Editing Big Ten Conference (section)

====Football: the return of no divisions====
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In June 2023 – after UCLA and USC were confirmed as incoming members but before Oregon and Washington were added – the conference announced that starting in 2024, the East and West divisions for football would be eliminated. Each team would play nine conference games and three non-conference games, as before. Within a four-year period, each team would play at least two games against every other team – one at home and one away. This plan called for 11 [[#Protected matchups|protected matchups]] to take place every year; these included [[Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry|Michigan–Ohio State]] and ten other regional rivalries. At the end of each season, the top two teams in the conference standings would oppose each other in the [[Big Ten Football Championship Game]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Adam |last=Rittenberg |date=June 8, 2023 |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/37820350 |title=Big Ten to Introduce 'Flex Protect Plus' Football Schedule Model in 2024 |work=ESPN |access-date=June 13, 2023}}</ref>

The addition of Oregon and Washington added one more protected matchup to this count, bringing the total to 12 protected matchups: [[Illinois–Northwestern football rivalry|Illinois–Northwestern]], [[Illinois–Purdue football rivalry|Illinois–Purdue]], [[Old Oaken Bucket|Indiana–Purdue]], [[Iowa–Minnesota football rivalry|Iowa–Minnesota]], [[Iowa–Nebraska football rivalry|Iowa–Nebraska]], [[Iowa–Wisconsin football rivalry|Iowa–Wisconsin]], Maryland–Rutgers, [[Michigan–Michigan State football rivalry|Michigan–Michigan State]], [[Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry|Michigan–Ohio State]], [[Minnesota–Wisconsin football rivalry|Minnesota–Wisconsin]], [[Oregon–Washington football rivalry|Oregon–Washington]] and [[Victory Bell (UCLA–USC)|UCLA–USC]], leaving Penn State as the lone school with no protected matchups. The schedule was also updated so that teams will play every other conference opponent at least twice – once home and once away – and will play rotating opponents no more than three times in a five-year period.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bigten.org/fb/article/blt39fc5a9dd81251cf/|title=Big Ten Conference Announces Future Football Schedule Formats for 2024–28|date=January 2024 }}</ref>