CHICAGO — In the most stringent scheduling criteria among all Power Five conferences, Big Ten teams have committed to play nine league games, one mandated nonconference game against a fellow power league and no longer schedule Football Championship Subdivision opponents beginning in 2016, Commissioner Jim Delany said Friday.
The scheduling guidelines set the Big Ten apart from its Power Five peers. The Big 12 Conference and Pac-12 also play nine league games; among the three, the Big Ten and Pac-12 each hold a conference championship game. No other league, however, will mandate at least one Power Five opponent and the elimination of FCS foes from its schedules.