[NU Sports] The Big Ten's delusion of self-importance

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> My concern all along has been that having a conference
> championship game
> actually seemed to cost the Big XII some BCS slots over the
> years when the 
> higher ranked team lost.  
> 
> The Big Ten already has a reputation for taking itself out
> of the national 
> championship picture every year during conference play due

And here you hit on the reason why the Big Ten title game will have the opposite effect of the Big XII title game.

The Big XII title game - in most years - wasn't the two best teams in the league. Those two teams played in Dallas in October. The title game was a lose/lose for the Red River winner. Win and you get minimal points for beating an 8-4 north division winner, lose and you're out of the title game (except for Nebraska ... and Oklahoma ... and wait, how did this title game cost the Big XII again? :) )

The Big Ten title game is more akin to the SEC title game. The order may be in dispute, but adding UNL clearly puts the Big Ten in the top two with the SEC for football superiority. For years, the SEC hype machine at CBS repeated the mantra that an SEC team could lose a regular season game (since they take each other out in the regular season a lot, like the Big Ten), but still get into the title game by winning the mammoth clash in Atlanta. And we've seen 1 and even 2 losses not keep an SEC team from a title shot.

The Big Ten is the same way - you're going to slip up somewhere as there are too many tough games and too many tough road tests. What a title game does is give a team like OSU or Wisky a chance to rebound from an early October loss and get a big win over a top 10 team in December to make their case for the title shot. It wouldn't have worked this year because Oregon and Auburn won, but if one of them had slipped up and Wisconsin had a chance to roll over 11-1 Michigan State to move ahead of TCU, it could only have helped the Badgers' case.

A title game gives us the cushion that the SEC has had for years. Every other league has to get someone through undefeated to have a title game shot. The SEC and now the Big Ten can get one with one loss.

> That may wind up costing the 6 BCS conferences another
> at-large team slot 
> each year, and the Big Ten has definitely benefited from
> those slots.

If they do, it would likely come out of AQ spots for the weaker leagues like the Big East and ACC (maybe put conditions on them getting a bid) - the bottom line is still money and the SEC and Big Ten fill stadiums and draw viewers - they will have two every year unless Notre Dame returns to greatness or they have a down year.

> DESERVE three BCS slots.  2010 may have been one of
> them for the Big Ten.

That'd be nice too :) ... but that would take leagues like the Big East and ACC giving up their automatic bids. But I'm sure the fans in Miami or Phoenix would MUCH rather have LSU vs. MSU than their game this year - it would sell more tickets and get better ratings. There have been a couple times the Big Ten and SEC could have had three teams easily, but that won't happen unless the B(C)S adds the Cotton Bowl and gets two more bids to give away.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT