Michigan, Ohio State Divided In Big Ten's New Divisions

By Justin Worsley

Despite much protest from fans, the Big Ten has separated it's conferences biggest rivals, Ohio State and Michigan.

The re-alignment, which takes place in 2011 when Nebraska joins the conference, is broken down to two currently unnamed divisions.

Ohio State joins Penn State, Wisconsin, Illinois, Purdue and Indiana in one division while Michigan joins interstate rival Michigan State as well as Purdue, Nebraska, Northwestern and Minnesota in the other division.

Despite being separated, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney hasn't fought tradition. Ohio State and Michigan will still play each other in the conference finale each year. The separation of the two teams opens up the opportunity for both teams to face each other twice a year, once during the regular season and a second time during the conference championship game.

The first Big Ten football championship game will be hosted at Lucas Oil stadium in Indianapolis, home of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.