Wine Online: Schedule Chatter

Aug. 30, 2009

• 2009 Fall Preseason Camp Central
• 24 Hawkeyes to Watch (2009-10 season)
• 2009 Football Media Fact Book
• 2009 Football Media Guide
• New and renewal season ticket customers: Purchase yours online!
• Iowa and the Big Ten Network
• gohawks.com
• Iowa Football wallpaper

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Big Ten football schedules are not what they used to be. Not by a long shot.

There was a time when the non-conference games were almost always against teams from another major conference or an independent of stature. For instance, Iowa played Notre Dame 24 straight seasons before the series ended in 1969. Non-league games were often as tough as Big Ten games. Sometimes more so.

But as schedules grew longer — from eight games in the 1950s to 12 games today — and bowls increased in number, non-conference opponents slowly became less challenging. With the longer season and more opportunities for a post-season appearances, the non-conference slates softened up.

Take a look at this year’s Big Ten schedules. Seven teams have only one non-league opponent that is part of the Bowl Championship Series, which includes six major conferences and Notre Dame. Here are the BCS foes those seven have lined up:

Illinois plays Missouri at St. Louis. Indiana plays at Virginia. Michigan hosts Notre Dame. Michigan State plays at Notre Dame. Northwestern plays at Syracuse. Ohio State hosts Southern California. Penn State hosts Syracuse.

Wisconsin does not face a BCS non-conference foe. The Badgers’ four non-league games are with Northern Illinois, Fresno State, Wofford — all at home — and at Hawaii.

Iowa is one of three Big Ten teams that has two non-conference BCS opponents — Iowa State and Arizona. The other two are Minnesota (Syracuse and California) and Purdue (Oregon and Notre Dame).

Although fans sometimes grumble about it, there is nothing wrong playing non-league games that have a lesser degree of difficulty. Winning those games can get you an attractive post-season berth, and fans do not grumble about going to a bowl game in a warm climate.

Perhaps the biggest flaw in Big Ten schedules is that each team plays only 8 of a possible 10 conference games. Some argue that the only way to produce a true champion is to play a round-robin schedule. That has been tried in the past, but never for very long. It gave Big Ten teams very little room to schedule non-conference games.

Each year the Big Ten schedules are analyzed to see which teams got the breaks and which teams did not. For Iowa, it looks like a push. The Hawkeyes do play Purdue, which is picked for a low finish, and Illinois, which is considered a contender.

Wisconsin dodges two teams thought to be contenders (Penn State and Illinois), as does Purdue (Iowa and Penn State).

Northwestern, which has a date at Iowa in November, has perhaps the most favorable schedule. The Wildcats could be 6-0 before playing at Michigan State in mid-October. Their first six games are with Towson, Eastern Michigan, Syracuse, Minnesota and Purdue. They do not play Ohio State and Michigan.

Illinois has the most unusual schedule. The Fighting Illini open with two non-conference games (Missouri and Illinois State) then close the season with two more (Cincinnati and Fresno State).

Schedules can be deceiving. Five years ago the Hawkeyes faced a rugged slate of games that included Iowa State and Arizona State among the non-league foes, plus Big Ten contenders Ohio State, Michigan, Purdue and Penn State. But that difficult schedule did not keep Iowa from winning 10 games and a share of the 2004 Big Ten title. The season ended with a memorable trip to the Capitol One Bowl in Orlando and a thrilling last-second victory over LSU.