Actually, I do kind of like the look of that. Still has the issue of the Central pod looking week from a historical perspective. But if you the flipped Iowa into the Central and made a couple other swaps with the lower teams the pods line up pretty well geographically (only Northwestern is a bit out of place - you could flop Illinois and Northwestern without changing much and the geography would line up a little better but I like my way better), balanced pretty well historically and might be a little better on the rivalries.....
East Pod: Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland
North Pod: Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Indiana
Central Pod: Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois
West Pod: Nebraska, Oklahoma, Northwestern, Kansas
Trophy Games - Green= in pod; Red=protected intra-pod (played every year), Black=if possible, trophy game not preserved)
Illinois -
Northwestern,
Ohio State, Purdue
Indiana -
Michigan State, Purdue
Iowa -
Minnesota,
Wisconsin,
Nebraska
Kansas -
Maryland -
Penn State
Michigan - Michigan State,
Ohio State, Minnesota
Michigan State -
Michigan, Indiana,
Penn State
Minnesota -
Iowa,
Wisconsin,
Michigan, Penn State, Nebraska
Nebraska -
Iowa,
Wisconsin, Minnesota
Northwestern -
Illinois
Ohio State -
Penn State, Michigan,
Illinois
Oklahoma -
Penn State -
Maryland, Ohio State,
Michigan State,
Michigan, Minnesota
Purdue -
Indiana, Illinois
Rutgers -
Wisconsin -
Iowa,
Minnesota,
Nebraska
It's kind of a coin flip to protect Nebraska/Wisconsin or Nebraska/Minnesota. I went with Nebraska/Wisconsin for two reasons: it's the best way to even out the schedules (toughens Wisconsin's, less-brutal for Minnesota) and because I like that one better.
The only Trophy games not preserved yearly - they would still be played every three years - are Minnesota/Penn State (Governor's Vicotry Bell - only started when Penn St joined the B1G), Minnesota/Nebraska (fun but not nearly the historical significance of the others) and Illinois/Purdue (Purdue Cannon..... eh).