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I understand completely why to some fans it is not fair having to fly back to the Midwest or the East Coast for Big10 games 3 or 4 times per year. It is hard to keep from doing that with 9 B10 games on the schedule. There are only 3 other teams on the west coast and you don't play those teams every year. Let's say for this example Oregon played all three west coast B10 teams annually. That leaves 6 games to play to finish the conference. 2 of 3 OOC games are probably at home every year, 1 or 2 of those west coast teams would be home. So there is possibly 4 home games before any other B10 teams are played. IF 3 of those fly to Eugene to play that leaves a possible 7 home games for the year and 3 games "back east" ... so really there isn't a way to get around from playing B10 games "back east" 3-4 times every year. The big problem I see here while sitting in Indiana ... starting times. For all schools that are flying opposite directions to play conference games. Like Washington in 2024 in Bloomington. That was a BigNoon Fox thing so kickoff is 9am for the Huskies. When IU went to Eugene last fall that was a 3:30pm ET and no problem for an IU team traveling west. It will aways be advantageous for the other 14 B10 schools traveling west for games. TV tells the conference what games are going to be featured on THEIR times ... while not caring for starting times, where or who they played the previous week. Add that to a B10 office that has had mysterious scheduling in football and basketball every since they went from only 10 teams in the conference ... there isn't much hope for logical B10 scheduling.

Im in Washington DC.. justnlike most East Coast people our snow is now ice with now signs of melting anytime soon. Just terrible. High 20. Low 4

Actually IU's OOC became easier late in 2023 before Cignetti got there. Tom Allen was trying to save his job so he dropped Louisville who had won the year before. Before Allen could enjoy the fruits of his 2024 OOC schedule change he was fired at the end of the 2023 season with a cupcake schedule on the horizon. Cig shows up in November 2023. He and the AD wanted 7 home games and at the last minute dropped an away game at UVA in exchange for another cupcake to play at home. 2025 rolls around and Indiana State is on the schedule for two reasons. Their head coach is the son of the winningest coach in IU history, even with a losing record, Bill Mallory. The 2nd reason, their program had been close to bankruptcy in recent years where there was talk of dropping the football program. As a favor financially and as an honor to Mallory they were added on the schedule. In 2026 Indiana State will play at Purdue. Cig was not going to schedule JMU but to give a team a chance in that conference to do what they beg for, IU scheduled G5 Old Dominion. First play of the season their QB goes for 75 yard TD. Later after the game was wrapped up, their QB did another 70+ yard TD run. That QB transferred to Wisconsin after this past season. IU use to play Kentucky and Missouri every year on the OOC but years ago when the SEC went to 8 games they both canceled saying they could no longer play teams that were now called P4 teams. IU would usually win those games. When Lee Corse was HC at IU he went to USC, LSU, Arizona, Nebraska and Washington in their OOC games. Like all schools these OOC games are scheduled way in advance. For those that are always bashing IU easy OOC will be happy to hear that in 2030, after years of asking, Notre Dame decided to play IU home and home but only for two years. They would rather beat up Purdue every year like they have done forever. In today's world there is no reason for IU to play a harder OOC ... yet this year two of those teams won more than 10 games and both played in bowl games.

This might help. What did Northwestern do to make the B10 scheduler mad? Their bye is the 2nd week of the season.

IU has the same situation. That reminds me of a little bit of B10 history. When they had divisions IU would play OSU, Michigan, Penn State and a much better Michigan State team every year. Not really a good way to get over the hump in winning games. Most years they would play at least three of those schools in back to back weeks.

There are a lot of great matchups and on top of that new coaches that looked to be better than the ones they are replacing. My only question is how did Penn State not play IU, Ohio State or Oregon???

Thanks Darren for your entertaining article today! Amusing and full of memories and dreams for next season. I always look forward to reading your thoughts. One of my friends was a walk on D lineman and back then rules prevented him from the training table. So we would go to the local Buffet on South Willamette and eat. He helped educate me on the fine art of layering my plate and multiple trips back to the buffet. Man, could he consume the food! Me being a middleweight wrestler could never keep up with him. Thanks for the memory!

This morning's temperature in NW New Jersey is 4 degrees. Here are the forecast lows thru Sunday (yes, lots of snow on the ground with these temperatures will not melt anytime soon). Thursday - -2 degrees Friday - -1 degrees Saturday - 0 degrees Sunday - 6 degrees But the highs are better, we get a whopping 20 degree one day, the rest in the teens. Wind chill factors always can make it feel colder, but at this moment no wind today. 🥶 Phew!

Yes, sharing is caring, and, "Friends are better than ICE CREAM!" That line comes from a twisted scu-fi shortstop I read about a cloned, purple dinosaur that runs amok in a shopping mall... Sort of like Indiana did this season.

Here we are in late January, and the football withdrawals are hitting hard. What do I do with my Saturdays? I live up here in the cold of eastern Washington, so I cannot just go outside and find a project in the yard to work on. That is still a couple months away. Thankfully, I do have my Seahawks to ... Some Thoughts as the Football Withdrawals Kick In

Was at the dog park on Monday. Construction has slowed WAY down. Here's a pic of the Ferry Street bridge from Skinner's Butte, during the 1890 flood. The north entrance under water. Autzen would be built, much later.

That is one damned interesting post! You did that past 10:00 PM on a Tuesday night?

Here in Minden, NV (near Carson City), it has been the mildest winter of the 10 years I've been here. The house is at 4800 feet but has had one-quarter inch of snow all Winter. It is chilly with highs of 40-50 degrees but mostly sunny. I have three nearly 11,000 foot Sierra Nevada peaks out my front window that are snow-covered however. My bestie, who lives outside of Boston, has had 30 inches of snow with below zero wind chills the past couple nights. I know this native Californian is missing his old Santa Cruz County home these days, poor devil.

Yeah, I probably should have looked that up. In my defense, I did select for Indiana what I've always felt was the better acronym. I've always thought, "The University of _______" sounded better than "_______ University" • The University of Oregon > Oregon University • The University of Indiana > Indiana University Of course Oregon became a state in 1859 and the UO was founded in 1876, while OU wasn't founded until 1890 and Oklahoma didn't become a state until 1907. Oregon also played its first college football game in 1894 while Oklahoma wasn't until 1895. I see Indiana became a state in 1816 and Indiana University opened in 1820, while Illinois didn't become a state until 1818 and the University of Illinois didn't open until 1867. Indiana also played its first college football game in 1886 while Illinois wasn't until 1890. Are we sure Illinois didn't improperly steal UI from Indiana? (Just kidding of course, I get these things are rooted in history and tradition and I should have gotten it correct 🙂)

Since we have a lot of varied opinions, why not? It sounds like fun. (It gives us something to do) Tie breakers: Indiana's College Football Playoff ranking / Indiana's ranking within the B1G / total points scored At conclusion of regular season before B1G championship game Example: 10 - 2, 9, 3, 400 Anyone up for this?

Yes. And this is the reason many SEC teams are dropping future OOC games vs P4 opponents. I don't blame the SEC teams for doing so. Check out Indiana's 2025 consumption of cupcakes, rinse and repeat in 2026. It's plain as can be. You want better OOC games, go with Tony Petitti's automatic qualifier 16-team PO format.

Dallas cold and icy. Brutal NW winds but improving. Hopefully melted by thursday!!!

UCLA has a non-conference game with Nevada on Oct. 31. A quick search said that was the latest non-conf non-bowl for UCLA since the first Sat. in November in 1968 when they played Tennessee. Then, I remembered, UCLA played Fresno State the last game of the regular season in 2024. Like Oregon, UCLA will have 8 consecutive games after the bye, though one will be non-conf. Nevada. Northwestern has a bye the second week, then plays 11 straight. Oklahoma 8 straight after their bye. Syracuse and N. Carolina have 9, and a couple other ACC's have 8 after the bye. There are 3 nine's in the Big 12: BYU, ASU, Kansas. So, the single bye week this season means more teams will have a long stretch without a bye.

Upon further review and after a double vodka and tonic, in 2026, like 2024, Oregon is the only B1G team playing eight B1G games in a row. Whether OBD is the only P4 team playing eight in a row is under further, further, and perhaps another cocktail's review. That Illinois is off the week before Oregon travels to the Central time zone to play the Illini in front of CFB's largest stadium scoreboard is another B1G slap in the face. I need to look at the ACC, B12, and SEC conferences, but I will not be surprised if OBD is the only P4 CFB team playing 8-straight, possibly nine in a row if Oregon plays in the 2026 B1G champ game. Another preseason B1G title contender, Michigan, plays seven B1G games in a row. Indiana, USC, Iowa, Illinois, and UW play six. Ohio State and Penn State play five. Rob Mullens, where are you? Portland State's on the schedule, and OBD opens with Boise State? What the Hxxx, blast Boise!

Still might take a few years... After all they play in the best conference and now they have to play an additional game they'll need to be ranked even higher! (Insert sarcasm)

Probably not. We're the is outsiders still in year three. We can get the awful schedules and I think Lanning embraces that. I don't think it's a good thing but I think Lanning is going to spin it into one. Just pumping some sunshine is all.

And don't forget, the SEC now plays 9 conference games. No more padding wins. Half of the SEC will have an additional loss leading to 2-3 less ranked teams. Perception will finally start matching reality.

You could see this coming from 2136 miles away: the distance between B1G HQ in Chicago and Eugene.

A few of my observations: As other have noted, we have a very early bye this year (Week 5) along with UCLA. Only Northwestern has an earlier bye (Week 2 yuck). There is only one bye this year for the first time since 2023. There is no incentive to play in the conference championship game after playing 8 weeks in a row. When conferences were smaller and included divisions, conference championship games were rarely headliner affairs. Now, they are extra playoff games with seemingly no upside (unless you need the automatic bid). Illinois is the only team that gets extra time before playing Oregon (UCLA and Oregon have the same bye) - much better!! All non-west coast B1G teams have exactly one road trip to the west coast in 2026. West coast teams will make 3-4 trips back east across two or three time zones. Ohio St. has a nice trap game at USC prior to hosting OBD and coming off a bye after @ Indiana. Oregon catches a bit of a break with only three B1G trips back east and we get to play all three west coast teams, but didn't do ourselves a favor with the OOC Oklahoma St. trip. Hope it helps with recruiting.