Iowa A.D. is happy to get season-ending game with Nebraska

It’s a new era for the Big Ten and the Iowa football program. On Wednesday, the Big Ten announced how the league would align into two divisions beginning in 2011 when Nebraska joins the league. Iowa will enter a division with Minnesota and Nebraska, along with Northwestern, Michigan and Michigan State. The Hawkeyes will play those five schools annually — plus Purdue as a cross-divisional rival — each year. The opposite division consists of Wisconsin, Illinois, Penn State, Ohio State, Indiana and Purdue. In 2011, the league will play its first title game. Playing Nebraska each year excites Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta, and the Big Ten shifted Iowa’s traditional end-of-season rivalry game from Minnesota to Nebraska. Iowa will play Nebraska on Thanksgiving weekend in 2011 and 2012. The Hawkeyes had ended their league season with Minnesota in 25 of the past 27 years. — World-Herald