The Big Ten won't be changing its name, but will soon change a lot of other things, including a possible move to a nine-game conference schedule in a few years.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany is flanked by Penn State's Joe Paterno and Nebraska AD Tom Osborne as the conference announced some preliminary plans when the conference officially expands with new addition Nebraska in 2011.CHICAGO -- Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany stood in the middle Monday, with Penn State coach Joe Paterno on his right and former Nebraska coach and current athletic director Tom Osborne on his left. That photo told the story the Big Ten wanted to sell at its conference meetings.
"I assume they wanted people who were really old in the same picture," Osborne said.
Penn State and Paterno joined the Big Ten 20 years ago and Nebraska and Osborne won't officially enter the league until next July, but expansion, and change, was the topic of the day in Chicago.
In the absence of certainties, here are the probabilities explained by Delany on Monday.
• The name isn't changing. That's for sure.
"The Big Ten is the Big Ten regardless of the number," Delany said.
• A championship game is coming for 2011, but there is so much else going on, Delany expects that the league will pick a host site for just one year, because there won't be time to fully evaluate the options. That could bode well for Indianapolis, which already hosts the league's basketball tournament.
• Osborne, who sat in on the athletic director meetings, said there was a lot of agreement on potential division alignment, but Delany said that likely won't be announced for another 30 to 45 days. Competitive balance remains the first priority, and Delany said records from 1993 on, when Penn State joined the Big Ten, will be used to judge that balance.
The primary question is whether traditional powerhouses Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State could be in the same division. Delany may have indicated that would be difficult.
"We would be inclined to try to create and move teams into divisions where the east division is as powerful as the other division," Delany said.
Delany said he could imagine Ohio State and Michigan in the same division or opposite divisions, but either way, they will play each other every year.
• A nine-game conference schedule, as opposed to the current eight-game schedule, appears to be on the horizon. Ohio State coach Jim Tressel has explained the school's previous position that playing five conference road games some years, and losing a nonconference home game, would cost an athletic program that supports 36 sports millions of dollars.
But Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith seemed more receptive to the idea if it helps the conference.
"I think to play each other more is what our fans want, and I think that's what the athletes want," Delany said.
He said he'd like to move to that possibly in as quickly as two years from now, but Osborne expected that already scheduled nonconference games would delay it until at least 2015.
Buckeye leaves: Tressel said fullback Jermil Martin has not been with the team this summer and won't take part in preseason camp, but otherwise the rest of the roster is on track to report on Thursday. Tressel said incoming freshman running back Roderick Smith is finishing an academic obligation and may have some paperwork to finalize, but he will be at Ohio State. ... Tyler Moeller, recovering from a head injury that cost him last season, is listed as the starting nickelback right now. Jermale Hines, who played that "star" position in the nickel in the past, would stay at his safety position in that defense. ... Junior Mike Adams will open camp as the leader in the left tackle fight, but Andrew Miller, Marcus Hall and freshman Andrew Norwell remain possibilities. ... The backup quarterback job is open as well, with veteran Joe Bauserman fighting redshirt freshman Kenny Guiton and true freshman Taylor Graham.