The Big Ten conference, which will add UCLA and USC from Los Angeles beginning in 2024, is adopting a new scheduling format for football as a result. This change will eliminate the conference’s current East-West division for good, presenting opportunity for teams like Indiana.
The Hoosiers have been stuck in the Big Ten East, featuring historically vaunted opponents like Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and occasionally Michigan State, since 2014. The split actually came down to Indiana and Purdue with the schools’ rivalry and central location coming into play.
Ultimately, West Lafayette being located to the West of Bloomington left Purdue in the West and Indiana in the East.