College Football 2012: Jim Delany and Larry Scott's Awful Idea Is a Power Play

By now, if you're a big time college football fan, you've seen the new proposals that are on the table for the direction of the postseason. We've talked here at Your Best 11 about how none of these decisions are actually going to sate the masses.

However, the biggest hubbub to come from all of this is surrounding the "Four Team Plus" model that elevates the Rose Bowl above all others. Over at the SEC Blog, Barrett Sallee gave you guys his take on it. Our resident Big Ten-er, Adam Jacobi, also hates this plan.

I fall in line with them on the ultimate ridiculous nature of the plan. It's totally useless, self-serving by the two leagues and ultimately pointless. I don't see it coming to fruition and, given that more than the Big Ten and Pac-12 vote on the future, I will be quite shocked if it goes through.

Well, someone else also hates the plan. That someone is Georgia's President Michael Adams. Over on the Big Ten Blog, Jacobi dissects Adams' comments and explains that "awful plan" is not the same as "archaic." Which is true, the problem with the plan is not that it is "old school" as Adams paints it; the problem is that it is just horrible.

That said, the fact that the plan somehow found its way into the final four is a testament to Jim Delany and Larry Scott's new found power in the college football arena. Delany's got his own network and he's raking in money hand over fist. Larry Scott just inked his league a big money deal that pushed them past the SEC for the time being. These conference commissioners are playing for keeps and that motivation is how they got a plan that benefits absolutely no one but themselves into consideration.

Now, we must recognize that Mike Slive is still the most powerful man on the college football landscape. He just had two teams play in a rematch for the national title; and his four team playoff of no conference championship requirement is firmly at the heart of the debate.

But, Slive is just one man. Against Delany, he can win. Against Scott, he can win. Against Delany and Scott, he's got his work cut out for him. Larry Scott and Jim Delany have identified their target and they are working together to make sure that their leagues get their due.

The conference championship requirement? That's a sure fire way to put a cap on how many SEC teams get into the playoff. They don't need an extra SEC team taking a payout away from one of their lower ranked conference champions.

If you can't beat 'em, cap 'em. Delany and Scott cannot cap what the SEC spends or the amount of money they make on their new television deal, so they are going after the only avenue of control they can get; capping their postseason revenue. Limiting the SEC to one share, instead of a possible two. Sure it also eliminates a chance for their league to get two shares but, they're okay with that so long as their southern rivals don't have that option either.

The tandem is getting stronger as time progresses. They're making smart plays too. If you're the ACC, Big East or the Big 12, you have to feel more comfortable with the SEC being controlled. That earns more allegiance for Delany and Scott. They all want their champions to get a shot, and that means limiting the SEC to just one. Makes sense.

The beauty of Delany and Scott's plan is not in the plan itself. It is in how the two are working together to grab back the real estate their league's have lost with the rise of the SEC. Winning it back on the field has been tough; their leagues have lost three BCS title games to the SEC in the last six years. Grabbing it back off the field has proven much easier and they are on the warpath.

In the future the leagues have an alliance planned in all sports that should help boost their earnings from a television standpoint. The 24 teams are getting their coffers filled with cash now, and Delany and Scott are working together to make a run at the SEC—regardless of how awful their Four Team Plus plan actually happens to be.