Big Ten's playoff power play could kill its own title game

Big Ten Media Days turned into a full-on flex session this week, and it started with the commissioner. Tony Petitti spent his podium time stacking receipts: 3 straight national titles, the nation's best 11 combined wins from 7 Big Ten teams, and 14 of the last 22 CFP games featuring a Big Ten squad.

Brett McMurphy

@Brett_McMurphy

B1G's Tony Petitti: "In addition to winning 3 consecutive titles, the Big Ten has dominated 1st 2 seasons of the expanded College Football Playoff. Seven Big Ten teams combined for nation's best 11 wins & 14 of 22 games have featured Big Ten teams"

But the headline wasn't the bragging, it was the tradeoff Petitti is willing to make to get his preferred playoff format. He's pushing hard for a 24-team field picked by committee, no automatic qualifiers, and he admitted straight up what that would cost the conference: the Big Ten Championship Game itself.

Brett McMurphy

@Brett_McMurphy

B1G's Tony Petitti if playoff expands to 24: "We pretty much won't be playing a conference championship game"

That's not a small thing to float. The Big Ten title game has lived in Indianapolis since 2011, and Petitti is basically saying it's collateral damage if 24 becomes the number. His logic, per his own media day comments, is about keeping teams alive in the race longer instead of knocking them out with one bad Saturday in a conference title game before the playoff even starts. Not everyone's buying the format itself, with plenty of pushback online calling a 24-team bracket bloated and a backdoor for mediocre teams to sneak in.

CFB Kings

@CFBKings

“The number one idea is keeping as many teams in contention for as long as possible (with the 24-team Playoff format)” - Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti No… 3-loss and 4-loss teams who have lost to every good team they played shouldn’t be anywhere near the CFP conversation.

Meanwhile the SEC beef simmered right alongside the playoff talk. Petitti took a shot dressed as an olive branch, saying it'd be great if the leagues played each other more, and Illinois coach Bret Bielema went further, cracking that the SEC "wants to live in 2005 forever." Brett McMurphy's numbers backed up the chest-puffing too: Big Ten teams are 9-3 against other Power 4 conferences in CFP games over the last 3 years, with 3 national titles attached, while the SEC has gone just 2-7 in that same stretch.

Then Indiana showed up and turned the volume all the way up. Cignetti, fresh off leading the Hoosiers to a 16-0 season and the program's first-ever national championship, wasn't shy on the last day of media days. He said the Big Ten is simply the best league in football and took a direct swipe at the SEC's reputation for noise: "We don't run a hype machine up here in the Midwest. We believe everything is earned, not given."

CFB Kings

@CFBKings

“The Big Ten is the best league in football… We don’t run a hype machine up here in the Midwest. We believe everything’s earned, not given. And when we fall short, we say, ‘We fell short.’ We don’t cry a river and whine and complain. And that’s why we’re the best.” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti’s final statement at Big Ten Media Days 😳

He wasn't just talking trash for the cameras either. Cignetti made clear he's actively guarding against the letdown that so often follows a title run, telling reporters he's "stalking complacency" among his team and staff before anyone even asked him about defending the crown. First title for the program since 1967, and he's already coaching like it means nothing if they don't back it up.

So the Big Ten enters the season with the best résumé in the sport and a commissioner willing to torch a decade-plus tradition to lock in a playoff format that keeps it that way. Whether the SEC ever actually agrees to a 24-team bracket, and whether Sankey ever responds in kind to the trash talk, is the next thing to watch. For now, Indiana's just trying to make sure the receipts hold up on the field again.