One of the biggest opponents to a college football playoff, for years, has been the Big Ten. Now, it appears, that may no longer be the case. The Big Ten is now attempting to be a leader in organizing a formal college football playoff, which would use a four-team format to determine a true national champion in the sport.
The Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein reports that the Big Ten is reviewing a playoff plan that would take the top four teams form the BCS standings and place them in national semifinal games to be played on the campuses of the higher seeds, with a championship game played on a neutral field in a traditional BCS game setting, which could be up for bidding between potential hosts, similar to the way the Super Bowl location is decided.
If this format had been implemented this past season, LSU would have hosted Stanford and Alabama would have hosted Oklahoma State in semifinal games, unless a rule was made to ensure home field was reserved for conference champions. The winners of those games would have met in a championship game, which was played in New Orleans this past season.
"We have to listen to the fans; we cannot be tone-deaf," said Northwestern athletics director Jim Phillips, who chairs the Big Ten's Administrators Council, to The Chicago Tribune. "The Big Ten is open and curious."
For the Big Ten to be openly discussing a potential playoff is a significant shift in philosophy by the conference, which has always been one of the vocal antagonists of a college football playoff format.
"There is a very strong sense that we have missed the boat and are playing games too late," Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany told the Tribune. "I think sports fans are conditioned to playoffs. I don't begrudge them that. They're looking for more games, but we're trying to do the right thing.
"It's a matter of coming up with something that does not kill the baby with the bath water. We have a regular season that is vibrant. We have 12 games plus a (conference) championship game — that's a lot of games. We have academic calendars, though that doesn't resonate with many people. But if you're dealing with university presidents, faculty and coaches, you're talking about it."
There are still a number of hurdles to jump before getting a playoff in college football's top level but to know that the Big Ten might be open to the idea is one of the first obstacles to be cleared. The Big Ten was one of the many turning down the idea of a plus-one system proposed by the SEC and supported by the ACC. The Big Ten was not alone of course, the rest of the BCS AQ conferences and Notre Dame also giving thumbs down to the format proposal.
The BCS system is also taking time to self-evaluate itself, with executives meeting following the BCS Championship game to review a number of possible changes for the future, with no option being left off the table.
According to The Chicago Tribune, a new system for FBS postseason play could be approved sometime this fall, which would take effect in the 2014 season.
Kevin McGuire is a national college football writer for Examiner.com and the host of the No 2-Minute Warning podcast. He can be reached at cfbexaminer@gmail.com.
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