Big 10 expected to change game rules allowing OSU to play in B1G championship.
December 9th, 2020 at 12:27 PM ^
I'm not surprised either, but with Indiana football pausing activities due to COVID-19 if they bar OSU that leaves - Maryland in the title game I suppose?
Ed: I forgot Maryland is only 2-2, so I guess that'd be MSU in the title game.
December 9th, 2020 at 12:54 PM ^
There are lots of ways to look interpret this decision.
That being said, my favorite sport of all is watching Big Ten Dilbert middle managers pull strings to help ensure the most profitable outcome, which is enabling OSU to maintain eligibility for the Playoffs.
Isn't that what sports is all about!
We need an 8 team playoff really badly at this point.
December 9th, 2020 at 1:05 PM ^
It doesn’t matter if nobody played any more than three (or insert some other total here) games total. The CFP was/is going to be Alabama,Clemson, Ohio State and either another SEC team or Notre Dame this year. Nobody had to even play a game. This is how things were rated at the beginning of the season, and so it shall be. There’s no point in even playing college football games anymore.
December 9th, 2020 at 1:27 PM ^
It's depressing because it's true. Will be the same next season: Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and pick your No. 4 team du jour.
Top recruits will keep flocking to those three schools to get guaranteed spots in the CFP, and the rest of CFB can serve as the warmup for their playoff games.
At some point real soon, CFB is going to need to expand the playoff to save itself from the playoff.
December 9th, 2020 at 1:32 PM ^
They seriously need to expand from 4 to 6 or 8...
December 9th, 2020 at 1:35 PM ^
And this year Alabama will curb stomp whichever team they face in the final. Bama is heads and tails the best at the moment
December 10th, 2020 at 6:49 AM ^
I think Bama looks like the best team too. Other than some defensive issues in their earliest games, they've looked excellent in all three phases. BUT, I can't assume they're the best until the CFP games are played. We honestly can't know who is really best.
The Domers look really solid to me too, especially in the trenches. I think they stand a chance against any team this year. I expect they'll beat Clemson again. Yes, I know, they won last time without having to face Lawrence, but the backup QB did every bit as well as Lawrence could have. The Domers beat the Tiger defense and special teams, while their defense was excellent against the run.
Ohio hasn't played enough games against anybody (Hoosiers are good, but don't have the skilled roster that the elite programs have); But we don't know that they aren't actually better than Bama, Clemson and ND either. Show of hands: Who here thought they could have beaten #1 Bama and #2 Oregon to win the first CFB championship like they did (with a 3rd string QB)?
December 9th, 2020 at 1:57 PM ^
Rick Neuhesiel on Sirius XM had a great idea. Every team gets the first game of the year to play whoever to tuneup for the season, then everyone play 9 conference games, and the next two weeks the respective teams in each conference play each other and then rotate the following week. This includes group of 5 conferences too and after the dust settles, use an 8 or 16-team playoff to determine the champion.
More teams are involved, more conferences have a chance and everybody that loses a game is not eliminated by week 4. And use the bowls as part of the playoffs. Save the top 4 for the quarter finals and semifinals and rotate the NC game. That way the New Years Six bowls will be part of the playoff and more schools are part of the playoff and the best talent won't all end up at the same 3 schools like now.
December 9th, 2020 at 5:34 PM ^
16-team playoff!
December 9th, 2020 at 2:39 PM ^
the logic i read was that the conference can scramble to rearrange to get ohio state a 6th game - ohio state could lose that game and would still be in the title game since they beat indiana head to head (with penix healthy). so it is safer just to amend the arbitrary rule created 2 months ago.
i’m sure kevin warren is also saying he would have amended for anyone, if it made this much sense.
December 9th, 2020 at 3:44 PM ^
I get the reasoning. OSU already beat Indiana. If they played a sixth game against anyone, they would've still been in the title game even if they lost that sixth game.
STILL. I think what the B10 should've said to OSU is:
"We aren't going to change the rules for you. But we will give you the option of "forfeiting" the game against Michigan, and having it count as your sixth game."
I feel like that would've made everybody happy.
December 9th, 2020 at 4:27 PM ^
ummmm yeah, we are the ones that canceled but they will forfeit. You really think Kevin Warren has that much power? hhahahahaha
December 9th, 2020 at 4:56 PM ^
So does this open the door for 2 teams from the same division to play in the championship game in the future? What if Penn State, Michigan, MSU or whomever are clearly better than anyone from the other division? Should everyone get together to throw out the agreed upon rules for the matchup that’s most beneficial? This actually seems completely plausible with this new president being set. You can’t just put this one back in the box, the president has been set now that the league can get together and usurp there own rules in order to achieve the desired outcome
December 9th, 2020 at 12:28 PM ^
If this happens, I believe all 14 schools have to agree including Indiana and Northwestern
December 9th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
If that's the case, it's not happening, because WHY would Indiana EVER agree to that?
December 9th, 2020 at 12:43 PM ^
Is the B1G going to give them a cut on the side to step out of the game? Because, providing OSU beats Iowa in the crossover game next weekend, they're going to the playoff anyway.
December 9th, 2020 at 2:54 PM ^
Exactly, as long as some meat-headed shitsack in Columbus will not pay his lot rent to buy the lates Fields jersey O$U will always get a pass because they will bring in money. . .
December 9th, 2020 at 12:44 PM ^
There doubt now that Indiana - with Covid running wild on that team - can play in the B1G championship. Who would go - Maryland
December 9th, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
Heh. Who knows.
(Can we please all agree that this season is complete bullshit, any way it goes down?)
December 9th, 2020 at 1:07 PM ^
Maryland wouldn't have played 6 games. Michigan State, under first year head coach Mel Tucker, would play NW for the Big Ten title.. No thanks lol
December 9th, 2020 at 4:59 PM ^
Any accusations of Indiana ducking the big ten title game?
December 9th, 2020 at 12:46 PM ^
why would Warde ever agree? 1973 Rose Bowl. Never forget.
December 9th, 2020 at 12:51 PM ^
Because he is on the verge of hiring Tom Allen
December 9th, 2020 at 12:58 PM ^
I'd like that hire. And we get away from that "Michigan Man" BS
December 9th, 2020 at 12:57 PM ^
Remeber1973
December 9th, 2020 at 1:05 PM ^
Personally, I don't blame OSU for voting for themselves in 1973. The swing vote there, though, was MSU. So when there's a need to 'remember 1973', lets point the finger at Little Brother...
December 9th, 2020 at 1:18 PM ^
Remeber. It's remeber.
December 9th, 2020 at 1:31 PM ^
Coreection-“let’s point our middle finger” at MSU
December 9th, 2020 at 1:04 PM ^
Because they won't be able to play anyway.
December 9th, 2020 at 1:05 PM ^
WHY would Indiana EVER agree to that?
Also why would NORTHWESTERN ever agree to that? I mean, if I'm NW, I'd much rather play an IU squad that meets the quals everyone agreed to in the beginning, rather than changing the rules to play osu.
December 9th, 2020 at 12:28 PM ^
This just illustrates that the point of the original rule was to keep a team like Indiana out of the championship game.
December 9th, 2020 at 12:38 PM ^
Indiana just paused activities. If things go the same there as they did here, they won't even be able to play.
Maryland is next and they don't have six games either. This means the next option is MSU at 2-4 in the championship game vs. Northwestern.
Look, even if we play and beat OSU, they still win the division. Keeping them out serves no realistic purpose and only makes the conference look foolish for pinning themselves into an arbitrary number in a season filled with infinite variables.
December 9th, 2020 at 12:44 PM ^
Valid point. The Old Oaken Bucket game is likely a no-go this weekend, too. (Doesn't Purdue ALSO have their own issues?)
December 9th, 2020 at 12:53 PM ^
So let the conference look foolish then. They already smacked a pie in their own face by announcing, canceling, and uncanceling a season, it's not like it can do itself much more damage.
December 9th, 2020 at 1:25 PM ^
Yes, they can. Shooting yourself in the foot just to prove that it was your choice and that you were allowed to shoot yourself in the foot all those other times is stupid. At some point you need to make a logical decision.
December 9th, 2020 at 2:26 PM ^
Good illustration of the "Plaxicolation Theorem".
I think it's essentially been disproven, although some in the Lansing area still subscribe to it.
December 9th, 2020 at 1:03 PM ^
Maybe I'm just too cynical, but I think we'd be having the same conversation even if Indiana weren't in the COVID situation they're in.
I still believe that the Big Ten's biggest fear for this season was that a 6-1 OSU / PSU / UM(lol) didn't make the championship game because there's a 3-0 team in the division. I don't think they considered that the opposite could also happen.
December 9th, 2020 at 1:09 PM ^
If Mel Tucker gets a Big Ten championship before Harbaugh does, I will seriously consider the idea that I'm already dead and in Hell
December 9th, 2020 at 5:15 PM ^
Seeing that Harbaugh will be gone, that's likely to happen.
December 9th, 2020 at 1:12 PM ^
How about a single-combat duel for The Game in order for OSU to get 6 games? Jim vs. Ryan??
Fight to the death? I bet that would get gonzo ratings. And some divided loyalties.
December 9th, 2020 at 12:43 PM ^
No, the original rule was just something they made up for no good reason (probably "integrity") without thinking things through. Very on brand for all Big Ten decision making this year. How the Big Ten never thought through a scenario where a team finished 5-0 because other schools had to cancel games in the first place is beyond me.
If you're going to make an arbitrary rule, at least workshop some possible scenarios for that rule.
December 9th, 2020 at 12:46 PM ^
Actually, it doesn't. If Indiana wanted to go, they just needed to beat OSU. Again, bitterness does not a good argument make.
December 9th, 2020 at 2:53 PM ^
And if OSU wanted to go, they just needed to avoid having a COVID outbreak. Guess they didn't, so too bad.
December 9th, 2020 at 12:29 PM ^
Some pigs are more equal
December 9th, 2020 at 2:16 PM ^
4 stars good! 2 stars baaaaaaaaaad!
December 9th, 2020 at 12:29 PM ^
Lol fuck the B1G. Once again, nothing bad ever happens to OSU
December 9th, 2020 at 12:46 PM ^
Indiana is in trouble with Covid. Who do you want - Maryland ? But they don't have enough games either.
December 9th, 2020 at 12:49 PM ^
Jim Harbaugh makes his first conference championship game!!