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After adding Oregon and Washington to its ranks, the Big Ten on Thursday announced the newest version of its future football schedules for the 2024 to 2028 seasons.

The conference had released a schedule format in June, but with Oregon and Washington joining its ranks, another release was necessary.

This most recent schedule will be formatted with what the conference is calling the “Flex Protect XVII” model, which will feature a combination of protected opponents and rotating opponents for the universities.

“We added two more [teams], but that changes everything. We got to go back to the drawing board and do this rotation again,” Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said on a conference call. “We’re staying with a lot of the principles that were in place when we did the original announcement back with USC and UCLA being integrated, the core concepts, competitive balance, connecting the whole conference. Trying to be mindful of travel, all those things are still in place here, protecting the traditional rivalries, all of those things are in this process.”

There are 12 guaranteed protected matchups within the new format that will be played annually: IllinoisNorthwestern, Illinois-Purdue, Indiana-Purdue, IowaMinnesota, Iowa-Nebraska, Iowa-Wisconsin, MarylandRutgers, MichiganMichigan State, Michigan-Ohio State, Minnesota-Wisconsin, Oregon-Washington and UCLA-USC.

Distance and travel have been a big part of the process for Petitti and Big Ten chief operating officer Kerry Kenny, as adding four West Coast teams created logistics questions that needed to be balanced for student-athletes and budgets. The conference worked with athletic directors on finding that balance and ensuring that things were working in the most efficient way for everyone involved.

“There’s an overall narrative that’s being painted that every competition that’s going to occur in the Big Ten is going to be a midweek game involving a team from Eugene against a team from Piscataway. That’s not really what we’re looking at here,” Kenny said. “We’ve taken a really thoughtful approach, not just to football but sport by sport, that’s going to be impacted by adding these four schools. And what is the most efficient way to create schedules, create opponent rotations in formats that try to minimize, to the extent possible, that time away from campus.”

Kenny said the mental and physical well-being of the athletes was at the forefront of the sequencing — things such as making sure that if a team is playing an away game two time zones over, it won’t also be playing a noon away game at a Central time zone school the next week. The conference took into consideration the weekly ebbs and flows of a season as well as bye weeks and Friday night games that might affect travel.

In the 2024 season, the new teams will feature several away games, with Oregon traveling to Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin and UCLA. The Trojans will play at Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, UCLA and Washington. UCLA will go to Nebraska, Penn State, Rutgers and Washington. The Huskies will travel to Indiana, Iowa, Penn State, Rutgers and Oregon.

Each team will play nine conference games per season, and teams will play rotating opponents no more than three times in a five-year period.

The 2024 season will be the first with no divisions and will feature 18 teams across the conference. Because there will no longer be divisions, the Big Ten championship game will feature the top two teams in the standings at the end of the regular season.

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Bedard hurt on last-second faceoff, out for Sat.

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Bedard hurt on last-second faceoff, out for Sat.

ST. LOUIS — Chicago star Connor Bedard was injured on a last-second faceoff in a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Friday night and will miss the Blackhawks’ game Saturday.

With 0.8 seconds left, Bedard attempted to win the draw to give Chicago one last chance, but he was knocked down by Blues center Brayden Schenn. Bedard grasped at his right shoulder and immediately headed to the locker room, accompanied by a trainer, while his teammates remained on the ice and the bench.

“He won’t play tomorrow,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said of the team’s game at home against Detroit on Saturday night. “I won’t know more info tomorrow, so don’t ask me tomorrow. At some point through the weekend, I’ll know more, so I’d probably have more info come Monday.”

Asked whether Bedard’s injury would be only short term, Blashill offered few details.

“I’d hate to say that without knowing the information,” he said. “Until we get the information, again, he’s not going to play tomorrow.”

Bedard ranked fifth in the NHL in points heading into the game, and he assisted on both of Chicago’s goals in the loss. He now has 12 goals and 25 assists.

He was pushed into desperation mode when the Blues iced the puck and a half a second was put back on the clock. Blashill said he’d have to see the play again, but his initial impression was that nothing dirty occurred on the play.

“Honestly, I think it’s a freak accident,” Blashill said, “to be honest with you.”

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Canucks trade Hughes to Wild for 3 players, pick

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Canucks trade Hughes to Wild for 3 players, pick

Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes was traded to the Minnesota Wild, the teams announced on Friday. It was a blockbuster deal in which Vancouver received three roster players — defenseman Zeev Buium, center Marco Rossi and winger Liam Ohgren — as well as a first-round pick.

It’s one of the boldest moves in Wild franchise history, and signals GM Bill Guerin’s hunger to win now after signing Kirill Kaprizov to the richest contract in NHL history this summer. The Wild have not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2015.

Hughes, 26, is a 2018 first-round pick of the Canucks and considered one of the best defensemen in the league. He is one of six players already named to the Team USA Olympic men’s hockey team. Hughes won the Norris Trophy in 2023-24 when he recorded a career-high 92 points for a first-place Canucks team.

However, a Hughes trade became increasingly inevitable after the Canucks got off to a poor start. Vancouver entered Friday in last place in the Pacific Division at 11-17-3 with a minus-24 goal differential. Late last month, the Vancouver front office sent a memo across the league that it was open to trading any of its pending unrestricted free agents. That did not include Hughes, who is under contract through the end of next season.

However, it empowered many general managers across the league to inquire about Hughes, who did not have any trade protection.

The Canucks got plenty in return. Buium, 20, is a 2024 first-round pick of the Wild and can inherit Hughes’ role as a true power-play quarterback. Rossi, 24, and Ohgren, 21, are also former first-round picks of the Wild.

Though Hughes never asked for a trade, many around the NHL believed he did not want to re-sign in Vancouver after his contract expired in the summer of 2027. The prevailing belief is that Hughes preferred to play for a United States-based team on the East Coast. Hughes spends his offseason in Michigan. His brothers, Jack and Luke, play for the New Jersey Devils.

According to sources, the Devils did make a trade offer for Hughes to reunite him with his two younger brothers. However, New Jersey couldn’t match what Minnesota gave up.

Minnesota began engaging with Vancouver about a week ago, according to sources, and the deal came together quickly. The Canucks received at least six other offers, according to sources, but Vancouver believed Minnesota presented the strongest overall package that can best set the team up for the future.

Hughes is not eligible to sign an extension with the Wild until July 1.

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San Jose State receiver Scudero to enter portal

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San Jose State receiver Scudero to enter portal

San Jose State wide receiver Danny Scudero, the leading receiver in FBS this season, will enter the NCAA transfer portal when it opens in January, he announced Friday.

The 5-foot-9, 174-pound redshirt sophomore caught 88 passes for 1,291 yards and 10 touchdowns in his first season with the Spartans, becoming a semifinal for the Biletnikoff Award and earning first-team All-Mountain West honors.

Scudero is expected to be one of the more coveted wide receivers available when the transfer portal officially opens on Jan. 2 and has two more seasons of eligibility remaining.

Scudero spent two years at Sacramento State before transferring to San Jose State after the 2024 season. He broke out with 189 receiving yards to open the season against Central Michigan and surpassed 100 yards in five more games, including a career-high 215 and two touchdowns against Hawaii.

Scudero’s 88 receptions ranked fourth-most in FBS, and he leads all receivers this season with 16 catches of 30 or more yards.

The Spartans produced the No. 14 passing offense in FBS this season but went 3-9 in their second year under coach Ken Niumatalolo.

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