They certainly lined it up nicely for Minnesota and Wisconsin in the West, being the two schools to avoid both OSU and PSU
Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska get both, but Iowa and Nebraska miss that next tier of Michigan and Indiana, while Illinois has to play the Hoosiers. So it certainly seems like the Illini drew the short straw.
That goes both ways, as OSU and PSU both miss UW and Minnesota.
As far as who plays both? Maryland and Michigan. But Michigan misses both teams from that next tier (Iowa and Nebraska), while the Terps play Iowa.
So they gave the 4 favorites the easiest schedule, and hosed Illinois and Maryland? Bad for creating a fun conference race, good for getting a team into the playoff I suppose