Tate's view

DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa wants to maintain rivalries with Wisconsin and Minnesota in a realigned Big Ten — and get one started with Nebraska.

Iowa athletic director Gary Barta told The Associated Press on Thursday that Iowa wants to have the Badgers, Cornhuskers and Gophers on their football schedule on a regular basis, if not every year.

The Big Ten is expanding to 12 teams in 2011 by adding Nebraska and is moving to divisional play and a conference championship game. Barta said he's expressed his desire to keep those three border rivalries intact to Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, though he's not yet sure how the new Big Ten will look.

"Is there a way for us to play those three schools every year? I don't know yet. It's likely that it won't work out that we play all three of those schools every year," Barta said. "But I'm confident that we'll play that combo on a regular basis, and maybe in some cases on an annual basis."

Wisconsin and Minnesota have long-standing rivalries with the Hawkeyes that predate both World War I and the forward pass.

Iowa and Wisconsin first began facing each other in 1894 and they've played for the Heartland Trophy since 2004. The Hawkeyes hold a narrow 42-41-2 edge over the Badgers.

The Hawkeyes and Gophers rivalry is best known for "Floyd of Rosedale," the bronze pig given to the winner. Though Floyd has spent much more time in Iowa City than Minneapolis in recent years, Minnesota owns a 59-42-2 advantage in a series that began in 1891.

Iowa has only faced Nebraska six times since 1946 and just twice since the early 1980s. But the pair would seem to be a natural fit for a rivalry given their proximity, geographical similarities and on-field success.

Nebraska could use a new rival, too. The Huskers are leaving behind Big 12 schools like Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri that they've played for decades.

"Because Nebraska is new, there's a lot of discussion about how that would play out. And I think because we're a border state, I think it would be a terrific rival right out of the gate," Barta said. "But none of that's been finalized yet."

Barta said the Big Ten is down to "two or three" division models, which are based on competitive fairness and traditional rivalries. Barta declined to give a timeline for when the Big Ten will announce the model it's selected, but he said it shouldn't take too long because schools have to start planning for 2011.

"No matter how we slice this, no matter how we set it up, it isn't going to be exactly the same for every school. It's not going to be perfect. That's something we realized early on," Barta said. "But I'm very comfortable it's going to be great for the conference, and I'm very comfortable that it's going to be a great setup for Iowa."