Quick Notes: Big 10 Scheduling and a Transfer

-The Big 10's athletic directors (including Tim Pernetti) held a meeting in Chicago last weekend, and and they agreed on a couple future scheduling revisions, that will not become official until this summer. The AD's, along with league commissioner Jim Delany, have decided to expand each team's conference slate from 8 games to either 9 or 10, and they also agreed to no longer schedule FCS (D1-AA) teams. These rule will probably not be implemented until 2016.

A nine game conference schedule is much preferable to eight, but a ten game conference schedule just seems excessive. The Pac 12 and Big 12 both play nine game conference schedules, and ten games would be setting new ground. Most athletic departments need seven home games to balance their budget, so being locked in to five conference road games a year would likely prevent teams from scheduling home and home series with major programs from other leagues. A nine game schedule gives you the flexibility to schedule out of conference road games on they years you have five conference home games, and it still allows you to play every team in the other division every two or three years or so (assuming they get rid of the cross over rivalry rule).

Not scheduling FCS teams anymore is a good idea in theory, but it may not be for the best in practice. This move probably is intended to improve strength of schedule, but if teams are going to schedule cream puffs from a non power conference instead, it's not going to have that big of an impact. Additionally, playing FCS teams usually allows you to get a look at your back ups and youngsters when the game gets out of hand, and not that it really matters from the Big 10's perspective, but the pay outs from these games are extremely important for the FCS programs' financial health.

 -Punter Nick Marsh has transferred from Utah to Rutgers. Marsh will have one year of eligibility remaining, and he can play right away, since he is receiving his undergraduate degree from Utah this spring. Rutgers was targeting a punter in this recruiting cycle, and they will end up with Marsh after Australian Dean Crozier was not cleared to play by the NCAA. The Knights now has three kicking specialists on scholarship, and that's really not ideal, even though Marsh will only be there for one year. Marsh was primarily the kick off specialist and rugby punter at Utah, and he will presumably have full time punting duties at Rutgers.