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Message: [QUOTE="BigTenGuy, post: 5146890, member: 12979"] Actually it is very atypical of BIG WBB scheduling. Before this season, the BIG had a long-standing practice of using predicted order of finish to schedule double plays, i.e. the top teams would play more double plays against other top teams, etc. It wasn’t a perfect system, and teams still ended up with the tougher schedule (e.g. Iowa the last 2 years), but schedules were not terribly unbalanced. This year, with 18 teams and 18 game, there is only 1 double play. So the way to balance the schedule is the home-and-away allocation. The BIG dropped the ball massively here. UCLA and USC should have been split from Maryland and OSU, so teams that played 1 pair at home would play the other pair on the road. These are not only the top 4 predicted teams this year, but also likely the 4 best recruiting/talent acquisition schools in the BIG, going forward. Instead, 5 teams in the league will play UCLA, USC, OSU & MD all at home or all on the road. This threatens to skew conference standings. MSU, MN & Illinois play these 4 teams all on the road, which is a plus for them, IMO, setting themselves up with a very favorable home schedule. Wisconsin and Indiana get the BIG 4 at home. Seems like a real negative for Wisconsin, who will now play less winnable games at home. Impact for Indiana is less clear to me. [/QUOTE]