It seemed like a good idea in 2014.
Nine years ago, the Big Ten welcomed Maryland and Rutgers into the fold. The conference took the opportunity to scrap its wildly unpopular Legends and Leaders divisions, instead opting for a simple East-West arrangement. With Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State in the East and Wisconsin, Nebraska and Iowa in the West, the two seven-team groups seemed fairly balanced on paper.
That was to be a mirage, as the Wolverines’ 26–0 win over the Hawkeyes Saturday in the final East-West Big Ten championship marked the 10th straight victory for the league’s eastern contingent. The conference is dropping divisions next year, when USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington will join the league.
With divisions going away next season, the Big Ten West finishes 0-10 all time in Big Ten Championship Games pic.twitter.com/WgUafQAd6p
— PFF College (@PFF_College) December 3, 2023
There were some close calls—Iowa nearly eked out a memorable victory over the Spartans in 2015, and the Badgers came out on the losing end of dogfights with both Penn State (’16) and the Buckeyes (’17 and ’19).
The defensive-minded, grayscale, slightly silly Big Ten West could never quite break through—ironic considering the first two Big Ten championships were won by... Wisconsin.
