Those who weren’t losing their shit yesterday over SEC expansion found another ball to pick up and run with:
Athletic directors of the newly expanded Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences found consensus on a “plus-one” football national-championship proposal at meetings early this week that could signal movement toward a revamped Bowl Championship Series.
Now the Times went on to note that the consensus didn’t even amount to a recommendation, but that didn’t stop folks like Dan Wetzel from letting visions of playoff sugarplums start dancing in their heads.
Of course, reality struck shortly afterwards.
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany on Saturday told the Tribune that conference athletic directors do not favor a “Plus-One” playoff system.
Delany termed a Seattle Times story reporting a pro-playoff “consensus” among Pac-12 and Big Ten athletic directors as “erroneous,” and Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott called it “incorrect.”
The Times got similar feedback in its followup.
The problem the ADs are struggling with – reducing the role of the Rose Bowl in years when it doesn’t host a national championship – doesn’t seem insurmountable to me. Where is it written that the first round of games have to be hosted by the bowls? Why not play the semi-finals at the home fields of the highest ranked seeds? You cut down on fans’ travel expenses, promote a real incentive for playing hard in non-conference games and leave the current significance of the bowls intact. It’s not that hard a concept to flesh out.
Besides, when Playoff PAC gets done, there may not be any bowls left to host games.
Get The Picture 
In 2007 I felt the Rose Bowl sidestepped a very nice matchup by inviting Illinois instead of Georgia. With this latest move, I again get the feeling that the PAC 12 and it’s alums on the Rose Bowl committee are snobbish and scared of the SEC. The Big Ten will be happy to go along to try and preserve bygone days.
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You are correct on all counts, Hogbody. Been there, done that and heard’em talk for 10 yrs. And that is precisely why they didn’t invite Georgia.
Although I’ve been a proponent of a Bowl Game for the Big One, it was from the standpoint of timerity toward the BCS and trying to win thought of coexistence with Bowls plus One. You are correct, Senator, in that it could be played elsewhere and the logic is evident.
That would be a good kickoff point for a national forum, but the networks may want to play footsy longer with the Bowl Committees.
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The Plus-One Game. Yeah….That’s the ticket.
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