November 17, 1934, was the last time Ohio State and Michigan played earlier than the last conference game of the Big Ten season. It appears the next time this happens could be as soon as 2011.

With the addition of Nebraska as the conference’s 12th team will come the separation of the league into two six-team divisions. The possibility that OSU and Michigan might be placed in separate divisions, allowing for a rematch in a conference championship game, has been discussed by officials at both schools as well as by Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany.

This setup would likely result in moving the rivalry game to an earlier date because participants wouldn’t “appreciate that match-up to happen twice within the same seven day period,” Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon told USA Today.

“One of the best things that could happen, in my opinion in a given season, would be the opportunity to play Ohio State twice,” Brandon said.

Others disagree.

“I don’t see how that would improve anything,” OSU football historian Jack Park said. “It would take away from something that was built up over all these years and I would see that as a negative.”

Whether viewed as a good or bad thing, a rematch may not be as likely as some think. According to calculations by Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, had Nebraska been added to the Big Ten along with Penn State in 1993, Michigan and OSU would have only met in three conference title games over the past 17 seasons. The potential for a fourth matchup would have come down to a coin flip between OSU and Wisconsin.

Furthermore, moving the game seems to be upsetting the fans.

“Over 90 percent of people want us to keep that game at the end of the schedule,” OSU athletic director Gene Smith said in a video statement released by the athletic department.

Park agreed that fans seem to be against a schedule change.

“I don’t know anyone I’ve talked to who likes what they hear,” he said. “I think most people are just shaking their heads.”

Park suggested that the importance of the traditions surrounding the game, such as the annual plunge by students into Mirror Lake, might be diminished.

Delany noted the significance of the fans as well.

“We’re not fan-insensitive, we’re fan-receptive and are only interested in doing what is going to grow our fan base,” he told ESPN.com.

Though Smith indicated that fans valued the timing of the game to be important, Delany indicated that the game’s implications could take precedence.

“You could make a good argument that Michigan and Ohio State should never really be playing for a divisional crown,” he said. “If they are going to play, play for the right to go to the Rose Bowl.”

Smith did not comment on if timing or implications were more important, but added that he is uncomfortable discussing the deliberations due to the sensitivity and uncertainty of the issue, though he emphasized nothing had been decided.

OSU coach Jim Tressel was equally reluctant to talk specifics, though he hinted at a preference to keep the game at the end of the regular season.

“What in my lifetime have I enjoyed?” Tressel said. “I’ve enjoyed being a part of and observing Ohio State and Michigan playing at the end of the season. But I’m not silly enough to think that my feelings are the only ones that are important.”

Though no decisions have been made on timing, it has been widely speculated that the game will continue to be played every year. Brandon suggests that might be all that stays the same.

“I’m just warning everybody change is good,” he said, “and change is going to happen.”