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P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> qualified, three have been unbeaten and 13 have had one-loss. "I don't think there's any doubt that playing nine games in the kind of rigorous schedule that we play makes achieving an undefeated season more difficult," Delany said. "And it is true that the committee has not selected a team with two losses from any conference. So we'll continue to watch it. We have tremendous respect for the committee. Their job is to select the four best teams, and we think that they operate in good faith. We continue to build a conference and be as good as we can be, and we think that includes playing each other as much as we can, playing the best teams in the country in the noncon- ference as well as postseason and contin- uing to make the case that our teams are among the four best in the country." The Big Ten enjoyed a spectacular post- season last year, going 7-1, with wins by Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Northwestern and Pur- due. If there was any doubt about its competitive bona fides going into bowl season, there wasn't much left after the Big Ten won half of the New Year's Six games. And yet, with the benefit of hindsight, the conference's exclusion from the play- off doesn't seem all that insulting. Sure, the team that got bumped – league champion Ohio State – won its bowl game handily, defeating USC in the Cot- ton Bowl, 24-7. But the team that was chosen ahead of the Buckeyes – Alabama – won the national championship with victories over Clemson and Georgia, showing that it deserved its place in the four-team field. What's more, the Crim- son Tide gave us a spectacular title game, rallying past the Bulldogs in overtime after turning to backup quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Would the Buckeyes have fared as well? Given that they would have faced top- seeded Clemson in the semifinals, a team to which they lost 31-0 the previous year, it's a very debatable premise. Debates are at the heart of college foot- ball, of course, and always have been, no matter what system has been in place to determine the national champion. There 1 NICK BOSA DE OHIO STATE Last season's Big Ten De- fensive Lineman of the Year, Bosa is already being hailed as a potential No. 1 overall NFL Dra= pick, even though he's just getting set to begin his junior season. The younger brother of former Ohio State All-American and :rst-round dra= pick Joey Bosa, Nick stands 6-foot-4, 264 pounds and has pocket-crushing power, as evidenced by his 8.5 sacks last season, second-most in the Big Ten. He also ranked :=h in the conference with 16 tackles for loss, showing just how di

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