Why the Big Ten Can't Have a Conference Championship Game

How big of an advantage is it to finish your season later rather than earlier?

Jim Delaney and the rest of the Big Ten asked this question this past offseason and decided it would be to their advantage to extend their regular season by one week, adding a "bye week" to each team's schedule.

In years past, most Big Ten teams would play a 12-game schedule that ended by the third weekend in November.  This year, however, Big Ten teams look to finish their regular season a week later, in compliance with the standards the rest of the BCS Conferences have set.

The last two years have seen Ohio State waiting 50-plus days between the Michigan game and the BCS Title game.  Regardless who you are, being expected to play the best game of your life after not playing a game in over 50 days is not an easy task—and it has showed.

Ohio State's underachieving was not the main reason for the Big Ten's decision, but it was the most publicized side effect of the Big Ten's schedule.

While stretching out the season an extra week is a start, some critics argue it is not enough.  In addition to long layoffs between the regular season finale and the bowl game, Big Ten teams have been vulnerable to being leapfrogged by teams whose only true advantage was that they played into December.

After the epic Ohio State-Michigan game in 2006, Michigan was ranked No. 2 in the rankings (Coaches, AP, and BCS) released immediately following the game.  Having just seen an incredible game between two great teams, the computers and humans agreed Michigan was worthy of the No. 2 spot.

The following week, however, USC leapfrogged Michigan after a convincing win over No. 6 Notre Dame, and there weren't too many complaints.  The general consensus was that USC had truly earned their No. 2 spot.

Unfortunately, USC lost the following week to rival UCLA, and their dreams were limited to the Rose Bowl.  Michigan was sure to reclaim their No. 2 spot, right?

Thanks to a win in the SEC Championship Game and some strategic campaigning by coach Urban Meyer, Florida slipped ahead of Michigan in the final BCS Rankings.

Michigan was quite possibly the second-best team of the regular season in 2006.  What, aside from their late loss to Ohio State, proved most detrimental to their ranking?

The fact that Florida, ranked behind Michigan all year, played two games after Michigan finished their season.

Extending the Big Ten schedule one week does help the problem, but critics are quick to point out that the top teams in the SEC, Big 12, and ACC will still be playing a week more than the top teams in the Big Ten.  The absence of a conference championship is ominously haunting the Big Ten, and some wonder if a conference championship game would be prudent.

Before analyzing this idea, let's identify the logistics of the matter: The Big Ten would have to add one more team.

In order to have a Conference Championship—in which two division winners would face each other—the Big Ten would need two divisions.  Unfortunately, conferences need 12 teams to have such a system.  The Big Ten only has 11 right now.

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