Tue 5/15X
Hawkeye Nation
Big Ten Spring Meetings Wrap
Big Ten Spring Meetings Wrap
Source: Hawkeye Nation by jonmiller
The Big Ten is holding their annual Athletic Directors meetings in Chicago and Jim Delany is talking more this year than he has in past years.
That makes sense when comparing this May to that of May 2010. At that time, the league was cloaking itself in privacy, trying to keep the media off its trail as well as off the trail of the Nebraska Cornhusker’s interest in joining the league. They did a decent job of that right up until the end.
This year, the topic at hand is a football playoff, what it will look like and how the Big Ten and Pac 12 go about protecting their Rose Bowl tie in.
Delany said this week that the Big Ten (coaches, admins, etc) are in favor of a playoff system that incorporates the best of the bowl system. That may not cater to the Big Ten getting on campus home games, but as long as the league can keep its tie in to the Rose Bowl, it seems like foregoing the on campus opportunities makes some sense to the league.
As to how the teams would be chosen, Delany gave this quote that I saw on ESPN, and it’s a mouthful:
“That would mean if we’re going to use computers, people are more up front about what’s in those computers,” he said. “It would mean perhaps the pollsters that we have would have to refrain from ranking teams before they ever play. It would mean we would have to honestly discuss strength of schedule and how we measure it. … If a computer guy is unwilling to explain to me and everybody else what’s in his program, I don’t think it ought to be part of the process. If a coach is arguing for championships, I’d like to hear the rationale behind that. If someone is arguing that you don’t have to win championships and they’re willing to live with a poll that is not even transparent, I’d like to hear that. And I’d like to hear coaches talk about the influence that a poll-only process, how that plays out in the nonconference scheduling.”
Obviously, a playoff solution is still a ways off, but the parties involved are on board with a playoff of some nature, most likely a four team playoff.
I agree with Delany related to many of his comments above; I’d love to know how the computer guys do what they do. As much as I love preseason polls, it does make more sense to wait until at least October before publicizing the first poll. However, the AP will probably stay separate from the solution in any case and they will conduct their own preseason poll which would probably have at least some effect on whatever poll is decided upon.
I am up in the air related to whether or not a team should be a champion of its league to qualify for the four-team playoff. A few years back when Michigan and Ohio State played a season ending game, they were 1-2 in the nation and the game was a high scoring affair decided by three points with the home team winning. You can’t tell me that the Big East Champion was more deserving than Michigan, who lost that game to Ohio State. This year, we saw a repeat of the Alabama-LSU regular season game which LSU won at Alabama but lost in the rematch. Alabama not only didn’t win the SEC title, it didn’t win its division, yet it won the national title.
Circling back around to the bowl system, Delany also said that the league is in favor of only sending teams to bowl games who have won at least seven regular season games. He also hinted that the league’s bowl partnerships may be changing following 2013 when the contracts are up.
I’d love to see the Big Ten maintain its relationships with the Outback and Cap One bowls, but if I had to pick one over the other, I’d keep the Outback. I’d love to see the league get back in touch with the Alamo Bowl, as San Antonio is a fantastic bowl destination. If it did that, one or both of the lesser Texas bowls would need to go. I’d love to see the Big Ten tie into the Holiday Bowl and have a match up against a Pac 12 team and give the bowl a marquee New Years Day position. I think playing a bowl game in the Phoenix area is also a winner, regardless of what they call it (the Insight is done as the official sponsor).
Changes are coming to the college football post season and it sounds as though the bowl process will remain a vital part of the landscape.