The SEC has successfully twisted itself into knots over whether to play an 8- or 9-game schedule once Texas and Oklahoma come aboard next season. The Big Ten has no such problem.
On Thursday, the conference announced each team's opponents for the 2024 and '25 seasons. The league will play a 9-game format without divisions, which was already known, but what was not known was how it would handle pre-existing rivalries within that format.
The conference's answer: the Flex Protect Model.
In short, instead of awarding each team three protected rivalries, the Big Ten has designated a select few games that will be played every single season. Iowa has three protected rivalries (Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin). Michigan has two (Michigan State, Ohio State). Penn State has none. Somehow, the Maryland-Rutgers series survived but the Ohio State-Penn State series did not.
The Flex Protect Model gives every Big Ten team a set of three opponents it will play in both 2024 and '25, and unequal number of teams it will play beyond 2025.
Teams in white (see: Iowa) will be played every year. Teams in blue (see: Penn State) will be played in 2024-25, then rotate off the schedule in 2026. Clear as mud?
The conference also announced each team's opponents for the 2024 and '25 seasons.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.