On Iowa Daily Briefing 5.15.12 — Crystal over roses

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany talks with the media during a news conference, Tuesday, May 18, 2010, in Chicago. Delany addressed questions about conference expansion, sticking with the time frame he laid out in December when he said the league would explore its option over the next 12 to 18 months. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

CHICAGO The Big Ten wants to own the Rose Bowl, and so it will, along with their buddies from the Pac-12. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany has made this clear since college football has veered into serious talk about a playoff last month.

What can Delany and the league expect to gain from playing the Rose Bowl chip? Probably not much.

The playoff models are a major topic of discussion for the Big Tens illuminati, which meets today and Wednesday in Chicago. The Big Ten is in with the playoff state of mind, but it does want some stickiness with the Rose. Makes sense, of course, but is it viable? Is it that big of a deal? Do players whove grown up in the Big Ten footprint identify with the Rose as the ultimate prize anymore?

If Im the Big Ten, my play is from home playoff games. That is a game changer. Rather than play an SEC team in a national semifinal at a sunny place in Florida, get the SEC team at, say, Ann Arbor in December. Weather could be the great equalizer, although the way Nick Saban builds teams at Alabama, it probably wont mean a whole lot. Sabans teams are armadillos, weather-proof, defense-first armadillos.

The Big Ten is going to want to get something out of the playoff discussions. Will it be protecting the Rose Bowl, which hasnt been the sole domain of Big Ten/Pac-12 since 2002, be it? Its a thought, but its sunk by sentiment and the fact that TCU, Oklahoma and Texas have played in Rose Bowls more recently than a lot of Big Ten teams (Iowas last appearance was 1991).

Everything is on sale here, lets stop pretending it isnt. Tradition wears a Nike swoosh. The Rose Bowl isnt and hasnt been the top of the mountain in college football for a long time. The crystal football is the thing, and a playoff gets the Big Ten to the table.

Lets do the playoffs and lets do them the way the NFL does, home sites. If Lambeau Field can host an NFC title game, then Ann Arbor, Columbus, Madison, East Lansing, Lincoln and Iowa City can host national semifinals.

The Rose Bowl will fit in somewhere. Its not going to vanish, but the Big Ten needs to elevate its thinking to the crystal football. That is the thing.

Go here to see the original:
On Iowa Daily Briefing 5.15.12 — Crystal over roses