and Nebraska is a national network. That network sells in all markets.

Sixth, and most importantly, Delany told ND we will make more money than can be printed. The B1G distributed about $24 million per team in 2011-12. The yearly distribution likely goes up exponentially if you add ND to the network. Like I said, what cable company can refuse to add the network that carries ND, Ohio State, Michigan and Nebraska? The Big Ten network would become a national network, not a regional network. NBC cannot even approach offering ND that kind of money.

The Notre Dame to the Big Ten deal was already done before Thanksgiving 2012. Maryland wasn't the 13th team in the B1G. Notre Dame was 13th. Pitt was 14th. Rutgers was 15th. And Maryland was actually the 16th team.The calls to Pitt, Rutgers, Maryland went like this: "Hi, this is Jim Delany, and I'd like to give you $30 million dollars a year, but I'd like your answer . . . Okay then, welcome to the Big Ten."

The only reason for the delay of the announcement was to let ND focus on the national championship. Sometime in February, I will be looking for an announcement from Notre Dame and Pitt.

Welcome to the B16, where we always consider them rolled.

*These are rough, I know not every team has a perfect schedule, I just wanted to see if it could be done.

2014 Big 16 Conference Schedule: Leprechauns Division ROUGH

2014 Big 16 Conference Schedule: Leaders Division ROUGH

2014 Big 16 Conference Schedule: Legends Division ROUGH

2014 Big 16 Conference Schedule: Lutefisk&Lefse Division ROUGH

**