How Big Ten football's 'Flex Protect Plus' will replace divisions in conference scheduling
As the Big Ten has continued to expand, new problems have emerged for one of college football's most prestigious conferences.
Trying to schedule USC and UCLA coming off the West Coast was going to be difficult enough. But the additions of Washington and Oregon cast further doubt on how the Big Ten was going to create a fair and reasonable football schedule.
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti spoke with Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic regarding some of the issues facing the Big Ten, including the incoming dissolving of East/West divisions in favor of the "Flex Protect Plus" scheduling system.
The model as Petitti discussed is to be introduced in 2024, when the Big Ten adds four Pac-12 schools. It includes 11 protected football rivalry games, including Michigan-Ohio State, Michigan-Michigan State and UCLA-USC. Odds are, Oregon and Washington will have a protected game too. In addition to the rivalry games, there will be rolling "two-plays," which is a home-and-home of sorts.
With regards to divisions, Petitti told Auerbach outright they "don't really work."
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“[Divisions are] very difficult to balance because they’d have to be large,” Petitti said. “And secondly, if you’re playing nine conference games and you’re breaking into divisions, you’re playing so much against your own division that you’re not really crossing over. The inability to see other teams and really connect the conference is not ideal. So, there’s a competitive aspect to it, but there’s also a practicality."
Unless the college football schedule were to lengthen, it's true it would be very hard to get crossovers unless non-conference games were eliminated. “We want our members to see each other as frequently as we can make it happen," Petitti added. "The system that we have does that. Divisions would make that way more complicated.”
What is Flex Protect Plus scheduling?
Flex Protect Plus is in talks to be added in lieu of the traditional East and West divisions in the Big Ten.
The idea is to get teams playing each other more frequently, and the schedule is essentially being made two years at a time. The protected games in Flex Protect Plus scheduling are currently:
Michigan vs. Ohio State
Michigan vs. Michigan State
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin
Iowa vs. Wisconsin
Minnesota vs. Iowa
Iowa vs. Nebraska
Indiana vs. Purdue
Illinois vs. Northwestern
Illinois vs. Purdue
Maryland vs. Rutgers
USC vs. UCLA
"Two-plays" are two-game series played in back-to-back seasons. Examples include Michigan playing Maryland in 2024 and 2025 and Ohio State playing Illinois and Northwestern in both years. Each team will have three two-plays, and protected games will count toward that number.
What is unclear is how Washington and Oregon factor into this. The addition of the Border War to the protected games docket seems like an inevitability, making it a total of 12 protected games. The bigger question is if they'll have games against USC and UCLA preserved.
Petitti took over as Big Ten commissioner in April, and was immediately cast into this drama. The additions of Washington and Oregon have complicated things, and the lack of a completed 2024 schedule speaks to that complication. However, based on Petitti's verbiage, don't expect wholesale changes or the return of nine-team divisions. For 2024 and 2025, we should see some tweaks to bring the Huskies and Ducks into the fold.
From there, it's going to be about adjusting on the fly.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Big Ten football 2024 schedule: Explaining 'Flex Protect Plus' model
