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Now that Nebraska is a part of the Big Ten, the Big 10 is actually a 12 team league, while the Big 12 now truly has ten teams. Which of course makes a ton of sense. Like the 1995-2001 NFC West division in the NFL. It contained the Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, St Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints. Yes, nothing says “west” like two teams in the Eastern time zone, and two more in the Central.

Anyways, illogical naming aside, having NU in the Big 10 means 12 teams which=championship game. That means boku bucks, and it could start in 2011 or 2012. But where? The home of the Chicago Bears? Green Bay Packers? Indianapolis Colts? Cleveland Browns?

And this is a very different type of Big Ten Championship game from the one that existed during the Woody Hayes/Bo Schembechler era. That was known as Ohio State vs. Michigan, and it was the de facto championship game during the “Big 2, Little 8 era.” But we’re talking about a de jure championship game here. And given the way conference realignment will fall once the league splits into two divisions, I doubt we’ll see an OSU-Michigan title game ever.

That’s because in order to maintain rivalries, certain team pairings will be placed in the same division of the conference. Ohio St. and Michigan will no doubt get first priority.

And when that conference title game occurs, where will it be? Chicago’s Soldier Field and Green Bay’s Lambeau Field seem to be the leading candidates, and they’ve already expressed a formal interest in hosting. So has Cleveland, Indianapolis and Detroit. Then two more questions arise: should the game be at a fixed or rotating location? Indoors or outdoors?

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Big Ten GURU