Blue White Illustrated

conference play has been second only to Ohio State's. Against conference oppo- nents, the Nittany Lions are a combined 21-6 in 2016, '17 and '18, having lost two games apiece to Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State. And bear in mind: Their victory total doesn't include a 38- 31 win over Wisconsin in the 2016 Big Ten Championship Game. In the same span, the Buckeyes have gone 25-3 with two conference champi- onships. Michigan has gone 20-7, Wis- consin and Northwestern have both gone 20-7, and Michigan State has gone 13-14. Nationally, the Nittany Lions' three- year accomplishments are also signifi- cant. Among Power Five programs, only Alabama (40-2), Clemson (38-3), Okla- homa (34-5), Ohio State (34-5) and Georgia (32-8) have better overall records during the past three seasons than Penn State's mark of 31-8 (79.5 winning percentage). Given what's transpired at some of the loosely defined blue bloods of college football over the past three seasons, Penn State again stands out. Nebraska has stumbled its way to a 17-20 record. Texas has gone 21-16, Florida State 22- 16, Florida 22-14, Auburn 25-14, South- ern Cal 26-13, Notre Dame 26-11, Miami 26-10, LSU 26-10 and Michigan 28-10. Among that group of 10 teams, all but one have had a losing season and missed out on a bowl appearance in the past three years. The lone exception: Ne- S I T E L I N E S B W I . R I V A L S . C O M R E A D E R S W E I G H I N O N T H E C O L L E G E F O O T B A L L P L A Y O F F I've always believed that you have an eight-team playoff. You take the five major conference winners and a team from a minor conference like UCF, and then take the next two high- est-rated teams to fill out the play- offs. If you took conference winners, you could schedule whoever you wanted for your nonconference games, then you could reward teams that play better nonconference games and win. Markbauman54 Everyone knew the rules before this all started. So to question it now is hindsight. You have to play the games and win. Next, someone will com- plain that all teams should play the same schedule. GSL Yes, everyone "knew the rules be- fore this all started," but you have to admit that mistakes were made and continue to be made. So to continue doing what has always been done would be neglecting progress and not admitting the shortcomings of the present system. The Big Ten is its own worst enemy. It hurts the conference brand and costs the conference money. As Franklin said, "apples to apples." bohucon It is not hindsight. It is an ongoing gripe of many schools and many of us fans. First, we need to change confer- ence alignments every so often to allow for strengths and weaknesses. Second, we need to play eight confer- ence games [and] schedule at least two other Power Five conference teams and then two non-Power Five teams. In that way, we can play Pitt yearly and somebody else home and have seven to eight home games. rag195 This is spot on by Franklin. The Big Ten tried to put itself at an advantage [by not scheduling] I-AA teams, tried to put itself at an advantage with an extra conference game, and what has it gotten us? Locked out of the CFB playoff. Jim Delany took the hard road, and the conference is paying for it. When people talk about Franklin potentially leaving to a school in an easier conference, it makes sense from a head coaching point of view. I'm not saying Delany took the wrong road, just that he expected more from a tougher slate of games. It comes back to the SEC playing cupcakes mid-November while Big Ten teams are beating the crap out of each other at that same time. It's not wrong, it's just not putting the conference in the best position possible to get into the playoff. CFett It is not Notre Dame's fault that USC, Stanford and Florida State had down years. Most years, that schedule would be nearly impossible to run… and they beat Michigan. Expand the playoff to at least eight and be done with it. jamesmoorepainting The playoff committee doesn't want standardization. They want to give SEC teams every possible opportunity to get in. Standardization eliminates a lot of the loopholes. The last thing the committee wants is a year where a team like UCF gets in and fills a big- money spot. The committee wants to be able to do things like jump Wash- ington up eight spots after a stupid 10-3 win so people perceive they are watching two top teams play in a New Year's Six game. irncty Keep the conference champi- onships. To make the CFP, you have to win your conference. Every year, there is an undeserving conference champion that clearly doesn't belong. This year it would have been Wash- ington. This would also make the conference championship games more dramatic. The argument to this is that it's not the best four teams. Who cares? What pro playoff system always has the "best teams?" NFL teams have missed the playoffs at 11- 5, while others have made it at 7-9. The whole idea is to solve it on the field. Everyone has a chance to win their conference. tmacpolo

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