The Big Ten office announced the conference schedule for the 2014 football season today, as approved by the Big Ten Directors of Athletics. The 2014 schedule will consist of eight games for each of the Big Ten’s 14 teams, feature a new division alignment, include the conference debut of Maryland and Rutgers and culminate with the fourth annual Big Ten Football Championship Game.

The Big Ten released 2013-14 basketball single plays Tuesday. See who all 12 teams will face only once this winter in this post.

The Big Ten has said that it wants schools to beef up their non-conference schedules. Well, so far, so good. Michigan is the latest school to add a marquee non-conference foe. Today, the school announced a home-and-home series with Virginia Tech in 2020 and 2021. The schools have met just one time, with the Wolverines beating the Hokies, 23-20, in the Sugar Bowl after the 2011 season.

It’s time to talk the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The event might be six-plus months away, but the 2013 matchups were released Wednesday afternoon.

The Big Ten office announced Wednesday the dates and opponents for the inaugural 2013-14 Big Ten hockey season. The schedule features 60 games, with all six schools – Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin – playing 20-game schedules.

Strength of schedule figures to be a big component of the criteria used to determine who will play in the coming four-team playoff in 2014. To that end, Wisconsin’s 2015 slate will get a big boost from having a game with Alabama on its slate.

Saturday afternoon’s Iowa-Nebraska game, originally scheduled for Thursday but postponed due to an impending winter storm, will air at 2 p.m. ET on BTN2Go, the Big Ten Conference announced Wednesday.

Nebraska and Iowa athletic departments, in conjunction with the Big Ten Conference, announced Tuesday afternoon that the Iowa-Nebraska game, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been moved to 2 p.m. ET Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

For the sixth consecutive year, BTN will televise seven winter Big Ten Championships, including men’s and women’s swimming and diving, wrestling, men’s and women’s indoor track and field and men’s and women’s gymnastics. Every event will be produced in high definition.

Talking on his radio show last night, Wisconsin A.D. Barry Alvarez said that Big Ten A.D.s have agreed to stop scheduling FCS schools in the future. Alvarez gave no indication on when Big Ten schools would stop playing FCS foes. But, it can’t happen soon enough in what often are little more than glorified scrimmages.

Penn State coach Bill O’Brien recently mentioned that playing a game in Ireland is in the works for his program. It’s a brilliant idea.

Here’s the full schedule for televised Big Ten men’s and women’s gymnastics events on BTN TV and BTN2Go.

Nebraska announced a three-game series with Northern Illinois in 2016, 2017 and 2019. The Huskies are one of the top non-AQ schools in the nation, advancing to the Orange Bowl this season to play Florida State.

The announcement last week that Nebraska and Oklahoma were renewing their rivalry was great news. The teams will meet on Sept. 18, 2021 in Norman, Okla., and in Lincoln, Neb., on Sept. 17, 2022.