The Big Ten: The Buffalo Bills of college football

Ohio State dropped 0-9 in bowl games against the SEC, 0-8 in their last eight games against the SEC, and 0-2 in the last two National Championship Games against the SEC, losing by a combined 79-38. Watching the better athletes on LSU last night dominate reminded me of Super Bowl XXVIII, when the Bills played the Cowboys for the second year in a row. I couldn't imagine rational people (cough-Dr. Z- cough) picking the Bills to win that matchup, and I was shocked to hear supposedly rational people picking the Buckeyes to win this one (shockingly, everyone on ESPN Gameday but alum Kirk Herbstreit).

The Big Ten has a huge advantage in reaching the Championship Game, not having to play a conference championship. And without a playoff, they only have to win one game to become champs. James Carville said of the Big Ten on the Dan Patrick Show "The Big Ten can send a three loss team to the Rose Bowl and make a fortune... The Big Ten is the most villanous, backward looking sports league in the world." (Click on on interviews, scroll to image of James Carville 12.24.07) No one has more to lose by having a college football playoff than Ohio State and the Big Ten. Ohio State President Gordon Gee recently said "As far as a playoff system, there will not be one. They'll have to wrench a playoff system out of my cold, dead hands."

It's been easy to love college football this regular season. Starting with Appalachian State winning at Michigan, the regular season was full of upsets and thrillers. But an anticlimactic month of bowls capping off the season, it's easier to fixate on everything that's wrong with the sport. There was one great bowl game this year (Purdue/Central Michigan), a couple of good ones, and a bunch of snoozers. If we had Georgia playing USC and LSU playing Kansas next week, this season wouldn't have ended on such a downer.