It's been documented here that I'm not a fan of Big Ten dictator...errrrr, commissioner, Jim Delaney. Delaney has had his foot in his mouth more in the last year than any other person in a similar post across the NCAA sports landscape. Plus, our conference's officiating (in football AND basketball), that has been among the nation's worst is still weathering a storm that Delaney allowed to happen. All that said, he may be coming up on the biggest embarrassment of his mistake-riddled tenure at the BT.
Both he and Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen have made it clear that their "grand ole conferences" are both opposed to any form of a playoff in college football. Now, the other BCS conferences might have enough weight to finally get a system approved that utilizes two of the four major bowls as a semi-final in such a tournament...and the biggest part of the story is that the other conferences are sick of hearing Delaney's rhetoric (as am I) and might just not make it mandatory for all of the conferences to participate. If there is a college football playoff and the BT and Pac-10 decide to keep the integrity of the Rose Bowl by not getting involved in such a tournament, I will completely be on board for Purdue's new coach, current AD and others petitioning to leave the oldest collegiate sports conference...or, demanding that Delaney be ousted so someone with less of a Napoleonic complex take the helm of what used to be the best conference in America.
I've said it before, Delaney is a fool...but he's really foolish if he thinks his posturing and chest-beating is going to keep D-I playoff football from ever occurring. ESPN's big bowl contract might keep any of the heads from speaking in favor of a playoff (on camera), and Delaney and Hansen might not want it, but the fans, players and majority of the coaches want it. It will eventually happen...The question becomes "Does the conference have the foresight to have a leader who is humble enough to be a part of the change?" If not, we might see the Big-10 moniker be numerically incorrect yet again...this time because of defections.
Lastly, does he really believe that Ohio State can't compete v. the SEC because of the Big Ten's academic standards (check out the link above again, if you missed it)? His statement smacks of the hubris and elitism that has propelled my hatred for UND...furthermore, it makes me more of a proponent of Delaney's departure atop the Big Ten. You'd think his wingtips would have already gagged Jim to the point that gaffes like this couldn't occur.