Fortuna Files: The Big Ten is winning on the field. Its Playoff proposals? Not so much.
Conference title games elsewhere show the danger of automatic bids.
INDIANAPOLIS — Tony Petitti ended up as the biggest winner on Saturday.
His conference staged a No. 1 vs. No. 2 championship game that lived up to the hype. The College Football Playoff’s top seed was decided here at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Heisman was almost certainly decided as well.
If Ohio State were to fall only one spot to No. 2 when the selection committee releases its final rankings on Sunday, few outside SEC country would have a reasonable argument against it.
Throw in Oregon, undoubtedly one of the best teams in the country, and the Big Ten finds itself with three national title contenders on the eve of the Playoff.
Yet Petitti’s treasured stance on the future of the Playoff ended up taking the biggest hit this weekend. The Big Ten commissioner went on an offseason crusade to sell the other conferences and the public on an expanded CFP format that would guarantee a certain number of bids for each conference, most notably four from the Big Ten and SEC.
The proposal was largely mocked in public circles. These spots should be decided on the field, after all, not by pre-ordained positions for the privileged few.
Look no further than the ACC and the SEC, both of which may fall victim to similar reasoning when the final Playoff cuts are announced.