The thing with a playoff system is that, most likely, only the conference champion and probably the Big Ten #2 would participate — 11 champions and 5 at large teams being the most likely option. So what a playoff would do for Big Ten football is to replace the Rose Bowl with a pretty good seed in a playoff, replace the Citrus Bowl with a bad seed in a playoff, and prevent the next 3-5 teams from playing a bowl game. At best, that’s a wash for the champion, a step up for #2, and not so good for the rest.

And if anything, it will make cupcake scheduling (*) all the more important. It’s not like March Madness, where there are enough at-large spots, and teams play enough games, that you can value tough losses more than pointless wins. You’d be required to either win your conference, or win all your non-conference games, to make the postseason.

I would certainly prefer to see a full round robin Big Ten schedule, with room left for a nice non-conference rivalry, and a cupcake.

(*) I can’t remember the last time Wisconsin played an interesting non-conference game (the game where the lights went out isn’t what I mean…) — they schedule more cupcakes than any team in the country — but it’s worked, to the extent that every Big Ten school that doesn’t play in the Michigan-Ohio State game has announced at one time or another in the last decade that they are “looking for our Barry Alvarez”.

I don’t really care about “preserving the bowls.” The whole thing is shot, the Rose Bowl no longer means anything, so lets just re-create March madness for football fans.

Then again, what on earth did Nokia have to do with Sugar that one year anyway? I mean, unless Cell Phones are the new Sugar, and Sugar is the new Oil… lol

Just because we’ve talked about playoffs and no playoffs A LOT, what if the playoffs incorporated the Rose Bowl? Would that keep you happy? First round game for the PAC-10 & Big 10 is the Rose Bowl. Winner keeps playing for the National Championship.