I went to an Ohio State Athletic Alumni Dinner this past weekend and the main topic of discussion was all about the Big10 eliminating the Divisions and putting the top 2 teams into the conference championship game. There are several factors involved in the decision: fan interest, national title/final four selection for football, and overall success of the Big10 championship game. Ohio State and Michigan are driving the ship on this issue along with Nebraska. Also very likely the Big 10 will be going to 9 or even 10 conference games to help drive TV revenue for the Big 10 Network and overall ticket sales for all conference schools.
It sounds like Ohio State and Michigan want to get very aggressive with scheduling for football moving forward. Both schools feel like a 2 loss Big10 team will still get into the Final Four for Football, thus more aggressive scheduling to help drive ticket sales and Big10 Network.