It was a good run for the Big Ten West, going an impressive 0-10 in title games since the conference moved to the East-West structure prior to the 2014 season. As the Big Ten moves into the world of 18 teams, gone are divisions, and with them, a straightforward way to assign participants in the conference championship game.
While on the field East vs. West was far from even, it was the most fair way to determine the participants in Indianapolis. Now there will likely be multiple teams with equal records — and unequal strength-of-schedules — that all have a legitimate claim for a spot in the championship game.