Slow news day in the Big Ten, isn't it?

Seems like the movement for Big Ten expansion has received a boost, at least according to Wisconsin athletics director Barry Alvarez.

The AD and former Badgers football coach told Wisconsin's athletic board today that he expects the Big Ten to increase its push to add a 12th member. The Big Ten hasn't expanded since adding Penn State, which began competing as a league member in football in 1993.

"I have a sense [Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany] is going to take this year to really be more aggressive about it," Alvarez told the board. "I just think everybody feels [expansion] is the direction to go, coaches and administrators."

It looks like Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, who has repeatedly advocated expansion in the Big Ten, has some allies.

Delany wasn't available to talk Friday, but he'll address Alvarez's comments soon enough. Delany has called expansion a "back-burner issue" in the Big Ten, but the league will examine it every 3-5 years, and this could be one of those times.

Most of us agree expansion would benefit the Big Ten, especially in football with two divisions, a championship game and a season that ended at the same time as leagues like the SEC and the Big 12. But as Delany often reminds me, expansion is about more than football, basketball or athletics, for that matter. It has to be the right fit.

I'm sure I'll have more about this topic next week on the blog.