The Big Ten Universities Rugby Conference has confirmed its schedule for 2017, and there are some notable changes to the nine-member league's regular season.

For the last few years, the Big Ten has essentially been divided by three tiers. One of those groups includes the top teams that are seriously competing for a league title: Indiana, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. The second tier contains the teams that sometimes challenge for that top group and sometimes slip lower. Michigan has been consistently in this group.

And the third group is the bottom-tier teams that have really struggled against the top group.

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So this year's conference schedule is designed to keep the Big Ten Universities together but not have teams in that third group get repeated heavy losses against the top group. Last fall, Indiana, Ohio State, and Wisconsin logged 10 victories by more than 50 points among them. So this year's conference will see those top three play each other twice for four of their league games. In addition, the other six teams will play each other once and one of the top three teams once.

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That gives each team six games. As in past years, the Big Ten playoff system gives the top team gets a bye to the final, and the second- and third-place teams play off for a spot in the title game.

This plan, of course, could earn a team from the lower group a better win-loss record than Indiana, OSU, or Wisconsin. However, that better record doesn't put that team in the playoffs. Any team from the lower group has to win its game against the top group to earn a place in that playoff.

It's a relatively complex approach, but league commissioner Tom Rooney said it's a good plan to keep all of these teams together -- and have a greater number of competitive games.

	Big Ten Universities 2017
DATE	AWAY		HOME
9/16/17	Ilinois	at	Iowa
9/16/17	Purdue	at	Indiana
9/23/17	Indiana	at	Wisconsin
9/23/17	Minnesota	at	Michigan State
9/30/17	Ohio State	at	Indiana
9/30/17	Michigan State	at	Illinois
9/30/17	Wisconsin	at	Minnesota
10/6/17	Michigan	vs	Michigan State
10/7/17	Ohio State	at	Wisconsin
10/7/17	Ilinois	at	Purdue
10/7/17	Minnesota	at	Iowa
10/14/17	Purdue	at	Michigan State
10/14/17	Wisconsin	at	Iowa
10/14/17	Ilinois	at	Ohio State
10/14/17	Michigan	at	Minnesota
10/21/17	Iowa	at	Purdue
10/21/17	Michigan State	at	Wisconsin
10/21/17	Indiana	at	Ohio State
10/21/17	Michigan	at	Illinois
10/28/17	Wisconsin	at	Indiana
10/28/17	Iowa	at	Michigan State
10/28/17	Purdue	at	Minnesota
10/28/17	Ohio State	at	Michigan
11/4/17	Minnesota	at	Illinois
11/4/17	Wisconsin	at	Ohio State
11/11/17	Big Ten Finals

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