Why the Big Ten Needs a 12th Team

Call it the Second Big12 if you want, but it is about time the Big Ten goes out and finds a 12th team. There are several reasons why the whole conference would benefit from the additional opponent.
If there were truly 10 teams in the Big Ten, there would not be a problem. They could simply do what the Pac10 does and play 9 conference games. But the Big Ten screwed that up when Penn State joined in 1993. Don't get me wrong, Penn State is very beneficial to the Big Ten, it just makes things a little more complicated when it comes to football.

This is the 16th season that Penn State has been a member of the Big Ten Conference, and this is shaping up to be the 8th season in that span that ends with a tie for the conference championship. Sure, there are tiebreakers to decide who goes to the Rose Bowl, but not to decide the true Conference Champion. A 12th team would allow the conference to split into two divisions and have a Conference Championship Game to decide the title outright.

Another reason to add a 12th team is it would increase how often rivalries would be played. There are currently 12 traveling trophy games played between Big Ten teams, and only 7 are played every season. This is due to the problems in scheduling. Teams only have two permanent opponents. If there were two divisions, each team would have SIX permanent opponents, allowing more rivalries to be played uninterrupted.

Now I know you're ready to jump all over me and ask: But Aaron, who are we going to add? That is a great question. While the popular answer is Notre Dame, that will never happen. Their contract with NBC will allow them to be Independent until the end of time. The team I would want to pursue if I was James Delany would be Syracuse University. They may not be currently strong in football, but they historically have been, and would also bring a very good basketball program. The Orange would also bring in a traditional rival for Penn State into the conference, which the Nittany Lions do not currently have. Perhaps most importantly, the very large fan base from New York City would be brought into the conference.

If Syracuse was the team added to the Big Ten, here is what the football divisions could look like:
EAST WEST
Michigan State Iowa
Michigan Minnesota
Penn State Wisconsin
Ohio State Illinois
Syracuse Northwestern
Indiana Purdue

The scheduling would work as follows: Play all 5 teams in your division PLUS the team directly across from you every year. The last two conference games are played through a rotation of the remaining five teams.

By having the divisions set up this way, 11 of the 12 traveling trophies would be played for every single season. Minnesota-Penn State would be the only exception.

There are pros and cons to every decision the Big Ten makes. If they followed this advice, the pros would far outweigh the cons, and the conference would be on the right step back to restoring it's image as one of the best conferences in college athletics.