“I’m sympathetic to what Bob wants to achieve…”

Why does it seem like every time Jim Delany wants to start a conversation about something, the inevitable result is to screw somebody else over?

“I agree a conference should not have to expand in order to have a championship game,” Delany told ESPN.com. “That wouldn’t be right. That’s tail wagging dog. On the other hand, I want to have some familiarity — some knowledge as to how these things are going to play out. I don’t want unintended consequences. I don’t want to wake up one morning and see some odd structure that’s unfamiliar.

“We don’t think he should have to expand to have the same option we have,” Delany said, “but we feel he should have a structure similar to ours.”

The Big Ten’s amendment calls for championship games to be between two members that are divisional champions. Deregulation opens the possibility of having the top two teams in the league play each other without divisions.

Not that I disagree with him here.  The idea of a championship game for a conference without divisions… what’s the point?  Okay, okay, what’s the competitive point?  We know the reasons conferences like the Big 12 are jonesing for this are to manipulate the selection committee and make a few extra bucks.  But it’s a spectacularly pointless move for a conference that plays a round robin schedule, like Bob Bowlsby’s.

If Bowlsby winds up getting his way on this – admittedly, Delany’s just made that a lot harder – I truly hope the Big 12’s first championship game winds up knocking out its one school that had a clear shot at the playoffs.

9 Comments

Filed under Big 12 Football, Big Ten Football

9 responses to ““I’m sympathetic to what Bob wants to achieve…”

  1. Hogbody Spradlin

    Wasn’t Johnny Swofford hustling some kind of custom scheme 2-3 years ago, when the ACC was at its nadir, before FSU won the BCS game?

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  2. gastr1

    Wasn’t this year enough to show they can make the playoff without it? Seems even less purposeful after 2015, IMO.

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  3. Go Dawgs!

    You know what, Oklahoma? Beat Texas. Beat the worst team that the University of Texas has put on the field in two decades and Oklahoma would be in the playoff today without a conference title game. Take care of your business. If you don’t take care of your business, then you put it in the hands of the committee and you lose the right to whine and complain. Beat Texas.

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  4. old dog

    Delaney muddying the waters again…they ruined a good prick when they put ears on him…if he ever retires, I will go to the event just to make sure he leaves…

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  5. But why would you want the two best teams (if those aren’t division winners)? Wouldn’t you rather have an 11-1 team with no chance at a loss waiting for your other 11-1 team to go 12-1 so that you get TWO teams in?

    I guess I just don’t understand the thinking here.

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    • …sorry for replying to myself, but it’s like putting Miami and FSU in separate divisions because you thought they’d meet in the ACCCG every year, but you had them play as cross-division rivals.

      You should put them in the same division so that your undefeated and your one-loss team can both get in… Am I just wrong about this?

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