The Big Ten has NO interest in a championship game, a 12th is just another mouth to feed unless it's Notre Dame, and the Big Ten definitely doesn't need to expand/improve their market visibility.
<a href='http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/sports/college/pennstate/s_361134.html' target='_blank'>Big Ten staying put</a>
By Sam Ross Jr.
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, August 7, 2005
A football championship game and a full round-robin schedule are two concepts that seem to be dead on arrival when it comes to the Big Ten Conference.
Let other conferences please the television types with championship games; the Big Ten will have none of it. Similarly, even next year, when teams are allowed to play 12-game schedules, making it possible for this 11-member conference to play a full round-robin schedule and have two openings left to schedule either rivals or pushovers, or one of each, the Big Ten will stay with the status quo.
Argued from the standpoint of attendance, where the Big Ten has three of the top four teams nationally in average home turnout -- Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State -- there's no need to change anything.
But from a competitive standpoint, having two or more teams sharing the conference championship five times in the past 10 seasons, is unsatisfying on some level. Last year, it was Michigan and Iowa. Two times in recent memory, 1998 and 2000, there have been three-way ties for the top spot.
Also, the existing system of having Big Ten teams play just eight conference games, leaving two opponents to be missed each season, creates disparity in schedule strength.
Purdue is being picked to contend for the Big Ten championship and garner national recognition this season partly because of 18 returning starters and partly because the Boilermakers will not play conference heavyweights Michigan and Ohio State.
Joe Tiller, the Purdue head coach, was defensive on the subject.
"Some years the schedule rolls your way, and some years it doesn't," he said. "There are a lot of very good teams in the conference, so I don't think you can make any assumptions about any teams."
Feel free to assume that playing traditional doormat Indiana and recently struggling Illinois instead of Michigan and Ohio State will help Purdue's winning percentage.
Not only does Penn State play both Ohio State and Michigan, the Nittany Lions play them back-to-back. Unfair?
"A little bit. Just a little bit," Lions quarterback Michael Robinson said. "That's just the way things happen. We can't control how the scheduling happens, or the fact that we don't have a conference (championship) game. I wish we did. That would be great for the Big Ten Conference."
Penn State's break this year is avoiding Iowa, but the Lions also don't get to play Indiana one of their four wins last season.
First-year Indiana coach Terry Hoeppner was a notable exception at conference media festivities. While others griped about the prospect of playing 12 games, Hoeppner said. "Let's play 14 games."
Former Steelers assistant and first-year Illinois head coach Ron Zook, is no fan of a conference title game.
"The championship game is a little bit of a double-edged sword for coaches," he said. "You can play extremely well throughout the conference schedule, and then you get to the championship game and if you have an injury or something, you stumble, then you can get thrown out of the mix."
Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez panned the round-robin concept.
"I wouldn't be in favor of it," he said. "We talked about that years ago and I remember (former Ohio State coach) John Cooper bringing up the fact that the SEC doesn't have a round-robin and all the teams that go to bowls from that league. If you go to a round-robin you'll probably cost at least one team the opportunity to go to a bowl from your conference."
The SEC does, however, have a championship game and still sends a large contingent to bowls each year.
Joe Paterno, who long has supported a national championship playoff, doesn't like the concept of a 12th game, or adding Big Ten opposition in the regular season.
"The level of competition is so deep," he said.
Sam Ross Jr. can be reached at sross@tribweb.com or (724) 838-5144.
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