Big Ten open to football postseason changes

With the future of the college football postseason up in the air, the Big Ten Conference prefers the status quo, but remains open minded to other options, including a four-team playoff for the national title.

Big Ten presidents and chancellors met Sunday for their annual meeting at the Big Ten offices in Park Ridge. Monday morning, University of Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman, Northwestern University Athletic Director Jim Phillips, Big Ten Commission Jim Delany and Big Ten Network President Mark Silverman shared the conference’s stance on the college football postseason via a teleconference.

In addition to discussing postseason prospects, however, Delany disclosed that the conference will distribute a record $284 million among its 12 teams (Nebraska will not receive a full amount for another few years). He said the $284 million comprises NCAA and bowl revenues as well as revenue from television deals with the Big Ten Network, CBS and ABC.

Perlman spoke on behalf of the conference presidents and said if they voted today, they would opt to stay with the BCS current system.

“We think, in many respects, it’s as good as you can do with obviously some changes about automatic qualifying and how the top two teams are selected,” Perlman said. “But we’re also realistic. That doesn’t seem to be the one that has gotten a lot of support.”

He said a plus-one system, in which the top two teams are selected for the national championship game after all bowl games are played, would be their second choice. A four-team playoff system would be the conference’s third option, and Delany took that plan a step further by suggesting a selection committee would be better suited to pick the top four teams.

Delany criticized the current method of selecting the top teams via computerized polling systems.

“Everybody recognizes that the present poll system is not a good proxy,” he said. “It’s flawed, it’s not transparent, it has people who have a stake in the outcome voting, it measures teams before they play a game.”

Delany emphasized the importance of finding a system that can move forward without as much criticism as the current one receives.

“No system is perfect,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s a pre BCS, a BCS or a post BCS system.” 

Conference commissioners, along with Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, are expected to discuss a new playoff proposal for the 2014 season when they meet in Chicago on June 20.