Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany wants a nine-game conference schedule in football. Same goes for most, if not all of the athletic directors in the league.

But a nine-game Big Ten slate isn't a done deal just yet. The league is still trying to make sure its teams can reach a different magic number: seven.

"There's an intention to go to nine games," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told me, "if we can work out the sequencing of those games so that teams that have obligations on a home-and-away basis can end up with seven home games."

Most Big Ten teams play at least seven home games a year. Ohio State is playing eight this year, while both Michigan and Penn State played eight in 2009. Other squads have done so from time to time. On the flip side, both Northwestern and Indiana are playing only five true home games this fall.

Still, a schedule with fewer than seven home games could have major financial consequences for some of the Big Ten's athletic programs. It's up to Delany and his staff, in conjunction with the league's athletic directors, to outline the schedule while ensuring as many home games as possible.

Nine conference games means five guaranteed road games for each Big Ten team in every other year. In those seasons, several Big Ten teams would have to avoid any nonleague road games to reach seven home contests.

You can see why scheduling, more than any other factor, is holding up the division alignment process. Delany said the league's ADs more or less know what they want to do with divisions, but they don't want to make an announcement until the 2011 schedule (and hopefully beyond) can be nailed down.

A final decision on a nine-game Big Ten schedule would be made after the divisions and the 2011 slate are revealed. Delany reiterated that the extra conference game wouldn't go into effect until 2015 at the earliest.

"It’s not going to be [finalized]," Delany said, "until we can assure the athletic directors that given their nonconference commitments, we can figure out a way to get everybody, or near everybody, seven home games."

A nine-game Big Ten slate has its pluses, including the potential to protect more rivalries through crossover games between the two divisions.

"If you have nine games, including a crossover, you're going to play everyone on the other side six times in 10 years," Delany said. "Or, if you picked out a second [crossover], you could protect additional rivalries. It depends on what you want to do. One cuts toward protecting rivalries, the other cuts toward fairer competition."