Big Ten-Pac 12 Deal a Brilliant Power Play Against SEC

The Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences have made a deal with each other that goes beyond their annual Rose Bowl meeting. 

According to Pete Thamel of the New York Times, the two conferences have made an agreement to have all of their teams schedule at least one game against the other conference every year.

Reading between the lines, it's hard to not see this as a move to counter the SEC and their BCS dominance. They have won each of the last five National Championships, and now have a sixth in their back pocket with Alabama and LSU squaring off this year. 

It's a brilliant move for each of the two conferences. 

If the SEC is going to be perceived (rightly or wrongly) as such a strong conference, the other conferences need to find a way to bolster their own strength of schedule. An SEC team will never lose a tiebreaker when it comes to getting into a BCS game, or the National Championship Game. 

That's why we're seeing a rematch of a game that already happened. Human polls still make up two-thirds of the BCS, and that's hard to overcome. 

Stanford and Oklahoma State are both one-loss teams from BCS conferences this year. They both have multiple quality wins, and Stanford's one loss is to Oregon, who's also a BCS team. 

But the Cardinal and Cowboys are playing each other in the Fiesta Bowl, while Alabama is getting a second crack at beating LSU. 

It's hard to imagine the perceived strength of the SEC's schedule not having something to do with that. 

This is a move that more of the other BCS conferences need to make. They need to at least give the voters the knowledge that they're trying to strengthen the schedule. More importantly than trying, this does strengthen the schedule. 

They need to be smart about this. This shouldn't be a cycle. The traditional powers need to be matched up against each other. Ohio State against USC, or Michigan against Oregon; that kind of thing. Having Ohio State play a school like Washington State does no good for anyone. 

As long as the BCS is in place, the conferences and schools within them are constantly battling for position to earn National Championship opportunities. 

So, if the weaker teams in the conferences don't improve, they need to bolster their preseason schedule. More than just schedule, this also bolsters exposure. 

If Ohio State and USC play, the status of the winner is going to be immediately bolstered as it relates to the BCS. 

The question is, will another conference follow suit? Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated received one of those questions on Twitter.

Time will tell if other conferences answer, or if the SEC feels the need to counter punch. But this is an excellent strategy on the part of two conferences that could annually use a strength of schedule boost.

Follow @mdixon1985