If we went to a 20 team conference, then get rid of out-of-conference scheduling all together. 13 games, all in conference, with schedule fairness/equality determined by previous years' win-loss records.
Divide the conference into 4 5 team pods, you play all 4 teams in your pod every season, as well as rotating with another pod every 2 years, and 2 each from the two remaining pods. That way you don't go more than 2-3 years without playing every team in your conference.
Careful. Some on this board think that permanently adding OU and Colorado to NU's OOC list now with the 9 conference game schedule is too harsh...and doesn't make sense.
No need to use my post to take silly jabs at other people. That's an entirely different scenario than what I am proposing, where over half of your schedule would still be P5 but not good teams.
I'll just lay out a quick hypothetical because I think it's interesting. Doing this in like two minutes so obviously it's not really about the details.
Pod 1
Nebraska
Oklahoma
Kansas
Minnesota
Northwestern
Pod 2
Michigan State
Oklahoma State
Kansas State
Iowa State
Iowa
Pod 3
Missouri
Michigan
Wisconsin
Indiana
Purdue
Pod 4
Ohio State
Penn State
Rutgers
Maryland
Illinois
Every year we would play our pod, one other pod, and two opponents from the two remainings (these would likely almost always be weaker opponents). So a hypothetical schedule (not in chronological order) could be:
Oklahoma
Kansas
Minnesota
Northwestern
Missouri
Michigan
Wisconsin
Indiana
Purdue
Iowa State
Iowa
Rutgers
Maryland
13 game all conference schedule with 8 safe bet wins. It'd be tougher, but if the landscape is going this way, and if the Big Ten pioneered it, everyone else would follow, and it would make for a better product overall nationwide, as well as greater conference affinity.