In the debate leading up to the College Football Playoff selection, as well as the immediate aftermath, I heard a common refrain from both colleagues in the media and from fans. Essentially, many people believe that the Big Ten wouldn't have been in the situation it was this year had it not been for its divisional structure.
That may have been true this year, but the fact of the matter is, getting rid of divisions could have solved the Penn State problem, but it could also lead to similar situations in the future.
The theory for this season's conundrum is simple. If the Big Ten didn't have the East and West Divisions, its title game this season would have been Ohio State against Penn State. If that had happened, and Penn State had beaten Ohio State a second time, there's no question the Nittany Lions would have been chosen for the playoff over the Buckeyes.
Had Ohio State won the rematch, then there wouldn't have been any questions, either.
Now, there are still problems with this. A common concern about the divisional setup -- aside from one division being stronger than the other, which seems to be the case in every Power Five conference -- is an unbalanced schedule. Sure, you play everybody within your own division, but the cross-divisional draws can be quite different.
For instance, this year Ohio State drew Wisconsin, Northwestern and Nebraska from the West -- three teams that combined to go 25-12 this season. Penn State had to play Minnesota, Purdue and Iowa, and they combined to go 19-17. The argument is that had Penn State had to play the same three teams Ohio State did, it probably doesn't finish 8-1 in conference play and win the East. That very well may be true, but Penn State did just beat Wisconsin on Saturday night, so it could have beaten it and those other two during the regular season as well.
Either way, getting rid of divisions wouldn't solve the lack of balance in the schedule. Unless the Big Ten decided to do away with nonconference games and go to a 13-game round-robin schedule -- which is an idea I would definitely think about, and one I've included in other crazy proposals before -- it's still going to have unbalanced schedules. When you only play nine conference games, and there are 14 teams in your conference, not everybody will play the same schedule.
Just look at the Big Ten basketball schedule, where schools play some Big Ten foes twice and others only once.
Throw in the fact that teams will want to keep certain rivalry games on an annual basis, and the schedules become even less balanced.
Balanced schedules wouldn't solve everything, either.
To see this, we just have to move to the one Power Five conference that doesn't have divisions and does play a round-robin schedule: the Big 12.
On Saturday, while every other Power Five conference was playing its championship game, the Big 12 had its own, even if it wasn't official. Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State 38-20 in a game that decided the conference title.
What if the Big 12 still had its championship game to play? That is its plan for the future, so let's fast forward to pretend it happens this season, and the Big 12 title game was yet to happen. It would be a rematch of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Well, the Sooners are 9-0 in conference play this season, and Oklahoma State is 7-2, but if the Sooners weren't able to beat the Cowboys two weeks in a row in this hypothetical situation, Oklahoma State would wind up as conference champions with an 8-2 conference record, while a 9-1 Oklahoma finished in second place.
It would also still be left out of the playoff, and would still be out even if Oklahoma won the rematch as well. Not having divisions or an unbalanced schedule would not have saved the Big 12 this year.
Let's take this one step further, though, and put Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in a similar situation as to what Ohio State and Penn State faced. In this hypothetical, Oklahoma isn't just undefeated in conference play, but undefeated on the season. It's 12-0. Then there's Oklahoma State, which is 10-2 and on the outside looking in of the playoff.
The two meet again, a week after their original game, in the Big 12 championship. Oklahoma obviously won the first meeting, but Oklahoma State wins the rematch. That makes Oklahoma State the Big 12 champion with an 11-2 record and a nonconference schedule that isn't exactly impressive. Oklahoma, meanwhile, is 12-1, with nonconference wins over Houston and Ohio State -- again, this is a hypothetical -- and just split the season series with Oklahoma State.
Which one of those two teams is the College Football Playoff selecting? It would more than likely be the Oklahoma team that just lost its conference title because suddenly the Sooners had to beat Oklahoma State twice, while the Cowboys only had to beat the Sooners once to be named conference champion.
Not having divisions and playing a balanced schedule didn't solve this problem, it just created new ones.
Which is what the Big Ten, or the ACC, or the SEC, or the Pac-12 would create if they ditched their divisions: new problems that lead to other seemingly simple solutions that in reality create their own problems. That's just the reality of the situation when you're dealing with a sport that has 128 teams playing a 12-game regular season, and only four of them get a chance to play for the championship.
There simply aren't any easy answers to this.
One More Gripe About The College Football Playoff Rankings of the Week
I'm of the opinion that the College Football Playoff should consist of conference champions whenever possible, except in extreme cases like if Florida had done the impossible and beaten Alabama over the weekend. In situations like the one between Penn State and Ohio State, where the two teams are separated by only a loss, and Penn State beat Ohio State during the regular season, I think Penn State winning the Big Ten should be a sort of trump card.
Not everyone feels the same way, obviously, and that's fine. I totally understand where they're coming from.
I would rather just laugh at the absurdity of it all anyway. The CFP put out its final rankings Sunday, and in them the No. 3 team (Ohio State) lost to the No. 5 team (Penn State), which lost to the No. 6 team (Michigan), which lost to the No. 3 team. So it's all impossible anyway.
Furthermore, when asked about the CFP's thought process behind leaving Penn State out, selection chair Kirby Hocutt said that Penn State's 39-point loss to Michigan played a role in it being left out of the top four. Yet it apparently did not play a role in leaving Penn State ahead of Michigan in the rankings.
The more we learn about the CFP's selection method, the less we know.
Stat of the Week
In a game you did not watch Saturday, UL-Lafayette beat rival UL-Monroe 30-3 to pick up its sixth win of the season and become bowl eligible. It was a big win for the Ragin' Cajuns, obviously, but while a 30-3 score seems to be just your typical blowout victory, there was something rather amazing that happened if you look a little closer at the box score.
The Cajuns not only managed to beat the Warhawks by 27 points, the Cajuns beat them by 27 points without passing for a single yard.
Cajuns quarterback Anthony Jennings -- the former LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings -- completed two of his five passes for zero yards, which makes this even more fun. It's one thing to not have any passing yards when you don't attempt to throw, or you just don't complete any passes, but to do so when you actually complete two passes takes skill.
Christmas Wish List Item of the Week
You know, if you're out there wondering what to get me for Christmas this year, I'm not that difficult to shop for.
As for which one I want, surprise me.
Photo of the Week
One of the downsides of the College Football Playoff is that we all become so focused on the top four teams. Who is going to be in the playoff? Who deserves to be in the playoff? Why is this team in the playoff?
It seems like every single discussion surrounding the sport is related to the playoff in some way, and we forget how important other things are and can be in this sport, particularly to the players.
Then you see a photo like this and you remember.
In this photo, Penn State offensive lineman Steven Gonzalez has no idea whether or not Penn State will make the playoff, and he doesn't care. All he knows is that his team just won the Big Ten title, and winning your conference title is one of the main goals every single team in the country sets before the season.
And it felt really good to do it.
Random Ranking of the Week
Let's rank video game sports franchises.
1. NCAA Football (RIP)
2. FIFA
3. NBA2K
4. MLB The Show
5. Madden
Breakup of the Week
My heart goes out to poor Stephanie. She just wanted to tune into the Big Ten Network's pregame coverage of the Big Ten championship. Maybe she's a huge Wisconsin fan, or maybe she loves Penn State, and she just wanted to get herself hyped up for the game.
And all she got was heartbreak.
Play of the Week
Grambling State beat Alcorn State 27-20 in the SWAC Championship Game on Saturday and the best thing about Grambling winning the game by a touchdown is that this was one of the touchdowns scored in the game.
That's some good touchdown.
Fan of the Week
Ladies, he's single. Well, I'm pretty sure he is anyway. He almost has to be.
Premature College Football Playoff Predictions of the Week
Alabama over Washington.
Ohio State over Clemson.
Alabama over Ohio State.
Roll damn Tide.