Keeler: The Big Ten’s biggest secret a secret no longer — and do the Hawkeyes consider Purdue a rival?

Well, that was — interesting.

As expected, the new Big Ten divisions for 2011 will be officially announced at 6 tonight on the Big Ten Network.

And, as expected, the details have — allegedly — already been leaked.

According to ESPN.com, the Indianapolis Star, and others, the breakdown shakes out like this:

Division 1 — Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State and Northwestern

Division 2 — Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana and Illinois

(Full disclosure/disclaimer: All of the above news organizations have cited unnamed sources. It’s the policy of the Des Moines Register and DesMoinesRegister.com to only cite named sources in news stories wherever possible.)

Assuming these reports to be on target, other than the two Illinois schools being split up, not much there that we didn’t already expect. (Thanks, Barry Alvarez.)

But when you start trying to figure out the “protected” interdivision games, things start to get a little more interesting. Some of them are obvious, of course:

Michigan-Ohio State (marquee game)

Northwestern-Illinois (trophy game)

Minnesota-Wisconsin (trophy game)

Michigan State-Indiana (trophy game)

… but then you’re left with Iowa and Nebraska on one side and Penn State and Purdue on the other.

If Nebraska gets a choice between Penn State or Purdue, well — that’s a no-brainer: JoePa vs. Tom Osborne? Oh, yeah. There’s history, gravitas, and, most importantly, marketability.

Which makes Iowa’s “protected” game in the other division as — um, Purdue.

Again: Interesting.

Ah, well. More details coming tonight.

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Tags: Big Ten, Big Ten alignment, Big Ten Conference, Big Ten Network, football

Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football