If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that nothing is certain in college football.
Just a few short weeks ago, the Big Ten announced that two more PAC-12 schools would be joining the conference in 2024 — Oregon and Washington. Alongside the additions of UCLA and USC, the conference will expand to 18 teams next year. Earlier in the summer, the Big Ten released its 2024 and 2025 football schedules along with protected rivalries and rotating opponents, but the addition of the Ducks and Huskies makes the current plans void.
The plan for the conference is to do away with divisions entirely and the top-two teams in the conference would play for the Big Ten Championship.
Ohio State’s Ryan Day raised concerns over this. He noted that though the annual rivalry with Michigan is played in the final weekend of the regular season, if both teams qualify for the championship game beforehand, it makes the regular season meeting less impactful if the Wolverines and Buckeyes meet again a week later. Instead, he suggested moving The Game to earlier in the season.
The Big Ten has said they remain committed to the Flex Protect Plus model of scheduling, but with the league’s continued expansion, it may be best to not just keep divisions but expand them.
Along with that expansion, the Big Ten could hold its own conference playoff tournament featuring four teams.
Divisions and Playoff
This proposal creates three six-team divisions with each division winner earning a bid to the conference tournament. The fourth spot would be a wildcard team featuring the program with the best record outside of the division winners.
A new East Division would feature Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State.
The Central Division would feature Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Finally, the West Division would feature Iowa, Nebraska, Washington, Oregon, UCLA and USC.
Using the 2022 season as an example, joining Michigan and Purdue in a conference playoff would have been USC and Ohio State. As for seeding, that can go based off the Associated Press or College Football Playoff rankings. Michigan would be the top seed, followed by the Buckeyes, Trojans and finally Purdue.
This proposed tournament would take place over the first two Saturdays in December instead of just the first.
Logistical issues
On paper, this proposal sounds like a college football fan’s fever dream. While it could very well be implemented, there are some issues with making it a reality.
First, this would add another game which in general increases the risk of injury to student-athletes but also that championship game would fall during what is traditionally finals week. These players are supposedly students first, and an added game during exams could pose eligibility issues and added stress during an already demanding week.
With the College Football Playoff also expanding next season to 12 teams, an added conference game could increase a Big Ten team that ultimately makes the CFP title to five added games — that’s 18 potential games in a season.
In 2024, the Big Ten Football Championship is scheduled to take place on Saturday, Dec. 7. With an added conference playoff game, the Big Ten title would be decided on Dec. 14 instead. With the first round of the new CFP beginning on Friday, Dec. 20, that gives potentially just six days off for a conference title participate.
One could argue that dropping a game from the regular season would allow more time for a conference tournament as well as off-time for finals and rest, but it’s far more likely that games would be added than taken away. More games equals more money, after all. Alternatively, instead of Week 0 games, Week One could just begin a week earlier, allowing for time off before the bowl season begins and more games overall.
Just two years ago, an idea such as this would have been laughed at and mocked. But after months of massive realignment amongst the Power 5, maybe a Big Ten football tournament doesn’t sound too far-fetched?
