How will USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten alter the scheduling moving forward? CBS Sports took a dive into how that could play out with a fun new model that should make Spartans fans happy.
With USC and UCLA joining the league in 2024, it’s widely considered that the Big Ten is going to scrap divisions. If they do, then the most practical scheduling option would be the 3-6-6 model — which gives each school three permanent annual rivals and alternates between the other 12 schools every other year.
This model was what Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports used this week in creating his projection for each team’s three permanent rivals. See who Fornelli has Michigan State playing annually once the Trojans and Bruins join the league below:
Michigan
My thoughts: Well this was an obvious choice, right? There’s no way that Michigan wouldn’t be one of the Spartans’ annual permanent rivals that play every season. This is one of the Big Ten’s best rivalries and it will continue as always when USC and UCLA join the league.
Rutgers
My thoughts: Someone has to get stuck with Rutgers, and I’m honestly not that mad if it’s the Spartans. Yes, this isn’t going to be a game that fans are clamoring for but the possibility of having an often routine victory over one of your permanent rivals is a good thing. Especially, with the other two projected permanent rivals for Michigan State.
USC
My thoughts: This is the one that got me most excited. We knew Michigan State would get Michigan and figured they’d get a lower-tier team as their second permanent rival but the third one was going to be interesting. Fornelli gave the Spartans USC as their third permanent rival and that would be a home run for Michigan State. Another team to consider would be Penn State but I personally would rather have USC as an annual matchup.
Rest of Big Ten Permanent Rivals
Click on the tweet below to see Fornelli’s complete permanent rivals for each Big Ten team:
Figuring out how to determine three "permanent rivals" for every school in the new 16-team B1G that would make everybody happy is impossible, so I tried to show everybody how impossible it is. Here are your three rivals. Thanks, you'll hate them, and me.https://t.co/rVrPQltPNk
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) February 23, 2023
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